Réserve Africaine de Sigean

Réserve africaine de Sigean
43°4′5.29″N 2°57′12.83″E / 43.0681361°N 2.9535639°E / 43.0681361; 2.9535639
Date opened	April 8th 1974
Location	Sigean (Languedoc-Roussillon)
Land area	300 Hectare
No. of animals	3 800
No. of species	160
Memberships	EAZA
Owner	Jean-Jacques Boisard
Website	www.reserveafricainesigean.fr

The Réserve Africaine de Sigean is a 300-hectare (740-acre) zoo that opened in 1974 in Sigean, Aude, in the south of France.

The zoo is home to some 3,800 animals representing about 160 species, and is a member of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).

The animals are held in spacious and naturalistic settings, with the typical Mediterranean vegetation already occurring on site.^[1]

Visitors can drive through the different exhibits in their own vehicles or in a guided drive.^[2]

The area is divided in eight parks, 1, 2 and 3 represent scrubland or bush; 4 and 5 are the predator enclosures and 6, 7 and 8 depict the savanna. Lar gibbons are held on an island in the background of the savanna exhibit.^[3]

1. African forest buffalo, blesbok, sable antelope and impala
2. Common ostrich, blue wildebeest, springbok, Grévy's zebra and defassa waterbuck
3. Kordofan giraffe, roan antelope, lowland nyala and Nile lechwe.
4. A group of ten Asian black bears^[4]
5. African lions.
6. Eight southern white rhinos,^[4] Nile lechwe and Speke's sitatunga
7. Grant's zebra, Watusi cattle, blue wildebeest, common ostrich and common eland
8. Somali wild ass, common warthog and Cuvier's gazelle.^[3]

Laid around the Œil de Ca, this part has an array of pens holding many species of ungulates, birds and primates. Some of the species held are aoudad, greater kudu, reticulated giraffe, Hartmann's mountain zebra, emu, greater rhea, Bolivian squirrel monkey, white-headed marmoset, Barbay macaque, dromedary camel, Persian onager, macaws (blue-and-yellow, scarlet and green-winged), red river hog, Cape porcupine, meerkat, sulcata tortoise, red-necked wallaby, Blackhead Persian sheep, Vietnamese pot-bellied pig and African pygmy goat.^[3][4][5] There is also a small Africa-themed aviary and one for waldrapp.^[3] The chimpanzees live on two islands of about 2 hectares and can only be observed from afar and from a concealed tower to not disrupt their natural behavior.^[1] The last African elephant of the park, Csami, moved to Zoopark Erfurt in 2017.^[6]

Around the lakeshore, there is a large colony of wild-occurring greater flamingo and Chilean flamingo, pink-backed- and great white pelican from the zoo.^[1] In the 1 hectare large Grande Volière, built in 2018, the zoo features Abdim's stork, African openbill, saddle-billed stork, marabou, grey-crowned crane, goliath heron, hamerkop, African sacred ibis, hadada ibis, grey-cheeked hornbill, trumpeter hornbill, grey parrot, vulturine guineafowl, yellow-billed stork, Western plantain-eater, hooded vulture, palm-nut vulture, Rüppel's vulture, African black duck, blue-billed teal, cape teal, fulvous whistling duck, white-faced whistling duck, knob-billed duck, red-crested turaco, yellow-necked spurfowl, speckled pigeon and Gabon talapoin.^[3][4][7][8] Since 2024, the zoo also has a pair of white-headed vultures.^[9]

The Territoire des Carnivores, which opened in 2018, holds Southeast African cheetahs and African wild dogs.^[10]

There also is a tropical area with a vivarium, holding American alligator, Bolivian squirrel monkey, red-crested turaco, Dumeril's boa, Madagascar tree boa, four-horned chameleon, panther chameleon, Parson's chameleon, West African slender-snouted crocodile, Nile monitor, dwarf crocodile, black tree snake, common flat-tail gecko, African helmeted turtle, fire skink, Gabon viper, green bush viper, black-throated monitor, green iguana, green keel-bellied lizard, Madagascar giant day gecko and cichlids.^[3][11][12] In the warmer months, the alligators live in the large free-flight aviary.^[1][13]

The 18 hectare large African Plains can be viewed from panoramic observatory. This enclosure features blue wildebeest, Grévy's zebra, gemsbok, common eland, lechwe, African forest buffalo, greater kudu, Nile lechwe, springbok and common ostrich.^[3]

The zoo participates in 47 breeding programs and coordinates the EAZA Ex situ Programme (EEP) of the Hartmann's mountain zebras (Equus zebra hartmannae).^[14][15]The zoo also breeds regularly other threatened species, for example the African wild dog,^[16] the Cuvier's gazelle and the Northern bald ibis.^[14][17]

In 2021, the zoo announced the first hatching of a North African ostrich in France, which also was the first naturally hatched individual of this Critically Endangered subspecies in Europe.^[18]

• Media related to Réserve africaine de Sigean at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website (in French)

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