Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo news 2021

On July 20th 2021 a baby gelada was born - it has still not been sexed or named by the keepers.

The mother is 'Keecha' who was born at Colchester Zoo in 2008 and has given birth to four babies at the zoo while the father is 'Akobo', who arrived from Howletts in 2020 to become the new breeding male - this is his first baby sired at the zoo.

More information can be found in the link below:
Our gelada baboon troop has grown! | Colchester Zoo
 
1. There is now 4 baby Geladas have been born at the zoo
2. There are tadpoles in the poison dart frog enclosure
3. there is a baby Blue Duiker calf
4. Baby L'hoest monkey has been born
5.One of the Kirk Dik-dik has had one of its ears removed and is separated from the others
6. The last two African Hunting dogs have left the collection
7. There only appears to be two Grey wolfs left
8. Wilds of Asia Building for the python is nearly complete
 
Have just seen a picture on twitter of a capybara baby, not sure when this was born as haven't seen anything from Chester itself.
 
I have just got back from my first visit since the 19th April; this is what I noticed that hasn't already been mentioned recently:

Species Arrivals, Departures and Movements
- There is at least one female crested wood partridge mixed with the Victoria crowned pigeons in the 'Feathers of the Forest' display; it is good to see another new bird species arrive at Colchester.
- The tinfoil barb and rosy barb from the Wilds of Asia house have now moved over into the turtle aquarium in Rajang's Forest.
- The white-spotted assassin bugs from Kingdom of the Wild have moved into a tank in the Discovery Centre; the tank for the young Madagascar tree boa now houses a large group of desert locusts Schistocerca gregaria, a new species for the zoo.
- The guineafowl pufferfish in the marine tank in Kingdom of the Wild has been replaced with a white-spotted pufferfish Arothron hispidus.
- All signage for the African banded barb has been removed from the Lake Victoria tank in Kingdom of the Wild; I never remember them actually seeing them and don't know if they went on show.

Developments
- As well as work on the Wilds of Asia house, the outdoor pygmy hippo area is still closed off for upgrades and the old piranha tank in the Worlds Apart building is having a lot of work done; it looks like it may be getting expanded and, although there is no actual signage detailing what is being done, the pictures on the boards around the tank suggest it could be a reef aquarium.

General Observations
- A lot of the animals were not really visible as all outdoor viewing windows were covered in condensation.
- One thing I noticed that I haven't seen in a while was two Trinidad stream frogs in the poison-dart frog exhibit in Worlds Apart.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
I have just got back from my first visit since the 19th April; this is what I noticed that hasn't already been mentioned recently:

Species Arrivals, Departures and Movements
- There is at least one female crested wood partridge mixed with the Victoria crowned pigeons in the 'Feathers of the Forest' display; it is good to see another new bird species arrive at Colchester.
- The tinfoil barb and rosy barb from the Wilds of Asia house have now moved over into the turtle aquarium in Rajang's Forest.
- The white-spotted assassin bugs from Kingdom of the Wild have moved into a tank in the Discovery Centre; the tank for the young Madagascar tree boa now houses a large group of desert locusts Schistocerca gregaria, a new species for the zoo.
- The guineafowl pufferfish in the marine tank in Kingdom of the Wild has been replaced with a white-spotted pufferfish Arothron hispidus.
- All signage for the African banded barb has been removed from the Lake Victoria tank in Kingdom of the Wild; I never remember them actually seeing them and don't know if they went on show.

Developments
- As well as work on the Wilds of Asia house, the outdoor pygmy hippo area is still closed off for upgrades and the old piranha tank in the Worlds Apart building is having a lot of work done; it looks like it may be getting expanded and, although there is no actual signage detailing what is being done, the pictures on the boards around the tank suggest it could be a reef aquarium.

General Observations
- A lot of the animals were not really visible as all outdoor viewing windows were covered in condensation.
- One thing I noticed that I haven't seen in a while was two Trinidad stream frogs in the poison-dart frog exhibit in Worlds Apart.
Click to expand...
I wonder if they will finally be removing the Patas monkey section outside KOTW to make way for an improved pygmy hippo outside area. I honestly have no idea what work on the Wilds Of Asia house will behold- I have never payed much attention to it. I have been waiting for the Worlds Apart changes for some time as last year I got more interested in fishkeeping, but the piranhas were off show. If it is a reef themed I don't know how it will fit in with the rest of Worlds Aparts' South American theme, although there is the possibility of it being linked with the Penguin Shores upgrades. The Feathers Of The Forest new is good, I don't really have an opinion on the fish, reptile, insect, and amphibian news, but if that pufferfish was the yellow one that I have memories of from Kingdom Of The Wild it is a bit sad however I don't think it is as I haven't seen it for a while.
 
4ways NAP said:
1. There is now 4 baby Geladas have been born at the zoo
2. There are tadpoles in the poison dart frog enclosure
3. there is a baby Blue Duiker calf
4. Baby L'hoest monkey has been born
5.One of the Kirk Dik-dik has had one of its ears removed and is separated from the others
6. The last two African Hunting dogs have left the collection
7. There only appears to be two Grey wolfs left
8. Wilds of Asia Building for the python is nearly complete
Click to expand...
L'hoest news is always good together with the Blue Duiker calf and the tadpoles. I can't wait to see the Wilds Of Aisa upgrade and I hope the dik-dik is alright. I hope the actually address the hunting dogs and wolves situation, unless they already have on facebook or something. We have never been a zoo big on hunting dogs and those enclosures aren't the best so I am not surprised at that and I won't be surprised if they are moving the wolves to make changes to Call Of The Wild. I didn't see the Gelada news it makes sense that there are so many new babies now because this might be his first batch though I hope they announce it on news like they did with the first birth.
 
