Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo News 2023

FBBird said:
This zoo gets less and less attractive for the bird enthusiast….
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Aside from the lone Darwin's rhea, I think the other two bird species that left the zoo in 2022 were domestic species - there were domestic guineafowl, turkeys and fantail doves in the children's zoo in recent times, none of which remain there now. So although it is a bit of a loss, for the most part the exotic bird collection remains unchanged.

That being said, I would give anything to get a small passerine of some kind in the Feathers of the Forest display.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
I don't think there are any golden lion tamarins left in the Worlds Apart walkthrough - their area is now signed for the pied tamarins (of which I saw one in the farthest indoor area today).
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The signs for Pied Tamarins were what made me think about it, do you know what might have happened with this successful breeding group? I can't really think of a reason that they might have departed the collection or moved off show as I thought they were doing quite well, did they perhaps move to the Rainforest Walkthrough?
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
The signs for Pied Tamarins were what made me think about it, do you know what might have happened with this successful breeding group? I can't really think of a reason that they might have departed the collection or moved off show as I thought they were doing quite well, did they perhaps move to the Rainforest Walkthrough?
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Rainforest Walkthrough had the same primates as it normally does - coppery titi monkeys (I counted three) and golden-headed lion tamarins (I saw two).

As for the larger group of golden lion tamarins, I have no idea what has happened to them.
 
Went for another visit to Colchester Zoo today. Very little has obviously changed, but these are some things I noticed:

- Saw all three tamanduas awake, including the new youngster.

- Walked around the cylindrical reef tank in Orangutan Forest several times, but couldn't see the blackspot pufferfish Arothron nigropunctatus at all - it was definitely there last visit and has always been quite easy to see.

- The Komodo dragons were being fed today; they were given halved muntjac deer carcasses.

- Although some birds are still off-show due to avian flu (the blue cranes, lorikeets and flamingos), the ostriches and crowned cranes were being allowed out into their main paddocks.
 
On February 1st 2023, Sasha the Burmese python was put to sleep after she was diagnosed with incurable kidney problems.

Colchester have already announced they will no longer house Burmese pythons, and their current enclosure in Wilds of Asia will become home to the zoo's green anacondas. In the future, plans will be made for the current anaconda enclosure in Worlds Apart.

More information can be found in the link below:
Colchester Zoo saddened to announce the passing of Sasha the Burmese Python | Colchester Zoo
 
DesertRhino150 said:
On February 1st 2023, Sasha the Burmese python was put to sleep after she was diagnosed with incurable kidney problems.

Colchester have already announced they will no longer house Burmese pythons, and their current enclosure in Wilds of Asia will become home to the zoo's green anacondas. In the future, plans will be made for the current anaconda enclosure in Worlds Apart.

More information can be found in the link below:
Colchester Zoo saddened to announce the passing of Sasha the Burmese Python | Colchester Zoo
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Anaconda in the Wilds Of Asia ......
 
DesertRhino150 said:
On February 1st 2023, Sasha the Burmese python was put to sleep after she was diagnosed with incurable kidney problems.

Colchester have already announced they will no longer house Burmese pythons, and their current enclosure in Wilds of Asia will become home to the zoo's green anacondas. In the future, plans will be made for the current anaconda enclosure in Worlds Apart.

More information can be found in the link below:
Colchester Zoo saddened to announce the passing of Sasha the Burmese Python | Colchester Zoo
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Another loss to the reptile collection!

I had noticed that the smaller male had disappeared at some point last year leaving just the one python. Here’s hoping that a new species of reptile is housed in worlds apart!
 
Alwaysevergreen said:
Anaconda in the Wilds Of Asia ......
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And if they are the snakes from Worlds Apart, even worse, I've always liked that first enclosure as you enter the building...
Keeper for the Day | Colchester Zoo
The zoo have also announced a change to the Keeper for the Day experiences- schemes A, B, C have been replaced by Creatures Great and Small, Weird and Wonderful Wildlife. Some species will be gone from KFTD, some will be kept, and a few new ones will be introduced. They have also redesigned the experiences section of the website a bit.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
On February 1st 2023, Sasha the Burmese python was put to sleep after she was diagnosed with incurable kidney problems.

