Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo news 2022

Rajang-GOAT said:
I have never really been sure what to think of their ages, given I am not familiar with any other Sealions in zoos, although I have visited Longleat, and spent some time watching Banham's pair(?) only 3 weeks ago. Consequently I only judged their ages off Colchester's information board, which said Patagonian Sealions can be expected to live to 25 years. I do agree with what you have said however, and these Sealions are now some of Colchester's oldest and longest residents, I am well revised in The Story of Colchester Zoo so I know all of that, but I don't remember the ages of Pat, Agola, and Nia being mentioned?
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I’m more familiar with California sea lions, which we used to have at two facilities in New Zealand. Both facilities had several that died in their early 20’s (neither facility had one reach 25 years); while of those that survived the neonate stage, several died between young adulthood to late teens. Many of these died anaesthetic, which seems to be a difficult balancing act in this species.

Hopefully their sea lions have a few years left in them at least. To have all five reach they age they did when Milan died was impressive; and the remaining four are still going strong.
 
The Hedgehog said:
@Zoofan15 I am not sure where your getting your information from. Both Colchester Zoo and @Rajang-GOAT have said that it’s Paris who has passed away and not Milan.
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It’s called making a mistake - something that’s not difficult to do when you’re low on sleep and are discussing five female sea lions each with a city name.

If you notice stuff like this in the future, hit the report button on the offending post as I have just done and a mod can edit it.
 
Zoofan15 said:
If you notice stuff like this in the future, hit the report button on the offending post as I have just done and a mod can edit it.
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We edit spelling errors and other such things - we don't retrospectively remove peoples factual errors so that they save face when someone has corrected them :P
 
I went on a visit to Colchester Zoo yesterday morning - it was unpleasantly hot (although nothing compared to today) and there was very little to report:

- The spotted hyaena development has continued and a glass viewing window is now in place - the viewing area has extended out over what once was the separating hedge. The hyaenas were visible and out in their enclosure.

- There has been an alpaca calf born; I have only just realised from the zoo's website that the birth has already been announced and the young identified as a male.
Little Louis | Colchester Zoo

- Most of the reptiles that have access to an outdoor enclosure were making the most of it, with the Aldabra giant tortoises, green iguanas, yellow-footed tortoises and slender-snouted crocodile all outside.

- It was interesting to see how the different primates were behaving today - the orangutans were more active than I have ever seen them (they justified going up to the upper viewing platform in the indoor area), several of the chimpanzees came into their outdoor enclosure (I have never seen more than one out since the new outdoor space opened) but equally all of the mandrills and L'Hoest's monkeys remained in their off-show areas.
 
Visited yesterday and only noticed two aardvarks. Asked one of the train drivers and he said the offspring had been moved to Jersey Zoo on Wednesday or Thursday. At the Wake Up with Colchester Zoo event I also heard a member of staff saying they believe the alpha female bush dog is pregnant.

I was told a few weeks back that the alpacas were both pregnant but only one has had one so far but they’ve sheared both of them. Anyone know if maybe they lost the baby?
 
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A king vulture chick successfully hatched at Colchester Zoo on 21st June.

The king vulture pair (male Martin, born in February 2002 at Frankfurt Zoo and female Midas, born in 1992) have produced fertile eggs for the past three years but each time Martin has shunned parenting duties and the chick hasn't survived. To ensure success this time, Martin has been moved off-show and the chick is being reared by Midas alone. The adult pair will be reunited around the time that the chick fledges, at three or four months old.

More information can be found in the link below:
A Cracking New Arrival | Colchester Zoo
 
Can the next Zoochatter to visit Colchester Zoo,please enquire about African Elephants arriving or departing?
 
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I went for a brief visit earlier this morning; this is what I noticed:

- The hyaena redevelopment is now open - the visitors can get much closer to the exhibit and a fairly low glass barrier put up where the hedge separating the enclosure from the visitor viewing area used to be

- One of the Victoria crowned pigeons is still sitting on a nest close to the exit of Feathers of the Forest

- The prehensile-tailed skink's enclosure has been repaired and the animals are back on-show again

- The old tamarin enclosure by the Amur leopard indoor area has been ripped out almost completely now

- The primates were, for the most part, slightly more active than on my last trip - the orangutans were all moving around and active, the mandrills and L'Hoest's monkeys were both using the shady parts of their outdoor enclosure and, for the first time since I have been visiting the zoo, I saw several of the spider monkeys at the very top of the live trees in their enclosure
 
DesertRhino150 said:
The hyaena redevelopment is now open - the visitors can get much closer to the exhibit and a fairly low glass barrier put up where the hedge separating the enclosure from the visitor viewing area used to be
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I'd love to see any photos of this if you have any please?
 
