Chester Zoo 2013 #2 from June 2013

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Excellent news! I look forward to hopefully seeing the calf soon.
 
Indian rhino born to Asha on July 7th. Excellent news, a 4th rhino calf [the other 3 being black rhino] in the space of under 12 months and another first breeding for Chester.

Excellent news! And it's a girl too :)
I thought Tim was being rather coy when he was talking to Kifaru Bwana on the walk-and-talk; it took a long time before he reluctantly admitted that the pair had mated. If she hadn't been in the water, we would have seen how deep her belly was.

Alan
 
They kept that pretty quiet.:) I was going to say its about time this pair started to breed.

This is the first Asian Rhino to be born in the UK outside of Whipsnade.
 
They kept that pretty quiet.:) I was going to say its about time this pair started to breed.

This is the first Asian Rhino to be born in the UK outside of Whipsnade.

Maybe it was a surprise to the keepers too? The zoo's statement does actually say that :D
 
That probably explains why I didn't see any Asian rhino when I visited today!!

Visited today for the first time in 3 years - it was good to see the sloths, aardvarks, Malaysian tapir and African hunting dogs which were all new since my last visit plus a number of young (and not quite so young!) orang utans, elephants, rhinos, giraffes, banteng, bairbarusa and okapi.

Sadly neither of the tiger cubs were visible although both the parents were out. Didn't see the jaguars either or the giant anteaters or the spectacled bear (mind you, I think I've only seen the latter once).

Managed to arrive at the giant otter enclosure just as they were being fed - my goodness, they're noisy and very acrobatic.

I purposely avoided the Big Bugs exhibition - as an arachnophobe of long standing, the last thing I need is to encounter a 33 foot animatronic tarantula:eek:

Latest black rhino calf, Embu, with mum, Zuri.
 

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Visited today. Saw Embu, who is very cute. There is something very special about rhino calves. The two tiger cubs were suckling in a sunspot visible from the viewing platform and path below.

Didn't see the Indian Rhino calf - told they only emerge for an hour or two currently.

Visited BUGS. Didn't quite 'click' with myself or my wife (who's usually a better judge than me!) compared to Dinosaurs. A bit thin on educational value and the figures looked unrealistic, possibly because we are familiar with butterflies/ dragonflies etc in a way that we cannot be familiar with dinosaurs. (Even I'm not that old!!)

But the spider is impressive!

I've started a different thread for the worst example of behaviour by a visiting child's parent I've ever seen - see Parental Control of Child Visitors
 
Ah, but how sure are you there aren't more hiding?
 
A question.

Which Okapi are currently on-show?

Noted a not very large male outside, and a not very large female inside.

Any suggestions?

[Life's complicated with 5 Okapi around :)]
 
A question.

Which Okapi are currently on-show?

Noted a not very large male outside, and a not very large female inside.

Any suggestions?

[Life's complicated with 5 Okapi around :)]
Well at the moment all of them are on-show.The breeding pair and youngster are in the Secret World of the Okapi and the 2 young males are out the back of the Giraffe House.
 
New vivaria are under construction in the Tropical Realm near to the site of the old poison dart frog exhibit. The breeze block walls of a large enclosure and a smaller one at right angles to it were visible yesterday.
 
Well at the moment all of them are on-show.The breeding pair and youngster are in the Secret World of the Okapi and the 2 young males are out the back of the Giraffe House.

Should be called 'The even more secret world of the other okapi', although they're much easier to spot than the anteaters were round there.
 
Ah, but how sure are you there aren't more hiding?

Bongo seem to specialise in hiding. Several times I have been to both Howletts and Port Lympne and their enclosures and shelters look completely empty as far as I could see. I suspect they were lying up against the rear of shelter as there's nowhere else they could be. At Paignton I've seen them lying in a row along the fenceline at the back,where they are very easy to overlook. At Whipsnade if not in the paddock they will be found resting in the stalls- if you bother to walk around and go in there- it is open- they seem so unused to seeing visitors in there they sometimes take flight outside.
 
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