Banham Zoo Banham Zoo News

I hope you will soon see Pallas's cats at other zoos. I wasn't happy when Colchester stopped keeping them. Unfortunately, Edinburgh Zoo hasn't had Pallas's cats since 2010.

Banham still has some remaining Pallas cats surviving
Bella so luckily you can still see them there (like the other poster they are one of my main reasons to trek to Banham I have to say!). Cotswold also has them.
 
First visit to Banham zoo today since being a zoo enthusiast, didn't remember much from previous visits but there were many highlights such as the Pallas Cats, Prairie Dogs, Sealions, and Spider Monkeys, as well as others. I was also lucky enough to spot the Common Genet, however I was most impressed by the amazing architecture and design of enclosures, such as in the Howler Monkey enclosure, Gelada enclosure, Penguin Coast, and Province of the Snow Cat.
 
Paid a visit to Banham today - warm and by the afternoon very sunny! Apparently the zoo had a double ticket free offer over the two bank holidays which made today pretty quiet which was excellent for seeing the tigers in particular. Lovely day all round.

There was a BBC radio interview going on at the tigers - not sure what the programme was but they were talking about the cubs weight (now 44kg as they come up to 8 months old with dad recently weighed at 180kg) and some facts on tiger behaviour along with a very noisy feed for cubs and parents - (the male gave up and went for a nap leaving the mother to try and wrestle the food from the tongs as the cubs went all in) fun to watch and the interviewer must have captured some good growling.

A kunekune pig has moved in behind the tigers (I haven’t visited since March when that area was marked as being worked on so apologies if that is old news).

Quite a lot of baby prairie dogs about in their area near the flamingoes).

The maned wolf enclosure was signed as empty at the moment but a notice up to say a new female is due to arrive this week.
 
Was up at Banham today, lots of animal activity despite the heat not so many people, so pretty nice all round :) Tigers took a photogenic swim which was highly obliging of them.

In addition to the other new things mentioned above there is a new striated caracara chick in the aviary on the left near the entrance which was nice to see.

The marmosets and small primates (golden top tamarin, goeldi etc) that were at the back of the area opposite the sea lions have moved to the bird garden - good new area to see them in and easier to go back and forth to catch sight of them.
 
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Their Facebook page only mentions 3 giraffe 2 of which look very dark so I presume they are the Reticulateds, Zuri and Mahari? Shouldnt there be 4? 2 hybrids as well?
 
Apparently hybrid giraffe Max died earlier this year which would leave 0:1 hybrid female Fiona and 0:2 Reticulated if I remember correctly.
 
Was up at Banham today - very good weather. Quite a bit of work going on with some signs around saying this is happening at both Banham and Africa Alive. The lemur walkthrough was closed with a couple of diggers in the space so some interesting changes coming up.

Great day with loads of active animals - didn’t see the new maned wolf and the red panda youngster is still in the nest box. But managed to see the genet outdoors and the almost mythical margay.

A sign mentioned a new Goeldis monkey arrived from wild discovery on 5th August and it is in one of the enclosures in the updated aviary and small primate combined area.

The stand feeders have been removed from the front of the flamingo lake - maybe to try and limit the number of wild birds with the avian flu risk.

The bird shows are back on - was too windy when I was last there but they were flying today including the Kookaburra which was a first for me. They also had a young crested Guinea fowl join the fowl parade. Made the day.
 
Banham sent an email out about some discount ticket offers - Available at Banham and Africa alive.

“£10 tickets available on: Friday 23rd, Saturday 24th, Sunday 25th, Monday 26th, and Tuesday 27th of September.”
 
Excellent day at Banham today in good weather. More visitors in the afternoon than the morning but it was still not crowded.

Highlight was seeing the young red panda out and about and tucking into a hefty quantity of bamboo. Lovely to see and a real treat.

The two young striated caracara were very active as well as the young scarlet ibis. Lots of avian flu precautions - extra mats and signs and the flamingoes were off the lake. The penguin enclosure wasn’t open. The lake has also been dammed off a bit further away from the shore line than before reducing proximity to visitors (though the birds are still easy to see from path).

The lemur walkthrough is still being refurbished and the ring tailed lemurs signed as off show for now (the ones near the giraffe house are still there).

The Pudu who recently arrived from Chester was out and about - hopefully there will be some young Pudu to look forward to.

Noticed during the sea lion feed and talk that the sea lions were doing crate training - not seen it before but may not signify anything in particular. Now they are down to two female seal lions though maybe there might are plans for some more.

All the big cats were active today which was fun and the young tigers were very playful (some sacks of enrichment going down well in their enclosure).