The zoo has announced on their facebook page that from the 15th September they will no longer be offering the opportunity to hand feed their elephants. This is due to temporary changes in protocol and procedures. I wonder what has caused this change?
 
There's not much point of going over my entire visit on the 1st of June now, but I'll cover relevant news:


From my visit: It was a good day, and unusually the normally more showy species were outshadowed by the smaller characters.


New Playa Patagonia toilets finished, and I realised that the new Penguin experience platform is in Inca Trail, and still no developments in Penguin Shores, there were also nesting Penguins in Inca Trail.


I noticed and can now confirm that a 2nd adult female Cherry Crowned Mangabey to join the existing family of 3, and they were breeding when I visited.


Bearded Saki are now present in both their original Heart of The Amazon enclosure and Inca Trail, and the 2nd Heart of The Amazon primate enclosure seems quite overgrown, with all of the windows except one boarded up with information boards, though I'm sure the Squirrel Monkeys must still be there.

I have concluded that the enclosure near the entrance with Spider Monkey signage must be a spare or quarantine enclosure, as I noticed a L'hoest monkey in there, and in a recent edition of their Zoo Life magazine, it was announced that the first EU animal transfer since Brexit took place on the 6th April 2022, when male L'Hoest monkey Mowgli moved from Colchester to Budapest Zoo, around months after the breeding recommendation for the transfer came in (the article also provided interesting stats about Eu/UK transfers since Brexit). I was wondering if the individual/s I saw were related to this sort of activity, or maybe the enclosure just functions as an off show place to house animals, though there was still a "Have you Herd" sign on the barriers hiding the area, suggesting it will be something on show.

Regarding the Pygmy Hippos, the first enclosure being reconstructed seems to be 100% complete, in the same state I saw it in April, but I saw Freddy exploring the enclosure, and even wading in the now full pool. I am not sure what is happening with the original enclosure that was nowhere near finished development last time I checked, but hopefully I will soon find out.

I also saw the Spotted Hyena viewing being redeveloped, into its new glass form which I'm sure will be very different to the glassless Edge Of Africa enclosures I'm used to, and I have to say I thought Edge Of Africa was an area of the zoo I would happily see unchanged for a while, though I'm sure this will be a good change for Hyenas in particular. One thing that I do like from this though, is the modern way the zoo have begin to display things on the TV boards as you walk in the zoo this development being an example.

I saw many animals that wouldn't normally be a highlight: like all 6 Rhinos together, the Fiji Banded Iguana in Worlds Apart, the Capuchins being very active, an active Caroline the Slender- Snouted Crocodile, Good pictures from an active Bearded Saki, Chimps as usual, penguins and Cherry Crowned Mangabeys as I mentioned above, the Warthogs- ironically (I saw this years youngsters), Dik dik, and Cheetah.

Looking again now, the Hyena renovation does partly make sense, the enclosure itself is not at the same elevation as others in Edge of Africa, so installing glass would be an improvement and not particularly difficult. Also in this area the trees were covered in those silk caterpillars that tend to be present this time of year.

I also saw Tanya in the pool in the cow paddock, the remaining Smooth Coated otters, a lot more of the cleaning up and trimmed trees I mentioned in April, and a family of Canada Geese consisting of a pair a their offspring at the newly refurbished Scoop and Go ice cream shop near the Elephant house.

The main highlight however, was an excellent view of the Babary Macaques and two babies, before the second was even announced.

