Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo news 2022

Enchanted Trail of Light | Colchester Zoo (colchester-zoo.com)
Colchester Zoo have announced that they will be holding an event on dates in December similar to Trail of Terror it seems, but instead with a Christmas theme.
"BRAND NEW for 2022
Join us for a magical journey…
3rd, 7th, 10th, 14th, 17th, 21st and 23rd December 2022
Enchanted is a pre-bookable event with a maximum capacity each evening. Arrivals will be staggered along the trail offering you the chance to experience the wonder of the lights and magical atmosphere at leisure!

Colchester Zoo will close at 4:30pm to day visitors as usual, before opening at 5:30pm on selected evenings, leaving the zoo behind as the trail of light comes to life!

With a host of illuminations along a designated route, dancing fountains and fairies spreading their magic, we have no doubt that you’ll leave feeling enchanted. Food and drinks will be available along the route so no need to worry about eating beforehand! There will also be a themed photo point so you can purchase a souvenir of your evening."
It also has similar rules and structure to Trail of Terror.
 
Conventional festive light event is as conventional festive light event is... something of a recent tradition in UK Zoos these days.
 
dillotest0 said:
Conventional festive light event is as conventional festive light event is... something of a recent tradition in UK Zoos these days.
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They held something similar to this last year, but it was only on one day and more followed the format of a Starlight Safari Night, with areas of the zoo gradually being closed as the focus switched to the light displays throughout the zoo, with the main display being on the central lake.
Now it more resembles the schedule of the Trail of Terror, a much bigger deal and event.
 
I went for a slightly longer than usual visit to Colchester Zoo this morning - these are the things of note that I saw:

- The squirrel monkey indoor enclosure extension at Heart of the Amazon seems mostly complete. It seems quite an odd development, as it has simply added a second window and climbing frame in the former viewing area for the original indoor space and left everything else untouched - that means that you can look through this indoor enclosure into the original one behind it and also the monkeys will have access to the side viewing window into the silver dollar and stingray aquarium.

- Worlds Apart is now completely closed for maintenance; you can still reach the South American walkthrough by going through part of Penguin Shores. Looking at the old penguin enclosure it seems that very little progress has been made - the pool has been drained but that was basically all. When I went through, two keepers were decorating the empty pool for Halloween.

- The right-hand bear den (nearest the Inca Trail penguin enclosure) has had two of its hoarding boards removed and is now back on display; it currently houses at least one buffy-headed capuchin. I had forgotten quite how big these enclosures were - hopefully they can be redeveloped to house something new at some point.

- Although I didn't see one, blue duiker is now signed in the smaller enclosure in the anteater area (the one that formerly housed tamarins, directly opposite the lower red panda viewing area).
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
They held something similar to this last year, but it was only on one day and more followed the format of a Starlight Safari Night, with areas of the zoo gradually being closed as the focus switched to the light displays throughout the zoo, with the main display being on the central lake.
Now it more resembles the schedule of the Trail of Terror, a much bigger deal and event.
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I visited one of the Christmas days in 2019 and thought it was spectacular. The zoo stayed open until around 7:30 I think and practically the whole park was lit up and open throughout the day, including all of The Edge of Africa near the hyenas. The illuminated animals were found in every corner of the zoo. Your admission price included the whole day at the zoo plus the evening too.

Post-Covid in 2020 it was a smaller affair with a lot of the zoo closed, but the giraffe houses remained open. In 2021 even the giraffe house was closed as well as most of the park. The illuminated animals had all been grouped together near the former bird display arena.

A shame that it's been scaled back so much; I assume spiralling costs and the opportunity to charge another £10 has seen to it.
 
Mention of new arrivals in 2023 for the 60th anniversary celebrations - I wonder what this will be? Personally I'd like more big cats (jaguars or snow leopards), or smaller cats, but can't envisage where they would be housed within the current set-up.

