Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo news 2022

I think it’s reasonable to assume that Bailey is in excellent health and has at least another two or three years ahead of him (potentially more). It’s not uncommon for zoos to euthanise the remaining elderly lion of a pride on welfare grounds when it’s companion dies, with the added reasoning that its health is declining and it’ll probably require euthanasia in the near future regardless. Since this decision was NOT made for Bailey, this indicates the zoo believe he has several years to go imo.

From a welfare perspective, Bailey needs companionship. He’s elderly and he’s not genetically valuable, so a non breeding companion would be suitable. I’d suggest one or two young lionesses that can be transferred elsewhere to breed upon his death, which will allow Colchester to reevaluate its options (including switching to Asiatic lions or upgrading its facilities to continue with African lions).
 
The better outcome would probably be to just keep him on his own. The enclosure is hardly suitable to mix lions, if he decided that he didnt like this new female then they would be stuck as the enclosure only has one outside. Once he passes away then the enclosure would be empty so they could renovate it ready for some new inhabitants.
 
Could an Asiatic Lioness be introduced to Bailey? I ask as I don’t know if Asiatic and African Lions can be mixed? If this could happen Colchester would already have an Asiatic Lioness to pair with a Male when Bailey passes. Didn’t Colchester hold Asiatics prior to the arrival of the trio of Africans from Woburn? I believe this pair were the late Sabu and Leoni.
 
The Hedgehog said:
Could an Asiatic Lioness be introduced to Bailey? I ask as I don’t know if Asiatic and African Lions can be mixed? If this could happen Colchester would already have an Asiatic Lioness to pair with a Male when Bailey passes. Didn’t Colchester hold Asiatics prior to the arrival of the trio of Africans from Woburn? I believe this pair were the late Sabu and Leoni.
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Sabu and Leoni were African lions.

Although African and Asiatic lions can mix (as evidenced by breeding between the two), I doubt the zoo would attempt such an introduction.

Any introduction of felids carries a degree of risk and that would be unacceptable with an Asiatic lioness, which is an endangered species and scarce in zoos, simply for the purpose of social interaction.
 
This might be a long shot, but is the former painted dog enclosure suitable for lions? Could it be merged with the wolf enclosure to create a new lion exhibit with multiple enclosures for breeding etc?
The wolves could then be moved to the current lion enclosure.
 
Jambo said:
Colchester have already expressed that it's likely a companion would be bought in for Bailey. It dosen't necessarily have to be a female for breeding, but a female companion nonetheless.
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I would hope not. Why every other self respecting zoo should be hell bent on replacing and finding a companion from African admixed lions is exactly the major stumbling block for an African lion EEP of purebred origins and stock ever developing very soon and thus zoos are digging their own grave in the conservation breeding department. I just wish it was not so and we would sit back and wait for that zoo mix to slowly die out and start afresh with known source African lions of the same subspecies.
 
If the African lions are never destined to live in the wild in Africa, does it really matter if they are admixed? I doubt if many visitors are bothered about what subspecies a lion is. Preserve subspecies of large animals in the wild.

There are many genera of small animals that aren't be conserved in zoos or in the wild.

George Orwell may have said, "Big animal good, small animal bad".
 
zoosafari123 said:
This might be a long shot, but is the former painted dog enclosure suitable for lions? Could it be merged with the wolf enclosure to create a new lion exhibit with multiple enclosures for breeding etc?
The wolves could then be moved to the current lion enclosure.
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I didn't think this was possible but looked on google maps and the enclosures seem to be bordering- closer together then I thought (the presence of World of Wings probably made me think otherwise). However the location is probably not ideal for animals and visitors. reasons for this include: This are is Steep/Hilly, isn't the most modern or popular area of the zoo, it could probably become cramped with the excess visitors viewing the lions and it could be geographically inaccurate- it would probably have to be Asiatic lions as it is a mostly Asian themed location). Overall, this could possibly work out but there would definitely have to be a lot of work done and moving the lion enclosure could possibly have a huge effect on the dynamics of the zoo as Lions are a big pull factor for the general visitors.
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
Wait what! Where was this shown? Also thank you for pointing this out. They really need to put more of this stuff on the news page...

In another news it is great that the Penguin Shores upgrades are finally close to completion. Hopefully not too much has changed.
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It was just in the media. It’s going to be used in penguin encounters, so the zoo would be keen to promote it.

A lot of the Australasian zoos are equally erratic in what they promote on their news pages. The National Zoo didn’t think to announce they’d welcomed the first ever birth of Sri Lankan leopard in Australasia but spammed us all with articles about meerkats eating carrot sticks and lions having bad hair days etc.
 