Colchester have already announced they will no longer house Burmese pythons, and their current enclosure in Wilds of Asia will become home to the zoo's green anacondas. In the future, plans will be made for the current anaconda enclosure in Worlds Apart.

More information can be found in the link below:
Colchester Zoo saddened to announce the passing of Sasha the Burmese Python | Colchester Zoo
Click to expand...
A very sad loss. I remember, on my most recent visit, seeing her very actively swimming in front of the crystal-clear underwater viewing. It was quite the special experience. I wasn't sure whether or not I had ever seen a snake swimming so actively before in a zoo; certainly not one of that size and certainly not with such clear underwater viewing. Along with my first bearded saki, it was perhaps the highlight of my entire visit, something that, barring the most exciting rarities, you can rarely ever say about reptiles given how inactive they usually are. Colchester won't be the same without its Burmese Pythons...
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
And if they are the snakes from Worlds Apart, even worse, I've always liked that first enclosure as you enter the building...
Keeper for the Day | Colchester Zoo
The zoo have also announced a change to the Keeper for the Day experiences- schemes A, B, C have been replaced by Creatures Great and Small, Weird and Wonderful Wildlife. Some species will be gone from KFTD, some will be kept, and a few new ones will be introduced. They have also redesigned the experiences section of the website a bit.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, the new Keeper experiences are poor. Some of the more interesting animals removed, i,e Hyena's and so on. I also don't get the split, as neither fit the descriptions of weird and wonderful or creatures great and small. Certainly no new species on the KFAD. 15 Species has disbanded into 10.
 
Alwaysevergreen said:
In my opinion, the new Keeper experiences are poor. Some of the more interesting animals removed, i,e Hyena's and so on. I also don't get the split, as neither fit the descriptions of weird and wonderful or creatures great and small. Certainly no new species on the KFAD. 15 Species has disbanded into 10.
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New species for KFAD are Anteaters and Aardvarks, and although some of the lost species still have experiences elsewhere (Keeper Shadowing, maybe the Extra Ordinary Experience), I certainly agree with you that this doesn't seem too great of a change.
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
New species for KFAD are Anteaters and Aardvarks, and although some of the lost species still have experiences elsewhere (Keeper Shadowing, maybe the Extra Ordinary Experience), I certainly agree with you that this doesn't seem too great of a change.
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ahh ok, I always thought aardvarks were in the experience and anteaters have definitely been in the KFAD in the past as I met them as part of the experience in 2018
 
Alwaysevergreen said:
ahh ok, I always thought aardvarks were in the experience and anteaters have definitely been in the KFAD in the past as I met them as part of the experience in 2018
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Oh ok, sorry, I was just going off what it says at the moment for Keeper for the Day on the website (link I posted), which doesn't include either of those species, so your judgement if probably more trustworthy, though Aardvarks are also in Keeper Shadowing.
 
I went for a visit this morning to Colchester Zoo, which was pretty busy considering that it is currently February Break. This is what I noticed:

Species Arrivals, Departments and Movements
- The old Caribbean marine aquarium in Worlds Apart has now been redeveloped and stocked as a South American freshwater aquarium - it has three new species, the penguin tetra (Thayeria boehlkei), glowlight tetra (Hemigrammus erythrozonus) and lemon tetra (Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis) as well as the zoo's existing bronze cories (Corydoras aeneus).

- Less good news, but the display of five African cichlid species has been removed from Koi Niwa and they have been replaced with a number of young koi carp.

- The green anaconda has already moved over to Wilds of Asia, with their enclosure in Worlds Apart now home to a male Fiji banded iguana (three females/youngsters are still in the current banded iguana enclosure within the building).

- The lack of signage indicates that the blue duiker has now moved out of their second enclosure near the giant anteaters.

