Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo news 2014

Trip this afternoon

1. the two female ostriches where on the hardstand

2. male giraffe was inside locked inside in one of the stalls while the two females was outside on the hard stand

3. there is now a 5 maneless zebra after starting with 5 then going down to 4 now back up to 5, although it seems to keep it self to its self not stick with the rest of the herd.

4. There is one blue crane chick little yellow thing running after mum.

5.only saw 2 crowned cranes in the mixed exhibit

6. Worlds Apart Walkthrough only seem to be letting the sloth in the right hand enclosure out while the other two are shut in

7. Also work has started on enclosure next to chimp world behind the chicken restaurant
 
also forgot to add that

the squirrel monkeys have now moved into their new enclosure next to the penguins

a fountain has been added to the lake now stirring up the smell from the bottom of the lake.

the old African spurred tortoises enclosure is boarded up just see through the cracks they are digging it all up braking up the old concrete slope
 
Went for a morning visit today- this is what I noted:

- The spotted hyenas were especially active in the earlier morning, with all five individuals active
- Half the patas monkey outdoor enclosure is unusable by the monkeys, courtesy of a wild colony of honeybees moving into a hole in the enclosure wall
- Sugar gliders have left their enclosure in the kune-kune pig house
- The Sensation Station now houses bearded dragon, royal python, corn snake, domestic rat and the sugar gliders (which remain invisible)
- The new enclosure by the cherry-crowned mangabeys (old spurred tortoise house) has started- the roof and mock-rock is now removed and all the glass windows are boarded up for building
- Kato the baby red-backed bearded saki was mixed in the outdoor enclosure with his parents
- The red titi monkeys are now being allowed out into the Worlds Apart walkthrough area, although they are still not mixed with the Goeldi's monkeys
- Finally, yesterday was the 25th birthday of Adela the male aardvark- all the information I can find puts the maximum lifespan of an aardvark at 23, so does this make Adela the oldest aardvark in captivity?
 
DesertRhino150 said:
- Finally, yesterday was the 25th birthday of Adela the male aardvark- all the information I can find puts the maximum lifespan of an aardvark at 23, so does this make Adela the oldest aardvark in captivity?
Click to expand...

There are several records of aardvarks living over twenty-five years (twenty-nine years being the oldest of which I am aware) so, hopefully, “Adela” will be around for a few years yet.
 
I went to the late opening yesterday and this was well attended as usual.

Enjoyed the hyena night feed, the four older ones were very active. The youngest wasn't seen, but it was stated they think it is female.
 
I thought it was time to start a new thread as summer is now over.
To start off the zoo is building a butterfly house in the old tortoise enclosure by the mangabeys !!
 
banham.tiger said:
I thought it was time to start a new thread as summer is now over.
To start off the zoo is building a butterfly house in the old tortoise enclosure by the mangabeys !!
Click to expand...
A very odd choice of use, what will they think of next?! At times I despair of Colchester almost as much as I do ZSL and Marwell, although at least it doesn't lose species quite as often! Apart from anything else surely that area wouldn't be big enough for much of a walkthrough area(which most butterfly houses are)!
This will probably join the expensive koi house (as a don't bother looking in more than once area) for me.
 
a nice visit today a lion keeper told me that the horrible concrete that flows through the enclosure is going to be replaced with bark in the near future.

no work seems to be starting on the chimp refurbishment and the langurs are still residence in the opposite enclosure.

some radiated tortoises have been added to the Madagascan tree boa enclosure.

the orangutans were seperated all day .
 
I also managed to get in a visit today:

- The old sugar glider enclosure in the KuneKune pig house now contains domesticated rats
- The pool in Australian Rainbows now has several quite small rainbowfish (they looked like Boeseman's rainbowfish) in residence
- Several of the rainbow lorikeets now appear to be pairing off, mutually preening each other and fighting off other lorikeets that approach too close
- The flamingo chick was outside, but separated from the adults by a metal fence
- One of the giraffes was separated from the other two in the indoor stall
- One of the cherry-crowned mangabeys (a young male) will probably be leaving the collection soon; the other three are still yet to be mixed in with the troop
- If the signage is to be believed there are now three species of lemur mixed in the walk-through; definitely saw the ring-tailed lemurs and a pair of red ruffed lemurs with the red-bellied lemurs still indicated on signage
 
pipaluk said:
A very odd choice of use, what will they think of next?! At times I despair of Colchester almost as much as I do ZSL and Marwell, although at least it doesn't lose species quite as often! Apart from anything else surely that area wouldn't be big enough for much of a walkthrough area(which most butterfly houses are)!
This will probably join the expensive koi house (as a don't bother looking in more than once area) for me.
Click to expand...

That house used to be a walk through enclosure a few years ago, you could go through from the old lion hose, and had tortoises and I think small lizards in it . granted not large and Colchester does seam to move in very odd directions, I know the reason they built the koi set up, but it was just stuck in as far as I can tell, it could have formed more of a Japanese area with herps and other Japanese fish etc.
 
I'm sure it was in the 1990's you could enter via the lion house, and they had perspex edges to the displays, one on each side of the path, like a sort of canyon effect I think they had a sign which stated it was opened my a newsreader at the time Martin Lewis springs to mind.
You could have easily reached over the perspex to pick up a tortoise I seam to recall if any one had been so minded.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top