Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo News 2018

I went for another long visit today; these are my general observations:

Species Arrivals and Departures
  • I managed to see two of the new spiny turtles under a log near the front of the right-hand end of the new reptile enclosure.
  • The West African giant land snails in the Discovery Centre have left the collection and been replaced by a small group of purple flower beetles Smaragdesthes africana oertzeni, which is a new species for me.
Births
  • For all those minnow fans out there, the male European minnows in the sun bear pool have again developed their breeding colours and are beginning to compete for the same general spawning site as last year.
Developments
  • The pygmy hippopotamus development is continuing - the African cichlid aquarium has been removed and boards put down, presumably so construction can begin. As an aside, I also noticed a wooden building seems to have gone up behind the former Ibis Walk walkway - whether that is linked to the pygmy hippo construction I cannot say.
  • From what I can now gather, the netted enclosure in the Lion Rock development will be the mixed exhibit for patas and colobus monkeys, the area that remains without netting will be the expanded part of the lion enclosure - if that is the case then the monkey enclosure looks almost finished.
General Observations
  • As part of an enrichment programme, the Aldabran giant and African spurred tortoises have swapped over into each other's enclosures in the Walking Giants display. I could only see two Aldabran giant tortoises; I was sure there were more of them.
 
Another brief morning visit today. Here are the things I noticed, some of which I almost certainly missed from earlier this week:

Animal Arrivals and Departures
- The Costa Rican tiger-rump tarantula in the Discovery Centre has gone off-show while its exhibit is refurbished (whether for the tarantula or for another species I don't know)

Births
- Had a very good, prolonged view of the three new bush dog pups in the outdoor enclosure with the adults

General Observations
- A small number of butterfly splitfin have now been added in with the tiger barbs in the pool for the slender-snouted crocodile
- Had a great sighting of the new Amur leopard female (Esra), who repeatedly climbed up onto the upper wall of the exhibit to look over at the spider monkeys across the path from her
 
DesertRhino150 said:
For all those minnow fans out there, the male European minnows in the sun bear pool have again developed their breeding colours......
Click to expand...

I visited yesterday and think the minnows in the sun bear pond make a superb exhibit at this time of year (a photo is in the gallery).

I was especially pleased to see a very young blue duiker but, frustratingly, never saw the bush dogs despite waiting patiently for a very long time....
 
Male L’hoest monkey arrived;

We are excited to announce that we have welcomed a new male L’hoest monkey! With World Cup fever taking over the nation, our keepers have named him “Kane” after England’s captain Harry Kane! #worldcup #goodluck #itscominghome
 
Had a great visit today, getting there for 7:30am for the Wake Up! event. Few things to note:

1. 1 buffy headed capuchin born a week ago.
2. 2 eastern crown cranes born recently.
3. 1 blue diuker born recently.
4. 4 smooth coated otters born around 4 weeks ago.
5. There is some climbing apparatus in the aaardvark enclosure, not sure who for though.
 
went today and still no sign of Cedric the male kudu. not seen him for a few weeks now wonder if he has left the zoo. The great grey Owl enclosure has had most of the trees cut back allowing more light into it and more room for owls to flap about. Otto has spilt his horn while he has been away.
 
migdog said:
Had a great visit today, getting there for 7:30am for the Wake Up! event. Few things to note:

1. 1 buffy headed capuchin born a week ago.
2. 2 eastern crown cranes born recently.
3. 1 blue diuker born recently.
4. 4 smooth coated otters born around 4 weeks ago.
5. There is some climbing apparatus in the aaardvark enclosure, not sure who for though.
Click to expand...

6 - It's coming home ;)
 
4ways NAP said:
went today and still no sign of Cedric the male kudu. not seen him for a few weeks now wonder if he has left the zoo. The great grey Owl enclosure has had most of the trees cut back allowing more light into it and more room for owls to flap about. Otto has spilt his horn while he has been away.
Click to expand...

During the talk yesterday the keeper said they only have two female kudu.
 
Badgerman91 said:
Male L’hoest monkey arrived;

We are excited to announce that we have welcomed a new male L’hoest monkey! With World Cup fever taking over the nation, our keepers have named him “Kane” after England’s captain Harry Kane! #worldcup #goodluck #itscominghome
Click to expand...

Now that I think about it, what happened to the new male L'Hoest's monkey that the zoo had a while back? I'm sure they had one living in one of the indoor patas monkey enclosures, before the colobus moved in, with signage saying that they were waiting for their current breeding male to move on before introducing him to the females. Wondering whether they may be the same animal, who has simply been renamed to reflect the World Cup.
 
The zoo website has released an article about the newest blue duiker calf, a male born on 16th June.

Also of interest from the article is the statement that the blue duikers are sharing their exhibit with demoiselle cranes. Certainly on my last visit it was the blue cranes they lived with - I had thought that the demoiselle cranes formerly in Edge of Africa had left quite a while back. So I'm a bit baffled as to what has happened with the cranes in this part of the zoo.

The brief article is included here:
Blue Duiker calf takes their first steps - ZOO NEWS - Colchester Zoo
 
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