Edinburgh Zoo Edinburgh Zoo news 2011 #2

Sorry if this has been mentioned (It is old news!) but, two Northern Luzon giant cloud rats have been born. One in March and the other in July.
 
4, six month old Darwin's rhea have arrived.
A colony of leafcutter ants has been placed in the foyer area of the Brilliant birds exhibit.
 
cracker said:
The second female, Miranda, died a few weeks back. She had been ill but it was fairly sudden.
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That's slightly worrying, given the pressure the zoo has been under regarding the sealion facilities

Sea lions may go from Edinburgh Zoo as cash cuts hit revamp - News - Scotsman.com

AS they are down to just one, it would be easy to move the male to another collection and not have sealions. The sealion pool is the 'gateway exhibit for the general public - I wonder what else they could do with it?
 
Davef68 said:
That's slightly worrying, given the pressure the zoo has been under regarding the sealion facilities

Sea lions may go from Edinburgh Zoo as cash cuts hit revamp - News - Scotsman.com

AS they are down to just one, it would be easy to move the male to another collection and not have sealions. The sealion pool is the 'gateway exhibit for the general public - I wonder what else they could do with it?
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They could follow in Chester's direction and convert the enclosure for giant otters and send the male sea lion to Colchester?
 
^thats actually a good idea. They have a fairly large enclosure and a very deep pool, so that's not a bad thought, bravo!:)
 
Cat-Man said:
^thats actually a good idea. They have a fairly large enclosure and a very deep pool, so that's not a bad thought, bravo!:)
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One of the main problems with the pool is that it doesn't have a proper filtration system so I doubt they would be able to house any animal in it that uses the water a lot, as then they would be as well keeping the sea lions. That enclosure was built in 1913 so any work done would be fairly substantial to make it up to standard for most pool using mammals anyway.
 
cracker said:
One of the main problems with the pool is that it doesn't have a proper filtration system so I doubt they would be able to house any animal in it that uses the water a lot, as then they would be as well keeping the sea lions.
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I don't think Giant Otter(or any other Otter species) are nearly as aquatic as Pinnipeds, they tend to use the land a lot more and their natural habitat is slow-moving jungle rivers and waterways, which are not clear-running anyway. So I don't see the filtration problem as too much of an issue.

As Colchester have 0.5. Patagonian sealions and an excellent and spacious facility for them, it does seem an obvious home for the single male, unless they transferred a female to Edinburgh.
 
I wonder if Colchester have deliberately avoided having another male.....given the poor success rate with breeding this species in the UK, it would be bad publicity if females at Colchester were giving birth to pups which then mostly died. Of course its a long shot but then Colchester I'm sure could have acquired a male before now had they wanted to.

As much as I'd like to see Edinburgh rewarded for going into this species, they've had two adult deaths and no successful breeding in a relatively short time period so perhaps its better that they send the remaining animal elsewhere until they are able to provide something on a par with their penguin enclosure.
 
Pertinax said:
I don't think Giant Otter(or any other Otter species) are nearly as aquatic as Pinnipeds,


An aside, but one of the things I noticed about the Giant Otters at Chester was how much more aquatic they looked than other Otter species - in fact I remaarked to my wife that they looked like they were in the process of evolving into Seals
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Davef68 said:
Pertinax said:
I don't think Giant Otter(or any other Otter species) are nearly as aquatic as Pinnipeds,


An aside, but one of the things I noticed about the Giant Otters at Chester was how much more aquatic they looked than other Otter species - in fact I remaarked to my wife that they looked like they were in the process of evolving into Seals
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I think you are correct- film I've seen of them etc they certainly do look more aquatic than most otters, though they spend time on the banks as well. But as I said above, their natural habitat is slow moving jungle rivers, swamps and pools, so I'm not sure how important water filtration is for them in the captive enviroment. It would be interesting to know whether Chester's exhibit is still water-filtered. I somehow doubt the Chesnut Centre one is?

Anyone?
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The mammal curators would have to consider the temperature of mid Scotland and the adaptability of this species to colder climates. The Sealion pool would have to use some of the open space surrounding it as they (Chester G Otters) do seem to run around the edges an awful lot. If the pool were to be modernised it might be good to see a return to the UK of Baikal Seals - Twycross had a nightmare with the original seven (?) they imported (I recall at least passing away due to swallowing coins) but with Edinburgh's expertise and baltic type weather it could work? Another possibility would be to build a fake cliff with nest holes and bring in some Tufted Puffins or native Cormorants (as Living Coasts have done) and make a link with the Scottish Sea Bird Centre to highlight their work.
 
From memory it isn't that huge so for the time being they could just use it for ducks or even as an ornamental pond with a fountain or something.
 
It's not massive in terms of surface area, but it is rather deep I believe. Maybe they could go for a smaller but unusual species of otter, like the speckle-throated or smooth-coated....
 
Two Squirell monkeys have been born at Living Links, as has a Cappuchin.

A Rhea, Red River Hog and L'hoest monkey have been visited by the vet in the past week.

One of the parrots has died.
 
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