Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo News 2023

JamesB said:
Is Worlds Apart currently open? The website claims the walkthrough is closed, are the animals there still visible?
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I think I may be going today, so I'll check it out. I know that the tamanduas, titi monkeys and Geoffroy's marmosets can be seen if the walkthrough is closed, as their indoor area is visible from outside the walkthrough.
I'm not so sure if the sloths and pied tamarins will be visible - although there may be a viewing window at the seating area behind the walkthrough, it only helps if the animals are outside as their indoor area is only viewable from inside the walkthrough itself. There are sloths kept in another enclosure (the Rainforest Walkthrough) closer to the entrance, so they should be visible even if the Worlds Apart walkthrough is closed.
 
Embu said:
Was Anoushka a purebred Amur tiger?
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No , which is why she was withdrawn from breeding. A sibling of her father (at a zoo in Germany I think) was found to have some Sumatran genes. This was discovered just after her first cubs were born which did not survive more than a day or two. It was covered on the Zoo Days TV series at the time
 
Went for a short visit today - it was extremely busy, so I basically did a quick loop of the zoo. This is what I noticed:
  • It seems as if the crested wood partridge has laid more eggs in Feathers of the Forest. The female was sitting on them but, unlike before, there were now so many eggs that a few were spilling out from underneath her.
  • Managed to see the male cheetah in his new enclosure.
  • Perhaps most excitingly, the two pygmy hippos were mixed in the larger of the two indoor enclosures and seemed to be attempting to mate. There were a couple of keepers present keeping an eye on them.
JamesB said:
Is Worlds Apart currently open? The website claims the walkthrough is closed, are the animals there still visible?
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While I didn't go through myself, I did see people in the walkthrough so it seems as if it is open. The rest of the building is open as usual.
 
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Visted Colchester yesterday. Weather was lovely until just before closing and it wasn't that crowded considering it is a holiday weekend.

World's apart was fully open and everything in it was visible (even the tamandua was out at one point). There was a bit of a debate on the sloth enclosure thread about what the sloths had access to so added a panorama picture to the gallery of the area. Such a nice space to spend time. Perhaps the website is out of date.

I thought that some of the wooden poles and platforms had been refreshed in world's apart however, maybe it had been closed for some work to be done but not for long.

Popular walk-through animal exhibit closed by Colchester Zoo - here's why

The outdoor space for the Orangs was closed.

I thought the new cheetah enclosure might be an excellent candidate for an award for 'enclosure in which you are least likely to see a cheetah'. But there was a glimpse among the planting. The canopy and glass front looks great now finished, there is a handy bench and it has a lot of planting etc on the slope. Put a couple of pics in the gallery.

I did notice not for the first time that the condition of the glass in the enclosure for the Victoria crowned pigeons is awful. It is heavily scratched and stained in the small area that isn't plastered in graphical leaves. Could do with a refresh as the house itself is great and the signage and information is high class. Contrast with the wreathed hornbill enclosure which offers lovely viewing as well as good spaces for the birds. I hadn't seen that enclosure looking as nice before, perhaps I missed it.

Saw the lion outside in the sun which was a bit of a treat as he's always been inside when I have visited before.

Highlight of my visit however was the juvenile grey crowned crane, which was lovely to see. A young dik dik in the same space means that one enclosure has a lot going on for it's size. Was a shame to see most visitors not stopping at it to look (well except to do the usual 'dik dik' joke in thing. I thought later on in the day in world's apart a bloke would literally die laughing at his own wit when he was able to say 'dik dik' and 'titi' in the same sentence). Got great views of the duikers too which was excellent.

Nice to see the young rhino out and about.

Overall a fun day out, lots to see and enjoy and lots of active animals.
 

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Lafone said:
Visted Colchester yesterday. Weather was lovely until just before closing and it wasn't that crowded considering it is a holiday weekend.

World's apart was fully open and everything in it was visible (even the tamandua was out at one point). There was a bit of a debate on the sloth enclosure thread about what the sloths had access to so added a panorama picture to the gallery of the area. Such a nice space to spend time. Perhaps the website is out of date.

I thought that some of the wooden poles and platforms had been refreshed in world's apart however, maybe it had been closed for some work to be done but not for long.

Popular walk-through animal exhibit closed by Colchester Zoo - here's why

The outdoor space for the Orangs was closed.

I thought the new cheetah enclosure might be an excellent candidate for an award for 'enclosure in which you are least likely to see a cheetah'. But there was a glimpse among the planting. The canopy and glass front looks great now finished, there is a handy bench and it has a lot of planting etc on the slope. Put a couple of pics in the gallery.

I did notice not for the first time that the condition of the glass in the enclosure for the Victoria crowned pigeons is awful. It is heavily scratched and stained in the small area that isn't plastered in graphical leaves. Could do with a refresh as the house itself is great and the signage and information is high class. Contrast with the wreathed hornbill enclosure which offers lovely viewing as well as good spaces for the birds. I hadn't seen that enclosure looking as nice before, perhaps I missed it.

Saw the lion outside in the sun which was a bit of a treat as he's always been inside when I have visited before.

Highlight of my visit however was the juvenile grey crowned crane, which was lovely to see. A young dik dik in the same space means that one enclosure has a lot going on for it's size. Was a shame to see most visitors not stopping at it to look (well except to do the usual 'dik dik' joke in thing. I thought later on in the day in world's apart a bloke would literally die laughing at his own wit when he was able to say 'dik dik' and 'titi' in the same sentence). Got great views of the duikers too which was excellent.

Nice to see the young rhino out and about.

