Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo news 2010 #2

aardvark pup

the aardvark pup has been called 'tatsu' which means dragon in japanese, hardly surprising because they look like dragons:eek: when they are born as they are all wrinkly and wierd.
 
cheetahgirl said:
the aardvark pup has been called 'tatsu' which means dragon in japanese, hardly surprising because they look like dragons:eek: when they are born as they are all wrinkly and wierd.
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Just a genuine question. Why do you always post at such odd times? we rarely see you on the site before 9pm and according to the automatic Email that comes with every new post you posted this at 02:19 this morning? (UK time) I have seen other posts from you even later than that!

I'm not trying to be nasty. I'm just curious
 
Rhino incident.

Otto the rhino attacked flossy. Below is a statment that was released by the zoo saying that it was just part of the animals’ daily behaviour. It also says no animals were hurt although it looks quite violent and the yells/cries from the keepers suggest that he was on the verge of causeing her damage.

Statment link -
When Otto met Flossy...rhinos have a rumble (From Gazette)

Video link (might find upsetting) -
 
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looks awful but i think it was made worse by the children screeching, think he could have done real harm if he wanted when she was on the ground!

No animal expert but cannot believe how submissive Flossy was if according to the newspaer article she is the dominant one!
Is it usual for a rhino to turn its back on an attack? I have only ever seen rhinos jousting or push each other face to face using their horns.

Also the zebra in the background were not bother in the slightest in fact they moved nearer for a better look! they were only spooked when the keepers started shouting.
Who was the rhino in the background? also not bothered (slow connection hopeless on youtube)
 
That truly is quite horrible to watch but also very confusing. It is impossible to judge what the attack was about and why the rhino did not turn and face the other or infact run off?

Maybe it looked worse than it actually was in reality, especially with the commotion and overly dramatic screaming! Anyone would have though Zac Efron was satnding in the enclosure! :D

As mentioned the keepers in the back ground did not look unduly bothered by the whole thing, more could have been done to seperate them however. Am no zoo keeper but surely there must be some protocol in place if there is disagreement between two animals eg. yard stick/rake to give them a poke(:D), open a gate, let off a CO 2 extingusiher or air horn???:eek:

I think a part of the problem contributing to this is social stress that is a result of a large quantity of animals in a enclosure that is too small. They should really either have only giraffe or rhino in with the otehr animals as it really is not big enough the sooner they extend it (if the ever do:rolleyes:) the better.

Furthermore there should not be the opportunity for an animal to get trapped in a corner like that, poor design.
 
I was within the zoo at the time. Otto was asserting his dominance thats all. Unfortunatley Flossie is now quite old and knows how it works, thus not backing down and standing her ground. Flossie only has a bit of bruising to her right back leg and is on pain relief for now.

The situation was all under control with keepers using brooms, fire extinguisers and other things to try to coax Otto away. I can assure you that everything was done to stop Otto. Without the keepers it would have been much worse.

Like the zoo have commented, this is a completely natural behaviour. The children in the background were part of a visiting school, who's parents have now been contacting us about the animals. As Flossie was lying down, the children thought she was dead, so we have reassured parents she is fine and explained to them that this is natural.

ZL
 
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Ok, Thanks for the reply zoo leopard, i understand its an impossible situation really. All the best to Flossie for a swift recovery.
 
Can anyone tell me where the hotwire is on the interior of the wall? I have a feeling it was very near to the level of the rhinos when she was pushed towards the wall/rock area.

She is a very old animal (around 41) and I would say its only luck that he didn't do much worse damage to her. I think the comment from Zooleopard that without keeper intervention it 'could have been much worse' is spot on. It's not a large area to mix zebra, rhino, ostrich, giraffe and antelope, especially with regular changes in stock, and breeding taking place. I'm not saying this wouldn't have taken place in another collection, but I don't think there is enough space at Colchester to experiment with pushing an established, post-reproductive female into submission to a younger, fitter, bull in such a small area. If the zoo had more than one paddock, or some service paddocks, this issue would be solved by rotating the animals that won't mix, but of course Colchester only has this one, IMO barren, sand paddock for its rhino.

I may eat my words and discover that they all become beautifully integrated in weeks to come, but I am afraid that Flossie's remaining years (or months) will be stressful. It really was progressive of Colchester to use Simba for AI and actually create a breeding group where both original rhino could integrate well, but his replacement has evidently brought new problems.

