Dudley Zoological Gardens Dudley Zoo News 2023
- Thread starter Benosaurus
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Alwaysevergreen
Well-Known Member
Nice to see that they have recovered to near pre covid levels.
Alwaysevergreen
Well-Known Member
Pandaboi
Well-Known Member
Would anyone know about the chimpanzee called Josie who born at Dudley in 1988? She was notn on the 20th February and moved to Twycross on the 15th august 1988. Would anyone know who her parents were? On the studbook her parents ID’s are 10771 and 10777. But I can’t find the names of them.
The father of 'Josie' was called 'Pepe' and her mother was called 'Bella'.
Pandaboi
Well-Known Member
Thank you !
Do you know where they are now / if they died ?
'Pepe' died at Dudley Zoo in 2005. 'Bella' died at London Zoo in 2003. This information can be found in the studbook if you use the PDF search function. By typing in the studbook number of the parent animals, you will be able to find them listed in the historical listings section of the studbook.
Pandaboi
Well-Known Member
I didn’t know you could do that, thank you very much for that information and the about the chimps.
Do they list the race or subspecies of each chimp- where known- in the studbook ?.
Strathmorezoo
Well-Known Member
I visited yesterday (Monday 31st July) and, despite some rain from midday onwards, it was a thoroughly enjoyable trip. I haven't been since late January so I noticed a lot of changes.
Lots of new visually appealing and interactive signage gives the zoo a much more modern feel. For July it was surprisingly quiet with not too many people around. I'm not entirely sure on when all of these changes were made so I'll note down things I've noticed since my last visit.
The flamingo enclosure is completely netted over and the main viewing area is under cover and has a walkthrough aviary feel too it.
The building work on the bush dog enclosure looks promising, lots of the fencing has been removed and they looked to be building fairly decent sized house for them. While I must say I was slightly surprised at them building a new bush dog enclosure as it wasn't exactly bad, I certainly won't complain. Hopefully we'll get some glass viewing windows so they'll be easier to photograph. The stairs from the outdoor tiger viewing to the indoor viewing was closed for the building to take place but you could still access both areas, at least in the morning, but you'd have to walk around the bush dog enclosure to get there.
The red panda enclosure looks fantastic, especially with a window looking into a new shelter for them, though I'm not sure whether they'll choose to go in there rather than their other, more private shelters without public viewing. I only saw 1 red panda each time I looked.
The giraffe house was closed in the morning but they were shut out and eating browse. Later on in the day, they were given access to the house and it was open for the public too. The extension looked complete and the giraffe appeared to be allowed access but neither of them went in. I'll admit it's not the most visually appealing enclosure but it gives the giraffes much more space so I can't complain. The only viewing into the extension was through glass windows in a new viewing area built inside the house, which looks great with new signage and giraffes painted on the walls and a new training wall for them. You can also see through the access gates into the extension. Viewing for the extension isn't great for visitors but if it means that Dudley can continue to keep giraffe for many years in the future then I'm satisfied, and they will certainly still use the main paddock out the front too. I didn't ask but it certainly seems suitable for another 2 or possibly 3 giraffes with more indoor and outdoor space for them.
Earlier in the day I only saw 1 snow leopard asleep on one of the raised platforms but later on they were both awake and together right in front of the viewing window which was a real treat to see. It was great to see them together after so much time.
No sign of the palm civet but the binturong were both outside. The parma wallaby enclosure looks fantastic with viewing windows all along the front and a few of them were sitting right in front of them which gave us a great view. Both anteaters appeared to be asleep indoors. The cassowary was in the smaller enclosure on the right but was right in front of the window. He's really impressive so close up, like a real life dinosaur! The new aviaries all look great and a new seating area opposite the sloths looks good too. The middle viewing window on the otters was boarded up.
Nothing new to report in lemur wood but I did see all 3 species out with the B&W ruffed lemurs being particularly vocal and scaring a few young children.
The walkway down alongside the lion enclosure was closed as was the viewing hut at the top however I did manage to see the new male from a distance, he looked very impressive and it's great to see a male lion back at Dudley, no sign of the female though.
Benji had access to the big outdoor orangutan enclosure and was inside the shelter on the climbing frame with his beloved bread crate. Sprout, Jazz and the 2 youngsters were all inside. The babies, Jim and Joe, were a real treat to see, playing and climbing before pulling faces at people through the windows. No sign of Djimat.
The older of the gibbon offspring had been cast out of the family and was living off show in one of the monkey houses until he can be found a new home at another zoo. There was only a pair of pygmy marmosets.
The reptile house was very interesting with a few species being moved around into different enclosures. The Philippine sailfin lizards were sitting almost out of view and the Coahuilan box turtle had a new enclosure. No boa constrictors and several enclosures were boarded up which was slightly disappointing but the reptile house was still one of my highlights as always.
I saw the 2 young black lemurs and if was quite interesting to see the difference between the male and female. They're both quite big now but still small enough to quite easily distinguish between the adults.
I saw 7 white-lipped peccary but no sign of any reindeer. I didn't spot any of the new young penguins, unless they've grown into their adult patterns. I counted around 5 or 6 in total swimming or sitting around the pool. Still a heartbreaking sight when you think about the size of the colony before.
Overall it was one of the best visits to Dudley I've had in a very long time and I was very happy though I must apologise I didn't take many photos of new enclosures or developments however I have plenty of the animals which I'll upload to the gallery in the next few days. I'm sorry if this is too long but there was a lot of new things to talk about and if anyone has any questions I'd be happy to try to answer
Strathmorezoo
Well-Known Member
Had my first visit to Dudley in 8years today, I was like yourself, thoroughly enjoyed it. All of the new builds have really improved the zoo,unfortunately they have also highlighted the areas still awaiting improvement, I am absolutely sure that the the management have them on their radar .I was especially pleased with the Giraffes and the Orang enclosures ,these have been planned a very long time. The visit has confirmed to me that I need to visit more zoos (when you have your own collection finding time is difficult)but I will definitely be back at Dudley next year
Yes they do - subspecies if known, any mixed subspecies are labelled as hybrid. The unknown ones are left blank
However, it is a 2014 studbook (more recent cannot be found online), and thus already somewhat outdated. Meanwhile, DNA techniques are more advanced and some animals now appear to be of a different subspecies than mentioned in the 2014 studbook after all.
Dudley Zoo have announced the arrival of a male Wolverine.
One-year old Floki has arrived from Tierwelt Herberstein in Austria to join their resident female, Helga.
The pair have been kept separate over the last few days and were introduced together yesterday, with keepers reporting everything went great!
One-year old Floki has arrived from Tierwelt Herberstein in Austria to join their resident female, Helga.
The pair have been kept separate over the last few days and were introduced together yesterday, with keepers reporting everything went great!
Strathmorezoo
Well-Known Member
During a visit to Dudley last week ,we were watching the female wolverine splashing about in her pool, not unusual behaviour, but then she climbed out of the water and gambolled not once but four times. Has anyone else witnessed this .Was she trying to dry off or was it play.Either way it was very entertaining
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Yes she's a lot of fun; have seen her rolling over and over in the plants between splashing around and spinning around with sticks, I guess its all playing. This is from last year but she's been really active every visit I have had.
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