Blackpool Zoo Blackpool Zoo News 2024

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ZooNut23

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Visited Blackpool Zoo today. Was wet but all areas were accessible. Lots of vending machines and food and drink outlets closed or out of order.

Baby Goeldi monkey was seen clinging on to an adult.

New cage built for the Pileated Gibbons on the island adjacent to their house meaning more room. Would like to see the zoo build a new better exhibit for the spider monkeys as the island is very sparse.

Impressed with the new cat enclosures and viewing. Similar feel to the lion enclosure at Chester.

Jingga the Orangutan is an inexperienced first time mum and there are signs up advising that the zoo are monitoring her and ready to intervene if necessary. There were a few heart in mouth moments when she had the baby up high but all in all both seem to be doing well. Volunteer suggested both the other females may be expecting too.

One of the elephants (Noorjahan) looked very rotund. No staff in the elephants house to ask. Looked pregnant to me, especially when viewing from behind.

All in all a very enjoyable day
 
Exciting about potential elephant calf but first time mum can find it difficult so fingers crossed all goes well if she is expecting! As Emmet the male elephant is a experienced breeding male and has been at Blackpool long enough considering it’s a 22 month pregnancy
 
Rosie183 said:
Exciting about potential elephant calf but first time mum can find it difficult so fingers crossed all goes well if she is expecting! As Emmet the male elephant is a experienced breeding male and has been at Blackpool long enough considering it’s a 22 month pregnancy
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IF Noorjahan is expecting(Emmett has been there long enough now) then she's the most experienced mother they have. She has previously produced 2 calves( her first Ganesh succumbed to EEHV at about 2 1/2 & her 2nd, Esha, is still living with her). This would have been the first time she would've mated naturally but Emmett was the father of Ganesh albeit via AI. There are 2 other females there that are of breeding age so they could both be pregnant
 
It‘s pretty much impossible to diagnose a pregnancy in elephants by the size of her belly, so I am sceptical (looking at the size of the tits is a much better indicator of a pregnancy, at least if the female is not nursing). But a calf is long overdue, Emmett has been there since 2019.
 
Embu said:
IF Noorjahan is expecting(Emmett has been there long enough now) then she's the most experienced mother they have. She has previously produced 2 calves( her first Ganesh succumbed to EEHV at about 2 1/2 & her 2nd, Esha, is still living with her). This would have been the first time she would've mated naturally but Emmett was the father of Ganesh albeit via AI. There are 2 other females there that are of breeding age so they could both be pregnant
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This is highly speculative .. as Asiatic elephants are quite rounded out at the best of times. Further, the bull has been there a few years ... already and I remain rather sceptical. I would prefer if they call in the IZW vets from Tierpark Berlin to evaluate their herd (even in Twycross Zoo times managers were stalling on breeding their elephants without any good rationale ...). It has been a good few years when last one of these elephants had a calf ... It is really time to evaluate and be more pro-active.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
This is highly speculative .. as Asiatic elephants are quite rounded out at the best of times. Further, the bull has been there a few years ... already and I remain rather sceptical. I would prefer if they call in the IZW vets from Tierpark Berlin to evaluate their herd (even in Twycross Zoo times managers were stalling on breeding their elephants without any good rationale ...). It has been a good few years when last one of these elephants had a calf ... It is really time to evaluate and be more pro-active.
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"Highly speculative"

This is a zoo gossip page. None of us here are experts so everything is going to be speculative.
 
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Kifaru Bwana said:
(even in Twycross Zoo times managers were stalling on breeding their elephants without any good rationale ...). It has been a good few years when last one of these elephants had a calf ... It is really time to evaluate and be more pro-active.
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The problem at Twycross was they couldn't keep a bull themselves due to insufficient housing. So all breeding attempts in the latter years were by AI and probably only made at intervals anyway. But I would have expected that since the transfer to Blackpool with proven bull Emmett in the herd that there would have been breeding by now.
 
Pertinax said:
The problem at Twycross was they couldn't keep a bull themselves due to insufficient housing. So all breeding attempts in the latter years were by AI and probably only made at intervals anyway. But I would have expected that since the transfer to Blackpool with proven bull Emmett in the herd that there would have been breeding by now.
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I would hope they evaluate their cows for reproductive health? It is pretty important that Blackpool get their females to calve a.s.a.p.
 
Yes it‘s really important for the group to have calves as soon as possible, but what would an evaluation change? Then you possibly know about the issues but that wouldn‘t change anything. The issues that cause infertility in female elephants are not cureable and often poorly understood.
 
Planning application for antelope housing:

Antelopes hoping for a brand new pad at Blackpool Zoo

Blackpool Zoo has submitted a planning application to the council for permission to build a new stable block to house its antelopes. If it gets the go-ahead, the scheme will see eight new stables built for the animals within their existing compound in the south west corner of the zoo on East Park Drive.
 
I would have thought new enclosures for some of the smaller primate species should be a priority for investment.

The spider monkey island and small primate house in particular are very small.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Planning application for antelope housing:

Antelopes hoping for a brand new pad at Blackpool Zoo

Blackpool Zoo has submitted a planning application to the council for permission to build a new stable block to house its antelopes. If it gets the go-ahead, the scheme will see eight new stables built for the animals within their existing compound in the south west corner of the zoo on East Park Drive.
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Regarding Antelope. What species of Antelope would Blackpool Zoo be getting ?
 
Fallax said:
The wording makes it sound like the housing will be for the antelope species already present (blesbok and sitatunga) but it'd be nice if they got some more.
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Would make sense for the sitatunga as the numbers are quite solid, and if the zoo plan on renovating their exhibit also would allow more space down that side of the zoo. The zoo only hold one blesbok now. It would be nice to see them hold some different antelope, essentially, bringing back bongos would be lovely.

As mentioned on the zoo's social media, they are currently testing for pregnancy hormones for three of the female elephants, Esha, Noorjahan and Tara. I think realistically, it won't be too long before the zoo has their first elephant calf.
 
ZooNut23 said:
Jingga the Orangutan is an inexperienced first time mum and there are signs up advising that the zoo are monitoring her and ready to intervene if necessary. There were a few heart in mouth moments when she had the baby up high but all in all both seem to be doing well. Volunteer suggested both the other females may be expecting too.
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Glad to hear that there are signs assuring visitors that the zoo will intervene if necessary. I'm in the US and can't go see Jingga and Jarang but have been following them on the Ape Tracker YouTube channel. Many of the watchers are concerned about the two, but with such limited footage there are all kinds of assumptions regarding the zoo and their welfare. It does seem like they're doing well though? Is there any other information about them aside from the signs?
Many thanks.
 
ShanV said:
Glad to hear that there are signs assuring visitors that the zoo will intervene if necessary. I'm in the US and can't go see Jingga and Jarang but have been following them on the Ape Tracker YouTube channel. Many of the watchers are concerned about the two, but with such limited footage there are all kinds of assumptions regarding the zoo and their welfare. It does seem like they're doing well though? Is there any other information about them aside from the signs?
Many thanks.
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I think the zoo are taking all the necessary steps. Jingga and Jarang are separate from the other three adult Orangs who can still see them through the mesh. I think the faster he develops and can negotiate the indoor space himself the better because she does carry him in unusual places and they hope to merge the group again in the summer
 
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