For many decades, great white pelicans and Dalmatian pelicans graced the water areas in Thuringia's Erfurt Zoo Park. For a week now, seven great white pelicans have been getting used to the African savannah and their new animal companions one by one.
In the future, the seven birds will share the 4,500 square meter savannah landscape with African ostriches, a group of impalas, sable antelopes and fallow zebras. The socialization with the ostriches and the impalas worked well. In the coming days the meeting with the sable antelopes will take place and at the very end the zebras will join them.
Great white pelicans are extremely impressive birds. The males reach a total length of almost one and a half meters, of which 29 to 40 cm fall on the beak, and a weight of five and a half to nine kilograms. The wingspan is stated to be up to 360 cm. The large, featherless, yellow-orange facial area and the throat pouch are striking. The plumage is white with a delicate pink tint. During the breeding season, crested feathers up to 14 cm long grow on the back of the head and a forehead bump, almost seven cm high, forms at the base of the upper beak, which disappears again in summer.
Great white pelicans are widespread and yet something very special for zoo visitors. They live in southeastern Europe, western and central Asia, and southern Asia, western Arabia and Africa. They are colony-forming ground breeders that feed primarily on fish and live primarily in river basins, deltas and lakes, and occasionally on the coast. The lively group has already discovered the 160 m² pond in the Erfurt African savannah, but they currently find the rocks and sandy places to be much more interesting.
Source: Thuringian Zoopark Erfurt