It is really small, although one of the keepers told me that the seals used to have the choice of their current pool, and the much larger one next to it (which now houses penguins). They had it for ages and never used it, only when they were being fed in there, so they filled the wall in and put the penguins in the bigger pool.
Living Coasts (Closed) Living Coasts News
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No, according to ISIS, the only places in Europe they can be seen are Antwerp, Lisbon Aquarium and Blijdorp.
Gigit
Well-Known Member
I visited Living Coasts again yesterday to have a look at the new Mangrove Forest exhibit. Less 'forest', more interpretive displays and half a dozen tanks containing an interesting variety of fish. Unfortunately, I didn't make a note of them all as I wrongly assumed they'd be listed on the web site.
I can say they include mangrove whiprays, blue spotted ribbontail rays, blue spotted stingrays, horseshoe crabs, fiddler crabs, mudskippers and intriguing foureyed fish. More varieties are on the way.
It is situated around the underwater viewing area for the fur seals. As with the outdoor exhibits, worth a visit and, if you are child free, you don't have to allow a lot of time for it. There is a large activity area for children.
I can say they include mangrove whiprays, blue spotted ribbontail rays, blue spotted stingrays, horseshoe crabs, fiddler crabs, mudskippers and intriguing foureyed fish. More varieties are on the way.
It is situated around the underwater viewing area for the fur seals. As with the outdoor exhibits, worth a visit and, if you are child free, you don't have to allow a lot of time for it. There is a large activity area for children.
bloodycurtus
Well-Known Member
there was talk of mangrove monitors any sign that this may be the case?
Probably not. Sea otters aren't prolific breeders. Paignton/Living Coasts were pretty hopeful of obtaining the otters when the facility was built, but failed in pulling it off. The 'fur seal pool' is the main let-down for Living Coasts, apart from the overall size which is far too small for a tourist attraction and the difficulty of getting there. Could have been built better with the funds spent, but a nice collection of seabirds.
Gigit
Well-Known Member
I didn't notice anything.
No news in this forum for a while-im guessing because any updates usually end up in a paignton thread.
This isn't much of an update really, but for any fans of penguins Living Coasts has had its first macaroni penguin hatching of the year and it is the first 2nd generation chick hatched there (i.e. one of the parents was hatched at Living Coasts himself) and there are more expected in just over a week or so. The news on their website has a video of the chick hatching.
Hatchling! | Living Coasts
This isn't much of an update really, but for any fans of penguins Living Coasts has had its first macaroni penguin hatching of the year and it is the first 2nd generation chick hatched there (i.e. one of the parents was hatched at Living Coasts himself) and there are more expected in just over a week or so. The news on their website has a video of the chick hatching.
Hatchling! | Living Coasts
They are also hand rearing another macaroni penguin chick
Zoo-keepers try to fool abandoned penguin chick into thinking a glove is its parent | Mail Online
Zoo-keepers try to fool abandoned penguin chick into thinking a glove is its parent | Mail Online
update 2
I spent all day at Living Coasts earlier in the week....."all day" ? yes, all day! I went in and out, taking coffee and swim breaks at the beach down below - the exhibit is too good at the moment to just 'fly through' as most do.
1) The Auk pool has extraordinarily good visibility right now. The puffins and N American Guillemots are very active.
2) The penguin area is well managed by volunteers who patiently keep the wandering penguins safe from the public, their pushchairs and overly keen little ones. The beach looks good and as with the Auk pool the water is so clear at present, viewing from above is a delight.
3) The 2 male Bank Cormorants are still nesting and looking for a female - does anyone know when the next egg collecting trip is scheduled ?(clever way of beating the bird import ban!). Standing under these birds is real privilege.
4) There is only one remaining pair of Pigeon Guillemots following a bad winter. I counted 15 puffins (?), four Chough's, four Kittiwakes and about 17 Guillemots. This exhibit is truly special and fully deserves all of the awards it has accrued.
5) Wow.........., if you want a special Zoological experience head straight to Wader Estuary. The Ruff's are in courtship mode and fighting for territorial rights with the Stilt's. They chase, duck, hide and joust with amazing head-dresses. The staff have re-landscaped the area and viewing is pretty uninhibited. Many of the Redshank and Godwit now fly over towards the Penguin area and happily land back on the rails within arms reach of passing visitors and.......
6)......join the Oyster catchers and Sea Ducks. This area is much improved.
7) Seals - should be a Sea Otter 'habitat' by now.
8) The underneath exhibit now holds Wolf Fish, Lion Fish, Lobster and three species of Octopus. I had a 1 year old in tow and this area was a good place to break from the Riviera sun.
