humbugrocks
New Member
bearing in mind that the penguins were free ranging 13 years ago not any time recent before health and safety came in!
Exmoor Zoo What did you think of it?
- Thread starter HuxleyPig
- Start date
mhale
Well-Known Member
I had a very enjoyable visit to Exmoor Zoo on Wednesday and really like this collection. The staff were incredibly friendly and willing to chat about the animals (especially John, one of the volunteers and the resident photographer). This was my first time seeing a tayra and I must say I thought he was a wonderful little guy. It was also good to see the singing dogs and binturongs from the RSCC again. I thought the sitatunga enclosure was amazing, but I could only see two males in there. Pinky the puma (this was her name when she was at Amazona with her sister Blacky) was very majestic, as were Ebony and Zoysa the "Exmoor beasts".
One of the singing dog pups has already been transferred to Zoo Atlanta (I think that was the right collection) and the remaining brother and sister were supposed to be transferred to a German collection but that fell through. The intention is, I believe, to keep only the parents, Kota and Belle.
There is only one maned wolf now as the other passed away.
The information boards at the zoo were full of news. I have attached photos of the list of summer births, arrivals and departures for those who are interested.
One of the singing dog pups has already been transferred to Zoo Atlanta (I think that was the right collection) and the remaining brother and sister were supposed to be transferred to a German collection but that fell through. The intention is, I believe, to keep only the parents, Kota and Belle.
There is only one maned wolf now as the other passed away.
The information boards at the zoo were full of news. I have attached photos of the list of summer births, arrivals and departures for those who are interested.
Attachments
re the news boards in mhale's thumbnails above: I wish more zoos would do things like this.
Jordan-Jaguar97
Well-Known Member
Do you plan to breed your Black Leopards?
I was looking at the Exmoor (one of my favourite collections) thread and discovered an apparently unanswered query re Sewerby, so here is a late reply. Yes, they are in fresh water but it is not a lake like Exmoor's or Rode's was for its Black-footeds. Sewerby's is a concrete pool with a concrete surround then natural substrates. It is filled from a tap. The oldest pair (arrived from Birdworld in 1990) bred last year, the chick being the first breeding at the zoo for eight years (that was during my time on the staff when I was the self-styled "Worst Zoo Keeper in the Country"). I was there yesterday (as I am almost every weekend) and a chick has just hatched - to one of the younger pairs I think.
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
In response to the question of the original post, I visited Exmoor yesterday for the first time in 13 years and was, to be honest, a little disappointed. There is no doubt at all that the collection is good - excellent - and that there are a number of species that it is a real privilege to be able to see. Tayra, for example, or palm nut vulture, or Sri Lankan giant squirrel (Ratufa macroura) - these are all species that are worth negotiating the tortuous north Devon roads to see. And, as has been noted elsewhere, there is a friendly sort of feel to the place - the staff say hello to you as you walk around, and seem grateful for your visit - something from which some of our bigger zoos could learn a great deal.
My disappointment came about, though, because to be honest I thought the place looked a little shabby. I fully recognise that this might have just been unfortunate timing - one keeper off, ill, and viewing windows don't get their daily clean, for example. But many of those viewing windows were really grubby. A number of the signs had crusted bird faeces on them. Some of the planting - in the more manicured, first part of the zoo - was looking a bit sorry for itself. The whole place looked as if it needed some pretty serious maintenance. I fully realise, of course, that such maintenance costs a great deal, and that routine maintenance is an easy place to make cuts in times of economic hardship (in the country as a whole - I have no idea what the financial situation at this zoo might be). It costs £10 to enter the zoo - not a huge amount, but not a cheap day out for a family. I think that if I were not the sort of person who is intrinsically excited by binturongs (even when viewed through a grubby window), I might blanch, a bit, at that cost. There are lots of talks and such like going on, and these are enthusiastically delivered and people looked to be enjoying them, but even so - this admission charge is the same as at, say Newquay Zoo, 100 miles down the coast, and I think you'd be hard pressed not to conclude that there is a better overall zoo experience at Newquay.
