Paignton Zoo Paignton Zoo News 2017

Following on from my post above, I visited the Zoo yesterday and saw Pertinax in the show den again. He is looking well and was tucking into chicory and kale with evident enjoyment.
There are a few more minor pieces of news. Rearrangements continue in Reptile Tropics, a mangrove snake is now on show and the empty vivarium that used to hold the black marsh turtles has been spruced up and the old front glass, which was badly scratched, has been replaced (there was a strong smell of ethanoic acid showing that the silicone sealant was still curing). The anacondas are no longer on show and their exhibit was screened off for renovation, and a notice says that caiman lizards will be on show soon. The large enclosure in the Reptile Nursery was also being refurbished. Some new vivariums are in place in the Amphibian Ark, although I don't think they have been stocked yet, and work seems to have started in the former Tenrec House - there are two new empty exhibits in front of the right hand window and a pile of new lights on the other side, which also suggests that it may hold reptiles or amphibians eventually.
 
ShonenJake13 said:
Is there a specific time you can see Pertinax in the show den?
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I'm afraid that the simple answer is no. He isn't in there very often, and it can be hard to see him, even when he is.
I believe that the 3 young males have access to the show den at night. Then they are all separated and fed individually in the morning. When the zoo opens at 10, either Pertinax or the 3 boys have access to one of the indoor dens off-show and to the island (but they generally stay indoors at this time). The other 'group' is in the other off-show den. Then the show den is cleaned and the keepers scatter some wood wool, food items and browse.
The usual timetable is that around 10.45 the younger males are allowed into the show den, then some time later Pertinax is brought into one of the indoor dens and the other 3 are allowed to go outside as well. As far as I know, they are always outside well before the afternoon feed and talk at 2.30, provided the weather is fine.
Yesterday, they used the alternative arrangement: the younger males were outside in the morning and were given a scatter feed at about 11 o'clock, when Pertinax was allowed into the show den. I think they tried to move him into one of the off-show dens at lunch time, but he didn't co-operate and went to sleep on his favourite shelf. I don't know what happened later in the afternoon, but I know that they are all separated again for their evening meal.
I suppose that the keepers must work out a rota in advance, but I suspect that they must also be prepared to be flexible, depending on the staff available and the co-operation of the gorillas.
 
Ape Behaviour

A couple of things I observed this week: gorilla Kivu had a plastic cup and very carefully and delicately filled it with water from the sipper tap and sat and drank from it. The orangs had lumps of ice, flavoured with fruit tea I believe, and both Wousan and Mali were using wood wool to hold theirs. Perhaps their skin is thinner than one might think, or it gave them better grip.
 
Just climbed up to the zoo only to find they're not opening because it's a bit windy.

P.S. Surprised to see visitors ambling past their webcam so I phoned and was told they are open :mad:
 
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gentle lemur said:
Some new vivariums are in place in the Amphibian Ark, although I don't think they have been stocked yet, and work seems to have started in the former Tenrec House - there are two new empty exhibits in front of the right hand window and a pile of new lights on the other side, which also suggests that it may hold reptiles or amphibians eventually.
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There are two toad species in Amphibian Ark now - Mallorcan midwife toad and another, the name of which I omitted to note :oops: The Tenrec House has labels on the new tanks - Arboreal alligator lizard and Red-lipped arboreal lizard. I don't know if they were actually there as all I could see was a rather unlovely reflection of myself.
 
After a rather rushed visit with two ZooChatters on Saturday, I had a more leisurely solo visit today which gave me more time for photography. A few things are happening in Reptile Tropics, work is progressing on the former anaconda exhibit, the former black marsh turtle tank has been furnished and planted and appears to be settling down and the former Amazon tree boa vivarium now has a new pool, but no livestock yet.
I saw both of the new lizards in the old tenrec house, but only the arboreal alligator lizard made any attempt to pose for me. I did not see any Mallorcan midwife toads, which will surprise no-one who ever tried to see them at Chester. Neither did I see the tiny Cayenne caecilians, which are burrowers - it is a pity that some of the labels for their tanks say 'caeilian', which really twisted the tongue of a mother who was trying to read the label for her child. I did see the pipa toad, which looked a little uncomfortable sharing a tank with two aquatic caecilains (or caeilians).
The Reptile Nursery was closed on Saturday, but open again today. The big exhibit, which used to hold a python and a boa, has been redecorated and planted and new lights have been installed. It held a blue tree monitor, which I presume is one of the pair which the zoo received from Shaldon. The wall opposite the door is now entirely filled by two large new vivariums, which completely block off the view of the off-show area that the visitors could see through, round or over the smaller vivariums that were there before. Both have been planted but I don't think they contain any animals yet. The left hand one is a paludarium with a fair depth of water, the right hand one is dry.
 
