£500,000 for the penguin exhibit - that's a hell of a lot of money for a zoo your size! I hope it gives the desired boost to your visitor numbers. What other penguin species are being considered in addition to Humboldt?
as far i was aware it was only for humboldt's but who knows? and yes one hell of a price notsure weather it would have been better going into other areas?
The stock list makes fascinating reading - it would be really nice for us taxonomy nerds to see some of those subspecies labelled (Eiders, Brent Geese, Canada Geese, etc.)
One that really caught my eye was the Mottled Duck (Anas fulvigula) as this is a species that I have not seen - are these at Blackbrook? on show? or up at Hillside?
(I was another of those that descended on Saturday by the way)
ok i am a keeper there but mammals and reptiles is my area. we are not always privaliged with upto date information of what is and what isnt coming, the last i knew personaly was that the penguin enclourser was just for humboldts. it is meant to fit into a south american theme so possibly other south american species may be considered.
all the animals listed are the ones in the park weather on or off show. the majority are on show few that are of show of interest are the bronze tailed peacock pheasent and the buff-necked ibis.
Got to say i was interested in the mottled duck aswell when i saw it on the waterfowls list i will look into it but if its on the list it should be at blackbrook
labelling is a big issue really the company we use dont have much selection on waterfowl especially so keepers need to make there own somthing i wouldnt mind doing myself but time and decent pictures are hard to come by lol
i found out today there is plans for possibly more than one species of penguin but i will leave that as a surprise as im not sure if its meant to be common knowledge the numbers are also meant to be more around the 20 mark then the origanal 8 that where meant to be coming. thats all the info i have so far
Hmm, South American penguins, eh? I'm guessing not Galapagos or Magellanic as they would look too similar to Humboldts and neither can be seen in Britain anyway. That leaves rockhoppers, macaroni, gentoo or king penguins. Edinburgh must be able to spare a few gentoos....
I like Blackbrook, I'm a fan of all things cute and Fluffy, so The Bobak marmots were a great surprise for me on my first visit. I haven't seen them since......
Any new mammals coming into the collection?
Penguins, I'm not fussed by, but I'd prefer something not humbolt or black footed.....
Ive just visited blackbrook and right by the new penguin pool there is a giant ramp. It has been put up in less than a month and is the first object you see as its so big (See following website for picture)http://www.zoobeat.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=2694&cat=564Also at the other side of the park between the Secratary Birds and the Open Bill Storks there are 2, possibly 3 enclosures being built. Does anyone know what these are going to hold.
i think its sarus cranes by the secratary birds black-necked cranes in the centre and openbilled in the end where you there today (sunday) as i was working
you cant really get a good picture of the openbills at presnt.
forgot to say there has got to be a roof put on that walkway yet and the penguin pool is meant to be coompleted by 15th march
Yeah i was there on Sunday.
Also, i was there on the 29th of December where i saw a pair of Abdim's Storks in the aviary behind the Ring Tailed lemurs but i couldn't see them on sunday, have they left or just off show?