A true baby boom in Dierenrijk in Mierlo. At least 26 storks have hatched. The animal caretakers do not yet know how many pink or blue mice should be placed on the smeared rusks. 26 already seems a lot, but Dierenrijk expects even more young storks next year.
Zookeeper Martijn cheerfully walks through the park on Thursday morning to the first stork’s nest. “There are so many,” he says. “You see them everywhere in the park.”
The storks have chosen their own spot. “We started with our own storks. We had about three nests then. But every year there were more and more.” The zoo then decided to release the storks and let them go their own way. “And now we have thirteen litters, that’s a lot!” Martijn laughs.
So thirteen nests, with about two chicks per nest. This has made it a bit busier in the park. “But the animals leave each other alone,” Martijn explains. He points to a nest in the middle of the chimpanzees’ enclosure. “They look at each other, but they do nothing and can live side by side.”
“And now we have thirteen litters, which is a lot!”
According to Martijn, the fact that so many young storks are born in the zoo is because the birds return to their birthplace. “When the storks are old enough to fledge, they often come back after a while.”
The environment of Dierenrijk is also very suitable for young birds. “There are many ditches and meadows here, so there is enough food to be found,” explains Martijn. And so the population grows every year. “We therefore expect that there will be even more nests with storks in the future.”
“I think it’s super fun of course,” says Martijn. “And the visitors are also enthusiastic. We get a lot of comments that the nests look so beautiful.”
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