Banham Zoo Banham Zoo News

Had a great day out at Banham today. Nice to see TNT again too!

Highlight was seeing the two tiger cubs who were out with mum around the enclosure including around the pond. Mum had left them a bit of meat which they also mucked about with for a while. Lovely experience to see them and well worth the wait for them to all go for a wander!

Lots of new signage around the tiger enclosure including designations for families and photographers at the windows and some attempt to get people to go one way around the tiger house. Will probably come in handy on busy days - today it was fine to just move around however you wanted to. Will put some phone enclosure shots of the new stuff there into the gallery.

Got good views of lots of the other animals from the margay (who I had never seen outside before) to the new maned wolf and prairie dog pups. The new cotton top tamarin pair are very showy and clearly used to the public as they were all over the front of their enclosure. The leopards were also super showy. Went in the new wallaby walkthrough for the first time which afforded some good views. The young Saki monkey is off mum now and very active which was fun and it was also good to be able to go back into the penguin enclosure.

Edited to add there was a local BBC radio reporter at the tiger enclosure in the morning (mum had some meat but the cubs didn’t come out until later) and in the interview they mentioned there would be a competition to name the cubs. Lots of good information passed on by the keeper there about the endangered status of the tigers and the work of zoos etc.

All in all a good day out from opening to close and lots to enjoy. Thoroughly recommend visiting to see the cubs in particular.
 
Last edited:
Some sad news

We are absolutely heartbroken to announce that Enif, our snow leopard, has been put to sleep at the age of 18.

Having already lost her right eye to reoccurring ulcers in 2019, Enif had started to develop a similar problem with her remaining eye. Sadly, her vision had deteriorated over the past few weeks, and we knew it was the right time to say goodbye.

Enif arrived at Banham Zoo in 2006 from Tama Zoological Park in Tokyo, where she resided with the late Rocky. The pair bonded instantly and over the years produced several cubs, who have since gone on to other collections where they have successfully bred. Enif and Rocky played a vital role in the International and European breeding programme, helping protect the future of this beautiful, but vulnerable species.

Over the last 17 years, Enif has graced Banham Zoo with her elegance and majestic nature, and she will be deeply missed by the keepers and the wider Banham Zoo team.

Since the passing of Rocky last year, we have actively been working with the Endangered Species Programme (EEP) to source a new male for Banham Zoo as we pledge to continue our involvement in the vital breeding programme for snow leopards. We are incredibly sad that Enif will not get to meet our new male, but we will continue to support snow leopard conservation and we will never forget the incredible contribution Enif made to the survival of her species.

We would love to see your photos and stories remembering our beautiful Enif below, and we thank you for your support at this time.
 
Embu said:
Some sad news

We are absolutely heartbroken to announce that Enif, our snow leopard, has been put to sleep at the age of 18.

Having already lost her right eye to reoccurring ulcers in 2019, Enif had started to develop a similar problem with her remaining eye. Sadly, her vision had deteriorated over the past few weeks, and we knew it was the right time to say goodbye.

Enif arrived at Banham Zoo in 2006 from Tama Zoological Park in Tokyo, where she resided with the late Rocky. The pair bonded instantly and over the years produced several cubs, who have since gone on to other collections where they have successfully bred. Enif and Rocky played a vital role in the International and European breeding programme, helping protect the future of this beautiful, but vulnerable species.

Over the last 17 years, Enif has graced Banham Zoo with her elegance and majestic nature, and she will be deeply missed by the keepers and the wider Banham Zoo team.

Since the passing of Rocky last year, we have actively been working with the Endangered Species Programme (EEP) to source a new male for Banham Zoo as we pledge to continue our involvement in the vital breeding programme for snow leopards. We are incredibly sad that Enif will not get to meet our new male, but we will continue to support snow leopard conservation and we will never forget the incredible contribution Enif made to the survival of her species.

We would love to see your photos and stories remembering our beautiful Enif below, and we thank you for your support at this time.
Click to expand...

That's sad news indeed, such a good looking cat and showy for visitors she seemed to like the attention and very enjoyable to watch, even when sleeping on the roof of the house! What a sad time for her keepers and the zoo.

She and Rocky leave quite a legacy.
 

Attachments

  • 20230205-DSC06573-ARW_DxO_DeepPRIME-Edit.jpg
    20230205-DSC06573-ARW_DxO_DeepPRIME-Edit.jpg
    248.1 KB · Views: 8
  • Like
Reactions: TNT
Very sad to hear of Enif's passing. My wife and I got to feed her as part of our Sri Lankan Leopard encounter last month. She was a very fiesty character!
 
