Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo news 2012

pipaluk said:
The only thing i cant agree on is the orang enclosure, it may not be perfect, but tiga & rajang seem to be ok in it and it is a massive improvement on the old one! It also affords better public viewing than others elsewhere which cost far more to build. It's certainly better than at least 2 other orang enclosures ive seen in the uk and less dated.
IMHO Colchester is probably one of the most improved and fastest developing zoos in the uk over the last decade or so and is now a top 5 rather than a top 20ish zoo!
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I probably should have elaborated a little more on why I feel disappointed with the Orang-utan enclosure; I just didn’t want my post to be hugely long. (like this one!:p)

I would like to add that Colchester is probably my favourite zoo and I also admire the way the collection brings in new species and continually evolves.

But i am not a fan of the enclosure and many of my opinions on the exhibit have been summed up by IanRobinoisn and Pertinax points.

My main issues are: -

•The fact that only about a third of the floor area of the building has been given over to the orang-utans with the majority being public floor space.

•As mentioned the aquatic exhibits could not have come cheap (especially the cylindrical saltwater tank) and I feel that the money could have been spent better else ware. A few standard tanks buried into the wall of the exhibit and maybe an aviary at one end would have been sufficient to add more diversity to the exhibit.(IMO)

•The lack of climbing opportunities, especially outside, is poor when much money has been spent elsewhere (the aquariums:confused:). Although the outside area isn’t huge a lot more could be done, just take Monkeyworlds orang nursery as an example. For an animal that spends much of its life in the trees the enclosures design does not offer enough climbing opportunities, it may have been an idea to have the entrances to the house at high level to encourage more climbing, as opposed to on the ground. As stated previously on this forum the animals may have actually benefited from the top of the enclosures being caged such as the howletts Gorilla enclosures to offer more opportunities for climbing equipment.

•As Pertinax said the outside resembles a pit and is not attractive in my opinion. If the outer wall had been terraced to allow for planting it would have toned down the walls.

I overall would say the enclosure is average and would definitely agree that it is in an improvement on the old enclosure and that there are worse enclosures within the UK for orangs.
But it is the fact that the enclosure is new and took 4 years to construct with an equal amount of time spent talking of building the new enclosure, it is for this reason that I feel disappointed with the overall result especially considering the cost came in at £1.75milliion. Being in the construction sector I would estimate in the region of 60%-70% of the total build probably was spent on ground works to the enclosure. The whole enclosure is effectively below ground level and the cost of the excavation and construction of the retaining walls and tunnel through to the sea lion exhibit must have been phenomenal. (The zoo probably had to do this as a planning condition to minimise the visual impact of the development on the Listed church ruin). Considering this I would therefore question if it would have been better to of built the enclosure somewhere else within the zoo (perhaps where the new sun bear enclosure will be located or down where the lemur enclosures are?) and to have spent the money saved on groundwork’s on developing a better enclosure, more on a par perhaps with the Chester zoo realm of the red ape exhibit. I certainly couldn't see the enclosure housing a large family of orangs as Chester do.

I think the enclosure could be improved with more climbing apparatus, but IMO feel the location was not feasible in thge first place and that aspects of the design are fairly poor.

There are a few examples on zoolex that indicate the sort of quality of enclosure that can be built for Great Apes on a similar budget.
ZooLex Exhibit
ZooLex Exhibit
ZooLex Exhibit
 
Gavin123 said:
I would like to add that Colchester is probably my favourite zoo and I also admire the way the collection brings in new species and continually evolves.
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I also like Colchester, I think collectionwise it probably only ranks second to Chester in the UK in terms of progressing and developing.

Some of the fake rockwork enclosures are certainly not to my taste, but most species are well exhibited in them, and only the Orangutan's outside (IMO) one is truly a 'bad' exhibit. I am surprised they chose this site for this development rather than in the more central part of the Zoo. To me it does indicate a basic lack of understanding about what these Apes need to give them a decent life in captivity- which is surprising to me.
 
Good news but I think I might interpret this slightly differently to the way they did...to me it seems more likely the younger female 'Casey' didn't reject her baby, rather that the older still pregnant female stole her newborn- this has been recorded in other Primates. e.g. Gorillas when two females are due to give birth at around the same time and maternal/birth hormones are very active. The fact that the younger female managed to get back one of the youngsters later indicates she had good maternal instinct- probably right from the start.
 
