Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo Elephant Program

[Mr.Ivory]

Actually you know what maybe you're right, thought I was pretty sure the one with a small bit taken out of its ear was this one.

The way you can tell them apart is by looking at the head shape and size Opal has a more bulky body and larger head and much more rounded, while Tanya is smaller and much less bulky then Opal and has more pointed head

Tanya on the left and Opal on the right

 

[Rajang-GOAT]

@Rajang21 this is definitely the closest you can get to an African Elephant in England. Without doing an Elephant experience. @Rajang-GOAT you could have touched Opal, by simply putting your arm out. I would love to visit Colchester Zoo. When I was younger I used to watch the ZooDays series. Ever since watching the series I have had a desire to visit the Zoo. I used to live in Surrey about half an hour to an hour away from Colchester Zoo. Despite this I never visited. I guess I was a bit young too appreciate it. I was 7 when we left Surrey.

I don't think I was quite in touching distance as the bush is 1-2 metres long (it might not look like that possibly because I'm zoomed in) and there is a ditch before the rocks (looking at google maps or videos might help), but she definitely wasn't very far away. The ZooDays series sounds like just my piece of cake as I enjoy Secret life of the zoo, animal park, and (RZSS zoos) Inside the zoo. I do plan maybe on doing an elephant feeding experience to get close to the animals and ask questions some time soon.

 

[Rajang-GOAT]

The way you can tell them apart is by looking at the head shape and size Opal has a more bulky body and larger head and much more rounded, while Tanya is smaller and much less bulky then Opal and has more pointed head

Tanya on the left and Opal on the right

I think I have picked up on this myself over the years but this makes it clearer, thank you.

 

[Rajang-GOAT]

I have just realised that Tuesday marks 36 years since Zola came to Colchester zoo and 36 years and 1 week since Tanya arrived. They both came from Longleat in 1985- Tanya on Saturday the 2nd and Zola the following Saturday- I will probably compose a post about their time here on the anniversary. What is worrying me is the fact that on the elephant database Tanya has a status of confiscated when none of the other elephants at Colchester do. Can anyone explain this?

 

[Mr.Ivory]

I think I have picked up on this myself over the years but this makes it clearer, thank you.

Your welcome

 

[Rajang-GOAT]

The 9th November 2021 was the 36th anniversary of Tanya and Zola being reunited at Colchester zoo from Longleat. Zola arrived on the 9th and Tanya the week before on the 2nd of November 1985. For the first 13 years they had a fairly public life at the zoo wanted to give them the best life possible despite not yet being able to build a new enclosure. They had walks around and outside of the zoo, public displays, and they were bathed in front of the visitors. In February 1998 (I think) Tembo, Opal, and Rosa arrived, (although I am sure those reading know the stories of Colchester zoos elephant herd) and Elephant Kingdom was made open to the public. Tanya gave birth to Kito on the 6th December 2002 from A.I. and Zola had 4 natural pregnancies although none were successful. Now, I am lead to believe that the relationship between these 2 individuals is not the best, and they are not always housed together. All in all, Tanya and Zola have lead the zoo and the elephant herd into a new generation of animals and enclosures, and are some of the longest standing residents of Colchester zoo today, alongside Tara the chimpanzee who was born here to Billy-Joe in 1985, and is still living with here families including grandchildren.

 

[Rajang-GOAT]

Today, the 6th December 2021, is the 19th anniversary of the birth of Kito, the zoos first elephant calf. He was born to Tanya and Tembo in 2002 via A.I and was Tembos second calf, and as it stands, Tanyas only offspring. He was the first A.I calf born in the U.K, and the first A.I calf in the world to be successfully concieved on the first attempt. He grew up alongside Jambo the other calf born here, and was meant to leave with him to go to Bioparc Valencia, but ended up going to Dvur Kralove zoo in the Czech republic. He never sired any offspring whilst living alongside the 2 cows there, and died of a heart attack (I think) in 2017. He has been described to be the pinnacle of the zoos achievements to date by the Tropeanos.
He will be remembered.

