Colchester Zoo Zoo news- 9th April 2009

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Roz

Roz

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Hi all visited colchester today.

First of all, I am sad to announce that Simba the bull rhino was put to sleep this morning.:( The sperm that was taken from him is due to be inseminated into Emily next week, with Cynthia's baby due in september.

The pack of hunting dogs have been moved to dudley zoo, with a new breeding pack being due to arrive anytime in the next 24 hours:).

The discovery centre is now properly finished and has lots of smaller animals in now including Haitian Brown Tarantulas and Emperor Scorpions!

In the worlds apart exhibit, the cuban crocs have now been moved to part of Dragons of Komodo, and Green Anacondas have arrived and are now housed in that first enclosure, I presume that these will feature in the Tropical house, on which work is due to commence later this year.

There is a new amur leopard enclosure due to be started in June, as well as work on a new Banded mongoose enclosure, near the Lion Rock exhibit, where Yellow billed storks used to be housed, these are now in the old Orangutan enclosure.

Speaking of Orangutans, Rajang was indoors all day, though he was quite active and I actually saw him using the climbing structures indoors.;)
The living tree in the outdoor exhibit has started to shoot, although no sign of any other plants being added to the outdoor area., The asian pond turtles are settled, and the aquarium is finally finished and populated with various fish.:D

At the elephant enclosure, there was no mention of Kito moving to another zoo. The farm area is also changing, with african style huts being added to a walkthrough exhibit. I also saw Katavi the Cheetah cub, she was in her enclosure all day on her own!

Saw the baby chimp though it was quite hard to see as it and its mother were in the tunnel from the indoor area to the outdoor area all day, except at the feed time!

Thanks, Roz :D
 
Thanks for the update. I will be going myself at the end of April/early May so I hope to do a similar update then.
 
Thanks for the update!

Sad news again! I suppose when you have a lot of elderly animals its inevitable !

Shame about the hunting dogs I am going to miss Stumpy (not his real name) and its a shame as he managed to fight his way up from the lowest ranking to the leader!

Lots going on I am avoiding Colchester over the holidays lol may go to Whipsnade this weekend!

Always good to hear news about Rajang and great he is using the climbing structure!

Lets hope that tree grows big and very green :)
 
Thanks from me too for the update, always great to hear how my fav orang Rajang is doing - can't wait for my next visit to see him. Will be well after the Easter Hols though, went to Chester Zoo last Sunday and it was manic - had to queue to get in and out the RORA - far too busy to see anything.

So sad to hear about Simba - suppose the positive side is his baby is on its way with Cynthia and Emily will hopefully follow. We wondered where the hunting dogs had gone, not been there on either of our recent visits. Has Kitavi got her own enclosure now? When we saw her, they brought her into the main one with the others out of the way.

Did you see Anoushka the Amur tiger? Last time when we were there (March 13/14) she had a deepish gash on her side - think her and Igor may have had a spat just before we saw her on 13th. Just wondered if she was ok.

Thanks again for the update. I hate being 190 miles away!! :(
 
Andiii said:
Did you see Anoushka the Amur tiger? Last time when we were there (March 13/14) she had a deepish gash on her side - think her and Igor may have had a spat just before we saw her on 13th. Just wondered if she was ok.

Thanks again for the update. I hate being 190 miles away!! :(
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Hi yes there were signs up about this saying that they were aware and that she had been having treatment. It was caused by Igor when they were play fighting. Hopefully she will be better soon.

Also I noticed that the ibis enclosure at the back of Vulture valley had been deconstructed- anybody know why?
 
Roz said:
Hi yes there were signs up about this saying that they were aware and that she had been having treatment. It was caused by Igor when they were play fighting. Hopefully she will be better soon.

Also I noticed that the ibis enclosure at the back of Vulture valley had been deconstructed- anybody know why?
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Ah thanks for the info, we were wondering if she was ok as it seemed really sore and she was definitely subdued and staying out of Igor's way! She was getting a lot of attention from keepers and curator at the time, obviously monitoring it closely.

Not sure re the ibis enclosure sorry :(
 
I was at Colchester all day today too. Anoushka & Igor were asleep together inside when I saw them (so obviously no hard feelings !).

The new hunting dogs are coming from France and Denmark IIRC.

I also saw Tekita's baby 1st thing (though, as you say, in the afternoon she was in the tunnel) when she was lazing on the rocks at the back of the indoor enclosure (will hopefully put some photos up tomorrow). The dominant male was putting on a right show this afternoon, screeching, banging on the glass, the wall, the plastic drum, and swinging about all puffed up. By the way, who is the dominant male ? ....... unless I've missed it, there's no info stating this on any of the boards.

Roz - how lovely that you saw Rajang climbing inside ..... we were on our own there 1st thing (we always go there 1st !) and he was still in his sleeping quarter while the staff were cleaning the main area and putting down food.

Glad you mentioned it was Katavi all on her own all day ...... I've been getting earache from my daughter because we didn't go back at 3pm (as advertised on several posters) but now I can tell her we did (unkowingly) see her and get her picture !
 
GillP said:
I was at Colchester all day today too. Anoushka & Igor were asleep together inside when I saw them (so obviously no hard feelings !).

The new hunting dogs are coming from France and Denmark IIRC.

I also saw Tekita's baby 1st thing (though, as you say, in the afternoon she was in the tunnel) when she was lazing on the rocks at the back of the indoor enclosure (will hopefully put some photos up tomorrow). The dominant male was putting on a right show this afternoon, screeching, banging on the glass, the wall, the plastic drum, and swinging about all puffed up. By the way, who is the dominant male ? ....... unless I've missed it, there's no info stating this on any of the boards.

Roz - how lovely that you saw Rajang climbing inside ..... we were on our own there 1st thing (we always go there 1st !) and he was still in his sleeping quarter while the staff were cleaning the main area and putting down food.

Glad you mentioned it was Katavi all on her own all day ...... I've been getting earache from my daughter because we didn't go back at 3pm (as advertised on several posters) but now I can tell her we did (unkowingly) see her and get her picture !
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Hi

I saw the tigers inside asleep aswell but also just after they had been fed. It was great to see Rajang climbing- the first time I have seen this for a few years! I am quite sure that it was Katavi in the enclosure- seemed smaller than usual and also I could see the other 2 cheetahs (Cooper and Uria) in the smaller enclosure at the back of the public one.
Im not sure but I think the dominant male chimp could be Pippin??:confused:
 
Hi, I have never been to Colchester zoo but the pics in the gallery look great and there seems to be a lot going on there. Please can I ask if someone could give a quick description? Is it a big zoo? Thank you very much :)
 
hann4444 said:
Hi, I have never been to Colchester zoo but the pics in the gallery look great and there seems to be a lot going on there. Please can I ask if someone could give a quick description? Is it a big zoo? Thank you very much :)
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I haven't been to Colchester in some ten years, but I remember it being quite a big zoo (not the biggest though) with some steep paths that can make walking hard if your mobility's impaired. The place always seems to be improving something (although maybe not the orangutan facilities) :)
 
There's a lot to see because there isn't much empty space - few lawns or shrubberies, lots of enclosures of all shapes and sizes, and you never know what to expect in the next one because the arrangement is not at all logical.

The best of the zoo is very good indeed: my favourites are the hyaenas and the geladas in their enclosures. Some of the enclosures are not as good, but the animals seem well and there are some very interesting species.

Alan
 
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