Paignton Zoo Paignton Zoo news 2024

The tinamous were sent to Bourton-on-the-Water (Birdland) last autumn.
Thank you. Did Birdland have them before, can they breed? I’m glad they have gone somewhere thst will show them as they were always great to observe at Paignton.
 
Thank you. Did Birdland have them before, can they breed? I’m glad they have gone somewhere thst will show them as they were always great to observe at Paignton.
The males from Paignton are the only tinamous currently at Birdland, per ZTL, so they cannot breed - although as they are a relatively recent arrival there is always the possibility of females being acquired from elsewhere in the hope of future breeding.
 
Yes, apologies, I was only referring to the new ‘Savannah’ exhibit which comprises , so far, of just Hartmanns Zebra and Giraffe.
The original Savannah plan was to add Aardvark, Warthog and a walk-through vulture aviary. This was all scrapped due to TB.
The new area was at one point going to include off & on show areas on the footprint of the camel enclosure and old Takin area. This was then going to house Banteng or Gaur, but then they found aspestos in the barn roof and it’s still just sat there waiting to be deconstructed.

No need to apologise, I understood that you were referring to the new planned area that has also stalled and was replying to the post above you.
 
I’ve visited a few times this past week and I must admit that I’m starting to feel a little bit more positive about how things are, very very slowly, beginning to move forward.
There is a new new hard packed maintenance road being built in the off-show bird area behind the Cassowary and Bongo/ABC area. The pelicans have been moved to avoid disturbance, but this road is presumably to enable the delivery of the new children’s ’Hangout’ play area. This is a very positive step forward, though it’s not animal related, as it will hopefully draw back some of the young families who have not renewed their memberships or switched allegiance to alternative local attraction membership schemes.
There has been a ‘spring-like rejuvenation’ in the air this week amongst the staff, despite the sadness of the bird department at the loss of much of their collection.
When the Pileated gibbons are back on their island and the lake banks green up again, it will be very nice indeed.
If the curators can sort the issues out with animal imports in key areas, find a way to move the giraffe herd over and finally release their master plan publicly, then the zoo might finally be starting to turn a corner?
 
The zoos updates section has seen another edit to its statement on birds. It no longer mentions the Cottage Aviary and the Parrot Row. As I’ve not been recently, I’m unsure if this area remains open or has been annexed and closed using the recently installed gates?IMG_8762.jpeg
 

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Paignton has announced on their Instagram that a potoroo named Dumble has arrived and is living with Bruce the echidna.
Thanks for this. It is exactly the kind of thing the curators should be doing more of, introducing new stock, especially into areas where the enclosure inhabitants are seen as rarely as Bruce (although opening his house would make sense).
In my opinion, the following should be done before the summer, if possible, in the context that the farm, bird show, giraffe house, desert house and train have all gone or are empty/closed (additionally the loss of the zebra paddock - work has ceased on baboon enclosure, loss of tapir/capybara - work has stopped too on new pelican exhibit, only one takin and croc swamp closed)….., before the summer a convoy of trucks need to perform a modern day Noah’s Ark delivery!!
Luckily, the new Hangout playground looks very sharp and the Pileated Gibbons should be back on display again!
Phew!!
 
Does anyone have any information on the Diana Monkeys at the zoo?

They don't seem to be doing very well in UK collections with London having a None-Breeding? pair called 'Tinga' and 'Mkia'. Port Lympnes female 'Digya' passed away a few years ago. The Monkey Haven on the IOW have a single male called 'Taabo' who can not breed because of genetic? reasons.

Twycross now keeps a none-breeding group with 3.2. 'Manu' fathered four offspring a Twycross and i believe he is the brother of Akea? who is the mother of 'Sakari'. The Twycross females, D'early was the breeding female while her sister Sabu never had any offspring. The offspring who still live at Twycross 'Diego' and 'Jafar' will probably leave the zoo in the future.

Its a shame they aren't doing well, they are a beautiful species.
 
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Does anyone have any information on the Diana Monkeys at the zoo?

'Manu' fathered four offspring a Twycross and i believe he is the brother of Akea? who is the mother of 'Sakari'. .

I thought I'd given you some details of the Paignton Dianas but maybe not. I don't have any of their names or dates to hand though so perhaps someone else will know more.

