Bristol Zoo (Closed) Bristol Zoo news 2014

Nisha said:
Upon asking I was told they came from Barcelona at the end of July.. They appear to have settled well and the male was busy trying to add to his new family with one of them ;)
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Good news on the Drills. I wonder where the 2nd male has gone (back to Europe maybe?) Evidently either one or both these males were not castrated before they went to Woburn from (I think it was) Hanover.
 
Moving on

Gorilla, Namoki is leaving for Belfast on 14th October

Gorillas at a zoo have thrown a goodbye party for one of their troop, who is off to start a new family.

Namoki was born at Bristol Zoo Gardens nine years ago and is now mature enough to have babies of her own.

The western lowland gorilla is related to the males at the zoo, so must move away and be introduced to another family.

Her departure was celebrated with a party, with the gorillas handed cardboard moving boxes full of their favourite foods.

Namoki concentrated on eating the vegetables from her box, while younger half-brother Kukena, three, played with his.

She will leave for Northern Ireland on October 14, joined by Lynsey Bugg, assistant curator of mammals at the zoo.

Ms Bugg, who has known Namoki since she was born, will help the gorilla settle into her new home at Belfast Zoo.

"This is a very exciting time for Namoki, who is about to embrace the next chapter of her life as an adult gorilla," she said.

"The process of introducing Namoki to another group of gorillas will be a sensitive one and the Belfast Zoo keepers and I will be keeping a close eye on her and monitoring her interaction with the rest of the group."

Namoki was born at Bristol Zoo in 2005 and is the daughter of Romina and 32-stone silverback Jock.

"Namoki worked out how to get her own way with Jock from a very young age," Ms Bugg added.

"If she adopts the same charm with the male gorilla at Belfast Zoo, I have no doubt she'll be very popular.

"Namoki looks up to the other female gorillas in the group and has hopefully developed a sense of how to be an adult female gorilla and how to raise a family."

There are as few as between 90,000 and 110,000 western lowland gorillas in the wild, with many killed for the "bush meat" trade.

The Ebola virus is also causing problems for the remaining populations.

Over the past 20 to 25 years, the number of gorillas has decreased by more than 60%.

Visitors to Bristol Zoo are asked to share their memories of Namoki and will be able to wave her off until October 13

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/zoos-farewell-party-gorilla-105302541.html#DooEQOB
 
Apart from all the usual publicity(above), this must be quite a hard wrench for Bristol-losing 'Namoki' who is the only female to be born into their current group. Its obviously a necessary transfer but does reduce Bristol's group to only three females, and only one of those(Salome) appears to be breeding at present. Possibly they will/have been allocated a replacement for Namoki? At Belfast she will meet another ex Bristol Gorilla- their original breeding female 'Delilah'.
 
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The Okapi left Bristol Zoo on Thursday, one going to Chester Zoo, and the other to Wild Place.
 
It does at the main Clifton site.. end of one era and the start of a new one at Wild Place :)
 
It seems odd to think of Bristol without Okapi. Had they been there continuously since 1961? It was where I saw my first animals, in 1973.
 
AdamD601 said:
Does that leave Bristol with no okapi? How many does Wild Place have after the move?
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I'm assuming, Wild Place will now have 3 Okapi. Lets hope they can continue the success Bristol had.

Any ideas what will be happening to this corner of the zoo now the Okapi have vacated?
 
IanRRobinson said:
It seems odd to think of Bristol without Okapi. Had they been there continuously since 1961? It was where I saw my first animals, in 1973.
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Yes they have.

This is certainly a species that will benefit from the larger(?) enclosure at Wild Place, rather than in the city site.
 
Pertinax said:
Yes they have.

This is certainly a species that will benefit from the larger(?) enclosure at Wild Place, rather than in the city site.
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Needs no explanation, even for a traditional species historically held at the city zoo site. I think they have been following the presented masterplan for the Bristol Zoo City site and the move / transfer of the okapi to the Wild Place site and to Chester and beyond was on the cards for some time now.

BTW: love to see some bongos added to Wild Place too. Perhaps also deer and European bison (over and above wolf ...). But that is more dreaming on my par than anything cast in cement!
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
BTW: love to see some bongos added to Wild Place too.
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On one of the older plans for Bristol Zoo( the city site) circa 2008, Bongo were shown for the enclosure which formerly held Okapi, the one adjacent to the Gorilla/old Elephant House.- and now has the Cassowary I think. Whether they still plan that as a replacement for the Okapi I don't know, but I rather doubt it- at least for the Zoo site. Wild Place could still be a possibility though.

The same plan also showed a new enclosure for Mandrills by the subsidiary Guthrie Road entrance gate(nowadays it is closed)- that did not happen, but instead Drills have since appeared in an existing enclosure near the Main Entrance.
 
Some snooping on Bristol planning applications shows that the okapi area/enclosure will be turned into................a walkthrough wallaby enclosure.
 
AdamD601 said:
Some snooping on Bristol planning applications shows that the okapi area/enclosure will be turned into................a walkthrough wallaby enclosure.
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Sometimes the thought occurs that UK mainstream zoos might just have a bit more imagination. :rolleyes:

It could be worth having a bit more faith in the general public's wish to encounter the rare and unusual.
 
Depends on the species I suppose - yet another red-necked wallaby enclosure would be a disappointment, but something along the lines of Tammar, Yellow-footed or Agile would be nice!
 
I'm reserving feeling deeply underwhelmed for now and maintaining the hope of Agile, Swamp or Tammar Wallabies a little longer...

...but we all know it'll probably be Red-necked.
 
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