Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo news 2021

DesertRhino150

DesertRhino150

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
To start off the 2021 news, the obligatory animal count news. For at least the past 3 years, the zoo has included the number of species in each major animal group.

The animal count on January 1 2021 is the following (with comparisons to previous years in brackets):
Mammals - 69 (70 in 2020 and 72 in 2019)
Birds - 21 (24 in 2020 and 39 in 2019)
Reptiles - 34 (32 in 2020 and 33 in 2019)
Amphibians - 8 (unchanged from both 2020 and 2019)
Fishes - 55 (60 in both 2020 and 2019)
Invertebrates - 19 (28 in both 2020 and 2019)

The full article is included below:
Our animals can COUNT on us to continue to care for them! | Colchester Zoo
 
And yet another piece of 2020 news only just announced - on 22nd November a litter of six Asian small-clawed otters were born to male 'Ravi' and female 'Summer', the latter of which only arrived at Colchester in August 2020. The sex of the six young is still currently unknown.

More information can be found in the link below:
An otterly adorable family! | Colchester Zoo
 
DesertRhino150 said:
And yet another piece of 2020 news only just announced - on 22nd November a litter of six Asian small-clawed otters were born to male 'Ravi' and female 'Summer', the latter of which only arrived at Colchester in August 2020. The sex of the six young is still currently unknown.

More information can be found in the link below:
An otterly adorable family! | Colchester Zoo
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I may be going mad but I always thought Colchester had smooth coated otters? Are they still there? Or do they now have both species?
 
Is the elephant herd at Colchester a breeding one or retired ? I remember someone mentioning a major revamp to be non-contact and a group expansion pre-lockdown but they've not mentioned anything.
 
bintarong said:
Is the elephant herd at Colchester a breeding one or retired ? I remember someone mentioning a major revamp to be non-contact and a group expansion pre-lockdown but they've not mentioned anything.
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I suspect all the cows are now post reproductive. Tembo should still be fertile, but I’m not sure he’s ever sired a calf other than by AI.
 
The females are 100% post-reproductive. However, like most holders of African elephants, the owners dont want to realize this and hold on to hope that doesnt exist if you look at the facts of elephant reproduction. And the EEP lets them get away with this. The bull should be able to reproduce and should be moved to another zoo ASAP!!

It is really a tradedy that the EEP is wasting the potential of some of too many of the adult bulls with females that have pretty much zero chances of getting pregnant (Tembo/Colchester, Jack/Basle, Tonga/Dresden, Ninio/Poznan.... ).
 
Tembo sired Jambo naturally with Rosa who sadly then died when the calf was young. I don't get the impression Tanya or Opal have ever accepted natural mating. Zola does mate with him, but has never had a live calf.

Captive African bulls over 30 tend not to sire further calves if there is a lapse of more than 5 years since the last successful mating. There may of course be other factors including the viability of females kept with them, but it does appear to me that there's a relatively narrow breeding window not just for cows but for captive bulls, too. This being an inversion of what happens with wild bulls, I wonder if males when they reach a certain age increasingly require the hormonal trigger of another mature bull in order to maintain fertility, especially in temperate climates.

I'm sure Colchester are well-aware this group are probably their last shot at a breeding herd for this species so I don't expect Tembo to go anywhere. But he's well-represented through his son Abu, who has fathered three surviving calves so far. His other surviving son Jambo, at Valencia, has every chance of going on to breed in future. At Colchester, Zola might to be able to conceive but her last (stillborn) calf was almost a decade ago, so chances are very slim and the chances of her producing a live birth even slimmer.
 
Ex situ said:
Tembo sired Jambo naturally with Rosa who sadly then died when the calf was young. I don't get the impression Tanya or Opal have ever accepted natural mating. Zola does mate with him, but has never had a live calf.

Captive African bulls over 30 tend not to sire further calves if there is a lapse of more than 5 years since the last successful mating. There may of course be other factors including the viability of females kept with them, but it does appear to me that there's a relatively narrow breeding window not just for cows but for captive bulls, too. This being an inversion of what happens with wild bulls, I wonder if males when they reach a certain age increasingly require the hormonal trigger of another mature bull in order to maintain fertility, especially in temperate climates.

I'm sure Colchester are well-aware this group are probably their last shot at a breeding herd for this species so I don't expect Tembo to go anywhere. But he's well-represented through his son Abu, who has fathered three surviving calves so far. His other surviving son Jambo, at Valencia, has every chance of going on to breed in future. At Colchester, Zola might to be able to conceive but her last (stillborn) calf was almost a decade ago, so chances are very slim and the chances of her producing a live birth even slimmer.
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The wait for an elephant calf has been so long none of the cow elephants can be considered a breeding prospect. You may be right on the issue of captive bulls over 30, but I would also recommend Tembo to move to a location he might have an off-chance to breed naturally. That Colchester Zoo management - as quite a few elephant holders - continue to hold onto prized animals without any real prospect of successful breeding is the main reason the African elephant program remains in dire straits: an general misconception and unwillingness by individual zoos' to work for the greater good, just not at their zoo.
 
It does seem like Colchester and at least 3 other former collections( Knowsley, WMSP & Longleat) have wasted their opportunities with their African elephant herds. Shame that potential breeding cows have gone to waste and unsure of actual reasons as to why.
 
