Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo news 2017

Went for a long visit today; not much in the way of new animal activity, but some redevelopment is happening:

- The pair of Southern tamandua were separated for the entire day; one of the keepers was observing the female for a couple of hours in the morning.
- A few enclosures are being redeveloped - the freshwater aquarium in the orangutan house and the enclosure formerly home to the female mangabeys continue to be developed and the weaverbird/leopard tortoise enclosure is now being renovated too; this has caused a switch-up in the three reptile enclosures in Kingdom of the Wild - the leopard tortoises now share with the Madagascar tree boas while the radiated tortoises are in the end enclosure (nearest the marine aquarium) together with the entire weaverbird flock.
- A small covered outdoor area has been added adjacent to the hyrax hutch in the L'Hoest's guenon enclosure, although I didn't see any using it when I was there.
- Only saw three red river hogs - unsure what has happened to the others.
- Quite a few of the reptiles have seen some sort of population boost - there are now two pancake tortoises in the mixed reptile enclosure in Kingdom of the Wild (the lone one still remains in the terrarium opposite the penguins); I definitely saw two green anaconda in the morning but by the afternoon one had hidden itself and there are two African rock pythons (I have only ever seen one).
 
Badgerman91 said:
Two of the windows have been completely boarded up now so not sure what's going on??
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Was that for the left-side indoor area (the one not viewable from the walkthrough exit)? My first thought was that the female had given birth but I saw her in the afternoon asleep in her hammock and couldn't see any sign of a baby.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
Was that for the left-side indoor area (the one not viewable from the walkthrough exit)? My first thought was that the female had given birth but I saw her in the afternoon asleep in her hammock and couldn't see any sign of a baby.
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Yeah it was that side. Both of the windows have been boarded up. Perhaps she has now?
 
Announced on the zoos Facebook!!

We are extremely excited to announce the arrival of the first baby Tamandua in Colchester Zoo’s history!

Keepers had seen mating behaviour from Oreo and Ruth but the exact due date of this bundle of joy was unknown so it was a pleasant surprise for keepers when they first spotted the baby on the morning on the of 26th September!

Whilst our male Oreo will remain on show to the public both Mum and baby may not be visible at all times as the pair spend time in the nest box during this early period.

The first Tamandua baby in Colchester Zoo’s history is born! - ZOO NEWS - Colchester Zoo
 
Fantastic news. I hoped that the new tamandua pair would breed (and suspected they would, considering the number of times I saw them in close contact with each other) but never expected it would happen so quickly.
 
visited this weekend

1. saw both the male and female tamandua but no sign of the baby the male was awake on top of the sleeping box and the female was awake sitting in the log they are still both separated.

2. only saw Igor and Anoushka in the smaller half of tiger taiga no sign of Taiga as her side of the enclosure is having work carried out. the waterfall and pond are being water sealed by the looks of it. igor and anoushka were both very active kept going inside and up to the gate as if they were looking for her.

3. still no sign of the 2nd female kudu which disappeared a few weeks ago after it developed a growth on its bottom jaw.

4. both the crown cranes were back out with the dik dik after only seeing one for a few weeks

5. there seems to be a new small enclosure with a climbing frame built behind the tigers and the nature reserver might be for the serval

6. wilds of asia was shut off due to a vet so couldn't get to see the emerald tree monitor lizard, the lion tailed macaque were shut in as were both the binturong only animal was able to see was the young gibbon outside at the start of the day.

7. the tank in orang-utan forest is now filled with water and just the pond turtle has returned to it.

8. the lamas and alpacas were taken off show to the grazing field with the horses and donkeys next to the car park.

9. both bush dogs seem very active starting to take a lot of interest in people queuing for the train almost looked like they were begging for food.

10. saw the new baby mandrill very playful running about chasing leaves

would be nice if the zoo started breeding from the giraffe and zebra by bringing in a male of each and a new male cheetah. also is there any news on when otto will return i went a saw him at Woburn in the summer, shut in a side field away from the other rhinos.
 
4ways NAP said:
would be nice if the zoo started breeding from the giraffe and zebra by bringing in a male of each .
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What happened to the previous males? I'm sure there was a trio of the Reticulated Giraffes, have they lost one? Ditto the maneless Zebras?
 
Pertinax said:
What happened to the previous males? I'm sure there was a trio of the Reticulated Giraffes, have they lost one? Ditto the maneless Zebras?
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I believe the the male maneless zebra was becoming aggressive towards the other animals in the shared exhibit so was moved on to another collection sadly.

