Blackpool Zoo Blackpool Zoo News 2024

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Jambi said:
It depends what you're interested in. The elephants are a highlight for many people, there's also a large and varied bird line-up, including the UK's only magellanic penguins.
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I figure you do not want to hold off till the elephant cows are due (late 2024)?
 
I easily did it in three hours last Saturday. One unusual species is Canadian Porcupine. The penguins are moulting and most seemed to be in the aviary part of the enclosure. New Boa exhibit looks good and is quite big. Something else is being built next door.

They have the only Black-casqued Hornbills I have ever seen.

Good flock of Roseate Cockatoos.
 
I visited Blackpool today. I was there for 4 hours and I really enjoyed myself. It was fantastic to see the Elephants, especially Esha who I watched grow up at Twycross.

The primate collection was fantastic. They have a very large active troop of King Colobus and Spider Monkeys.

Does anyone know how many Pileated Gibbons are at the zoo? I counted five of them. Four in the main? enclosure and one in a enclosure near the Spider Monkeys. The group of four were very active when I saw them. If anyone has any information on the individuals at Blackpool that would be greatly appreciated.

The Sea Lion show was fantastic. The domaine female in the group was very vocal. If was good seeing how many visitors donated at the end of the show to support conservation projects for the Monk Seal.

I will definitely be coming back again later in the year.
 
Did you see the new baby orangutan? Blackpool haven't announced it on social media yet but there is footage on the ape tracker youtube channel.
 
I'd guess they are waiting a bit to ensure it's healthy before announcing it, great news either way.
 
2 Pieces of May 2024 News Worth Mentioning:
On May 25th, the zoo announced that 2+? domestic reindeer were born which are on exhibit.

Blackpool Zoo

On May 19th, it was announced that the zoo acquired a (0.1) Geoffroy's marmoset named Poppy from the Colchester Zoo in Essex on March 7th.

Monthly Reports | Colchester Zoo

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On June 3rd, the zoo announced that a North American porcupine was born which is now on exhibit.

Blackpool Zoo
 
Confirmation of birth

BABY BORNEAN ORANGUTAN!

We are excited to announce the birth of another critically endangered Bornean orangutan here at Blackpool Zoo.

First-time mother Summer gave birth to a healthy baby boy during the night on Sunday, 28th April, fathered by Kawan, who joined us in 2022 as part of a recommendation by the International Studbook Keeper, who manages the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP).

Both Summer and her baby, who is yet to be named, are doing really well and living happily alongside other first-time mum, Jingga, and her son Jarang.

Given that Bornean orangutans are classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), this breeding programme is vital for the species, which faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild and we are thrilled to welcome a new generation of beautiful Bornean orangutans here at Blackpool Zoo.
 
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I had another lovely visit to Blackpool Zoo today, though unfortunately it was pretty crowded with a lot of school trips and a lot of families with babies and toddlers. A few things of note:
- I saw one of the baby orangutans, I'm not entirely sure if it was the recently announced one. The mother was climbing across the net at very top of the indoor viewing area, and the baby was dangling off her foot. I sadly didn't get many decent photos of this, because all of the viewing windows were blocked by families with prams.
- The only major disappointing no-show to speak of was the aardvarks, though that was mostly because the windows were completely fogged up with condensation and looked long overdue a good cleaning. I also still didn't manage to see the red river hogs, but on the plus side, this visit was my first time seeing the White's tree frogs in the monkey indoor viewing area.
- The new boa constrictor enclosure looks very nice, and the boa was easily viewable on the ground. Another similar enclosure was under construction next to it, and when I asked, one of the keepers said some Australian finches would be going in there once it' done.
- Thankfully the Yacare caiman are back on show now, I was a bit worried they wouldn't be because I saw a recent photo in the ZooChat gallery saying the enclosure was being re-developed. Some butterfly goodeid fish now live in the caiman's pool.
- In the wallaby walkthrough, a kid about 3 or 4 years old went underneath the barrier and ran pretty far in onto the grass. The parents tried shouting for him to come back, but he didn't listen, so the dad had to run in and grab him, picking him up by the wrist like a ragdoll. Honestly I did feel a bit sorry for the kid, and those barriers are high enough for a small child to easily walk under without ducking.
 
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Blackpool have done well with orangutans lately but are there any plans to upgrade their enclosure? It's one of the weakest parts of the zoo currently.
 
Jambi said:
I had another lovely visit to Blackpool Zoo today, though unfortunately it was pretty crowded with a lot of school trips and a lot of families with babies and toddlers. A few things of note:
- I saw one of the baby orangutans, I'm not entirely sure if it was the recently announced one. The mother was climbing across the net at very top of the indoor viewing area, and the baby was dangling off her foot. I sadly didn't get many decent photos of this, because all of the viewing windows were blocked by families with prams.
- The only major disappointing no-show to speak of was the aardvarks, though that was mostly because the windows were completely fogged up with condensation and looked long overdue a good cleaning. I also still didn't manage to see the red river hogs, but on the plus side, this visit was my first time seeing the White's tree frogs in the monkey indoor viewing area.
- The new boa constrictor enclosure looks very nice, and the boa was easily viewable on the ground. Another similar enclosure was under construction next to it, and when I asked, one of the keepers said some Australian finches would be going in there once it' done.
- Thankfully the Yacare caiman are back on show now, I was a bit worried they wouldn't be because I saw a recent photo in the ZooChat gallery saying the enclosure was being re-developed. Some butterfly goodeid fish now live in the caiman's pool.
- In the wallaby walkthrough, a kid about 3 or 4 years old went underneath the barrier and ran pretty far in onto the grass. The parents tried shouting for him to come back, but he didn't listen, so the dad had to run in and grab him, picking him up by the wrist like a ragdoll. Honestly I did feel a bit sorry for the kid, and those barriers are high enough for a small child to easily walk under without ducking.
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Your description of the orangutan baby you saw hanging onto its mother's foot indicates it was the older one, his mother has some very odd maternal behaviours.
 
Fallax said:
Blackpool have done well with orangutans lately but are there any plans to upgrade their enclosure? It's one of the weakest parts of the zoo currently.
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Not that I know of, but the outdoors is now one of the worst in UK. Breeding-wise they are reaping the benefit of finally exchanging males. Previously they had an almost twenty year hiatus with no babies while Ramon was in residence.But surprisingly he has also bred since being moved to Germany.
 
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They spent a million on the orugutan enclosure in 2014, so I don't think think it'll be the next project. That said apart from re developing the old elephant house or building a completely new enclosure no idea who would be next in line when there's a pot of money available.
 
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