Embu said:
It does seem like Colchester and at least 3 other former collections( Knowsley, WMSP & Longleat) have wasted their opportunities with their African elephant herds. Shame that potential breeding cows have gone to waste and unsure of actual reasons as to why.
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What happened with the herd at Longleat? I was only a young child when they left, and haven't since investigated why they left, or where they went :)
 
On Tuesday 9th March, two golden lion tamarins were born to mother 'Satine' and father 'Sooty'. This is the second set of offspring the pair have had since they were introduced to each other in 2019 - the first set of twins (called Skylar and Sammie) were born in 2020.

More information can be found in the link below:
Double Trouble! | Colchester Zoo
 
I have just got back from my first visit to Colchester Zoo (or indeed any zoo) since November 2nd. Even though almost all the indoor areas were shut, it was just good to get back there. These are my observations from the day:

Species Arrivals, Departures and Movements
- There is a male Barbary macaque in the old gibbon enclosure right by the zoo's entrance, apart from the others in Edge of Africa.
- Although the window glare meant I couldn't see them, the presence of a food bowl in 'Feathers of the Forest' indicates that the Victoria crowned pigeons have moved across.
- Rock hyraxes are now only kept with the aardvarks, with no signage and no visible hyraxes in either the macaque or L'Hoest's monkey enclosures.
- All signage of patas monkeys has been removed from Edge of Africa, and they also seem to have been removed from the online map.
- The helmeted guineafowl have been moved from the dik-dik and crowned crane exhibit to the blue duiker and blue crane exhibit.
- I could only see the two female spotted hyaenas; all signage (adoption plaques) for the male 'Abu' have been removed.

Births
- Managed to see many of the newer births, including the white rhino calf and the new young golden lion tamarins.

Developments
- Probably the main development that has opened since my last visit is the new 'African Plateau' walkway, which goes around the outside of the Kingdom of the Wild paddock.

General Observations
- One of the highlights was seeing the new pair of wreathed hornbills close to the front of their aviary in Wilds of Asia; it is my first time seeing this species since they arrived in 2020.
- It was good to see that many of those animals that were visible were behaving in an interesting manner; personal highlights included:
  • seeing the young tigers stalking and rushing at the Suffolk punch horse that was being walked past their enclosure en route to the Familiar Friends stable.
  • seeing the wolves squabbling over the remains of an old carcass feed.
  • the mother and young tamandua that were play-fighting right by the window of their indoor area.
  • the L'Hoest's monkeys in general - the enclosure now has eight animals of varying ages and they are probably one of the most active and interesting primate displays in the entire zoo.
While the place was busy (there was a very long queue when we left at around 11:30), the zoo itself never felt truly crowded and I felt very safe walking around the place. With any luck, and if things continue progressing with regards to lockdown easing, my next visit will be at a time when indoor areas are open again, which will definitely extend the amount of time I can spend there.
 
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DesertRhino150 said:
I have just got back from my first visit to Colchester Zoo (or indeed any zoo) since November 2nd. Even though almost all the indoor areas were shut, it was just good to get back there. These are my observations from the day:

Species Arrivals, Departures and Movements
- There is a male Barbary macaque in the old gibbon enclosure right by the zoo's entrance, apart from the others in Edge of Africa.
- Although the window glare meant I couldn't see them, the presence of a food bowl in 'Feathers of the Forest' indicates that the Victoria crowned pigeons have moved across.
- Rock hyraxes are now only kept with the aardvarks, with no signage and no visible hyraxes in either the macaque or L'Hoest's monkey enclosures.
- All signage of patas monkeys has been removed from Edge of Africa, and they also seem to have been removed from the online map.
- The helmeted guineafowl have been moved from the dik-dik and crowned crane exhibit to the blue duiker and blue crane exhibit.
- I could only see the two female spotted hyaenas; all signage (adoption plaques) for the male 'Abu' have been removed.

Births
- Managed to see many of the newer births, including the white rhino calf and the new young golden lion tamarins.

Developments
- Probably the main development that has opened since my last visit is the new 'African Plateau' walkway, which goes around the outside of the Kingdom of the Wild paddock.

General Observations
- One of the highlights was seeing the new pair of wreathed hornbills close to the front of their aviary in Wilds of Asia; it is my first time seeing this species since they arrived in 2020.
- It was good to see that many of those animals that were visible were behaving in an interesting manner; personal highlights included:
  • seeing the young tigers stalking and rushing at the Suffolk punch horse that was being walked past their enclosure en route to the Familiar Friends stable.
  • seeing the wolves squabbling over the remains of an old carcass feed.
  • the mother and young tamandua that were play-fighting right by the window of their indoor area.
  • the L'Hoest's monkeys in general - the enclosure now has eight animals of varying ages and they are probably one of the most active and interesting primate displays in the entire zoo.
While the place was busy (there was a very long queue when we left at around 11:30), the zoo itself never felt truly crowded and I felt very safe walking around the place. With any luck, and if things continue progressing with regards to lockdown easing, my next visit will be at a time when indoor areas are open again, which will definitely extend the amount of time I can spend there.
Click to expand...

FYI all 3 Hyena were there yesterday . I wish that enclosure was bigger tbh as I do the horrible lion enclosure with pointless extension
 
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