Marwell Wildlife My Monthly Updates 2011 #1

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Zambar

Zambar

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15+ year member
First oryx club and marwell visit of the year on pretty much the gloomiest a January day can get, but there ya go. Cheetahs are now off-show as work starts on Savannah Tracks, though all that seems to have been done is the demolition of a bit of Marwell Nostalgia; the last remaining original cat house with raised dens has been demolished to make way for the new developments.
Encounter Village still quiet as ever, but hopefully things will perk up a bit come half term with the opening of 'Cold Blooded Corner'; the redeveloped reptile barn will feature a fab new bunch of endangered reptiles including Crocodile, Phillipine and Kimberly Rock Monitors, Lined Flat-Tail Geckos (already on show in the partula snail room), Gila Monsters, Madagascan Tree Boas and Western Fence Lizards. Known about these for quite a bit now so looking forward to seeing them. :)
And finally, the pottos were the most active I've seen them in years today as they very tentatively accepted grubs from a keeper. :D
 
Zambar said:
Oh, and Marwell have just published the 2010 animal inventory.

Marwell Wildlife Animal Inventory 2010
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Thanks for that. Slightly intrigued by the two 'Tauraco sp.' they're listing - are these hybrids? Not sure how else you wouldn't be able to identify the species.


EDIT: Just noticed they're cagy about the brush-tailed possum, too, listing it as 'Trichosurus sp.'. Is this still the rescue one?
 
In the park they're labeled as Green-Crested Touracos; picture of them here.

Yep, they still have the rescue possum Basil, somewhere off-show like the stable yard perhaps since the nocturnal house has been emptied out.
 
Thanks Zambar. I would say the label ID is correct, though that doesn't explain the stocklist vagueness. Odd.
 
where or how was the possum "rescued", and why should they be unsure of its specific identity? Trichosurus species aren't exactly impossible to tell apart.
 
Chlidonias said:
where or how was the possum "rescued", and why should they be unsure of its specific identity? Trichosurus species aren't exactly impossible to tell apart.
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I believe it was a former pet, and I've always seen it labelled/listed as T. vulpecula before (the only Trichosurus species in European zoos). I think both this and the turacos are transcription errors on the stocklist, rather than genuine unidentified animals.
 
how big is their Seba's short-tailed bat colony? I see they have 119 deaths listed for 2010 for the species
 
Whole groups/colonies of rodents seem to have died out. All the degus (10), crested porcupines (2), roof rats (10), and giant jumping rats (3) have all died in 1 year.
 
I see they record the unsuccessful birth of an okapi also the death of one of their females . This is a shame and the first I have heard of it - anybody know which animals were involved , particularly if it was the female giving birth that died ?
 
The possum ended up crawling through a Southampton's lady's catflap, and when the RSPCA came to pick it up they couldn't trace an owner so donated it to Marwell.

And yes, the mass deaths are really weird if you ask me; over half of the invertabrates along with many amphibians also ended up dying out completely last year, wonder if there's been any disease outbreaks? :confused:
Never heard of the still-birth till now; not suprised it was kept quiet. One of the female okapis does seemed to have died last year, so I'll look into this at somepoint and see if it was related.
 
A few minor bits of news from today's visit to Marwell:

1) The refurbishment of the cheetah enclosure is slowly taking shape. The new housing has started to be built and new fencing has been put up to take the boundary into part of the congo buffalo / sable antelope paddock. The whole enclosure is going to be significantly bigger than it was before
2) The two older servals (Gandalf and Lecutus(?)) have died
3) Some new signage has been put up on certain enclosures, which gives a more modern feel
4) The desert locusts have moved to their original enclosure at the end of Aridlands
5) The Przewalski's horses are in a paddock round the back of Cafe Graze, alongside the Valley field
6) The outside area for the Bactrian camels has been extended and new fencing has been erected
7) A douroucouli was born on 2nd January
 
Thanks for the update.

How many servals does the park have left and where are these housed? I always look out for them when I go but I never seem to find them. Saying that, I haven't been for a few years, a visit is much needed this year.
 
The remaining two servals are the younger pair Gandalfson and Shingy, who live in an enclosure built last Summer next to the ocelots (where the long small cat cage used to be).
 
Some observations from today's visit to Marwell:

1) The flamingo enclosure now has a speaker in it playing flamingo sounds which the flock seemed to be responding to
2) The Grevy's zebras from the valley were in the bongo paddock
3) The Amur leopards have swapped enclosures and Kaia (the female) was very active in the larger enclosure whilst Akin (the male) was sitting right up to the dividing fence watching her
4) Two of the Hartmann's zebras were on the hardstanding whilst the other two were in the paddock
5) The meerkats have temporarily moved to the dwarf mongoose enclosure due to maintenance on their enclosure, and the mongooses have moved offshow

New arrivals (since the info board was last updated) are as follows:

15/01/11 - 2 Madagascar tree boas from Colchester Zoo
15/01/11 - 7 Seychelles millipedes from Bug World, Liverpool

New births (since the info board was last updated) are as follows:

02/01/11 - 1 Douroucouli
17/01/11 - Female roan antelope
 
20/2/11:

- As heavily advertised, the renovated reptile barn 'Cold Blooded Corner' has reopened, using the same layout but with the left and right rows of vivs divided into three. Starting from the left hand corner and moving clockwise around the room, the species are Kimberly Rock Monitor, Gila Monster, Black Widow Spiders, Madagascan Tree Boa, Beaded Lizard, Crocodile Monitor, Phillipine Monitor, Panther Chameleon and Lined Flat-Tail Gecko. Nice species, but interpretations taken another tumble with the once educational in a light-but-effective way panels replaced by 'spot the difference' games and the like...
- 2011 guidebook now out, but as it was £8 :eek: didn't buy it. Wait till next month now, and see if it's improved since last year's.
- Savannah Tracks progressing nicely, with the foundations of the boardwalk now in place.
- All the birds in Marabou Mansions apart from the storks and hornbills have been moved to a partially off-show aviary due to the cold weather.
- The walk-through aviary in Encounter Village has reopened with only the von der decken's hornbills and madagascan teals; the green touracos have been swapped with Paultons for Violet Touracos which will go on show later.
- The entire roan antelope herd is enjoying the old ankole paddock, having moved from their old one from a newly constructed runway.
 
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Zambar said:
20/2/11:


- 2011 guidebook now out, but as it was £8 (:shocked:) didn't buy it. Wait till next month now, and see if it's improved since last year's.
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Does it look to be a particularly lavish number, or is it the same rather skimpy thing that was on offer last year? £8.00 represents a radical leap forwards in ambitious pricing, it has to be said.
 
Same design as last year, yep. Considering Longleat charges £5 for a fairly substantial A4 guide for example, £8 is overkill, especially consider how little education there is in the zoo's interpretation for those who don't buy one.

I'd really like a word with the education officer/marketing manager/whoever; they seem far too afraid to present Marwell as the serious conservation charity and learning resource it is.
 
Zambar said:
20/2/11:
- 2011 guidebook now out, but as it was £8 :eek:
Click to expand...

Unfortunately there seems to be a trend with a number of places deciding to compensate for (potential or actual) falling or static visitor numbers by "soaking" the die-hard, come what may, visitors. Other evidence for this can be seen by the significant (inflation busting) jumps in admission prices over the last few years.
 
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