Dudley Zoological Gardens Dudley Zoo News 2022

It would be interesting to know how many snowy owls the zoo has currently (it might just be Thunder at the moment) and whether the reason for rebuilding the aviary is that they plan on breeding them. If so then it would follow the same pattern as what they did for the nearby great grey owls a few years ago (although no success with breeding just yet).
 
I only saw Thunder the other day when I visited. It might be a bit early for a female to arrive just yet but I would like to see more breeding between owls and other birds in the collection. :D
 
Just got back from my first visit to Dudley in around 15 years! We had a great day, I thought it would be quite busy but it wasn't too bad.

I was happy to get a good view of the Arctic Fox (am I right thinking there is only one of them now? Anyone know his name?) and the Wolverine. The two lynxes were (somewhat) active, though I didn't manage any decent photos of them.

Sumatran Tiger Daseep seemed to be alone in her enclosure. Both lions were visible, sleeping in the shade. Snow Leopards were both asleep on the high platforms.

I couldn't see any of the chimpanzees either indoors or outdoors on two visits. I also didn't see Benji (Orangutan) on any of my 3 visits to them. The group of 5 had access to the new enclosure, plus all sections of the old outdoor enclosure. Jazz and the two babies seem to be doing well; one of the babies was very alert, grabbing things and looking around - the other spent most of the time I was there sleeping.

On my second time around, the burrowing owl was sitting on the floor right near the fence so it was nice to see one up close. Cassowary was active on both visits.

All in all we had a great day. My main aim was to see the wolverine and arctic fox as I haven't seen either species before (mission complete). I also wanted to see the orangutans, so it was nice to see 5 of the 6.
 
I haven't visited here since summer 2020 when obviously covid measures were in place. This means that many animal houses were closed. I'm aware that there are also new developments. Can anyone tell me any changes to look out for when I visit next week
 
Had a great visit today. I was thinking that although the zoo has some older vlbuildings and is a city zoo it is still one of the best in the UK. Even the older enclosures are perfectly sufficient. The new orangutan enclosure is brilliant. The family group had access today abd jazz kept herself and the babies very well hidden. It is however a shame that the enclosure came at the expense of loosing the painted dog enclosure but regardless it is a better enclosure than I ever expected.

All of the animals showed well today. I perticuparly enjoyed the wolverine but I think that the enclosure is a bit odd. I don't know too much about wolverines but I imagined that they prefer more hilly terrain and I never expected them to climb like Helga was doing. Personally, I would have made the bachelor gelada Baboon enclosure into the wolverine enclosure as I didn't realise they had another bachelor group. The old howler monkey enclosure would then be a sun bear and Binturong mix.

On the subject of Binturongs, the viewing window into the house was covered over so I was guessing a baby perhaps but who knows.

Work on the new giraffe paddock looks to be going well and the whole area now apears to be cleared and flattened

I only saw 6 Penguins which was sad because I remember them having such a large colony here. Does anyone know the future for these Penguins and this enclosure.

The only other change I would make here is the barbary sheep enclosure. I think that the sheep are a great species but the enclosure needs to be a bit bigger so I would move the parma wallabies over to the Wallaby walk enclosure then extend their house along the back of the enclosure and open the enclosure up to the sheep and so then they would have a mixture of substrates with the grass.

The new cassowary enclosure is great. There was maintenance works going on in the aviaries next to the cassowary. All in all a very good day
 
Keelan said:
Had a great visit today. I was thinking that although the zoo has some older vlbuildings and is a city zoo it is still one of the best in the UK. Even the older enclosures are perfectly sufficient. The new orangutan enclosure is brilliant. The family group had access today abd jazz kept herself and the babies very well hidden. It is however a shame that the enclosure came at the expense of loosing the painted dog enclosure but regardless it is a better enclosure than I ever expected.

All of the animals showed well today. I perticuparly enjoyed the wolverine but I think that the enclosure is a bit odd. I don't know too much about wolverines but I imagined that they prefer more hilly terrain and I never expected them to climb like Helga was doing. Personally, I would have made the bachelor gelada Baboon enclosure into the wolverine enclosure as I didn't realise they had another bachelor group. The old howler monkey enclosure would then be a sun bear and Binturong mix.

On the subject of Binturongs, the viewing window into the house was covered over so I was guessing a baby perhaps but who knows.

Work on the new giraffe paddock looks to be going well and the whole area now apears to be cleared and flattened

I only saw 6 Penguins which was sad because I remember them having such a large colony here. Does anyone know the future for these Penguins and this enclosure.

The only other change I would make here is the barbary sheep enclosure. I think that the sheep are a great species but the enclosure needs to be a bit bigger so I would move the parma wallabies over to the Wallaby walk enclosure then extend their house along the back of the enclosure and open the enclosure up to the sheep and so then they would have a mixture of substrates with the grass.

The new cassowary enclosure is great. There was maintenance works going on in the aviaries next to the cassowary. All in all a very good day
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Sounds like a great visit! Very much agree on the sheep. On the wolverine enclosure point Helga in particular was often to be seen quite high up the tree in the enclosure at the back of the main wolverine enclosure at Whipsnade - unlike the trees near the front of the main enclosure that one has no anti climb blocker as it is not near an external fence. I believe in the wild they climb to get birds nests and things. So climbing and moving around different levels does appear to be as fun for them as galloping up and down.
 