Firstly, there is a new magazine out called 'zoo life' with the first edition (summer 2021) out now. Paper maps have been reintroduced however without a lot of the previous features, probably to give people a reason to download the Colchester zoo app. There was another leaflet alongside the maps for a sort of Halloween trail where you had to complete puzzles and write down the answers in exchange for a prize - a plastic medal. This is similar to the system I have seen in other zoos in this country. At Rajangs Forest at 14:00 Tiga and Mali were being trained. I noticed that the babary macaques and the l'hoest monkeys have switched enclosures, with the l'hoest back in their Edge Of Africa home and the macaques is the recently improved Out Of Africa enclosure which has surprisingly been connected to the Lion Rock extension, with climbing frame installed in the latter area. In Feathers Of The Forest there is a new species- the Crested Wood Partridge I believe in a 1:2 ratio. The original pygmy hippo outside enclosure and the Patas monkey outside area are closed off presumably for the upgrades and all 3 hippos were present indoors. I was annoyed that so many areas of the zoo were closed for the Trail Of Terror and Penguin Shores was open for Halloween activities. Despite this there was understandably little progress on the upgrades apart from it being empty of animals and the front sign and the skeleton in the main building not being present probably along with many other aspects of the original building. As well as the inside of the building being decorated for Halloween the actual enclosure- mainly the pool was decorated as well (I will post pictures if I can). I talked to a reptile keeper around Dragons Of Komodo and he confirmed that painted dogs would not be returning to the enclosure they were previously in as the setup did not work for viewing unless there was a large pack of dogs so they will probably be replaced with another Type of canine. I may remember something else worth noting and if I do I will reply to this thread.
 
The zoo have now officially released more information about the gelada births, besides the one from July mentioned at the top of this page.

The first of the geladas born in September came on the 16th to mother Thandi. This is her fifth offspring at the zoo.
The next came on 24th September to mother Adana.
The last was born on 25th September to mother Mucha. Mucha is a daughter of Thandi, meaning that there are now three generations of geladas in the enclosure. Both Adana and Mucha are first-time mothers.

The father of all four new geladas this year is Akobo, who arrived in July 2020.

More information can be found in the link below:
Gelada Baby BOOM! | Colchester Zoo
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
Firstly, there is a new magazine out called 'zoo life' with the first edition (summer 2021) out now. Paper maps have been reintroduced however without a lot of the previous features, probably to give people a reason to download the Colchester zoo app. There was another leaflet alongside the maps for a sort of Halloween trail where you had to complete puzzles and write down the answers in exchange for a prize - a plastic medal. This is similar to the system I have seen in other zoos in this country. At Rajangs Forest at 14:00 Tiga and Mali were being trained. I noticed that the babary macaques and the l'hoest monkeys have switched enclosures, with the l'hoest back in their Edge Of Africa home and the macaques is the recently improved Out Of Africa enclosure which has surprisingly been connected to the Lion Rock extension, with climbing frame installed in the latter area. In Feathers Of The Forest there is a new species- the Crested Wood Partridge I believe in a 1:2 ratio. The original pygmy hippo outside enclosure and the Patas monkey outside area are closed off presumably for the upgrades and all 3 hippos were present indoors. I was annoyed that so many areas of the zoo were closed for the Trail Of Terror and Penguin Shores was open for Halloween activities. Despite this there was understandably little progress on the upgrades apart from it being empty of animals and the front sign and the skeleton in the main building not being present probably along with many other aspects of the original building. As well as the inside of the building being decorated for Halloween the actual enclosure- mainly the pool was decorated as well (I will post pictures if I can). I talked to a reptile keeper around Dragons Of Komodo and he confirmed that painted dogs would not be returning to the enclosure they were previously in as the setup did not work for viewing unless there was a large pack of dogs so they will probably be replaced with another Type of canine. I may remember something else worth noting and if I do I will reply to this thread.
Click to expand...
Here are pictures of relevant topics mentioned. After 2 penguin shores pictures there are pictures of the Worlds Apart section that seems to be undergoing modifications.
 

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I went for a slightly longer visit to Colchester Zoo today. This is what I noticed particularly:

Species Arrivals, Departures and Movements
- Although the signage for it was still up, I saw no sign of the crested wood partridge on either of my trips through Feathers of the Forest; considering the enclosure is not big and on my previous visit it did not seem to be getting along well with the crowned pigeons, I wonder if it is still present.
- The clown barb and spanner barb have been removed from the turtle aquarium in Orangutan Forest and their signage has also gone.
- The fire skink and false tomato frog terrarium in Kingdom of the Wild is currently empty and being redeveloped.
- Six of the ten terrariums in the Discovery Centre are empty and being redeveloped currently. The only species still on show are the Mexican red-kneed tarantula, white-spotted assassin bug, blue poison-dart frog and green anole.

Developments
- The entire Dragons of Komodo area was now closed, with the path now diverted around it through the car park.

General Observations
- There were definitely at least three Eurasian wolves still on display
 
Tombe said:
Luka (leopard) has joined the big cat sanctuary to be paired with xizi for breeding purposes
Click to expand...
Where did you find this out and what is happening with all of the other big cat cubs? ((Other leopard cub)Lena, (tiger cubs)Mischa, Pasha, Tatana, (cheetah cubs)Nova, Hope, Star, Colonel Tom.
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
Where did you find this out and what is happening with all of the other big cat cubs? ((Other leopard cub)Lena, (tiger cubs)Mischa, Pasha, Tatana, (cheetah cubs)Nova, Hope, Star, Colonel Tom.
Click to expand...

Colonel Tom has moved to Wingham Wildlife Park
A video about Luka's move is on the Big Cat Sanctuary's facebook page
 
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