gentle lemur said:
I did not see any Mallorcan midwife toads, which will surprise no-one who ever tried to see them at Chester.
The Reptile Nursery was closed on Saturday, but open again today. The big exhibit, which used to hold a python and a boa, has been redecorated and planted and new lights have been installed. It held a blue tree monitor, which I presume is one of the pair which the zoo received from Shaldon.
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I saw a midwife toad earlier in the week, as well as two blue tree monitors in that exhibit (courtesy of a volunteer who pointed them out).
 
I didn't see the midwife toads again today - but there was spawn in the water bowl :)
The Reptile Nursery was almost fully stocked. I saw both blue tree monitors today. There were some small blue poison dart frogs (Dendrobates tinctorius "Azureus") in the paludarium and while I was there some extra water plants were added (moss balls, plus Java fern and Anubias nana on pieces of wood) and then a shoal of 40+ cardinal tetras (Paracheirodon axelrodi) were introduced in their bag.
A bagful of cardinals

A bagful of cardinals

Reptile Nursery, Paignton, 9th November 2017.
A keeper told me that they were going to put a pair of electric blue geckos in the other vivarium later in the day. Everything in the building will be blue (except the female gecko).
 
FBBird said:
Apparently he bred just about every kind of domestic animal in blue.
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That's interesting. I'm now trying to think of something you can't breed in blue. I'm not sure there is 'blue' in Guinea Pigs though- Grey Agouti might be the nearest.
 
I don't know much about the late Mr Whitley and I was surprised to learn of his fondness for blue, as he was a Liverpudlian by birth he may have been a secret Everton supporter (they are getting more secretive by the day at the moment ;)). However I am sceptical that he still has much influence in the Trust that he founded. Otherwise Newquay would keep blue wildebeest instead of black ones, Living Coasts would have little blue penguins and Paignton would be awash with blue cranes, bluebonnets, blue eared pheasants, fairy bluebirds and more glossy starlings than you could shake a stick at :)
 
gentle lemur said:
Otherwise Newquay would keep blue wildebeest instead of black ones, Living Coasts would have little blue penguins and Paignton would be awash with blue cranes, bluebonnets, blue eared pheasants, fairy bluebirds and more glossy starlings than you could shake a stick at :)
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.....also Blue Monkeys and Blue Bulls(Nilgai).;)
 
gentle lemur said:
I don't know much about the late Mr Whitley and I was surprised to learn of his fondness for blue, as he was a Liverpudlian by birth he may have been a secret Everton supporter (they are getting more secretive by the day at the moment ;)). However I am sceptical that he still has much influence in the Trust that he founded. Otherwise Newquay would keep blue wildebeest instead of black ones, Living Coasts would have little blue penguins and Paignton would be awash with blue cranes, bluebonnets, blue eared pheasants, fairy bluebirds and more glossy starlings than you could shake a stick at :)
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Living Coasts ARE actually going to get Blue Penguins for the Auk exhibit!
 
If accurate, let us hope they survive a little longer than the last two imports into Europe did.......
 
TriUK said:
Living Coasts ARE actually going to get Blue Penguins for the Auk exhibit!
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I was joking of course.
I have mixed feelings about that idea. I share our friendly neighbourhood Moderator's concerns, but if we just think about places in the UK, Living Coasts might be the one with the best chance of success with these nice little birds. When I go to sleep tonight, I may dream of more Antipodean birds - Tahiti blue lories at Paignton and blue birds of paradise at Newquay :rolleyes:
 
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