Is there any chance that the bull sees Flossie as another bull, given that the calf is not his own?
 
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I think your spot on Johnstoni, having furthur paddocks to rotate the animals is really a requiremnt for this sort of set up where maybe there is a clash of characters or risk of animals becoming overly dominant.

What the zoo needs to consider is not having a postage stamp collection where they want to house and breed every species of animal they possibly can, but to provide a high quality of life for the animals they do already house in the collection.

They should never have got in the new rhino, they should have looked into getting a breeding pair/trio after the original elderly rhino passed on.

Now in the future presumably the animals will be rotated with one or the other shut away in the hardstand areas (that are not large enough).

Either the zoo needs to undertake the extension works they are promising or reduce the number of animals within the enclosure, as it is not large enough to sustain the current number of animals IMO.
 
Gavin123 said:
Either the zoo needs to undertake the extension works they are promising or reduce the number of animals within the enclosure, as it is not large enough to sustain the current number of animals IMO.
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I would like to see this paddock be extended by a copule of times its present size and to have it perhaps split.

I would hope that this collection doesn't shrink in there. There is lots of availuable space there for them to extend it into. You kight even be able to get a view of the roman river if they extend it far enough. But accoording to ZooLeopard its a reasonably small extention. I hope this isn't to be!! And done quickly!!
 
Can we all be reminded that they are rhino they are a tough animal. What looks nasty to us would be no worse than humans playing rugby. Establishing a new male to the group will cause conflicts and fights will happen but these are wild animals you cannot wrap them all up in cotton wool and tell them to play nice. Though I do think Colchester has handled this situation very well in terms of the media.

There is only one animal to watch in that paddock and thats the one bonkers zebra.
 
You're missing the point. She was cornered in such a way that when she got out of depth in the confrontation she had nowhere to go and he was able to attack the parts where her skin is the thinnest. I would not even expect him to intend to cause this kind of damage - its not usual for rhinos in a confrontation not to be facing eachother or to be able to back off.

I was expecting to see rhinos sparring aggressively on the video clip, what I saw was really beyond that and I think you're right that the zoo has indeed handled the situation very well in terms of the media. However I don't think that means they should perservere in mixing this elderly animal with a strong, young bull.

Why did Flossie not run away earlier? I don't know, does she run a lot? I would expect some joint problems in a 41 year-old zoo rhino that has never been housed in very large accommodation. Maybe she's badly-socialised.....she's only even been housed with one male for many years until recently.
 
johnstoni said:
Why did Flossie not run away earlier? I don't know, does she run a lot?
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Viewing this video, it looks to me as if they were sparring normally, if quite aggressively, and then she does turn to run away but she stumbles and goes down. The bull perhaps decides this is the chance he's been waiting for since he arrived, to really exert his dominance over her and so gives her a good pasting. She could have been badly injured and its perhaps lucky that she wasn't. She seems to have worse problems getting up because of the fences behind her.
 
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Went to the zoo today, had a fairly short visit, I'm planning on a longer visit sometime soon.

-The new south american walk-through is now well under way!

-Orangutans. Had a long look at these and ate my lunch in front of them. Rajang was in the back of the main area feeding from a barrell but moving twice into 1 of the cells. But Tiga was active he made good use of the climbing equipment and started playing around with sheets and blankets and he punched Rajang twice (in a cheeky way). He also moved into 1 of the cells and went outside and fooled around with 1 of the logs.

-The lions were asleep on the grass.

Fineally there were 4 school parties there with 4 coaches 1 leaving as I left. And also coming into "Orangutan Forest" when I left.
 
Goretex, did you see the Chevrotain in the Iguana forest? It has been moved out of Dragons of Komodo to put the Cubans in the end section. The end section however has no pool yet so i presume they will be putting one in? Must be moving to give the new male komodo a bit more room? :confused:
 
Roz said:
Goretex, did you see the Chevrotain in the Iguana forest? It has been moved out of Dragons of Komodo to put the Cubans in the end section. The end section however has no pool yet so i presume they will be putting one in? Must be moving to give the new male komodo a bit more room? :confused:
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I didn't visit that bit of the zoo so I don't know.
 
Ares the male Cheetah went back to Hamerton Zoo on 20th May and a new Essex Pig sow arrived from Jimmys farm along with 10 piglets.
 
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