 

[Rajang-GOAT]

COLCHESTER ZOO ELEPHANT UPDATE 2/9/2022: I was able to talk to a keeper who had been supervising elephant feedings (as I planned) for about 10 minutes or more and it was worth the wate.
1. My theory that the public elephant feedings permanently stopping because of Tanya and Opal being trained to protected contact was right, this will also affect the Perfect Partner and Keeper For The Day experiences.
2. This is happening because of the recent public controversy over the keeping of elephants in captivity, and health benefits from Tanya and Opal having a routine uninterrupted by constant visitor experiences, this was seen over lockdown.
3. At the moments the zoo are just letting all the elephants and the keepers settle down as Tanya and Opal are trained into PC, and after the financial damage of Covid- they don't plan to bring in any new individuals yet.
4. They may of course still think about breeding from A.I, but they will only breed from Tanya:
Tembo=infertile- no breeding, Opal=infertile- no breeding, Zola= not good with calves and previous miscarriages- no breeding, Tanya= successful birth previously, matriarch, fertile- breeding.
5. As I said they are currently letting the herd settle down, so know moves at the moment, and they can currently only breed through A.I, though if they were to expand it would be through females. If they were to find a new breeding male, it would be Shaka from Noah's Ark- introducing him to females would fire him up ready to breed (maybe they could breed through A.I with him now?).
6. Jambo will most likely not return anytime soon- due to a lack of socialisation with a bull when he was young his breeding abilities are not trusted, but he is happy at Valencia and so are the keepers as he is not needed to be bred from.
7.This keeper (who seemed very positive about the situation) was nice and very helpful, and recommended I do an elephant feeding before they stop (it might be possible) to be able to ask more questions while also getting to interact with the elephants, and if this doesn't happen, I will be visiting at least one Starlight Safari late night opening and could get a chance to find out more normally anyway.

 

[Zoofan15]

Out of interest, what’s the maximum holding capacity Colchester has for elephants? Wishful thinking, but, if a certain zoo owner is so reticent about keeping his elephants, could Colchester take them on and move their existing cows out?

The exhibit is 0.6 hectares, so a capacity of 3-4 elephants would be recommended - though obviously, the bigger the better.

It’d be nice to see them breed in the future - but an expansion would be needed before considering a larger sized herd. The exhibit comfortably accommodates what they have and could similarly accomodate a calf through the newborn and juvenile stages.

 

[Yassa]

All this talk about breeding from the the existing females is a waste of time, seriously. Tanya had her first and only calf 20 years ago and is 99,9% sure not fertile anymore. I dont know if the zoo staff really doesnt know that or if they are just telling visitors what they think they want to hear… I doubt Tembo really is infertile, but if Colchester admits that, they need to send him to another zoo, which they decidedly dont want (the old ‚we love him so much, he needs to stay here‘ thing).

 

[Alwaysevergreen]

Colchester on their recent newsletter stated all Elephant experiences within keeper for a day and the extra-ordinary experience would no longer include a hand feed meet and greet from the 15th September due to new legislation that has been brought in.

So I would imagine next Thursday would be the last time they do the general feed as well?

 

[Rajang-GOAT]

Colchester on their recent newsletter stated all Elephant experiences within keeper for a day and the extra-ordinary experience would no longer include a hand feed meet and greet from the 15th September due to new legislation that has been brought in.

So I would imagine next Thursday would be the last time they do the general feed as well?

Yes, I stated in my post above that all experiences containing the elephants will significantly change. The elephants are no longer included in any experiences (they were previously in) apart from Keeper For The Day, where they will now include setting up enrichment for them as opposed to handfeeding them.

1. My theory that the public elephant feedings permanently stopping because of Tanya and Opal being trained to protected contact was right, this will also affect the Perfect Partner and Keeper For The Day experiences.
2. This is happening because of the recent public controversy over the keeping of elephants in captivity, and health benefits from Tanya and Opal having a routine uninterrupted by constant visitor experiences, this was seen over lockdown.

 

[Alwaysevergreen]

Yes, I stated in my post above that all experiences containing the elephants will significantly change. The elephants are no longer included in any experiences (they were previously in) apart from Keeper For The Day, where they will now include setting up enrichment for them as opposed to handfeeding them.

They are in the extra-ordinary experience And include a hand feed until the 15th September , after which it becomes a scatter feed