Marwell Wildlife My Monthly Updates 2010 #1

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went to marwell today weather was really nice
did not see the Pottos but there was food in the cage. there is two baby Addax one only looks a few days old got a picture of it sat next to its mum will put it up but its not a very good one sorry.
the Gemsbok where picking on one of the group it came out of the house and as soon as it did all off them got up and chased it around till it went in.
still lots of empty cages in aridlands and no work being done in the old pudu house. takins where not out today and their house is still closed to
some work is being done in the shop lets hope some new items to buy will be coming in.

ps got the guide book today to dont think its to bad but would like to see more of the animals in it lets hope its changed more often this time
 
Marwell appear to do consistently well with this species. I believe being possibly the only Douracouli group in the UK to have access to an outdoor enclosure and natural sun/moonlight, allows them choice and fresh air, and ironically I usually see them looking out the nest box during the day when I visit, which is about as much as I see of this species when kept in reverse-lighting exhibits. I really wish other collections would just try a breeding group in this kind of setup, even if they retain bachelor or non-breeding groups in traditional, nocturnal house-style exhibits.
 
Visit to Marwell on 6th March 2010

I had another trip to Marwell today; these are my observations:

1) The sable antelopes were out in their paddock, but not the Congo buffaloes
2) The new weaver bird aviary (previously the enclosure for rock hyraxes) is taking shape in the Into Africa building
3) A somali wild ass was alone in a small yard next to the Hartmann's zebras
4) The scimitar-horned oryxes and ostriches were out in their paddock, but not the Grevy's zebras (who were making a lot of noise today) (the ostriches appeared to have laid several eggs along the fenceline between their paddock and the rhino paddock)
5) There is new fencing which keeps visitors further away from the scimitar-horned oryx yard and the hornbill enclosure
6) The gemsboks were out in their paddock, but not the Dama gazelles
7) There is still no access to the vicuna yards
8) The waterbucks and ostriches were in the African Valley, but not the other Grevy's zebras or giraffes
9) The Przewalski's horses were back in their paddock (behind Aridlands)
10) The new serval enclosure (next to the ocelots) is progressing, with a skip full of rubble having been removed from the site, but no building work has begun yet
11) The bat-eared foxes were the most active I have ever seen them, with all three chasing each other around their enclosure
12) I still only saw one red panda and she was in her house this time
13) The black and white ruffed lemurs are back in their enclosure in Lemur World, after a very long time offshow
14) The new gardens are progressing (behind the yellow mongooses)
15) The baby douroucouli is extremely cute
16) The cotton-top tamarins have moved into the former enclosure for the emperor tamarins who, in turn, have all now moved to the island on Black Swan Pond (leaving the former cotton-top tamarin enclosure empty)

January's births were:

01/01/10 - Female waterbuck
20/01/10 - Male roan antelope
21/01/10 - Male addax
24/01/10 - Female addax
 
Not many things to report cos of mhale's report yesterday, but a very busy day, which is to be expected on a ridiculously sunny Sunday. There was a very young addax which couldn't have been more than a few days old. There were no porcupines in Into Africa oddly either.

And the pottos are still there, but have just adapted to their nocturnal lifestyle much more accurately than before. ;)
 
Are the porcupines still housed in the indoor Colobus enclosure?

Also, ISIS now list just 0.1 diana monkey. Is this the case?

Also, ISIS are listing 1.0 Babirusa. Is this an error or are Marwell keeping this species again?
 
Yes, the porcupines are housed in the indoor colobus area.

I only saw one Diana monkey outside yesterday.

I haven't seen a babirusa, or heard about one, so maybe this is an ISIS error?
 
Yep, only saw one diana too.

It probably is, but I hope it isn't as they were one of my favourites!
 
Hmmm, I normally see two Diana Monkeys. At least, I did when I last properly looked for them. And could the porcupines have been outside? I have seen them out there before.
 
http://www.zoochat.com/38/my-monthly-updates-2010-a-239641

Notes from today:

- Another day of good weather, which mean't more crowds, but all good for the zoo. Subsequentley the zebras are in the valley and the kudu are in the paddock, but not every hoofed animal is in the paddock yet.
- I spotted some ostrich eggs in the corner of the paddock by chance, though the laziness of the birds was shown by the fact they were just dumped in the mud!
- For some reason progress on the weaverbird aviary has reversed with the net being taken down.
- Some Dorcas Gazelles have been moved to the Dorcas Gazelle hardstand, and the Dorcas were shut into the paddock at the time.
- The Beaded Lizard has moved into the old bull snake enclosure in Aridlands (meaning a third empty enclosure in Tropical World, though it was too misty to see it. There are loads of addax calves in the herd, looks really good at the mo.
- Good progress is being made on the serval enclosure, with all the fencing up and viewing panels being created. I estimate an end of April completion date.
- The somali wild ass stallion's paddock is being worked on, though I think it's just replacement fencing.
- An alaotran gentle lemur was born on the 3rd of March, and is very cute. Very jumpy, was keeping Mum busy trying to keep it still!
 