All round a very good day out.
 
First visit of the year for me to Banham today. Perfect weather - sunny all day. A little chilly but a real treat at this time of year. Not too busy when I arrived though it did fill up a bit later.

Got to meet @TNT which was great and the first zoochatter I’ve met in person :) thanks again for the coffee and pointing out some good things to see!

Path near the aviaries at the top of the zoo (where the caracara are) is closed and quite a few aviaries had signs to say the birds were off show due to avian flu precautions. Flamingoes were off the lake as they had been before, though you can still go through the space. You can see the penguins from the side of the enclosure or under water but their walkthrough is also closed off. All sensible stuff and didn’t impact the day. The lemur walkthrough was also closed.

Saw the baby white faced saki monkey which was great. I didn’t see the infant at Whipsnade until they were quite a bit larger.

Timed things right to see the tigers being fed (adults in the house, adolescents in the enclosure) which was excellent. The young tigers made an impressive mess of a couple of hares.

Really enjoyed the small primates and lemurs in their different spaces as usual - the silver and Goeffrey’s marmosets were not on their islands, probably a bit cold yet, but easy to see inside. Baboons and siamangs were very lively and the younger Sri Lankan leopard was out and aboutZ Erin the snow leopard posed for photographs on her rocks for quite a while too. And the sitatunga herd were very visible, catching some sun. Didn’t see the young red panda today though both adults were active.
 
First visit of the year for me to Banham today. Perfect weather - sunny all day. A little chilly but a real treat at this time of year. Not too busy when I arrived though it did fill up a bit later.

Got to meet @TNT which was great and the first zoochatter I’ve met in person :) thanks again for the coffee and pointing out some good things to see!

Path near the aviaries at the top of the zoo (where the caracara are) is closed and quite a few aviaries had signs to say the birds were off show due to avian flu precautions. Flamingoes were off the lake as they had been before, though you can still go through the space. You can see the penguins from the side of the enclosure or under water but their walkthrough is also closed off. All sensible stuff and didn’t impact the day. The lemur walkthrough was also closed.

Saw the baby white faced saki monkey which was great. I didn’t see the infant at Whipsnade until they were quite a bit larger.

Timed things right to see the tigers being fed (adults in the house, adolescents in the enclosure) which was excellent. The young tigers made an impressive mess of a couple of hares.

Really enjoyed the small primates and lemurs in their different spaces as usual - the silver and Goeffrey’s marmosets were not on their islands, probably a bit cold yet, but easy to see inside. Baboons and siamangs were very lively and the younger Sri Lankan leopard was out and aboutZ Erin the snow leopard posed for photographs on her rocks for quite a while too. And the sitatunga herd were very visible, catching some sun. Didn’t see the young red panda today though both adults were active.

Banham is a lovely collection, glad you had a nice time. The Snow Leopard who has one eye by the way, is Enif and not Erin :)
 
First visit of the year for me to Banham today. Perfect weather - sunny all day. A little chilly but a real treat at this time of year. Not too busy when I arrived though it did fill up a bit later.

Got to meet @TNT which was great and the first zoochatter I’ve met in person :) thanks again for the coffee and pointing out some good things to see!

Path near the aviaries at the top of the zoo (where the caracara are) is closed and quite a few aviaries had signs to say the birds were off show due to avian flu precautions. Flamingoes were off the lake as they had been before, though you can still go through the space. You can see the penguins from the side of the enclosure or under water but their walkthrough is also closed off. All sensible stuff and didn’t impact the day. The lemur walkthrough was also closed.

Saw the baby white faced saki monkey which was great. I didn’t see the infant at Whipsnade until they were quite a bit larger.

Timed things right to see the tigers being fed (adults in the house, adolescents in the enclosure) which was excellent. The young tigers made an impressive mess of a couple of hares.

Really enjoyed the small primates and lemurs in their different spaces as usual - the silver and Goeffrey’s marmosets were not on their islands, probably a bit cold yet, but easy to see inside. Baboons and siamangs were very lively and the younger Sri Lankan leopard was out and aboutZ Erin the snow leopard posed for photographs on her rocks for quite a while too. And the sitatunga herd were very visible, catching some sun. Didn’t see the young red panda today though both adults were active.

Actually, I can confirm that you did see the young red panda. The male is off-show, and it's just mum and cub in there.
 
Actually, I can confirm that you did see the young red panda. The male is off-show, and it's just mum and cub in there.

Thats good to know thanks! When I was there last year the cub was much smaller than the adults. ‘They grow so fast’ as they say!
 
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