Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo news 2024

I went for a good visit to Colchester Zoo this morning - these are the things I noticed:
  • The redevelopment of the capuchins has continued further, with new mesh, wood panelling and the new viewing window all constructed on the former gibbon enclosure side of the display.
  • The male Fiji banded iguana has moved into the first enclosure in Worlds Apart, but I did not manage to see the female here - I do not know if she is still in the zoo or is off-show.
  • The Goeldi's monkeys are still yet to move into their new enclosure.
  • Managed a good clear view of the new black tree monitor in the Heart of the Amazon tank, formerly home to the male Fiji banded iguana.
  • I saw one of the new baby rock hyraxes for the first time; both it and one of its parents were racing around the rockwork at the top of their exhibit.
  • A real highlight was being inside the lion house and hearing Bailey repeatedly roaring. I never really considered how loudly a lion roars until I was standing just on the other side of a pane of glass to one.
  • EXCITING BIRTH: Was very surprised and pleased to see a recently-fledged king vulture chick in the outdoor aviary in World of Wings, mixed with its parents. I know the previous breeding attempt had ended in failure, so I guess the zoo have kept this latest attempt quiet.
  • The common pleco (labelled as Hypostomus plecostomus) is both signed and visible in the open-topped fish tank in Rivers Edge. I assume this was the same fish that lived in the Heart of the Amazon tank where the piranhas now live.
  • A quick question - when was the last time anyone saw the last giant anteater? I have not seen it on a number of my recent visits, which is odd as I had noted it being a bit more sedentary as of late.
 
[*]A real highlight was being inside the lion house and hearing Bailey repeatedly roaring. I never really considered how loudly a lion roars until I was standing just on the other side of a pane of glass to one.

We were there on Wednesday this week. He was at the glass inside first of all, with a crowd watching him. He then went to his bed at the back left and roared for quite a while. Two visitors who hadn’t seen him at the glass continually remarked that it was a recording of a lion they were hearing and it was a shame not to see a lion. It was quite hard to see him in the gloom / through the glass but luckily they persevered and finally saw him / realised it was a real roar!

[*]A quick question - when was the last time anyone saw the last giant anteater? I have not seen it on a number of my recent visits, which is odd as I had noted it being a bit more sedentary as of late.

We saw GA on Wednesday, firstly exploring the top half of the enclosure and then going down into the indoor part. He/she dug a hole in the left front hand corner right next to the glass after a while and disappeared under their tail, as if on cue as I had just remarked to my husband that they had an enormous tail that was as big as their body and probably used to cover them up. They must have been listening!

We returned a bit later on our walk around the zoo and they had moved to a different corner inside, still covered up.
 
Colchester have released news about some new arrivals among the reptiles and birds, mostly things that have been mentioned here before - although with new details about where animals were sourced from:
  • The new Gariau forest dragon is mentioned - contrary to what I thought, it was not a birth in the collection, but rather a female yearling brought into the collection. This brings the group up to one male and three females.
  • A new female green iguana, named Ari, has arrived. She has joined the other two iguanas, Fernando and Pusia, in the Iguana Forest walkthrough.
  • The new female black tree monitor has been announced - she is thirteen years old and has come from Cotswold Wildlife Park.
  • The three new crested wood partridges have also been announced; they came from Tropical World. There are now five females and the single male, Ben.
More information can be found in the link below:
Exciting New Additions & Changes! - Colchester Zoological Society
 
Not really anything significant but news regardless. The reindeers from previous years (forget their names right now) have all been put to sleep. However, there is at least 3 new young female reindeers. They are around 6 months old and named Alaska, Winter and North from what I’ve been told. Very skittish so no promises of the reindeer experience happening again this year. There is a small clip of them on social media in a Christmas advertisement for school sessions.
 
The zoo have now publicly announced the hatching of the king vulture chick - it hatched on 15th May 2024.

The mother, Midas, arrived at Colchester from the International Bird of Prey Centre in 2015, and has been a highly attentive parent to the new fledgling which is now similar in size to Midas herself.

More information can be found in the link below:
King Vulture Arrival - Colchester Zoological Society
 
I visited on Thursday and although due to a mistake on my part I was unable to take photos with my camera, but it was still a great few hours with many developments to note.