Lovely day at Banham today, arrived at opening and left at closing. Was worth taking a day off to avoid the weekend crowds, though it was still pretty busy. Nice to see TNT again (always working hard when I am wandering around in a leisurely style!).

The tiger cubs are looking great and were pretty active. Mum spent quite a bit of the day on the high platforms they couldn’t get to, leaving them to play and sleep in the bushes. Heard a few parents planning to build an adults only treehouse when they got home. The gardening team were going to go and strim some of the nettles etc inside the enclosure but were thwarted by mum and the cubs refusing to come inside. Nice to see how the animals are managed by reward etc and when they didn’t come in everyone went off about their business.

Didn’t see Shen the new snow leopard inside or outside and guess he was in the off show area.

There was a new baby black headed spider monkey in the group which was lovely to see and another good result for the zoo.

One of the enclosures in the small primate walkthrough is empty at the moment, hopefully some new residents soon.

Lots of grass and hedge cutting and tidying going on which made things look pretty smart. Nice to see the new wooden areas and repairs on the platforms in the cheetah enclosure - bit of a contrast to Whipsnade letting the tiger platform fall to pieces.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2022.jpeg
    IMG_2022.jpeg
    189.8 KB · Views: 2
CrashMegaraptor said:
He's definitely in the enclosure. He was there Wednesday and Thursday.
Click to expand...

Yes sorry I meant the off show space at the rear of the house. He was there as you say as I saw a keeper going in and talking to him as I was leaving (a tantalising moment however I felt I couldn't just wander down, it was 10 mins to closing!).
 
Had a lovely day at Banham today - not too warm but sunny and the zoo was quiet post the holiday madness which was nice.

A tiger experience was going on so got super views of the cubs and there was also a feed - tonnes of activity, play fighting and rushing about by the tigers for over an hour which was great. All three then lay down near the top of the enclosure and spent the rest of the day asleep so I was glad I had caught them early on.

Shen the snow leopard was highly visible sitting on the tall rock space near the end of the enclosure where Enif used to spend time. Looked very relaxed and first really good view of him for me. Nice to see he has settled in.

The new baby coppery titi monkey born on 25th august is lovely - got good views as the family were in their outside area enjoying the sun.

The spider monkey infant is really coming along and was spending a little time off parents sitting in the grass before being swept up again.

The bird show team flew four Ruppells Griffon vultures together which was great - love a vulture and don’t see many places flying them in groups. Rest of the bird flying was good too. The team at Banham do an excellent job with the bird show.

Had excellent views of the giraffes as they were standing next to the boundary ha ha like wall in their enclosure and browsing the bank the path runs along (poor iPhone picture illustrates) - great to get so close at eye level and as no one else around at all was one of those ‘zoo moments’ where you could be having a zoo yourself!

A few of the enclosures in the tropical house have emptied since my last visit - next to the sun conures, next to the boa and the tank where the cuiver’s dwarf caiman is signed empty and covered over. Picture illustrates. The red footed tortoises have moved to another space inside. Not sure if the caiman has gone but a few spaces to fill / move around. The ring tailed lemurs have moved to Africa alive I believe.

There was a crate in the red panda enclosure I hadn’t seen before so not sure if there are any moves afoot or it was just there for training etc.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2399.jpeg
    IMG_2399.jpeg
    269.4 KB · Views: 3
  • IMG_0180.jpeg
    IMG_0180.jpeg
    141.3 KB · Views: 3
I've never actually seen Reticulated giraffes in the flesh, they are very striking. Is there just the two?
 
Embu said:
I've never actually seen Reticulated giraffes in the flesh, they are very striking. Is there just the two?
Click to expand...
Banham's giraffes are hybrids, but I do imagine they might have a good bit of reticulated in them with the larger spots.
 
Fallax said:
Banham's giraffes are hybrids, but I do imagine they might have a good bit of reticulated in them with the larger spots.
Click to expand...

Well they used to keep hybrids but think they've all died out. I know they received 0:2 from AA but I'm sure they're purebred Reticulated
 
Embu said:
Well they used to keep hybrids but think they've all died out. I know they received 0:2 from AA but I'm sure they're purebred Reticulated
Click to expand...
Ah my mistake, I'd imagine they are purebred if from AA.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top