Births
- The new white rhino calf was outside this morning, which meant that all the other animals were shut inside the house.

Developments
- I think a few more foundations have been dug in the former wild dog enclosure, but there is no indication what it might be for.

- Although there was no signage indicating a change was coming, I did notice that the blue-tongued skink tank in Kingdom of the Wild has had several branches added (which would be useless for a ground-dwelling skink) which makes me think something will be either mixed with or replacing the skink.

- Not sure if it's anything to do with the above, but at the building site for the outdoor eating area between the elephant and Kingdom of the Wild houses the development sign includes a stylised picture of a chameleon - the other development signs I saw all had species from the zoo, such as the leopard, depicted on them. Not suggesting chameleons will replace the outdoor eating area, but hopefully it indicates they may arrive somewhere fairly soon.

- The former pied tamarin indoor enclosure (viewed near the indoor pond in Worlds Apart) has been turned back into an access route from outdoors into the indoor area.

- Lots of little developments are continuing, including the area where the former gold panning activity was (between Koi Niwa and the elephant house).

General Observations
- The giant Asian pond turtle was easily visible today in Orangutan Forest.

- The Chilean flamingos have been let out of their housing and are now back on the lake, having been shut in as protection against avian flu.

- A lot of the animals were extremely active today - the large breeding groups of gelada and L'Hoest's monkey were particularly good to watch.
 
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DesertRhino150 said:
I went for a visit this morning to Colchester Zoo, which was pretty busy considering that it is currently February Break. This is what I noticed:

Species Arrivals, Departments and Movements
- The old Caribbean marine aquarium in Worlds Apart has now been redeveloped and stocked as a South American freshwater aquarium - it has three new species, the penguin tetra (Thayeria boehlkei), glowlight tetra (Hemigrammus erythrozonus) and lemon tetra (Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis) as well as the zoo's existing bronze cories (Corydoras aeneus).

- Less good news, but the display of five African cichlid species has been removed from Koi Niwa and they have been replaced with a number of young koi carp.

- The green anaconda has already moved over to Wilds of Asia, with their enclosure in Worlds Apart now home to a male Fiji banded iguana (three females/youngsters are still in the current banded iguana enclosure within the building).

- The lack of signage indicates that the blue duiker has now moved out of their second enclosure near the giant anteaters.

Births
- The new white rhino calf was outside this morning, which meant that all the other animals were shut inside the house.

Developments
- I think a few more foundations have been dug in the former wild dog enclosure, but there is no indication what it might be for.

- Although there was no signage indicating a change was coming, I did notice that the blue-tongued skink tank in Kingdom of the Wild has had several branches added (which would be useless for a ground-dwelling skink) which makes me think something will be either mixed with or replacing the skink.

- Not sure if it's anything to do with the above, but at the building site for the outdoor eating area between the elephant and Kingdom of the Wild houses the development sign includes a stylised picture of a chameleon - the other development signs I saw all had species from the zoo, such as the leopard, depicted on them. Not suggesting chameleons will replace the outdoor eating area, but hopefully it indicates they may arrive somewhere fairly soon.

- Lots of little developments are continuing, including the area where the former gold panning activity was (between Koi Niwa and the elephant house).

General Observations
- The giant Asian pond turtle was easily visible today in Orangutan Forest.

- The Chilean flamingos have been let out of their housing and are now back on the lake, having been shut in as protection against avian flu.

- A lot of the animals were extremely active today - the large breeding groups of gelada and L'Hoest's monkey were particularly good to watch.
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Thanks for the updates as always, good to hear all of these changes moving along (although some seemingly more all around positive than others), and it's great that Scooter is regularly visible to zoochatters again now. Also about Kingdom of The Wild I think it might be worth mentioning that the zoo announced on their Instagram today that they plan to make a cactus garden in the building, which I would assume would be along the east wall of terrariums (some currently open air with just plants in, part of the redevelopments that occurred on the top floor not so long ago) on the top floor.
 
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