In other news: I am very happy with how positive things are going forward for the zoo at the moment, in terms of conservation, developments in the zoo, and the publicity in general, and I look forward to the coming months and the 60th anniversary celebrations next year. However, coverage and news of animals is still not always dependable, as it took me to find out from the Instagram of Zoo Krefeld, that Southern Tamandua offspring Tomsk born at Colchester Zoo to Oreo and Ruth has now moved to Zoo Krefeld. Another thing to mention is that I imagine the halt in elephant feedings might be partly because of Tanya and Opal being planned to move to Protected Contact.
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
There's not much point of going over my entire visit on the 1st of June now, but I'll cover relevant news:


From my visit: It was a good day, and unusually the normally more showy species were outshadowed by the smaller characters.


New Playa Patagonia toilets finished, and I realised that the new Penguin experience platform is in Inca Trail, and still no developments in Penguin Shores, there were also nesting Penguins in Inca Trail.


I noticed and can now confirm that a 2nd adult female Cherry Crowned Mangabey to join the existing family of 3, and they were breeding when I visited.


Bearded Saki are now present in both their original Heart of The Amazon enclosure and Inca Trail, and the 2nd Heart of The Amazon primate enclosure seems quite overgrown, with all of the windows except one boarded up with information boards, though I'm sure the Squirrel Monkeys must still be there.

I have concluded that the enclosure near the entrance with Spider Monkey signage must be a spare or quarantine enclosure, as I noticed a L'hoest monkey in there, and in a recent edition of their Zoo Life magazine, it was announced that the first EU animal transfer since Brexit took place on the 6th April 2022, when male L'Hoest monkey Mowgli moved from Colchester to Budapest Zoo, around months after the breeding recommendation for the transfer came in (the article also provided interesting stats about Eu/UK transfers since Brexit). I was wondering if the individual/s I saw were related to this sort of activity, or maybe the enclosure just functions as an off show place to house animals, though there was still a "Have you Herd" sign on the barriers hiding the area, suggesting it will be something on show.

Regarding the Pygmy Hippos, the first enclosure being reconstructed seems to be 100% complete, in the same state I saw it in April, but I saw Freddy exploring the enclosure, and even wading in the now full pool. I am not sure what is happening with the original enclosure that was nowhere near finished development last time I checked, but hopefully I will soon find out.

I also saw the Spotted Hyena viewing being redeveloped, into its new glass form which I'm sure will be very different to the glassless Edge Of Africa enclosures I'm used to, and I have to say I thought Edge Of Africa was an area of the zoo I would happily see unchanged for a while, though I'm sure this will be a good change for Hyenas in particular. One thing that I do like from this though, is the modern way the zoo have begin to display things on the TV boards as you walk in the zoo this development being an example.

I saw many animals that wouldn't normally be a highlight: like all 6 Rhinos together, the Fiji Banded Iguana in Worlds Apart, the Capuchins being very active, an active Caroline the Slender- Snouted Crocodile, Good pictures from an active Bearded Saki, Chimps as usual, penguins and Cherry Crowned Mangabeys as I mentioned above, the Warthogs- ironically (I saw this years youngsters), Dik dik, and Cheetah.

Looking again now, the Hyena renovation does partly make sense, the enclosure itself is not at the same elevation as others in Edge of Africa, so installing glass would be an improvement and not particularly difficult. Also in this area the trees were covered in those silk caterpillars that tend to be present this time of year.

I also saw Tanya in the pool in the cow paddock, the remaining Smooth Coated otters, a lot more of the cleaning up and trimmed trees I mentioned in April, and a family of Canada Geese consisting of a pair a their offspring at the newly refurbished Scoop and Go ice cream shop near the Elephant house.

The main highlight however, was an excellent view of the Babary Macaques and two babies, before the second was even announced.

In other news: I am very happy with how positive things are going forward for the zoo at the moment, in terms of conservation, developments in the zoo, and the publicity in general, and I look forward to the coming months and the 60th anniversary celebrations next year. However, coverage and news of animals is still not always dependable, as it took me to find out from the Instagram of Zoo Krefeld, that Southern Tamandua offspring Tomsk born at Colchester Zoo to Oreo and Ruth has now moved to Zoo Krefeld. Another thing to mention is that I imagine the halt in elephant feedings might be partly because of Tanya and Opal being planned to move to Protected Contact.
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I hope you enjoyed your visit.:)

Did you manage to find out anything re. their elephants?
 