"2023 is set to be a BIG year for Colchester Zoo as it celebrates its 60th anniversary. The zoo is hosting a number of celebrations throughout the year, including introducing some exciting new arrivals and a special party on the 2nd June, to mark the zoo’s official birthday!"

(Colchester Zoo Celebrates 60 years in 2023 | Colchester Zoo)
 
On 15th October a female Kirk's dik-dik calf (named 'Spice') was born at Colchester Zoo. She was born to mother 'Pumpkin' (born at Edinburgh Zoo on 31st October, arriving at Colchester in August 2021; this is her second calf) and father 'Demitri' (arrived at Colchester in 2016 - this is his 13th calf).

More information can be found in the link below:
Pumpkin and SPICE and everything nice | Colchester Zoo
 
DesertRhino150 said:
- Worlds Apart is now completely closed for maintenance; you can still reach the South American walkthrough by going through part of Penguin Shores. Looking at the old penguin enclosure it seems that very little progress has been made - the pool has been drained but that was basically all. When I went through, two keepers were decorating the empty pool for Halloween.

- The right-hand bear den (nearest the Inca Trail penguin enclosure) has had two of its hoarding boards removed and is now back on display; it currently houses at least one buffy-headed capuchin. I had forgotten quite how big these enclosures were - hopefully they can be redeveloped to house something new at some point.
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Interesting news about Worlds Apart, I always thought bits of it were closed off for Penguin Shores upgrades, maybe these will accelerate now? Sorry to say, the pool was drained and decorated for Halloween this time last year as well, is the boat still sitting at the bottom of the pool?
So that's what that bear den was being prepared for, I agree that hopefully they will all have more potential in the near future to house animals and be developed into a new enclosure of sorts.

Canary said:
Post-Covid in 2020 it was a smaller affair with a lot of the zoo closed, but the giraffe houses remained open. In 2021 even the giraffe house was closed as well as most of the park. The illuminated animals had all been grouped together near the former bird display arena.

A shame that it's been scaled back so much; I assume spiralling costs and the opportunity to charge another £10 has seen to it.
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I wouldn't exactly say it is being scaled back, with the new Trail of Terror format it is even a bigger deal (and become a sort of event), just less centred around the animals like it was last year (I imagine they closed many parts of the zoo because they felt it was just not necessary for them to be open as the focus was on the lights and not the animals in that area).

Canary said:
Mention of new arrivals in 2023 for the 60th anniversary celebrations - I wonder what this will be? Personally I'd like more big cats (jaguars or snow leopards), or smaller cats, but can't envisage where they would be housed within the current set-up.

"2023 is set to be a BIG year for Colchester Zoo as it celebrates its 60th anniversary. The zoo is hosting a number of celebrations throughout the year, including introducing some exciting new arrivals and a special party on the 2nd June, to mark the zoo’s official birthday!"

(Colchester Zoo Celebrates 60 years in 2023 | Colchester Zoo)
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I have never previously considered that "new arrivals" could be hinting at new animal species, hopefully that does happen as I mentioned in my post from my previous visit there are currently plenty of areas (bear dens and the destroyed flight display housing) where I could see new enclosures and complexes being developed in the near future.

Nisha said:
White Rhino, Lottie was moved to Zoo Erfurt (Germany) on Wednesday 19th October. Photos on Erfurt's FB page show her settling in well
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Sad that she will no longer be with Tayo, it was nice watching those two together, but at least she is with another young female of a similar age to her and settling in well.
 
I went on a visit to Colchester Zoo this morning - there have been quite a few little developments either continue or start. This is what I noticed:

- Regarding Worlds Apart, the indoor enclosure for the pied tamarins (the area that was formerly an access corridor into the main building) seems to have been removed; I'm not certain what that means for the animals in question.

- The building site where the old falconry mews were has continued, and seems to include an elevated wooden platform. I'm starting to think this may be for the high-ropes course that it was originally said the falconry display would be replaced with.

