Chester Zoo Chester Zoo News 2023

Chester always insisted that they had Mountain Gorillas. :p Noelle the female had a phantom pregnancy in 1969, dashing Chester's hopes of a UK first gorilla birth.
 
Chester always insisted that they had Mountain Gorillas. :p Noelle the female had a phantom pregnancy in 1969, dashing Chester's hopes of a UK first gorilla birth.

Wouldn't it be more accurate to say they initially described them as Mountain Goriila but subsequently reassigned them to Eastern Lowland? If someone has access to old Annual Reports that might clarify.
 
Chester first published an animal inventory in the 1978 Annual Report. Mukisi was listed as Eastern Lowland Gorilla until his departure in 1985.
 
I wonder when the Sifaka will be allowed out again; the little one looks small enough to squeeze through the fence. Also the tree kangaroo joey should be hopping out of the pouch soo; only saw it's head and a stray hand/paw when I visited.
 
I know it’s an odd question but does anyone know why they didn’t move all the lemurs to the Madagascar exhibit
 
I've uploaded some pictures of the baby Sifaka in the gallery for Chester Zoo. Plus some other primates and a Red Panda seen the other day. I don't know how to post them in a thread, otherwise I would have posted below.
 
I know it’s an odd question but does anyone know why they didn’t move all the lemurs to the Madagascar exhibit

The older ones who are a bit more jumpy and would try and jump on the public are on the Lemur Island, as they don't want people touching the Lemurs or trying to feed them. The Gentle Lemurs are where they are as they wouldn't suit the walk-through. Red Bellied Lemurs are on the Island.

In the Walkthrough there are 8 Ring-Tailed Lemurs, 3 White & Black Belted Lemur, 3 Red Belted Lemur, 2 Crowned Lemur & 2 Black Lemur.
 
The older ones who are a bit more jumpy and would try and jump on the public are on the Lemur Island, as they don't want people touching the Lemurs or trying to feed them. The Gentle Lemurs are where they are as they wouldn't suit the walk-through. Red Bellied Lemurs are on the Island.

In the Walkthrough there are 8 Ring-Tailed Lemurs, 3 White & Black Belted Lemur, 3 Red Belted Lemur, 2 Crowned Lemur & 2 Black Lemur.
I think there are 5 red ruffed lemurs rather than 3 red belted lemurs in the walk through. Also, there were 3 black lemurs unless its changed recently. The black lemurs and white and black belted lemurs are the male off spring of the breeding pairs by the old cheetah enclosure. The only breeding pair in the walk through are the crowned lemurs, all the rest are males.
 
I think there are 5 red ruffed lemurs rather than 3 red belted lemurs in the walk through. Also, there were 3 black lemurs unless its changed recently. The black lemurs and white and black belted lemurs are the male off spring of the breeding pairs by the old cheetah enclosure. The only breeding pair in the walk through are the crowned lemurs, all the rest are males.

Hi Derek,
I was with the primates team on Wednesday and we done the feeding run for the lemurs. There may have been 3 black lemurs come to think of it, but the other numbers are correct as met them all in the houses where they are fed.

The keeper did say one black lemur is a bit reserved, so it may have been 2 were in for food and one stayed back until we were gone, but it’s definitely 3 red ruffed, 3 black and white belted , 8 ring-tailed and 2 crowned .
Yes they are all offspring bar the Crowned, all the parents are either by the Lemur island, or down by the Tamandua.
 
Hi Derek,
I was with the primates team on Wednesday and we done the feeding run for the lemurs. There may have been 3 black lemurs come to think of it, but the other numbers are correct as met them all in the houses where they are fed.

The keeper did say one black lemur is a bit reserved, so it may have been 2 were in for food and one stayed back until we were gone, but it’s definitely 3 red ruffed, 3 black and white belted , 8 ring-tailed and 2 crowned .
Yes they are all offspring bar the Crowned, all the parents are either by the Lemur island, or down by the Tamandua.
Thanks for that , I stand corrected. There were 5 some months ago but things don't stand still; there use to be 3 named after the Weasley brothers from Harry Potter plus Mushu and Maoan. I use to try and get as much info from the zoo rangers that are stationed in the walk through.
What was the experience like and which areas did you venture into.
 
Well I observed dash and kasarna mating on my visit in December but who knows if she's pregnant because tigers do a really good job at hiding pregnancy I vaguely remember spending ages to figure out whether kirana (kasarna's mother ) was pregnant with her litters of cubs she had from 2011 to 2015
 
I’ve spent most of today around the Tigers and only Dash is out. I’ve not seen Kasarna on my last two visits. Not looking too much into it but hoping she may be pregnant! More tiger Cubs at Chester would be great.
 
Hopefully we'll have cubs soon and bare In mind kasarna is a very elusive tiger and dash is quite an outgoing tiger
 
Any news re the tigers? Are Chester expecting cubs anytime soon following the male’s arrival last year?

@Alwaysevergreen You seem to be in the know with these things.

All I can say is at this moment in time Kasarna is not pregnant. They are getting on very well but Dash is still rather young, and they have only been together a short time.

I was with the Carnivore team at the start of January for a keeper experience and I raised the question of cubs then and the response was they are hoping they will breed and they have permission to breed but it's still early days.

They said they would like cubs this year, but gave the impression it would not be early in the year.

I had heard off some people prior to doing that experience that Kasarna may have been pregnant, which was my reason for asking them and they pretty much made it clear that she was not pregnant and it wouldn't be until early summer at the earliest that they would hope for cubs.

We didn't do much with the Tigers that day, as Kasarna doesn't like strangers (and men!) and Dash came out to see us when we went to view them, but we had no food, so he didn't stay long.

I can't help any more than that, but the carnivore team whilst saying permission to breed is active and they would like cubs, it's still early days and if it happens this year, it would be a bonus.

Hope that helps somewhat.

I am not in the know at all, re Chester. I have just done all their keeper experiences over the last 6/7 months, so can only go from what I heard whilst doing them with each section and what they told me / saw.

One animal that will be having a baby this year is K'Tusha. She is pregnant and is due to have a baby (Okapi) in May/June.
 
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