3 quick questions, sorry! :(

Brum

Brum

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
Hi, this is my 1st proper attempt at starting a thread and is this seems to be the place to find answers (hopefully without being ridiculed :o). These are 3 innocent questions about 3 of my local and most visited zoos, hope someone can help! :)
Here goes :-

1. At WMSP there is an enclosure in the African reserve as you head to the wallaby paddock, does it hold anything?

2. When Twycross held cheetahs was there 1 with a distinctly darker coat? I seem to recall 1 but I was very young at the time...:confused:

3. When did Dudleys elephant seals go, were they still there circa. 1990?

If anyone can help I'll be very greatful and please, please don't berate me for not doing my own research as this is all fairly new to me. Thanks in advance! :D
 
Hiya Brum,

At WMSP If you mean the caged enclosure as you start the safari drive then that is where the Leopards have ended up - they used to be in the glass enclosure in the middle of the 'discovery part' before you get to the rides etc - there are Lemurs in the glassed bit now. The Keeper I spoke to said that the Leopards were moved because people were complaining that they didn't have enough room in the glassed enclosure - but where they are now you'll be luck to catch a glipse never mind a photo - shame really as they are beautiful cats.

Twycross - it may have had some King Cheetah genes as that would explain dark coats in Cheetah - anything like this?
http://ylovebigcats.com/fr/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/king_cheetah.jpg

Dudley - no idea, but someone here will :O)
 
Thanks for the info :D I think we may be on about the same enclosure, on the sight of the OLD lion reserve. If it is the same one then i don't think much of the size but it is extremely well planted so an improvement for the cats at least! :) As for the cheetah, I don't recall any king markings but as I was young it might've been and I just envisaged it being a lot darker. If I'm honest I've never heard of a melanistic cheetah so it possibly was just a king cheetah coat!

The elephant seal thing is really bugging me though, I insist they had 1 in the moat in the late 80's or early 90's but can't find any definitive dates.
 
Dudley definitely had at least one elephant seal for a while - part of a sizeable importation of them at the time , involving Scotia who owned Dudley at the time I think. From what I remember there is quite a story attached to this involving a dead animal somewhere , unfortunately I do not know the details - others on Zoochat with an interest in Zoo History might be able to help .
 
Hi Brum
I can shed a little light on the Elephant Seal first sightings I have in any records is it arrived in 1973 unsure of the date it left the collection but the last sightings I have in the records I have is 1978 I hope this helps.

EDIT -
This must coinside with the arrival of the current species of seal.
Unsure what sexes the Elephant Seals where or how many they had.

Anyone going to the zoo this Sunday for the Vintage car display in the courtyard?
 
adrian1963 said:
Hi Brum
I can shed a little light on the Elephant Seal first sightings I have in any records is it arrived in 1973 unsure of the date it left the collection but the last sightings I have in the records I have is 1978 I hope this helps.
Click to expand...

That fits with my memories. I went in 1979 and there was no elephant seal.
 
Found a bit of a bizarre story for you on a site that lists april fool jokes in newspapers (don't ask why I was looking) anyway the article is below:

On March 31 1972, a team of zoologists from Yorkshire's Flamingo Park Zoo
found a mysterious body floating in the Loch. It was 15½ feet long and weighed 1½ tonnes. The scientists started to transport the body back to the zoo when police stopped them saying they were not allowed to remove unidentified bodies from the lake. The body was taken to Dunfermline for identification. It was published as "Son of Nessie", which received worldwide media attention. But the body was identified as bull elephant seal. The following day, Flamingo Park's education officer John Shields said the bull elephant seal of Dudley Zoo had died and he had dumped the body in Loch before ringing his colleagues to give them a tip. He did mean to play an April fool on them but admitted it went too far when the police got involved.

Now the crap joke aside - this looks like it confirms the date of death of Dudley's elephant seal - well it at least narrows it down!
 
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