Bristol Zoo (Closed) Bristol Zoo news 2015

Now that is very, very nice news indeed :D
Would be great to see them in even more collections a few years down the line.

Some people think of the koalas, but it is great to see a whole range of Australian fauna making it's way overseas.
 

I was at the Zoo yesterday. A midweek termtime winter day so it was very quiet.:) I did not see the Pygmy Hippo calf despite repeated visits to the house. Maybe it and its mother were offshow.:confused: There were notices saying there was a baby however.

Elsewhere in the Zoo, the Wallaby walkthrough appeared closed for the Winter though you can still see the YellowFooteds in their indoor area. Beautiful.:) Despite the size and enormous height of the outdoor structure I only saw singles of (is it spur winged?) plover and (is it crested/bronzewing?) pigeon in there.

I was impressed by the number of Inca terns now in the Seals and Coasts exhibit- must be 30/40 with many juveniles.

The Warty pigs occupy both the ex Okapi outdoor paddocks which are now thoroughly churned up as a result.

Zona Brazil looked rather tired but then it is winter now.

The AyeAyes were as usual impossible to see properly due to the poor lighting in that house- just dim shapes really.:(

The new young female Gorilla is integrated in the group but young male 'Komale' who is now just short of nine years old, has had to be separated due to rivalry with his father over her. He will be leaving to join a bachelor group - destination not apparent yet.

The Drill group make a good display just inside the Entrance.
 
Zona Brazil looked rather tired but then it is winter now.

Truth be told, it's pretty tired-looking year round these days. It's pretty much the part of the zoo which needs to be replaced with the most alacrity; as I suspect you would agree, the rest of the zoo is fantastic.
 
Truth be told, it's pretty tired-looking year round these days. It's pretty much the part of the zoo which needs to be replaced with the most alacrity; as I suspect you would agree, the rest of the zoo is fantastic.

Agree on both points though the whole Zoo wasn't looking at its best really at this time of year. The Tapirs look out of place and rather cramped but they are one of the only large mammals, along with the Gorillas and Lions, left in the Zoo nowadays.

Also there's a new smallish building going up along the Lakeside, not sure what that will house.
 
its a small walkthrough area featuring South American species. Walkthrough in so much as you walk past the exhibits but not in with anything.
 
Hippo house closed today for "husbandry reasons".
Twilight world closed for " renovation".
Lemur walk-through closed for "winter".
In the wallaby enclosure are about seven crested pigeon, there was a pair of lapwings and there is a pair of wonga pigeons. I was told some weeks ago that budgies were in quarantine but they never materialised.
The hippos are labeled "pygmy or river hippos" perhaps to distinguish them from marine or desert hippos?
 
The agoti at the zoo are labeled punctata while zootierliste labels them azarae, anyone know which they are? And what the main differences are?
 
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The agoti at the zoo are labeled punctata while zootierliste labels them azarae, anyone know which they are? And what the main differences are?

They are Azara's Agouti; at one point the collection did have both, with the Central American in "Zona Brazil" and the Azara's elsewhere in the zoo, but when the former taxon passed away they moved the Azara's into "Zona Brazil" without actually bothering to fix the signage :p

Central American tend to be olive-brown, with the colouration tending towards the brown end of the spectrum, whilst Azara's are an olive-yellow shading into grey-brown.
 
Thanks for the information and explanation. I might take a marker pen with me next time and correct the sign :)
 
Hippo house closed today for "husbandry reasons".

Sadly the calf has died.

"It is with great sadness that we announce the loss of our baby pygmy hippo. The five week old calf became ill overnight on Wednesday and was being treated by our vet team. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, the youngster passed away yesterday. This is a very upsetting time for our keepers and we know you will all share in our sadness."

https://www.facebook.com/BristolZoo...91893721871/10153359014406872/?type=3&fref=nf
 
Very sad but considering recent comments on here it doesn't come as a huge surprise
 
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