- The development of the upper Amur leopard viewing area has been partly finished. The indoor enclosure for a smaller outdoor exhibit (formerly golden-headed lion tamarins) is now finished, and housing a pair of golden lion tamarins.

- On the off-chance, I walked around the back of the buffy-headed capuchin exhibit near the entrance. On the wall where the smaller primate enclosure was is a large board saying that a new area is being developed there and will be coming soon.

- I have just checked and it has been mentioned on the zoo's website, but a small number of the birds are off-display, including the ostriches, blue cranes, grey crowned cranes (only in Kingdom of the Wild; the pair in Edge of Africa were still outside), flamingos and rainbow lorikeets. All the other species were still on-show.

- In terms of most interesting sightings, the Heart of the Amazon area performed very well. Saw both squirrel and bearded saki monkeys mating (hopefully they will be successful), the silver dollars were also showing reproductive behaviour and I saw all five Solomon Island skinks, with one lounging over a branch right in the open.

- Regarding the new arrivals for 2023, I picked up the Autumn 2022 issue of the Zoo Life magazine, which said that work is 'due to begin on their new home soon'. So long as it isn't a set of animatronic dinosaurs, I'll be pleased to see something new.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
I went on a visit to Colchester Zoo this morning - there have been quite a few little developments either continue or start. This is what I noticed:

- Regarding Worlds Apart, the indoor enclosure for the pied tamarins (the area that was formerly an access corridor into the main building) seems to have been removed; I'm not certain what that means for the animals in question.

- The building site where the old falconry mews were has continued, and seems to include an elevated wooden platform. I'm starting to think this may be for the high-ropes course that it was originally said the falconry display would be replaced with.

- The development of the upper Amur leopard viewing area has been partly finished. The indoor enclosure for a smaller outdoor exhibit (formerly golden-headed lion tamarins) is now finished, and housing a pair of golden lion tamarins.

- On the off-chance, I walked around the back of the buffy-headed capuchin exhibit near the entrance. On the wall where the smaller primate enclosure was is a large board saying that a new area is being developed there and will be coming soon.

- I have just checked and it has been mentioned on the zoo's website, but a small number of the birds are off-display, including the ostriches, blue cranes, grey crowned cranes (only in Kingdom of the Wild; the pair in Edge of Africa were still outside), flamingos and rainbow lorikeets. All the other species were still on-show.

- In terms of most interesting sightings, the Heart of the Amazon area performed very well. Saw both squirrel and bearded saki monkeys mating (hopefully they will be successful), the silver dollars were also showing reproductive behaviour and I saw all five Solomon Island skinks, with one lounging over a branch right in the open.

- Regarding the new arrivals for 2023, I picked up the Autumn 2022 issue of the Zoo Life magazine, which said that work is 'due to begin on their new home soon'. So long as it isn't a set of animatronic dinosaurs, I'll be pleased to see something new.
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Maybe a little disappointing news about the display animal housing, but I suppose they never officially cancelled the high-ropes course, though it was announced back in April or May 2019 and until this post I had not heard or seen on much development. I wonder what this means for the green open space of the actual display area, will it be left unchanged even with the old seats for viewing the Wild Displays?

I have commented many times on the enclosure behind the Buffy-Headed Capuchins (if you have not noticed, and it has had the boards announcing development (one of the ones that is used regularly all over the zoo) since at least April or May, I have looked past the bamboo a few times and it looks like it is an old(ish) enclosure currently used as temporary offshow housing, and I have seen L'Hoest monkeys in it a few times. What did it house if/when it was an on show enclosure previously? I might have another look there next visit...

Nice news on possibly more Saki babies, but last time I checked there were only 2 males at Heart of the Amazon, so I assumed the breeding group were at Inca Trail?