Construction
  • First of all, good progress is continuing to be made on the capuchin enclosure redevelopment, with additional red metal supports/framework being put up as well as some wooden walls and vertical wooden climbing poles. Despite a lot of new parts going up a lot of older internal features of the structure are being retained which is nice to see.
  • The new indoor display for the Goeldi's monkeys seems to now be complete full with planting and signage but they were still in their existing adjacent enclosure with the doors leading out of the new indoor display to the connecting outdoor area still closed.
  • The elevated platform overlooking Mangabey Mangrove and Lost Madagascar has also undergone significant progress in its redevelopment since my last visit, with a dome shaped shelter visible under construction in the centre of the platform.
  • This is not exactly construction related news, but the sand in the cow area of the elephant house now covers both halves of the main on show portion, as opposed to just the right hand side (adjacent to the bull section).
Arrivals and departures
  • From what I could tell, I managed to be able to see all of the new reptile arrivals, including the new female Gariau forest dragon, female Green iguana and the female Black tree monitor.
  • All 3 female Common ostriches (including the 2 new ones) were out in the Kingdom of The Wild paddock, along with the male, but female White rhino Astrid and her calf Dara born in January 2023 were not out in the main paddock at the same time.
  • On the topic of rhinos, the crate (presumably) for Astrid's older calf, Tayo (October 2020) was visible in the Kingdom of The Wild hardstanding from the balcony above, and I presume it won't be long now before his move.
  • The new King Vulture Chick was visible with its' mother, Midas at World of Wings, and is very large and fluffy already. I'm guessing the father is currently off show, as I'm sure I remember reading something about a change in approach after the last chick failed to survive to adulthood?
General notes
  • It was nice to see mother and daughter Bornean Orangutans Mali and Tatty relaxing and playing together, demonstrating they still have a good relationship despite the latter turning 12 years old next April. Additionally it seems like a lot of grass/vegetation is being allowed to grow in the outdoor orangutan enclosure which is nice.
  • I got my first view of (one of) the Rock hyrax twins and a parent at Inca Trail, they have grown up quickly but it became evident to me just how good of a fit the enclosure is for them with the steep rock wall on the left hand side.
  • I saw female Amur leopard Esra from the cave viewing in Ussuri Falls for the first time, interesting view from the other side of her attractive waterfall enclosure.
  • The Sun bears were both briefly active and visible at the lower viewing area of their outdoor enclosure, wowing visitors.
  • I've come to realise that the family of 8 Common Warthogs is one of the most impressive displays in the Edge of Africa exhibit (maybe even the whole zoo currently), especially when they are all out and active, and it seems that the impressive breeding record of annual March/April litters (since 2021) is going to slow down anytime soon, fingers crossed.
  • Now the Ruppell's griffon chick born in March is almost indistinguishable from the adults.
 
Went for another visit to Colchester Zoo this morning. These are a couple of things I noticed:
  • The development of the capuchin enclosure has continued further, with the former orangutan enclosure now being planted with small trees and bushes.
  • The Kirk's dik-dik is no longer present or signed in the second giant anteater enclosure.
 
Colchester have recently submitted the plans for the new lion enclosure on the Colchester planning website. Some things that I noticed is that the plans also include housing for some kind of smaller mammal, and the on-show part of the indoor lion housing has five different vivariums marked - however, no indication yet of what any of these additional species would be.
 
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DesertRhino150 said:
Colchester have recently submitted the plans for the new lion enclosure on the Colchester planning website. Some things that I noticed is that the plans also include housing for some kind of smaller mammal, and the on-show part of the indoor lion housing has five different vivariums marked - however, no indication yet of what any of these additional species would be.
Click to expand...

Just found another document relating to the small mammal housing - from dimension drawings on the diagram, it will be home to meerkats or some other kind of mongoose.
 
I’m pleased the plans have finally been submitted. Reading the ‘Design and Access statement’, it actually adds a bit more detail as to the species involved. In addition to the Lions, Aardvark and Fennec Fox will also receive new enclosures, and the L’Hoest monkeys look like they’ll be keeping their enclosure, although I assume this will be refurbished.

The plans also show that a few enclosures will be making way for this development- namely the Cheetah, Red River Hogs, and Dik-Dik.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for construction to get underway next year.
 