Keelan said:
Had a great visit today. I was thinking that although the zoo has some older vlbuildings and is a city zoo it is still one of the best in the UK. Even the older enclosures are perfectly sufficient. The new orangutan enclosure is brilliant. The family group had access today abd jazz kept herself and the babies very well hidden. It is however a shame that the enclosure came at the expense of loosing the painted dog enclosure but regardless it is a better enclosure than I ever expected.

All of the animals showed well today. I perticuparly enjoyed the wolverine but I think that the enclosure is a bit odd. I don't know too much about wolverines but I imagined that they prefer more hilly terrain and I never expected them to climb like Helga was doing. Personally, I would have made the bachelor gelada Baboon enclosure into the wolverine enclosure as I didn't realise they had another bachelor group. The old howler monkey enclosure would then be a sun bear and Binturong mix.

On the subject of Binturongs, the viewing window into the house was covered over so I was guessing a baby perhaps but who knows.

Work on the new giraffe paddock looks to be going well and the whole area now apears to be cleared and flattened

I only saw 6 Penguins which was sad because I remember them having such a large colony here. Does anyone know the future for these Penguins and this enclosure.

The only other change I would make here is the barbary sheep enclosure. I think that the sheep are a great species but the enclosure needs to be a bit bigger so I would move the parma wallabies over to the Wallaby walk enclosure then extend their house along the back of the enclosure and open the enclosure up to the sheep and so then they would have a mixture of substrates with the grass.

The new cassowary enclosure is great. There was maintenance works going on in the aviaries next to the cassowary. All in all a very good day
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We only saw about 3 earlier this yr as they were wiped out by bird flu I think
 
The zoo's three remaining Sulawesi crested macaques, Simon, Sophie and Keke, left Dudley for Drayton Manor Park Zoo earlier this month.

The zoo plans to rest the banked enclosure (on the left-hand side of the chairlift) for a few months before rotating the geladas onto the space.

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I think this is a shame as Sulawesi crested macaques are a great species and their enclosure was superb (although viewing opportunities could have been better). However, the zoo has never held a large number and were successful in breeding them.

In early 2020, the zoo had 6 individuals; Jasmine (aged 14 at the time), Tambo (who left DZC in early 2022 for London Zoo) and a youngster called Keke in the breeding group, as well as Steve, Simon and Sophie in the non-breeding group.



Rotating the geladas again also demonstrates the continuous difficulties of maintaining grassed enclosures holding geladas, especially as the group gets larger and larger.
 
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Benosaurus said:
Rotating the geladas again also demonstrates the continuous difficulties of maintaining grassed enclosures holding geladas, especially as the group gets larger and larger.
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In the wild they are gramnivourous feeders, picking out grass grains on the open highland plateaux where they live, which is why in zoos they denude grass enclosures so quickly..Colchester's Gelada enclosure is also completely bare, whereas at least Dudley rotate theirs. Howletts don't seem to have the same problem but their enclosure is very large. I've not seen Edinburgh's large group but believe their enclosure is very large too.
 
Benosaurus said:
The zoo's three remaining Sulawesi crested macaques, Simon, Sophie and Keke, left Dudley for Drayton Manor Park Zoo earlier this month.

The zoo plans to rest the banked enclosure (on the left-hand side of the chairlift) for a few months before rotating the geladas onto the space.

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I think this is a shame as Sulawesi crested macaques are a great species and their enclosure was superb (although viewing opportunities could have been better). However, the zoo has never held a large number and were successful in breeding them.

In early 2020, the zoo had 6 individuals; Jasmine (aged 14 at the time), Tambo (who left DZC in early 2022 for London Zoo) and a youngster called Keke in the breeding group, as well as Steve, Simon and Sophie in the non-breeding group.



Rotating the geladas again also demonstrates the continuous difficulties of maintaining grassed enclosures holding geladas, especially as the group gets larger and larger.
Click to expand...
Do you think they will be receiving new macaques once the geladas have moved across or is that it for the Sulawesi species being held at Dudley? If it is then this is a shame as I thought they were an iconic animal in Dudley's primate collection.

I am looking forward to see what they do with this empty space on the hill bank.
 
Animallover1998 said:
Do you think they will be receiving new macaques once the geladas have moved across or is that it for the Sulawesi species being held at Dudley? If it is then this is a shame as I thought they were an iconic animal in Dudley's primate collection.

I am looking forward to see what they do with this empty space on the hill bank.
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This is what I was referring to in my previous post as in what will happen to the previous gelada paddock
 
How's about moving the Barbary Sheep to the enclosure and then using thier enclosure for a new species just an idea though
 
AdrianW1963 said:
How's about moving the Barbary Sheep to the enclosure and then using thier enclosure for a new species just an idea though
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Echoing the enthusiasm for that it would be much better for the sheep to have some more room and it would make for great viewing too as they are large enough to see in the space (was a bit hard to see the macaques though a good enclosure for them so hard to begrudge it!).
 
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