WhistlingKite24 said:
A male Mandrill has been born at Colchester: Meet Mandrill Minkebe | Colchester Zoo
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You beat me to it!
Anyway this is great news, though I thought the zoos breeding record was better that that. I am quite annoyed as I visited 2 days after this baby was born and I decided to have a quick look at the Cheetahs near the end of the day but decided I didn't have time to look at the other animals in Edge of Africa so missed out on this :(. I was lucky enough to interact and feed a group of individuals including Mindy, Miroku, and Merlin when I did my Mandrill Keeper Shadowing experience in May 2021, I can't believe it has almost been a year. Speaking of Keeper Shadowing I have an experience booked for the 14th April for the Aardvarks so hopefully they might have had another offspring born by then (it is almost a yearly occurrence at Colchester) and I will be able to find out other things going on in the zoo (I will prepare myself a list of relevant questions).

In other news the little closed off viewing area for Komodo dragons nearest the World of Wings area has been completely revamped (I noticed this when I last visited), you can see this on the Colchester Zoo Instagram.
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
You beat me to it!
Anyway this is great news, though I thought the zoos breeding record was better that that. I am quite annoyed as I visited 2 days after this baby was born and I decided to have a quick look at the Cheetahs near the end of the day but decided I didn't have time to look at the other animals in Edge of Africa so missed out on this :(. I was lucky enough to interact and feed a group of individuals including Mindy, Miroku, and Merlin when I did my Mandrill Keeper Shadowing experience in May 2021, I can't believe it has almost been a year. Speaking of Keeper Shadowing I have an experience booked for the 14th April for the Aardvarks so hopefully they might have had another offspring born by then (it is almost a yearly occurrence at Colchester) and I will be able to find out other things going on in the zoo (I will prepare myself a list of relevant questions).

In other news the little closed off viewing area for Komodo dragons nearest the World of Wings area has been completely revamped (I noticed this when I last visited), you can see this on the Colchester Zoo Instagram.
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Rajang21 said:
The breeding record is better than the four mentioned in the article - they have not referred to the many offspring fathered by the previous male mandrill, Dume.
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Colchester Zoo do indeed have an impressive record of breeding Mandrill. Dume, who was the breeding male from his arrival in 2004 until his death at the age of 20 in 2015, sired over 15 offspring - the youngest of which was Suki (26/02/2014).

It’s good to see Gismo continuing his success with the birth of yet another infant.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Colchester Zoo do indeed have an impressive record of breeding Mandrill. Dume, who was the breeding male from his arrival in 2004 until his death at the age of 20 in 2015, sired over 15 offspring - the youngest of which was Suki (26/02/2014).

It’s good to see Gismo continuing his success with the birth of yet another infant.
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They started with a trio way back, but by the nineties they had reached over a dozen animals in their old enclosure. Not sure how many different breeding males they've had since inception of the group but must be at least three, maybe more. In the current group they've had up to 20+ at times. But if you look at the group you will notice several adult males but all except the dominant one are castrated. This is how they keep a larger group with several males together. I think they probably routinely castrate any males produced now.
 
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Pertinax said:
They started with a trio way back, but soon reached over a dozen animals in their old enclosure. Not sure how many different breeding males they've had but must be at least three, maybe more. In the current group they've had up to 20+ at times. But if you look at the group you will notice several adult males but all except the dominant one are castrated. This is how they keep a larger group with several males together. I think they probably routinely castrate any males produced now.
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That makes sense, as it’d allow them to maintain a harmonious troop and by balancing out with males would reduce female led infanticide - which is common in this species between unrelated or distantly related females.

Wellington Zoo apparently trialled this with their Hamadryas baboons back in the 1990’s. The males lacked the secondary sexual characteristics of an intact male and just looked like large, drab females.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Wellington Zoo apparently trialled this with their Hamadryas baboons back in the 1990’s. The males lacked the secondary sexual characteristics of an intact male and just looked like large, drab females.
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Similar with the castrated male Mandrills at Colchester. They do have the colour but are more spindly/less muscular than the entire male. My last visit I noticed three or four of them, but that was several years ago now.
 
By the way I was mainly referring to the breeding record since Gizmo has been the dominant male (granted I didn't make this very clear) as 4 offspring in 6+ years doesn't really do the number of youngsters born at Colchester justice. Talking about breeding males, in the "The Story of Colchester Zoo" when referring to all of the much loved animals that would be at risk if the foot and mouth crisis made its way to the grounds of Stanway Hall, "Buster and the Mandrills" are mentioned. Does anyone know if Buster was a previous breeding male at Colchester, it sounds like he might have been. If not he must have just been a popular character in the group at the time. When I did my Keeper Shadowing for Mandrills it did appear that there was a quite a few adult (castrated probably) males that I preferred to feed as they were a lot less snatchy than Miroku, Merlin, Gizmo, and probably the females as well.
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
Talking about breeding males, in the "The Story of Colchester Zoo" when referring to all of the much loved animals that would be at risk if the foot and mouth crisis made its way to the grounds of Stanway Hall, "Buster and the Mandrills" are mentioned. Does anyone know if Buster was a previous breeding male at Colchester, it sounds like he might have been. If not he must have just been a popular character in the group at the time.
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Buster was a male who arrived in the mid-90’s and died aged 11 in 2001. He sired seven offspring in his six years at the zoo:

Colchester: Zoo staff mourn death of Buster
 
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