Afaik there are currently four; mother, daughter, unrelated male(forget his name, is it Toby?) + baby from the daughter( sex I don't know).

History; they had a fine young pair living in the old Monkey House. No idea where sourced from. After moving to Monkey Heights these had three young. The oldest(afaik) is the Twycross adult male 'Manu'. After this the original male was sent away to Sweden as they were considered genetically to have produced sufficient offspring together. Bad mistake and much better to have let them carry on breeding together IMO, as the result was then a ten year hiatus with no breeding.... During that time the older(?) female offspring escaped and had to be killed. That left mother, the other daughter (Akea?) and a new male who took a long time to mature sufficiently to become dominant. The original mother is now too old for breeding but more recently the younger pair finally produced a baby (Sakari? -sex unknown by me, any idea?). With Twycross bowing out of breeding due to age of their females, this female(Akea?) appears to be one of the only breeding pair in the UK. A poor state of affairs but hopefully now they have started they will be allowed to continue to breed again in the future.
 
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I thought I'd given you some details of the Paignton Dianas but maybe not. I don't have any of their names or dates to hand though so perhaps someone else will know more.

Afaik there are currently four; mother, daughter, unrelated male(forget his name, is it Toby?) + baby from the daughter( sex I don't know).

History; they had a fine young pair living in the old Monkey House. No idea where sourced from. After moving to Monkey Heights these had three young. The oldest(afaik) is the Twycross adult male 'Manu'. After this the original male was sent away to Sweden as they were considered genetically to have produced sufficient offspring together. Bad mistake and much better to have let them carry on breeding together IMO, as the result was then a ten year hiatus with no breeding.... During that time the older(?) female offspring escaped and had to be killed. That left mother, the other daughter (Akea?) and a new male who took a long time to mature sufficiently to become dominant. The original mother is now too old for breeding but more recently the younger pair finally produced a baby (Sakari? -sex unknown by me, any idea?). With Twycross bowing out of breeding due to age of their females, this female(Akea?) appears to be one of the only breeding pair in the UK. A poor state of affairs but hopefully now they have started they will be allowed to continue to breed again in the future.
Thanks for the information, I think 'Sakari' is a female who was born 2022. My original idea was either 'Diego' or 'Jafar' at Twycross to pair up with 'Sakari' but then 'Manu' is 'Akea's'? sister so 'Sakari' and the young offspring at Twycross are related.

I've been doing a home-made studbook of all the Guenons in the UK (mainly De Brazza, Diana, Roloway and L'Hoest)
Diana's population is at 6.6
Roloway population is at 4.3.1
L'Hoest population (not including Colchester) is at 5.7
De Brazza population (Still researching) is at 4.8- including Twycross, Porfell and Fife. There is a lot more De Brazza Monkeys in the UK (PL and Howletts seem successful with breeding)

From my research the L'Hoest and De Brazza's have been successful in recent years compare to other Guenon species. Twycross has had 4 L'Hoest born since 2016 (Kano, Kanye, Bikonzi and Tumba) Edinburgh has had 2? born since 2016 (Kibzani and Butembo) Colchester has been very successful with their male 'Kane'. I don't have the full amount of De Brazza's born yet since 2016.

Hopefully the Diana's at Paignton will have more offspring in the future and more will be imported from elsewhere. I have more in depth information on other Guenons in the UK if you (or anyone) is interested.
 
Thanks for the information, I think 'Sakari' is a female who was born 2022. My original idea was either 'Diego' or 'Jafar' at Twycross to pair up with 'Sakari' but then 'Manu' is 'Akea's'? sister so 'Sakari' and the young offspring at Twycross are related.

I've been doing a home-made studbook of all the Guenons in the UK (mainly De Brazza, Diana, Roloway and L'Hoest)
Diana's population is at 6.6
Roloway population is at 4.3.1
L'Hoest population (not including Colchester) is at 5.7
De Brazza population (Still researching) is at 4.8- including Twycross, Porfell and Fife. There is a lot more De Brazza Monkeys in the UK (PL and Howletts seem successful with breeding)

From my research the L'Hoest and De Brazza's have been successful in recent years compare to other Guenon species. Twycross has had 4 L'Hoest born since 2016 (Kano, Kanye, Bikonzi and Tumba) Edinburgh has had 2? born since 2016 (Kibzani and Butembo) Colchester has been very successful with their male 'Kane'. I don't have the full amount of De Brazza's born yet since 2016.

