Okay I was back today at Colchester doing a VIP experience and having read a few reports on the 2018 pages I took the opportunity to ask the keepers what some people had intimated in sort of rumours.
I will start with the Elephants.
Tembo IS NOT leaving Colchester and not leaving anytime soon if the collection has their way. He has for the last few months had a tooth abscess which is flushed every other day and has caused him problems. During the last couple of years his sperm count has dropped and there are fears he may not be able to sire Calves. HOWEVER it is believed that the tooth issue he has had could be a huge underlying factor in this case and he is due to have serious root canal treatment from the dentist and vets soon. Once this has been sorted out it is VERY MUCH HOPED his sperm levels will INCREASE so he would be able to sire offspring. This however MAY TAKE SOME TIME! Tembo will remain at Colchester for the foreseeable future and it is hoped he will be able to sire Calves. IF A TIME COMES that after all options covered (Tembo currently gets treats of food to help boost sperm levels) that Tembo can't produce calves the Zoo will seek for a bachelor home for Tembo but this is very much LAST RESORT.
At present the other three females are mixed outside with Zola, Opal and Tanya all out together. During experiences only Opal and Tanya are allowed on the feeding island to meet people as these two are free contact elephants. Zola is rather aggressive but she is the lowest rank of the three cows, so Tanya and Opal put her in her place. Tembo and Zola are both PC Elephants and the keepers have zero contact with them.
Tembo's pool is empty because when his shelter was created the workmen cracked the pipe which leads to the pool. This has now been repaired but they haven't filled the pool yet.
Whilst Tembo being a father isn't likely to be any time soon, the Zoo is fully aware they have three ageing elephants which they are keen to breed from. A former Elephant called Jambo left the collection ten years ago and they are considering obtaining his sperm to breed from either Tanya or Opal via AI. It is unlikely they could get him back to the collection but as he is unrelated to the three cows, they would consider using his sperm to breed with the two cows whilst Tembo is recovering from his Tooth operation, and the Zoo trying to get him into a fertile position to remain the Zoo's Bull. But he is 100% not leaving anytime soon and it is not in the plans for him to move on at present.
The Eurasian Grey Wolves came from Wingham last year. They are three sisters, if the Zoo can get a male wolf with the potential to breed, two of the sisters would need to be moved on. This is not in the immediate plans of the Zoo, but is being considered.
In regards to the tigers. Taiga and Igor are planning to be mated to produced cubs and they are hoping to breed with Taiga in the near future as she is starting to get towards sexual maturity age. Anoushka is spade and is a hybrid. Even when they mate Igor and Taiga, Igor will remain with Anoushka and Taiga will remain by herself.
There are 3 little bush dog pups. These are the second batch to have been born to the same mother, and are 2 and a half weeks old. They are not leaving the house at all yet, but they expect them to start venturing out in the next 2/3 weeks. This brings the collection up to 8 bush dogs.
Work will start on the Pygmy Hippos in the next 2 months. In around 6-9 months the 1yo female Pygmy Hippo will probably leave the collection as their inside quarters is only really big enough to house 2 Pygmy Hippos and the mother will tend to ween off the young around 18 months.
The Giant Anteaters are no longer breeding and have no contact with each other. The female is 13 now and has had three sets of young. They dont want to breed from her in future and she is not on an implant or anything so doesn't mix with the male as they are active breeders.
Something quite exciting is yesterday vets were in doing a number of tests on the Sun Bears. They have done tests on the bears fertility and so on, as they are hoping to breed with the pair and they have seen mating behaviour but so far to no success so they have taking tests to make sure both bears are able to breed. If everything comes back fine, they are hopeful the pair will breed and produce a cub, but so far any mating behaviour has not led to cubs, so they wanted to run some tests on both Sun Bears to make sure they are capable of breeding together.
A couple of people have noticed the Tamandua in the Rainforest Section is now a single. The collection still holds all three Tamandua's but the female and her young are kept off show. I was not told why, but they said that the one on show is the male, but all three are still in the collection and it is something under exhibit review, but the female and young are fine and healthy and just offshow at present.