Went for a visit to Colchester Zoo this morning. The only thing I noted that might be of interest is that the aardvarks have been separated - one is still in the on-show den while the other two are in the right-side enclosure and were presumably in the off-show indoor area inside Kingdom of the Wild. Though I have no idea why the animals have been split.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
Went for a visit to Colchester Zoo this morning. The only thing I noted that might be of interest is that the aardvarks have been separated - one is still in the on-show den while the other two are in the right-side enclosure and were presumably in the off-show indoor area inside Kingdom of the Wild. Though I have no idea why the animals have been split.
Click to expand...
If not a pregnancy my only thought is Koos and Oni could be moving back to Chester soon if most/the majority of the building work is done on Heart of Africa, as the breeding giraffe herd have already moved to their new enclosure in the exhibit. Though against this being the case you could argue that they won't be on show for at least 4 months anyway, but it is still possible they will be moved before then to settle in.
 
Very much looking forward to the development of the new Lion habitat!
I haven’t been in a few years and I’m wondering if anyone on here is a regular visitor and would have any advice on when is best to go? (For clarification I would prefer to go when the zoo is at it’s quietest) TIA
 
sasha242 said:
Very much looking forward to the development of the new Lion habitat!
I haven’t been in a few years and I’m wondering if anyone on here is a regular visitor and would have any advice on when is best to go? (For clarification I would prefer to go when the zoo is at it’s quietest) TIA
Click to expand...

Quietest would be probably a day when kids are at school. I find even at weekends it’s generally quite first and last thing but if you wanted to spend the whole day then a week day during term time. There’s Christmas events coming up and there’s currently a cheap ticket deal for November (and I’m presuming January) so there will also likely be more people.
 
I have just noticed that Colchester Zoo have started including new monthly reports on their website. These are some things I noticed that have not been mentioned here before:

August 2024
  • On 13th August, six new young pygmy goats arrived at the zoo, which are currently off-show in quarantine.
  • On 19th August, a new male African white-backed vulture arrived at the zoo to join the female.
  • On 23rd August, a shoal of twenty-five cardinal tetras arrived at the zoo and are currently in quarantine.
  • On 29th August, male green anaconda Bernard was put to sleep due to a tumour. The hope is for a new anaconda to arrive to join the current male.
  • Also, some information regarding the Goeldi's monkey enclosure. Once the Goeldi's monkeys move over into their new enclosure, the plan is for them to be replaced with a pair of golden-headed lion tamarins.
The moving of Lena the Amur leopard and mixing of her parents for mating is also mentioned.

September 2024
  • On 13th September, male spur-thighed tortoise Arthur was donated to a private owner.
  • The three female reindeer that arrived (mentioned in post #184) came from a private collection on 17th September.
  • Seven (five male, two female) new adult pygmy goats arrived from a private breeder on 18th September, and are currently off-show during quarantine.
Otherwise, everything from September has already been announced (new ostriches, new wood partridges, sexing of the vulture chick and exhibit developments).

The full monthly reports can be seen here:
August - https://www.colchesterzoologicalsoc...24/10/Annual-Report-2024_-August-External.pdf
September - https://www.colchesterzoologicalsoc...ads/2024/10/Annual-Report-2024_-SEPTEMBER.pdf
 
Colchester Zoo have announced the arrival of a new male green anaconda named Nino. The ten-year-old snake arrived on Friday 8th November from Hertfordshire Zoo. He joins the other resident male at Colchester, a smaller snake named Houdini (who arrived in 2009 from Prague Zoo). After being quarantined, Nino has now moved in with Houdini in the Rivers Edge exhibit.

More information can be found in the link below:
A Slithering New Arrival - Colchester Zoological Society
 
Went for a visit to Colchester Zoo this morning. These are the main things I noticed:
  • The Goeldi's monkeys have now moved over into their new indoor enclosure. They are shut in as of present (not surprising, considering the poor weather). Their old enclosure is still empty at present, with the lights in their indoor area now switched off.
  • The black tree monitor has gone off-display.
  • At least two giant Malaysian leaf insects have gone on-display in the Sensation Station, replacing the West African land snails.
  • There were now two aardvarks in the on-display den, with their outdoor enclosure still divided into two.
 
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