A new array of small invertebrate species are expected soon in July.
I spent all day at Living Coasts earlier in the week....."all day" ? yes, all day! I went in and out, taking coffee and swim breaks at the beach down below - the exhibit is too good at the moment to just 'fly through' as most do.
1) The Auk pool has extraordinarily good visibility right now. The puffins and N American Guillemots are very active.
2) The penguin area is well managed by volunteers who patiently keep the wandering penguins safe from the public, their pushchairs and overly keen little ones. The beach looks good and as with the Auk pool the water is so clear at present, viewing from above is a delight.
3) The 2 male Bank Cormorants are still nesting and looking for a female - does anyone know when the next egg collecting trip is scheduled ?(clever way of beating the bird import ban!). Standing under these birds is real privilege.
4) There is only one remaining pair of Pigeon Guillemots following a bad winter. I counted 15 puffins (?), four Chough's, four Kittiwakes and about 17 Guillemots. This exhibit is truly special and fully deserves all of the awards it has accrued.
5) Wow.........., if you want a special Zoological experience head straight to Wader Estuary. The Ruff's are in courtship mode and fighting for territorial rights with the Stilt's. They chase, duck, hide and joust with amazing head-dresses. The staff have re-landscaped the area and viewing is pretty uninhibited. Many of the Redshank and Godwit now fly over towards the Penguin area and happily land back on the rails within arms reach of passing visitors and.......
6)......join the Oyster catchers and Sea Ducks. This area is much improved.
7) Seals - should be a Sea Otter 'habitat' by now.
8) The underneath exhibit now holds Wolf Fish, Lion Fish, Lobster and three species of Octopus. I had a 1 year old in tow and this area was a good place to break from the Riviera sun.
A new array of small invertebrate species are expected soon in July.
1:1 Mangrove Whipray have been moved to Weymouth after outgrowing there tank
BBC News - Venomous fish 'too large' for Torquay's Living Coasts
BBC News - Venomous fish 'too large' for Torquay's Living Coasts
Any idea what species of octopus they had? Bonus points if you know if they're still there!
Sorry, TriGB, no. The plan was for Sea Otters from the very beginning but that's when the USA banned exports, with no plans to lift, and so LC will stay with Fur Seals.
coffeepheasant
Member
The sea ducks are going to be hopefully moved to the penguins, and the oystercathcers will be joining the wading birds. so that a pair of eurasian otters can take their place.
Sea otters would be the optimum but the laws surrounding them are so specialised that they wouldn't be fesable.
The mangrove whiprays were moved because they wanted a breeding sucess and the male had partriculary small claspers, hopefully they will be replaced in the forseeable future !!! butterfly fish were moved as they had gotten too big, however fidler crabs, green chromids and six lined snapper have been brought in to replace them however they are behind scenes until they grow bigger.
The two male bank cormorants will hopefully be having some females join them in 2012, as eggs will be collected from south africa shipped and then incubated and handraised, however this time a new improved methodolgy will be used so that the sucess rate will hopefully be inproved. Living coasts is working in association with Bird world to raise these birds, hopefully creating the first captive breeding population of these endangered birds.
The much loved furseals will be remaining and hopefully the group will be suplimented with some new blood after the departure of two of the group. However before Gringo left he was seen mating with some of the females so hopefully he will leave a little gift !!!
This year saw the birth of about 18 african penguins, 1 macaroni chick ( flash), 8 pied avocet chicks, tens of redshank chicks, three batches of foureyed fish, orange chromide youngsters, blue spotted rays pups, ribbon tailed ray pups, upsidedown jellyfish by the hundreds, two black necked stilt chicks, guillemot chicks, tufted puffin chicks and tens of inca tern chicks.
Living coasts i feel is a much under stated zoo and it should get the gratification it deserves. Containing a thriving penguin population, the only captive bank cormorants in the world, the most sucessful inca tern captive population of almost any zoo and a thriving aquatic section.
kind regards coffee pheasant.
Sea otters would be the optimum but the laws surrounding them are so specialised that they wouldn't be fesable.
The mangrove whiprays were moved because they wanted a breeding sucess and the male had partriculary small claspers, hopefully they will be replaced in the forseeable future !!! butterfly fish were moved as they had gotten too big, however fidler crabs, green chromids and six lined snapper have been brought in to replace them however they are behind scenes until they grow bigger.
The two male bank cormorants will hopefully be having some females join them in 2012, as eggs will be collected from south africa shipped and then incubated and handraised, however this time a new improved methodolgy will be used so that the sucess rate will hopefully be inproved. Living coasts is working in association with Bird world to raise these birds, hopefully creating the first captive breeding population of these endangered birds.
