Colchester Zoo My Visit to Colchester 24.10.09

M

MonkeyGirlAmy

Active Member
Had a fab day at Colchester yesterday with some friends. I got there for opening and headed straight over to the chimps who were milling about. Then (after getting a cuppa) headed over to my main man Raj and his partner in crime Tiga. Raj recognised me straight away and came over to the window to say hello :) Tiga was sitting under a zebra print towel but came over to say hi too. Raj's enclosure is the best orang enclosure I've seen for a long time. They have so much space; so many places to explore and investigate.
Saw the new baby rhino, Zamba who was inside with his mum. We spent the whole day at the zoo which was wonderful. We saw some birds nesting but I can't remember what type they were but they were lovely. Saw Igor and Anoushka playing outside. Anouska had an old shoe that she was playing with. My friends fed Tanya the elephant and Century the giraffe. I feed them quite a bit so I hung back and let them feed them.

Fab day at an amazing zoo.
 
MonkeyGirlAmy said:
Raj's enclosure is the best orang enclosure I've seen for a long time. They have so much space; so many places to explore and investigate.
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Without meaning to sound rude and I don't want to discourage a new member, but how many Orang enclosures have you seen?
 
CZJimmy said:
Without meaning to sound rude and I don't want to discourage a new member, but how many Orang enclosures have you seen?
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Quite a few! I have been to many zoos and wildlife parks in the UK so am more than qualified to comment on the excellence of Raj's enclosure
 
MonkeyGirlAmy said:
Quite a few! I have been to many zoos and wildlife parks in the UK so am more than qualified to comment on the excellence of Raj's enclosure
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I'd be interested to know which you've seen. Colchester's probably compares pretty favourably to older exhibits like Twycross, Blackpool or Dudley; but compare it to the newer exhibits at Chester or Paignton and it really isn't that impressive. The inside area is fine (despite the amount of wasted space in the public area) but the outside area is distinctly underwhelming. What do you like about it?


Glad you enjoyed your day (which is the main thing in many ways!).
 
As far as I am conned the welfare and happiness of the animals is the most important aspect of any zoo and Rajang and Tiga are both extremely happy orangs.

We have to remember that Raj is 41 years old and doesn't climb as much as he used to.

I like the fact that it is on different levels, provides the lads with plenty of places to explore & investigate, there are places for them to "hide" if they don't want the public to see them all the time. The keepers do an amazing job at keeping them active and stimluated in their environment.

What is your problem with the enclosure?
 
Hi MonkeyGirlAmy

Nice to hear a positive view on Orangutan Forest, I do agree it does have some positives especially when compared to the old enclosure and Tiga has certainly liven up the place and makes full use of the parts Rajy doesn't.
I do think it lets Colchester down due to the lack of planting in the outside area and I know some people consider it to be a 'pit'. Although when I went in the outside part it didn't feel like a pit at all just a quiet, secluded area.

You were lucky to see the tigers out, everytime we have been lately they have both been asleep! Maybe with the colder weather they will liven up lol!

It's a joy to go with people that haven't visited before and see how much they enjoy things like the animal feeding.

Glad you had a good day and thanks for posting
 
I agree completely that the animals are more important than the aesthetics.

As I said, the indoor area is basically fine (though I dont recall how easy it is to divide if needed...?). It's the outdoor area that's the problem. From an animal's perspective, there is simply not enough in the way of climbing material. The choice of barrier means that all the climbing material has to keep away from the edge, so is greatly reduced. They'd have been much better with a cage roof on a site that size. While I accept that Rajang is not a young orang that doesn't apply to Tiga and the members of their putative future breeding group, so that's a reason to leave out the climbing material. And there's hardly any planting - Orang Utan 'Forest' has more in the way of wooded boards than living plants.

From a visitor point of view (secondary to the animals but not to be forgotten about) - given that they have opted for a sheer-wall barrier - why is the viewing still behind glass? Just serves to add an unnecessary barrier and get in the way of photography. Wouldn't have minded it the animals were able to get right up to it, but they can't. The barrier itself is every bit as ugly as an old fashioned cage (although it must be said that barriers for the open-topped enclosures at Chester are not exactly beauty spots either!).


It's a shame because Colchester have some cracking animals and some of their exhibits are quite nice but I just don't like the 'house style' that's all glass and mock rock, whether needed or not.

It always makes a good day out though. :)
 
It is behind glass for the safety of the animals as well as the public. We have to remember that some people that go still, even in this day and age, try to feed the animals so I believe the glass is a bonus as it adds to Rajang and Tiga's safety.