I couldnt make it down there today, so I'm sorry if you were keeping an eye out. I plan to go next Sunday, as I won't have been in five weeks.

Lots of good news, then :) Glad to hear about the Serval enclosure.
 
Visit to Marwell on 21st March 2010

I was also at Marwell today, but didn't bump into Zambar (which is unusual :)). Further to what's already been stated, these are my observations:

1) The old pudu enclosure now has a resident male Magellan goose. I am presuming that this is either the father or son that were sparring with each other two weeks ago when I visited and had to be separated by a fence
2) Lemur World looks like it is going to have some more maintenance work done within it, as there are huge coils of rope and long wooden poles waiting to be constructed in the larger red ruffed lemur enclosure, the ring-tailed lemur enclosure and the black and white ruffed lemur enclosure, and holes had already been made in the ground for the poles
3) The gardens are coming along slowly, although the first garden of the three is starting to take shape
4) A keeper told me that the male sitatunga has moved to Lord McAlpine's private collection near Henley as the females are due to give birth to his offspring right up until October this year so he will be well represented at Marwell
5) She also said that a juvenile male sitatunga will be moving to Chessington later this year when they have created their new African exhibit, as this new exhibit will apparently feature sitatungas, zebras and oryxes
6) I still only saw the one red panda (bald-tailed)
7) The young ostriches born last year in the oryx paddock have now moved across to the valley, so there are now eight ostriches in there
8) The Somali wild ass stallion has moved yards and is now in a much bigger one than he was two weeks ago (he is now in the Hartmann's zebra yard, and they are in the Grevy's zebra yard whilst the valley is in use)
9) A keeper told me that it will only be the pair of servals currently situated nearest to the cheetahs (Gandalfson and Lecutus) who will move to the new enclosure when it is ready, so that Suki and Juba the offshow cheetahs can use the enclosure with its connecting run to the larger cheetah enclosure. Obviously this is short term, until the new cheetah enclosure is built
10) The same keeper said that Yenna and Gamin the Amur tigers are just having some space apart at the moment, but that the two enclosures may be opened up into one at some stage, and a new pair are definitely still being sourced which would share one of the enclosures, with Yenna and Gamin in the other enclosure

February/March (so far) births were:

01/02/10 - Grey-legged douroucouli
04/02/10 - Two mara
05/02/10 - Male waterbuck
17/02/10 - Female waterbuck
23/02/10 - Male addax
01/03/10 - Male sitatunga
01/03/10 - Female addax
03/03/10 - Gentle lemur
09/03/10 - Goeldi's monkey
 
johnstoni said:
Also, ISIS now list just 0.1 diana monkey. Is this the case?
Click to expand...

I'm wondering whether the male Diana Monkey has died, or perhaps more likely, been moved to another location as this pair seem not to have bred. Maybe someone(Zambar?) can find out what happened to it, and if a new one is coming.
 
In the attached Annual Report for 2009, it definitely says that the male Diana monkey left the collection, as opposed to dying, but I don't know where he went. The female looked very lonely yesterday :(

Thankyou for that. A little bit of detective work here- does anyone remember when they last saw the Marwell male? I was told at Newquay in early November that they had a male arriving 'the next week' and wonder if this was him (though it still shows no male for Newquay on ISIS.)

Also Paignton's male is about to be moved- I wonder if he might be bound for Marwell- just speculation in both cases!
 

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Pertinax said:
I'm wondering whether the male Diana Monkey has died, or perhaps more likely, been moved to another location as this pair seem not to have bred. Maybe someone(Zambar?) can find out what happened to it, and if a new one is coming.
Click to expand...

I believe the male went to Poland at the end of last year. I do not know what the plans are for the remaining female or bringing new individuals in
 
Well if today is anything to go by, I would assume some Ocelot Kittens will be on their way, lol. Had a very good day today, however the screaming children were out in their millions. Meerkats eating a sausage roll and a gazelle was fed a wotsit! :mad:

On a good note, it's good to see most of the animals out in their paddocks again, and there was some more flirting going on from the female Amur Leopard.

Still no sight of the second Red Panda. I only saw one today, and I assume it was the one with the bald tail. Also, a permenant looking barrier has been put up blocking the vicugna.
 
The ocelots have been neuteured I think, so it probably won't have any outcome. :( Gargh, I hate those sort of days! I remember one day included visitors closing the Bush Walk by setting a tamarin loose into it, a coati eating a baby's dummy, kids getting their hands bitten by penguins and a pencil shoved into the chipmunk avairy!

Hmm... I think by now we can conclude that the tailed red panda has either died or moved. It can't have stayed hidden from all us Marwell regulars for so long. :(
 
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