I had a nice day at Blackpool today (one of the first in and one of the last out - so I took plenty of photos). It's been over two years since my last visit, so I was hoping to see some new things as well as my familiar favourites.
The zoo was moderately busy, but not nearly as busy as I had expected for a fine Saturday on a bank holiday weekend - I'm sure Chester will have been heaving today. I couldn't help noticing that some of the original buildings are looking rather worn now, a bit more spent on maintenance might make things much more attractive.
I like the new giraffe house with viewing on two levels, but the paddock is not very large and the views of the paddock are not so good. The new penguin enclosure is being built between the sea lion pool and the gorillas. The brickwork (actually blockwork) is not yet complete, so it won't be ready for a while. There were signs on it saying 'Zootech' - which is the firm that built the pool at Blackbrook - we had a thread about them a while ago.
Of course I headed straight to the gorillas to see the new male, Bukavu. He's not very big, I guess he still has some growing to do, but he has a nice face and he moves with a proper swagger, although I did see him break into a rather bouncy trot once or twice. He seems to have the respect of the females. I had a chat to the presenter about him as there weren't enough people gathered for the Ape talk. She said he has a nice nature. I asked why one of the females was separated and she said they were trying to get a urine sample for a pregnancy test (cross your fingers, Pertinax
). I think the one that is separated is the female from Barcelona, but I couldn't get a clear view of her.
The male orang, who was born in Leningrad, is now bigger than the females and showing the first signs of cheek flanges. So it is possible there will eventually be news from the other side of the Ape House too.
The black howlers caught my eye as well. Their house is quite modest, but they use their strip of trees very actively (at this time of year at least) and it was a great pleasure to watch them.
They seem to have a large number of ring-tailed lemurs around (6 babies in the small primate house group) and lots of potoroos too, which I like. I wasn't so happy to see the kea still in the old iguana house, or the breeding group of king colobus in the small primate house, which doesn't really seem suitable to me - although they look to be doing well. The aardvark indoor housing is OK, but I think they need an outdoor yard to provide some opportunities for digging.
For me the best bird viewing was the group of sharp-tailed conures flying free in the big Amazonia display. They really added something extra to the exhibit. I dislike all the reptile displays in the Elephant house, but I love the tortoises near the entrance. I was very amused to watch a keeper returning one of the big African spurred tortoises to enclosure - it filled her wheelbarrow! But Darwin the Aldabran male (unless he really is a Seychelles tortoise) is much bigger; at chucking-out time I was equally amused to watch another young lady keeper trying to persuade him to return to the house. He has obviously been trained to do this, but giant tortoise time runs very slowly indeed I admired her patience and determination.
Photos will follow - I hope the cute one of the baby tree porcupine turns out to be good enough to past.
Alan
The zoo was moderately busy, but not nearly as busy as I had expected for a fine Saturday on a bank holiday weekend - I'm sure Chester will have been heaving today. I couldn't help noticing that some of the original buildings are looking rather worn now, a bit more spent on maintenance might make things much more attractive.
I like the new giraffe house with viewing on two levels, but the paddock is not very large and the views of the paddock are not so good. The new penguin enclosure is being built between the sea lion pool and the gorillas. The brickwork (actually blockwork) is not yet complete, so it won't be ready for a while. There were signs on it saying 'Zootech' - which is the firm that built the pool at Blackbrook - we had a thread about them a while ago.
Of course I headed straight to the gorillas to see the new male, Bukavu. He's not very big, I guess he still has some growing to do, but he has a nice face and he moves with a proper swagger, although I did see him break into a rather bouncy trot once or twice. He seems to have the respect of the females. I had a chat to the presenter about him as there weren't enough people gathered for the Ape talk. She said he has a nice nature. I asked why one of the females was separated and she said they were trying to get a urine sample for a pregnancy test (cross your fingers, Pertinax
). I think the one that is separated is the female from Barcelona, but I couldn't get a clear view of her.The male orang, who was born in Leningrad, is now bigger than the females and showing the first signs of cheek flanges. So it is possible there will eventually be news from the other side of the Ape House too.
The black howlers caught my eye as well. Their house is quite modest, but they use their strip of trees very actively (at this time of year at least) and it was a great pleasure to watch them.
They seem to have a large number of ring-tailed lemurs around (6 babies in the small primate house group) and lots of potoroos too, which I like. I wasn't so happy to see the kea still in the old iguana house, or the breeding group of king colobus in the small primate house, which doesn't really seem suitable to me - although they look to be doing well. The aardvark indoor housing is OK, but I think they need an outdoor yard to provide some opportunities for digging.
For me the best bird viewing was the group of sharp-tailed conures flying free in the big Amazonia display. They really added something extra to the exhibit. I dislike all the reptile displays in the Elephant house, but I love the tortoises near the entrance. I was very amused to watch a keeper returning one of the big African spurred tortoises to enclosure - it filled her wheelbarrow! But Darwin the Aldabran male (unless he really is a Seychelles tortoise) is much bigger; at chucking-out time I was equally amused to watch another young lady keeper trying to persuade him to return to the house. He has obviously been trained to do this, but giant tortoise time runs very slowly indeed
I admired her patience and determination.Photos will follow - I hope the cute one of the baby tree porcupine turns out to be good enough to past.
Alan