I have seen the keepers separate the boys in a previous visit and they did it without any problems.

There are few plants inside the enclosure because the boys are rather destructive and nothing lasts long with Raj around, although it would be nice to see some more natural foliage even if Raj does decide to destroy it all.

I went inside the outdoor enclosure on World Animal Day and it is a lot bigger that it looks from the public viewing area. The climbing frames are also larger than they appear
 
MonkeyGirlAmy said:
It is behind glass for the safety of the animals as well as the public. We have to remember that some people that go still, even in this day and age, try to feed the animals so I believe the glass is a bonus as it adds to Rajang and Tiga's safety.
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Have to agree to disagree on this one - I just think it's unnecessary. There are open-fronted enclosures at Chester, Dudley, Jersey, Paignton and I don't recall any problems. My preferred option would still be a full height cage (which I would then be more than happy to see a glass window on!).

MonkeyGirlAmy said:
I have seen the keepers separate the boys in a previous visit and they did it without any problems.

There are few plants inside the enclosure because the boys are rather destructive and nothing lasts long with Raj around, although it would be nice to see some more natural foliage even if Raj does decide to destroy it all.

I went inside the outdoor enclosure on World Animal Day and it is a lot bigger that it looks from the public viewing area. The climbing frames are also larger than they appear
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Good to hear that separation's not a problem. I don't think it's a bad enclosure in the sense of being harmful or dangerous, I just think it's rather disappointing as a brand new exhibit.
 
I can understand that some people will not be totally impressed with the quality or layout of the enclosure. That is probably true of any enclosure at any wildlife park.

I have to say that when I last visited Dudley, which was not too long ago, I left in floods of tears because of the conditions some of the animals were kept in.

The lads at colchester can be separated easily and safely which is lovely to see and the keepers are all totally committed and enthusiastic about their jobs, which is also lovely to watch when they work with the orangs. :)
 
Welcome to the forum MonkeyGirlArmy. Have a look through the Colchester section (forum and gallery), there's been quite a bit of debate about Ornagutan Forest before now which you might find interesting.

I tend to agree with Maguari about the glass viewing barrier - apart from anything I get so absorbed in watching Tiga (Rajang seems to be outside very rarely) that I forget it's there and have banged my face into it more than once (I am probably just very stupid). However, I do find it very annoying and a real barrier to seeing them properly, despite it being large and clear, if that makes sense ?

I'm sure that the reasoning behind it was made with the best of intentions, and I bet it was to stop ignorant people climbing over and jumping down, or throwing food (or rubbish) into the outside enclosure. However, as Maguari says, there are other 'open to the elements' areas in lots of other zoos, including Colchester and so far as I'm aware there isn't a big problem with people chucking stuff in which they shouldn't (I won't say no problem at all because there's always one or two). I bet it was an 'elf and safety' thing because it's so high. From a photography perspective, I'd like a chest high barrier but I suppose then that kids wouldn't be able to see over and you'd get back to the safety issue of parents lifting them up to see over it ........ :rolleyes:
 
Raj goes outside late morning/early afternoon usually but he really enjoys sitting inside watching the people who visit him :)

After walking through the Geoldi's Monkey walk-thru exhibit yesterday and watching a small boy continually touching one of the monkeys I can see why Raj and Tiga's place has the glass barrier. in the end, after reporting the child to the keeper, I positioned myself between the monkey and the child to protect the monkey!

anyways, back to Raj and Tiga, in some respects I do think that health and safety may have gone a bit too far, but id rather be tooooo safe than see one of the animals get hurt, esp the two orange boys who i love dearly. Seeing them on a weekly basis is such a joy, especially as I only go to see them, the chimps and the capuchins!
 
GillP said:
However, I do find it very annoying and a real barrier to seeing them properly, despite it being large and clear, if that makes sense ?
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Exactly how I feel!

GillP said:
I bet it was an 'elf and safety' thing because it's so high.
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There are glass viewing windows on pretty much every exhibit (including, if memory serves, some very pointless ones in the elephant house - correct me if wrong) so I think it's just the default position at Colchester.

GillP said:
From a photography perspective, I'd like a chest high barrier but I suppose then that kids wouldn't be able to see over and you'd get back to the safety issue of parents lifting them up to see over it ........ :rolleyes:
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Perhaps a waist/chest-high perspex window would serve all purposes?