And Epesi the male giraffe was moved to twycross in 2015 as once again he wasn't getting along with the rhino in the exhibit so was moved on for both his and the rhinos safety.

Seems bizarre that Colchester hold 4 females and did hold a breeding male could have been the start of a nice herd, hopefully in their future plans they move the giraffe into their own enclosure as the mixed species approach doesn't seem to be working in terms of breeding with the other animals held in there with the exception of the rhino.

4ways NAP said:
would be nice if the zoo started breeding from the giraffe and zebra by bringing in a male of each and a new male cheetah
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What happened to Jack the male they had from either banham or Africa Alive?
What are the chances of the zoo sourcing another Spotted Hyena female?
 
Badgerman91 said:
I believe the the male maneless zebra was becoming aggressive towards the other animals in the shared exhibit so was moved on to another collection sadly.

And Epesi the male giraffe was moved to twycross in 2015 as once again he wasn't getting along with the rhino in the exhibit so was moved on for both his and the rhinos safety.

Seems bizarre that Colchester hold 4 females and did hold a breeding male could have been the start of a nice herd, hopefully in their future plans they move the giraffe into their own enclosure as the mixed species approach doesn't seem to be working in terms of breeding with the other animals held in there with the exception of the rhino.



What happened to Jack the male they had from either banham or Africa Alive?
What are the chances of the zoo sourcing another Spotted Hyena female?
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Thanks for th explanations. I must have recently see the male Giraffe at Twycross without realising it. Sad indeed to break up two potential breeding groups(Zebra and Giraffe) in favour of continuing with the mixed exhibit but the enclosure design is for that rather than seperate areas for each.:(
 
Went for a long visit today - quite a lot has happened since my last visit:

- Had an excellent, prolonged view of the baby tamandua - it had been 'parked' on the elevated corner platform on the left-hand side of the female's enclosure; she regularly made brief visits to check on it and then later on they both curled up together and went to sleep.
- The enclosure behind the tigers with a climbing frame that has been recently built held one of the tigers for a brief period - not for the serval as first thought.
- The Wilds of Asia house was open, but the green tree monitor exhibit is still being renovated and the lizard is not on-show.
- Another new reptile species has gone on show - a blue-tongued skink (the signage did not state which species, describing it as Tiliqua sp.) has replaced the African pygmy hedgehog in the Sensation Station.
- Several enclosures are being renovated around the zoo and as such certain species are off-show; part of the binturong/small-clawed otter enclosure has been demolished, all three larger terraria in the Kingdom of the Wild upper level are empty (the tree boas and radiated tortoises are now off-show); development continues on the new colobus exhibit by the lions and also on the site of the female mangabey enclosure by the chimps.
- All the African cichlids from Kingdom of the Wild (together with the lungfish apparently, although I didn't see it) have been moved into the smaller aquarium in the koi carp house. To be honest, they made a much better and more engaging exhibit there than the koi did, further emphasising the waste of space and money the koi exhibit is (to me personally).
- The aquarium in Orangutan Forest still has only the one pond turtle in it following its renovation; I hope the renovation is not complete though as the new mock-rock is unpainted and pure white - it put me in mind of the sort of thing you would see in a 1930s-era polar bear enclosure.
- Signage for the purple tang has been removed from the marine aquarium in Orangutan Forest and I saw no sign of the fish itself.
- Was very surprised early on in my visit, walking through Edge of Africa, when a crowned crane flew low overhead from the direction of the mixed savannah paddock before banking round and flying back towards the exhibit. I had always thought the cranes were wing-clipped.
- Halloween decorations were occupying several of the enclosures, some to an obscene degree; one of the fennec fox indoor areas was so full of orange baubles and toilet-roll holders decorated to look like bats that it felt like the foxes were almost an afterthought.
 
Another thing I have just remembered from my visit on Tuesday - I rather suspect the scarlet ibis have left the zoo, as all the signage has been removed from their enclosure and I could not see any sign of them in their indoor area.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
Another thing I have just remembered from my visit on Tuesday - I rather suspect the scarlet ibis have left the zoo, as all the signage has been removed from their enclosure and I could not see any sign of them in their indoor area.
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Rather sad if that has happened, the zoo is woefully short of birds already IMHO.
 
FBBird said:
Rather sad if that has happened, the zoo is woefully short of birds already IMHO.
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Quite right - I think with the loss of the ibis the zoo now has just fifteen permanently on-show bird species (that is, species not used only in the flight demonstrations). Makes you wish they had kept on just some of Raymond Sawyer's bird collection when they were allocating them to new homes.
 
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