Banham Zoo Banham Zoo News

With Gala the 20 year old sealion transferred to Woburn this week (and male Emmett having died last year, these were the last sealions from the group at the zoo in 2018)

Gala-lujah! Sea lion arrives at Woburn Safari Park

I can't see californian sealions mentioned on Banham zoo's animal page any more

https://www.zsea.org/banham/animals

and the sealion information page now goes to a page not found when you click the link.

https://www.zsea.org/banham/animals/californian-sea-lion

There were two sealions when I visted last, I guess the other died or was also transferred out.

I wonder if they have stopped keeping the sealions there or are waiting for others or another species. It's a significant exhibit that represented a big investment and would be hard to use for anything else.
 
Lafone said:
With Gala the 20 year old sealion transferred to Woburn this week (and male Emmett having died last year, these were the last sealions from the group at the zoo in 2018)

Gala-lujah! Sea lion arrives at Woburn Safari Park

I can't see californian sealions mentioned on Banham zoo's animal page any more

https://www.zsea.org/banham/animals

and the sealion information page now goes to a page not found when you click the link.

https://www.zsea.org/banham/animals/californian-sea-lion

There were two sealions when I visted last, I guess the other died or was also transferred out.

I wonder if they have stopped keeping the sealions there or are waiting for others or another species. It's a significant exhibit that represented a big investment and would be hard to use for anything else.
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Possibly the fur seals from the old Bristol site? Banham had fur seals on my only visit therr so far
 
[/QUOTE]="ajmcwhipsnade, post: 1511082, member: 2299"]Possibly the fur seals from the old Bristol site? Banham had fur seals on my only visit therr so far[/QUOTE]

Depending on size of the enclosure and how many fur seals were at Bristol to rehome, they might be able to rehome the fur seals from Rhyl Sequarium, just an idea
 
Embu said:
Depending on size of the enclosure and how many fur seals were at Bristol to rehome, they might be able to rehome the fur seals from Rhyl Sequarium, just an idea
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Bristol has two fur seals. Rhyl and Bristol do have different species of fur seals. Bristol has the South American fur seal and Rhyl has the Cape fur seal.
 
Piece of December 2023 News Not Mentioned:

On December 8th, the zoo announced they reopened the flamingo walkthrough exhibit after renovations were completed.

Banham Zoo

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On January 11th, 2024, the zoo announced that a (0.0.1) Parma wallaby was born.

It’s an exciting time for our Parma wallabies ❤️ The little joey will remain in its mother’s pouch until it is around 30 weeks old! | Banham Zoo | Banham Zoo · Original audio
 
ZooNut23 said:
Banham have announced the arrivals of South American Fur Seal males Toro and Pablo from Bristol Zoo Gardens
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I wonder if they'll change the signage now or not? Although I'm not well versed enough to know if they're still considered sea lions rather than seals.

On another note does anyone know if they're doing anything with the tank in the tropical house? The crocs have been gone for ages and none of the volunteers I've asked know what's happening.
 
ZooNut23 said:
Banham have announced the arrivals of South American Fur Seal males Toro and Pablo from Bristol Zoo Gardens
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Brilliant to know that the species will not be lot from the UK entirely, as they were tremendous fun to watch st Bristol and definitely more interesting than California Sea Lions in my opinion.
stan_the_man said:
I wonder if they'll change the signage now or not? Although I'm not well versed enough to know if they're still considered sea lions rather than seals.
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Naturally, seeing as they are a new species, a new sign will have to be added. Fur seals are indeed much closer to sea lions than to the true seals, both being part of the otariidae family of pinnipeds, compared to true seals which belong to phocidae. However they are certainly distinct and a new sign will be necessary. :)
 
ZooNut23 said:
Banham have announced the arrivals of South American Fur Seal males Toro and Pablo from Bristol Zoo Gardens
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That’s lovely news. Look forward to seeing them in their new home and hope they have a long and happy life. Having not seen them at Bristol I’m quite excited to see them I have to say.

I am sure they will have a new sign Banham are usually pretty good at signage. And there are lots of educational things to say about them.
 
I'm sure they'll change signage too, it just seems like yesterday (although it has been 5 years) that they changed the old enclosure to 'sea lion bay' and now with the unfortunate deaths and the moving of the last sea lion they're going to have to spend more money, in a time where it seems a sore topic for ZSEA, to change things again, that's all.
 
Had a good day at Banham today, first visit of the year.

Was sad not to find TNT busy around the zoo and it was also a shame to see the bird show information and signage all removed since the regrettable cuts pre Xmas.

The birds are mostly still in place though the Harrier Hawk was not in the usual aviary and there was no signage present for it.

The zoo was pretty busy with the main car park full by mid afternoon but not too crowded. Lots of active animals though the weather was worse than forecast with a fair amount of rain. Was nice to see the tiger cubs again and they were playing about which was fun to see.

Was very interesting to see the new (former Bristol) fur seals. The old sealion bay / cove sign has been removed and there is a temporary sign in place about the new arrivals. The seals were having some training and food at different times in the day so that afforded good views. I haven't seen them before so was great to be able to spend time watching them.

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A change of cheetahs was also signed in the enclosure there with a notice that Shaka the cheetah from Africa Alive arrived on 23/11/23. He seems to have replaced the two cheetahs who were in there before.

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The Samiruso bamboo lemur has moved enclosures around the corner in the bird / small primate area - two red bellied lemurs are now in residence instead of one in the other enclosure.

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Was good to see the Somali wild ass out with the Somali sheep in the former zebra enclosure and both maned wolves were zipping about (after an experience). Shen the snow leopard was on top of the house...a favourite snow leopard spot for new as well as old it seems.

Enjoyed seeing both spider monkey youngsters, really good breeding result for the zoo. The one born in November was playing a bit off mum which was nice to watch.
 
Kalaw said:
Brilliant to know that the species will not be lot from the UK entirely, as they were tremendous fun to watch st Bristol and definitely more interesting than California Sea Lions in my opinion.
Naturally, seeing as they are a new species, a new sign will have to be added. Fur seals are indeed much closer to sea lions than to the true seals, both being part of the otariidae family of pinnipeds, compared to true seals which belong to phocidae. However they are certainly distinct and a new sign will be necessary. :)
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Didn't Banham used to have Fur Seals? I saw them there in the 1990's I'm sure. I haven't been since they changed to Californian sea Lion...and now back again?
 
Pertinax said:
Didn't Banham used to have Fur Seals? I saw them there in the 1990's I'm sure. I haven't been since they changed to Californian sea Lion...and now back again?
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Cape Fur Seals certainly felt more common in British collections 15 years ago, although I can’t say for certain if the facts back this up.

On a personal level I find any fur seal more interesting than sea lions, but this might have something to do with the ubiquity of Californians basically everywhere. Ultimately to the general public they’re all the same, and of those kept in zoos none of them are a major conservation concern.

I would love if British zoos ditched the sea lions and replaced them with our native harbour and grey seals, but I don’t see that occurring!
 
Cat-Man said:
Cape Fur Seals certainly felt more common in British collections 15 years ago, although I can’t say for certain if the facts back this up.
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According to Zootierliste, 4 British collections (West Midland, the Cornish Seal Sanctuary, Combe Martin and Rhyl Seaquarium, as well as possibly Banham as ZTL does not specify the date of their departure) have held Cape Fur Seals over the past two decades, but only the four females at Rhyl, who came from Frankfurt and Lisbon and left for Flamingo Land after the aquarium closed last year, are still present in the country.
 
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