I repeat that it may be just have been a bad day to choose to visit - another day, someone on proactive cleaning duty, things might have been better. And there is much to applaud here: not just the great collection, but a beautiful sitatunga enclosure and some very good aviaries for various waders. But despite really wanting to love the place, I would put it at the bottom of the list of the five places I have just 'done' in the West Country. Perhaps, ultimately, a zoo that attracts not-very-many visitors each year (I'd guess that Exmoor would be getting around 50,000 at most) is never going to have the budget to do things to the standard that one might like to see them being done.
My disappointment came about, though, because to be honest I thought the place looked a little shabby. I fully recognise that this might have just been unfortunate timing - one keeper off, ill, and viewing windows don't get their daily clean, for example. But many of those viewing windows were really grubby. A number of the signs had crusted bird faeces on them. Some of the planting - in the more manicured, first part of the zoo - was looking a bit sorry for itself. The whole place looked as if it needed some pretty serious maintenance. I fully realise, of course, that such maintenance costs a great deal, and that routine maintenance is an easy place to make cuts in times of economic hardship (in the country as a whole - I have no idea what the financial situation at this zoo might be). It costs £10 to enter the zoo - not a huge amount, but not a cheap day out for a family. I think that if I were not the sort of person who is intrinsically excited by binturongs (even when viewed through a grubby window), I might blanch, a bit, at that cost. There are lots of talks and such like going on, and these are enthusiastically delivered and people looked to be enjoying them, but even so - this admission charge is the same as at, say Newquay Zoo, 100 miles down the coast, and I think you'd be hard pressed not to conclude that there is a better overall zoo experience at Newquay.
I repeat that it may be just have been a bad day to choose to visit - another day, someone on proactive cleaning duty, things might have been better. And there is much to applaud here: not just the great collection, but a beautiful sitatunga enclosure and some very good aviaries for various waders. But despite really wanting to love the place, I would put it at the bottom of the list of the five places I have just 'done' in the West Country. Perhaps, ultimately, a zoo that attracts not-very-many visitors each year (I'd guess that Exmoor would be getting around 50,000 at most) is never going to have the budget to do things to the standard that one might like to see them being done.
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sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
I don't know whether they are a mother and son, but there are two Dianas on display. A rather poor picture is attached, along with one of the enclosure in which they live.
Attachments
If memory serves me correct these were the animals we sent from Chessington when we redeveloped the Monkey Walk area.
Thankyou SM. I guess they are the same two. I hope there will be a transfer of animals soon so they can go on breeding.
That is interesting. At one time Chessington had a group of six before they were all(?) sent away. I believe Exmoor received 1.1. and then bred 1.0 before their original male died- leaving the current 1.1.
We sent them 3: an adult male and female and their off-spring who was born at Chessington - which I recall was a male. Those were on-site when I started at Chessington in March 2004.
Yes it does, although they are now labelled as Brown Pale-fronted; still Cebus albifrons though. The group is 1-2, all related. The original group arrived in the mid 1980s when what had been a block of three cages was converted into one larger one. The previous inhabitants, including 1-1 Cebus capucinus labelled as White-fronted, had been disposed of. When the new cage was ready the zoo wanted C. capucinus and ordered four animals from Ravensden, only to receive C. albifrons. On complaining the zoo was told that was what had been ordered! At one time the group had grown to seven animals, but it was reduced to the current three some time in the 1990s as far as I remember. They are now in what was orinally a Coati exhibit behind the Penguin pool.
Exmoor is very much my favourite zoo in the West Country. I'm sure you must have caught it on a very rare off-day. I'd rank Newquay a long way behind it despite the fact that I do like Newquay very much.
johnstoni
Well-Known Member
ISIS recorded a birth there several years ago. Very soon after they arrived it was showing 1.1, before the birth not long after.
So possibly one of the two males from Chessington died there, the remaining pair bred and then another male died- leaving still 1.1. Someone said the current 'son' is about three years old, indicating he was born there. I hope he is exchanged for an unrelated male soon. Too much to expect he might just be sent down to Newquay who have(or had until recently unless here has been a change) o.2.