Jambo said:
I hope you enjoyed your visit.:)

Did you manage to find out anything re. their elephants?
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This was in June (I know I'm slow, I'm working on it), and I got close but didn't find a great opportunity to ask, which is more difficult now elephant feeds are more private, and when I did find out about A.I being considered, and about there being plans to move Tanya and Opal to Protected contact back in April, it was from asking a fairly new Aardvark keeper during my Aardvark Keeper Shadowing. However, after Linton today, there is a very high chance I will finally visit again tomorrow, and hopefully I will be able to find out something- I wouldn't be sure of me though. If not tomorrow, I will hopefully have an elephant feed (could be tomorrow, probably not) before they stop, and probably visit on at least one late night opening.
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
This was in June (I know I'm slow, I'm working on it), and I got close but didn't find a great opportunity to ask, which is more difficult now elephant feeds are more private, and when I did find out about A.I being considered, and about there being plans to move Tanya and Opal to Protected contact back in April, it was from asking a fairly new Aardvark keeper during my Aardvark Keeper Shadowing. However, after Linton today, there is a very high chance I will finally visit again tomorrow, and hopefully I will be able to find out something- I wouldn't be sure of me though. If not tomorrow, I will hopefully have an elephant feed (could be tomorrow, probably not) before they stop, and probably visit on at least one late night opening.
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That’s alright. Hopefully you can dig out something then tomorrow. It’ll be interesting to know Colchester’s plans especially as they now have a non reproductive herd.
 
First visit to Colchester today - five zoos this week so far and realised I’ve seen all the sub species of bears in captivity in the U.K. (after the sun bears today) this week which was a fun note.

Quite a confusing layout to navigate around but managed to see things by a bit of back tracking and taking a photo of the map (the advice to use the app is moot as the signal inside the zoo is awful and no one I asked had a wi fi password that worked).

Liked the amount of places to pick up a drink and the green initiatives such as replacing all plastic water bottles with plant based containers. Good facilities all round really and welcome given the warm day and a few hills. The car park was nearly full when I arrived before 11 but like YWP there was enough space to thin the crowds out. It was still pretty busy but not unpleasantly so.

Overall I was impressed by the size and variety of the collection and the good percentage of interesting and well designed exhibits. Particular highlight for me was the rainforest area with an active sloth and the small free roaming primates - just delightful. Spent far too long in there but it was awesome. The sloth dangling overhead and moving about made my whole trip.

I liked the alternative viewing at different levels for the bears, wolves, gelada and chimps in particular - lots to have a look at. Enjoyed seeing two types of otter too. They’ve done a good job of designing enclosures at different elevations.

Not sure how keen I am on the vast amount of glass at every enclosure as it’s a tad harder for photographs but it does offer some excellent views of the animals.

After hyenas slept through my other visits this week I got some very active hyena today which was great. Was great to see them from a viewing platform without a barrier - that was another treat. Wasn’t sure if they have access to more space than they were in though as it seemed a bit small in comparison to other areas.

Also impressed by the viewing areas for the mandrills which were a highlight animal today for me. The variety of primates is excellent overall.

Enjoyed seeing the condors.

Another stand out for the day were the pair of greater Kudu in the mixed area with the rhinos, cranes, ostriches and zebra - great viewing angles.

The African elephants were impressive and active. Some well placed seating around their enclosure too - I really enjoy zoos that offer seating near enclosures so you can pause and just view the animals vs being on the 30 seconds and next anima tick box conveyer.

Enjoyed the vultures but they didn’t seem to have the largest enclosure.

Missed the painted dogs, penguins and the orangutangs - simply couldn’t find them or went the wrong way or something. And I went back and forth to find the bush dogs and then gave up. Still I caught most other things - I was glad they were open until 6!

The lion enclosure seems a bit dated but it was good to read the solo lion is settling into his routine after the death of the female. The helpful printed notices spoke about how they are caring for him which I thought was good. Likewise the wolf enclosure wasn’t very imaginative and it seemed a bit sparse planting / cover wise. Interesting elevation views but a bit generic as a space.

The tigers seemed to have some good enclosures with lots of cover and platforms, though it was hard to understand who had access to what bit and who was out or not. Got some good views nonetheless by following the ‘oohs’ of people who had found one. The nearby spotted deer were a lot of fun.

Enjoyed the quality of the signage and information at the enclosures in general and thought it was well done.

Will definitely plan to visit again.
 
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