Thanks for all of this news on updates and developments around Colchester Zoo (as always)!
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
I have commented many times on the enclosure behind the Buffy-Headed Capuchins (if you have not noticed, and it has had the boards announcing development (one of the ones that is used regularly all over the zoo) since at least April or May, I have looked past the bamboo a few times and it looks like it is an old(ish) enclosure currently used as temporary offshow housing, and I have seen L'Hoest monkeys in it a few times. What did it house if/when it was an on show enclosure previously? I might have another look there next visit...
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If this is the enclosure that was visible from both sides (one entrance from the capuchin/orangutan viewing and one opposite the old macaw enclosure), it held Lar gibbons when the Orangutans were there and later on spider monkeys.
 
Rajang21 said:
If this is the enclosure that was visible from both sides (one entrance from the capuchin/orangutan viewing and one opposite the old macaw enclosure), it held Lar gibbons when the Orangutans were there and later on spider monkeys.
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I'm not so sure about the history of it and the surrounding area, but I could see it had modern Spider Monkey signage at least at one point earlier this year (despite the L'Hoest inhabitants). It might be easier to point out from google maps? Sounds about right though.
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
What did it house if/when it was an on show enclosure previously? I might have another look there next visit...
Click to expand...

When I first started visiting the Zoo, it was home to the lar gibbons (when the orangutans lived next-door). Since then it has housed surplus of black spider monkeys, L'Hoest's monkeys and, I think, Barbary macaques. It also was home to the pileated gibbons when the sun bears lived next-door and their enclosures were being built.
 
I visited Colchester Zoo yesterday and I regularly visit (every two weeks) and had noticed that the female Pileated Gibbon Mali was nowhere to be seen. In the weeks previous to this I had seen her being separated from Lae and wondered if she was ill. I asked one of the train drivers and he told me she had been moved to a new in he believes Switzerland or Sweden (not totally sure on this one) but it was a studbook recommendation. He also told us a new female was due to arrive at any point once the paperwork had been completed so I eagerly await her arrival as the gibbons are one of my favourites.
 
Went for a brief (very cold) morning visit to Colchester Zoo today - these are the few things I noticed:

- The Worlds Apart walkthrough can be accessed again via the Penguin Shores area (the former penguin viewing windows now boarded up); I can confirm that the pied tamarins have moved into the left-hand enclosure with the sloths, replacing the golden lion tamarins.

- A fun little piece of zoo history has been revealed in the renovations inside Worlds Apart; by the entrance to the South American walkthrough, a hoarding board has been removed to reveal a small corridor-like display lined with rocks. If I remember correctly, this was the old rock hyrax enclosure, back when the Small Mammal House existed.

- Something I forgot to mention from my last visit - the walkway from the upper Penguin Shores viewing (by the former scarlet ibis aviary) to the Inca Trail has now been completely demolished.

- The elevated wooden platform by the old falconry mews seems to be mostly finished; now that a wooden fence has been put around it, I think it could be an outdoor eating area for the adjacent food hut.

A lot of little projects seem to be going on, which is a positive after a long time where it seems very little has actually happened.
 
Visited again today and Worlds Apart had reopened.
Didn’t seem to be anything new with the green anacondas, frogs or the two iguana species but the aquarium is now empty and being redeveloped for different fish I presume.
The previous wooden bridge over the fish pond area has now been turned into a glass bridge so you can see below you and it was very interesting to walk over.

The wooden area by the sausage hut eatery is a seating area for the outlet.

I can’t remember which enclosure it was but it seemed to previously hold a mammal species but now has signs marking it as a fish enclosure.

I’m sure there are other things to mention so if you have any questions then let me know. Saw the new arrival and it is the cutest. No news on the new gibbon as well but Lae has been extra vocal since Mali left and am able to hear him from the goat walkthrough too.
 
On 23rd November, a young common squirrel monkey was born at Colchester Zoo. It is the third baby of mother 'Milu'.

More information can be found below:
New Addition to the Group | Colchester Zoo

Also, the zoo have released a progress report on the mixing of the male binturong 'Teddy', who arrived at Colchester from Dudley Zoo in December 2021, to the zoo's existing female 'Cecilka'.

The news can be seen here:
Teddy and Cecilka | Colchester Zoo
 
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