Went for an impromptu visit to the zoo this morning (always the best kind). Some of today's observations:

- There are four yellow-margined box turtles- two in Wilds of Asia with the sailfin dragon and two in the viviarium at Orangutan Forest
- The Koi Niwa and sun bear building areas have progressed further since I last visited
- There is a single binturong in half of the lion-tailed macaque indoor area at Wilds of Asia- only one remains in the mixed enclosure with the otters
- Signage indicates that reindeer are occupying the llama/alpaca paddock, although none were visible
- The Essex pig and her litter have left the collection (presumably gone back to Jimmy's Farm) and been replaced by four Kunekune pigs
- The Orangutan Forest aquarium has at least two bristle-tail filefish now- wonderful looking fish they are too!
- Red ruffed lemurs are back in their old enclosure- not sure where the red-bellied lemurs are?
- The little L'Hoest's guenons are absolutely delightful to watch- quite often both are being moved around by a single adult and were venturing away from the adults despite still being tiny
- The other new baby, the pygmy hippo, is also seemingly doing well. I briefly saw it moving into the water following a cleaning-out session
- One of the African spurred tortoises has moved back into its previous enclosure by the cherry-crowned mangabeys
- Both the guinea pig and domestic ferret enclosures in Familiar Friends have been demolished- the latter looks as if it is just being turned into a planted walkway
- Around half of the upper level of Kingdom of the Wild is completely closed off for refurbishment
- Only one aardvark is in the on-show den- the other three were all viewable by CCTV in the other den
 
DesertRhino150 said:
Went for an impromptu visit to the zoo this morning (always the best kind). Some of today's observations:

- The Koi Niwa and sun bear building areas have progressed further since I last visited
Click to expand...
On my last visit a week on saturday, I was surprised by how slowly they been progessing with the sun bear enclosure. Surely they need to get building faster if they want it ready by easter.

Tiga really is looking very similar to Rajang but you can them apart by which is the one who is watching the people! And yes the pygmy hippo baby does indeed look like shes doing well.

I also saw the chimp feed which was noisy but they soon calmed down.
 
Sadly due to work commitments & moving house, etc i havent had to chance to visit the zoo or will have the chance to until at least into the new year =(...was just wondering if anyone had any updates on the new enclosures, pregnancies or comings and goings if possible please??
 
Had a late afternoon visit to Colchester today. Here are my observations:

- More work has been done on the new bear exhibit, particularly regarding the indoor areas and public walkway although the actual enclosure is also waterlogged which may delay work
- Koi Niwa's outdoor area seems largely finished, but the indoor area still appears to need work
- The male aardvark (Adela) is the only one in the on-show den because he is recovering from a shoulder operation. The other three are viewable via CCTV.
- All three hyaenas were out and active, the tamandua became active near the end of the visit (around 4:15) and the lions/tigers were more active than I have ever seen them.
- The pygmy hippo calf continues to do well and seems to be drawing quite a crowd.
- The public area for the Kingdom of the Wild has been re-floored and had lots of tropical plants added.
- The gardening team have done themselves proud- the old ferret enclosure, fountain garden and Stand Tall garden near the entrance all look particularly attractive.
- Only managed to see a single red-backed bearded saki today.
- Although I didn't see them, the entrance board showing new arrivals says that some Fregate Island giant beetles have arrived. I imagine they could be in the Discovery Centre which is closed temporarily.

- Also, part of the new sun bear exhibit has a new fencing area that looks like it won't hold bears- it looks more like an aviary (here's hoping for the return of the black hornbills and blue magpies).
 
Amur Tiger - 'Anoushka'

It has been a few years since Colchester found out that their female Tiger 'Anoushka' is hybrid. I know plans were in place for her to leave at some point but nothing has happened since, any indication if there is a move in place?:confused:
 
I went on a visit today. It was quiet and dry! The sun bear enclosure is developing very well at last.

I did enjoy seeing the orangs. Rajang was looking at the people and chewing on a twig. Tiga was climbing around near the door waiting to be let out. The door opened and he went outside. Rajang then moved over into the smaller indoor area. Tiga was moving all the way around the outside and climbing over logs. When I returned Rajang was still there having moved up a bit and was doing more people watching.
 
Colchester Zoo is to acquire a 400-acre area of farmland surrounding the park boundaries. From what I can gather from the press release, no new animal areas will be constructed on it but instead will include the Roman River nature reserve, a new overflow car park, a patch of unmaintained woodland and a large area of farmland to allow the zoo to be self-sustainable for animal bedding and food.

Press Information: Colchester Zoo to acquire area of farmland
 
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