The much loved furseals will be remaining and hopefully the group will be suplimented with some new blood after the departure of two of the group. However before Gringo left he was seen mating with some of the females so hopefully he will leave a little gift !!!
This year saw the birth of about 18 african penguins, 1 macaroni chick ( flash), 8 pied avocet chicks, tens of redshank chicks, three batches of foureyed fish, orange chromide youngsters, blue spotted rays pups, ribbon tailed ray pups, upsidedown jellyfish by the hundreds, two black necked stilt chicks, guillemot chicks, tufted puffin chicks and tens of inca tern chicks.
Living coasts i feel is a much under stated zoo and it should get the gratification it deserves. Containing a thriving penguin population, the only captive bank cormorants in the world, the most sucessful inca tern captive population of almost any zoo and a thriving aquatic section.
kind regards coffee pheasant.
I wholeheartedly agree coffee pheasant, Living Coasts is much under-stated and it is a myth that you can get round it in an hour (well for anyone with an interest in seeing the animals on show, it probably is possible to physically get around in an hour), what with the continued expansion of the aquarium adding to the exhibit space utilised, and the mixed species exhibits up top which require time spent watching to see everything there.
It would be wonderful if Gringo has left Grace of Tuna pregnant (I will keep my fingers crossed) and I really hope they are successful in the upcoming attempt at rearing bank cormorants, the death of Impumi (the previous female) was pretty devastating and they really are gorgeous birds facing a very rough time in the wild.
It is lovely to read an overview of the year as I can't really get down there very often anymore so thank you coffee pheasant. I offer a couple of corrections though, as mentioned earlier in this thread the whiprays were moved primarily due to size, it has been known for quite a while they would outgrow the pool available at living coasts eventually and I don't think they had a ribbontail ray pup-the young male ribbontail came from elsewhere and was held off show for a while until he got a bit bigger, not born at LC and they only had one other ribbontail (an adult female) before then, so I presume they haven't bred yet but hopefully it can happen soon. The blue spotted ray pup was their first ray pup so that is very exciting and hopefully many more will follow. Can I ask if you know how many tufted puffin chicks have been reared this year? The last few years it has just been the one, I think from the same pair so it would be wonderful for the group if other pairs have been successful this year too.
It would be wonderful if Gringo has left Grace of Tuna pregnant (I will keep my fingers crossed) and I really hope they are successful in the upcoming attempt at rearing bank cormorants, the death of Impumi (the previous female) was pretty devastating and they really are gorgeous birds facing a very rough time in the wild.
It is lovely to read an overview of the year as I can't really get down there very often anymore so thank you coffee pheasant. I offer a couple of corrections though, as mentioned earlier in this thread the whiprays were moved primarily due to size, it has been known for quite a while they would outgrow the pool available at living coasts eventually and I don't think they had a ribbontail ray pup-the young male ribbontail came from elsewhere and was held off show for a while until he got a bit bigger, not born at LC and they only had one other ribbontail (an adult female) before then, so I presume they haven't bred yet but hopefully it can happen soon. The blue spotted ray pup was their first ray pup so that is very exciting and hopefully many more will follow. Can I ask if you know how many tufted puffin chicks have been reared this year? The last few years it has just been the one, I think from the same pair so it would be wonderful for the group if other pairs have been successful this year too.
coffeepheasant
Member
I definatley share your passion for Living Coasts and i infact Volunteer there and i help out with the keeper and education departement
I am uncertain if they have had any more chicks when i was there they only had one this year but more many have fledged after i left ( unlikely
)
I often spend my tea breaks up at waders wathcing them for hours
.
The one thing i do think living coasts should do is add the grey gulls and the lapwings from paignton to it's collection they would be much happier there!!!
There has also been talk of maybe getting some true seals and splitting the fur seal pool to accomadate the two species. EXCITING along with the otters and the ever expanding aquarium Living Coasts is continously improving lets hope it is long lasting !!
kind regards coffee pheasant
I am uncertain if they have had any more chicks when i was there they only had one this year but more many have fledged after i left ( unlikely
) I often spend my tea breaks up at waders wathcing them for hours
. The one thing i do think living coasts should do is add the grey gulls and the lapwings from paignton to it's collection they would be much happier there!!!
There has also been talk of maybe getting some true seals and splitting the fur seal pool to accomadate the two species. EXCITING along with the otters and the ever expanding aquarium Living Coasts is continously improving
lets hope it is long lasting !!kind regards coffee pheasant