@ MonkeyGirlAmy - sorry you had a bad experience at Dudley, it's not the prettiest of places but I am sure the animal keepers are just as committed to their charges. There are very few really bad enclosures at Dudley, but the place has a run-down air to it that tends to permeate the whole place. And of course, improved accommodation for the orangs is certainly needed (there are improvements afoot at the moment, I understand).

The planting at Orang-Utan Forest would be an easy-to-fix problem. They could plant some plants - if the orangs destroyed it then either try differnt plants or say at that point that this won't work, but they really should try. It's exacerbated by one of my frustrations with Colchester: that it seems to think you can dress up a poor exhibit with a pretty name, however irrelevant. 'Patas Plains' is the worst offender - two long, thin, poorly furnished cages with half of their potential footprint taken up by an unnecessary visitor path. They are my pick for worst exhibit at Colchester and calling them 'Patas Plains' only makes them seem worse as they don't even start to live up to the name.

By way of balance - I really like the 'Edge of Africa' exhibits, the sealion pool is good and the conversion of the old lion paddock for mangabeys is very good too. So it's not that everything's bad at Colchester!
 
A friend of mine worked at Dudley zoo and many of the enclosures are Grade Two listed so developments are difficult, which I understand but when I was there I didn't see much in the way of environmental enrichment either.

The sealion pool and the edge of africa enclosures are lovely, I love walking through the sealion tunnel watching the ladies swimming and having fun :)

The chimp enclosure is up for a re-development in the near future too, which i am really looking forward to
 
i really do like colcehster zoo, but orangutan forest doesn't realy live up to its name. :o but i know orangs are destructive, they just have to do trail and error to see what survives.

and im sad that you felt that way towards dudley, but they have had one of the best breeding success of Sumatran Tigers/Asiatic Lion in the UK, Inca/Gretel (the bears) are kept it great condition with their age, which i know some enclosure are a let down but the can do anything with some of them because they were listed and they have had money probelms in the past and they are now redoing the orangutan house finish march next year.

sorry if i have offend ya, but dudley is kinda special to me ^^ and welcome to zoochat ^^
 
you didnt offend me at all :) different opinions are wonderful. i hope to visit dudley again soon as my friend (the one that worked there) said that the chimp enclosure has been re-vamped as well :)

thanks for the welcome too by the way :)
 
Just shows how everyone has different views and opinions. Haven't been to Colchester but that is figuring in my plans for next years holiday!

I think many primate enclosures could well suffer from "plant destruction" and this has to be taken into consideration with the team responsible as to which plants are "sacrifice" plants and which will be long term. This can often be determined by liasing between keepers and gardeners. Never an easy task and mcu collaboration between other zoos also comes in to play as well!

I don't think any zoo will get the "perfect" enclosure that satisfies everyone. Only as close as they are able. You could probably pick holes with Budongo Trail in Edinburgh if you looked hard enough! We. at Edinburgh, have already started!

Oh, and welcome to the forum!
 
Simon McGlary said:
I don't think any zoo will get the "perfect" enclosure that satisfies everyone. Only as close as they are able. You could probably pick holes with Budongo Trail in Edinburgh if you looked hard enough! We. at Edinburgh, have already started!
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Psst... lot of space in the visitor areas of that building.

Not that many reptiles/amphibs/inverts on show at Edinburgh at the moment.

Just putting it out there! :)


For the record, Budongo is very very good - I particularly like the fact that the house is presented as an animal house, not with a veneer of fake forest everywhere. A very successful building.
 
Maguari said:
Psst... lot of space in the visitor areas of that building.

Not that many reptiles/amphibs/inverts on show at Edinburgh at the moment.

Just putting it out there! :)
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It's out there in BIG WRITING around the zoo! We don't even have a dedicated reptile section anymore so don't hold your breath for any reptiles amphibians and other invertebrates soon! :)
 
Simon McGlary said:
I think many primate enclosures could well suffer from "plant destruction" and this has to be taken into consideration with the team responsible as to which plants are "sacrifice" plants and which will be long term. This can often be determined by liasing between keepers and gardeners. Never an easy task and mcu collaboration between other zoos also comes in to play as well!
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On that topic, there's an interesting paper in an edition of the IZYB (I forget which particular one at the moment) which goes into great detail about the planting efforts that Chester Zoo underwent when they redeveloped their chimp islands.

These included (from memory) choosing specific species of plant that chimps disliked the taste of and planting enough sacrifical species that the chimps would not touch the larger more imposing species. It also mentions the planting of certain long grasses to act as enrichment devices to satsify their destructive habits
 
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