Hopefully the Diana's at Paignton will have more offspring in the future and more will be imported from elsewhere. I have more in depth information on other Guenons in the UK if you (or anyone) is interested.
Blackpool hold at least six individual De Brazza's and 1.1 L'Hoest's. A new holder for De Brazza's in the UK is expected this year.
 
Blackpool hold at least six individual De Brazza's and 1.1 L'Hoest's. A new holder for De Brazza's in the UK is expected this year.
Thanks! The L'Hoests at Blackpool are called 'N'didi' and 'Esi' im not sure if this pair have had any offspring in the past. Do you know where this new holder will be in the UK / How did you find out?
 
Thank you. Did Birdland have them before, can they breed? I’m glad they have gone somewhere thst will show them as they were always great to observe at Paignton.
Now I wonder... where are they? I didn't see them on my most recent visit [last week]. And I checked I think all of the places they could've been...
 
There are some signs of birds back in the tropical house aviary and some new ‘props’ in the desert house, can anyone guess what the new species will be for this area? See attachments.
 

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There are some signs of birds back in the tropical house aviary and some new ‘props’ in the desert house, can anyone guess what the new species will be for this area? See attachments.

Glad to see birds back in there. Even if its that cage and not the building at large. No idea what the props are but it went from wallabies to cape porcupine for desert building in less than a month but no releases of yet what they are doing. One of the keepers told me last time I visited that they were knocking it down and another in the bug house told me it was to become a greenhouse so can't help on that one.
 
Glad to see birds back in there. Even if its that cage and not the building at large. No idea what the props are but it went from wallabies to cape porcupine for desert building in less than a month but no releases of yet what they are doing. One of the keepers told me last time I visited that they were knocking it down and another in the bug house told me it was to become a greenhouse so can't help on that one.
Rock wallabies might work? Porcupine used to be housed in the old and brilliant rodent area, before moving temporarily in with the meerkats.
The gardening team have done some good work in re-planting some areas of the desert house.
A new fence has gone in on the new pelican exhibit, but the supporting poles to support the overhead netting have not been erected, yet.
The new Hangout playground, which has been delayed in opening due to the recent weather, looks fantastic and I’m confident it will be a real hit with families.
It looks as though the Howler Monkeys new climbing frames are almost complete (it looks great), so hopefully we’ll see the Pileated Gibbons back soon - we miss them!
 
Some good news from Paignton for a change

Exciting conservation news!

We're incredibly pleased that we have successfully raised a Socorro dove chick, which are classed as Extinct in the Wild! The chick is now fully fledged, meaning it can fly, and is living in the Cottage Aviary

We are part of the EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria) ex-situ breeding programme for the Socorro dove. The species is notoriously difficult to breed and parents often don’t incubate or rear the chicks successfully. Despite this, we've had real success breeding the species, with two chicks in 2020 as well as this year’s new arrival

This is great news for the species, which hasn’t been seen in the wild since 1972. The dove was native to Socorro Island off the west coast of Mexico, but was classed as extinct due to a result of many threats, including hunting, human development and the introduction of invasive predatory mammals. The birds are now only believed to exist in zoological collections!

#SocorroDove #WildPlanetTrust #PaigntonZoo #HelpingHaltSpeciesDecline
 
There are some signs of birds back in the tropical house aviary and some new ‘props’ in the desert house, can anyone guess what the new species will be for this area? See attachments.
In my opinion, this looks like either Australian or American Plains theming so maybe a new home for the wallabies? Despite this, the move I look ant this, the more I see American theming, maybe Prairie dogs? Other than that I wouldn’t be sure? Will this area be kept as a walkthrough or will a barrier be put in place?
 
In my opinion, this looks like either Australian or American Plains theming so maybe a new home for the wallabies? Despite this, the move I look ant this, the more I see American theming, maybe Prairie dogs? Other than that I wouldn’t be sure? Will this area be kept as a walkthrough or will a barrier be put in place?

Will be crested Porcupines of some description. Apparently using "giant tortoise style wooden barrier" which I can see the Porcupines making short work of very quickly but will be something in there at least
 
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