Brightly colored exotic birds arrive at Atascadero zoo. Take a look inside the new exhibit
An exciting new exhibit is coming to Atascadero’s zoo, bringing with it some new brightly colored feathered friends.
The new Cerrado Aviaries Exhibit will open on Saturday at Atascadero’s Charles Paddock Zoo, with an official ribbon cutting ceremony at 3:30 p.m., the city announced in a news release.
The exhibit will house two hyacinth macaws and two toco toucans, the release said.
The zoo’s strikingly blue macaw parrots were formerly pets and came to the zoo as a bonded pair. The hyacinths are the largest macaw species and are endangered.
The toco toucan conjures the classic image of the long-billed bird. With their big, colorful beaks, this species are the also largest of the toucans. The zoo will be home to a breeding pair.
Both species hail from the Cerrado biodiversity hotspot, a grassland biome which covers a total area of 2 million square kilometers just below the Amazon rainforest, making it the largest savanna in South America, the release said. The area spans one fifth of Brazil, including the capital city of Brasilia.
Hyacinth macaws and toco toucans are just two of the many bird species found in the Cerrado. With more than 4,800 species of endemic plants and vertebrates, it is one of the largest biodiversity hotspots in the world.
The region’s biodiversity is integral to the symbiotic ecosystem of plant and animal communities that live there. For example, the toco toucans in the region spread seeds of the trees the hyacinth macaws nest in.
The Charles Paddock Zoo specializes in animals present in these hotspots, which are threatened areas of high biodiversity.
According to the zoo, they represent just 2.5% of Earth’s land surface but support nearly half of all endangered bird, mammal, reptile and amphibian species found nowhere else on the planet.
In addition to the new birds, the zoo is home to over 300 other animals including red pandas, monkeys, fossa, meerkats, parrots, a Malayan tiger, a variety of reptiles and more.
Located at Atascadero Lake Park, it is open to visitors daily.