Overall a fun day out, lots to see and enjoy and lots of active animals.
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Good news about Worlds Apart being open amidst the confusion and hopefully it is in a good state with the new fish as well. Weird that the outdoor visitor access at Rajang's Forest was closed, this would also mean no access to All Saints' Church, I wonder why? The new Cheetah enclosure wasn't much better for viewing it's previous inhabitants, I certainly don't think I immediately noticed the absence of Hunting dogs when the enclosure first became empty. Unfortunate that the glass in Feathers of The Forest seems to have deteriorated, it should still be quite new as it is one of the newest developments along with the new Pygmy Hippo outdoors and Wilds of Asia/Rivers Edge refurbishment, and the newest full exhibit in the zoo.
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
Good news about Worlds Apart being open amidst the confusion and hopefully it is in a good state with the new fish as well. Weird that the outdoor visitor access at Rajang's Forest was closed, this would also mean no access to All Saints' Church, I wonder why? The new Cheetah enclosure wasn't much better for viewing it's previous inhabitants, I certainly don't think I immediately noticed the absence of Hunting dogs when the enclosure first became empty. Unfortunate that the glass in Feathers of The Forest seems to have deteriorated, it should still be quite new as it is one of the newest developments along with the new Pygmy Hippo outdoors and Wilds of Asia/Rivers Edge refurbishment, and the newest full exhibit in the zoo.
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When I went the first time it said the outdoor area would reopen after 1130am I went back later after that but it was still shut. Guess they were doing some maintenance or something. I didn’t go back in the afternoon.

Shame about the glass it looked scratched and discoloured - perhaps it needs a good clean.
 
On Friday 1st September, male pygmy hippopotamus 'Freddy' was put to sleep after his health took a downward turn due to a carcinoma in his oral cavity.

He was born in 1989 and arrived at Colchester in 2001 from Givskud Zoo in Denmark. Between 2009 and 2020, he fathered six calves with female hippo 'Venus', who is now 23 years old herself.

More information can be found in the link below:
Freddy | Colchester Zoo
 
Had my first visit in exactly 3 months on Saturday for the last summer late night opening, not too sure what has been mentioned here already and what hasn't, but here is a few things I noticed:
  • I managed to see all three species of poison dart frog in Worlds Apart, speaking of, has undergone a number of visible changes including a new desert plant display, the previous Coppery titi monkey enclosure being converted into a second exit and way to view some of the walkthrough species on one side and an extra Crowned Pigeon and Wood Partridges moved out of Feathers of The Forest on the other, plus the main room becoming a bit more opened up with the door to Penguin Shores now visible and many notices about redevelopment of the area present, as well as some new branding outside the new exit.
  • At Rajang's Forest Mali and Tatty were on top of one of the back platforms in the outdoor orangutan enclosure grooming each other and Tiga was laying on the floor just below, though mostly hidden by the cave.
  • African Lion Bailey was fairly active and seemed healthy considering his age.
  • One of the Fennec foxes was very active outside and provided probably the best views I've ever had of the species, although it looked a bit skinny. I saw the other individual inside.
  • I got good views of all 3 Hyenas, altogether in the main enclosure.
  • Active L'hoests monkeys put on a good show.
  • Venus was visible in the main Pygmy Hippo indoor enclosure.
  • They had a notice up about the death of Anoushka in a couple places at Tiger Taiga.
  • It was nice to hear mention of many of the special features of the top quality exhibit mentioned in the Komodo Dragon encounter (talk).
 
Had an afternoon visit yesterday under many different circumstances, but still a valuable experience nonetheless, with possibly my smallest gap between visits to Colchester Zoo meaning I could spend longer and focus on certain areas after seeing just about everything on Saturday. Here are a few things I noticed:
  • Chimpanzee Lookout was the first destination after I arrived and as I got there the chimps were being fairly active inside, shortly before moving into the tunnel to the outdoors on the sleeping area side, and some venturing through. From the outdoor viewing area, I could see Tombe, Tumba, and Talia: they had found spots to rest, while I could see at least one individual still in the tunnel, which could have been either of the sisters Tara and Kora or both together.
  • I was able to appreciate two very active Emerald Tree Monitors in the Rivers Edge building who seemed to have just been fed, one missed a cricket which then fell onto the ground below as the monitor climbed from right to left across the branches in the enclosure. The other was climbing up on wall of the enclosure next to where it borders the window on the left side.
  • At World of Wings one of the King Vulture was standing on the floor right in front of the window- intriguing a few visitors.
  • At Island Dwellers I saw male and female Philippine Spotted Deer as well as one Visayan Warty Pig despite the heat.
  • I took a couple minutes to appreciate the Black Headed Weaverbird and Leopard Tortoise enclosure in the centre of the top floor in Kingdom of The Wild, such a great display, I believe the only small animal exhibit on that top floor that wasn't replaced/renovated a couple of years ago (apart from saltwater aquarium), rightfully so as it still does its job very well from what I can tell.
  • There seemed to be a few scraps going on between the Ruppel's Griffon Vultures, looked like it was over food, and one of the individuals involved was possibly a younger one (though I can't remember when the last chick hatched). I would not be surprised if this resulted in a few minor injuries, but I assume nothing out of the ordinary.
  • Over this visit and Saturday the Maneless Zebras seemed to be particularly noisy, though not sure if this was the male or female or both.
  • There seemed to only be Koi present in Koi Niwa (as far as I could see), bigger individuals in the bigger tank (usually the only tank with Koi if my memory is correct) and smaller individuals in the smaller tank. This confused me as I was interested in seeing the Taiwan Bitterling after hearing they are the only ones of their kind on display in Europe, but I could only see koi, despite Taiwan Bitterling being the only species directly signed.
  • I was able to see the Rock Hyrax in their new enclosure for the first time, however I noticed windows on the back and left hand side (high up) of the walls, does anyone know if it has ever been possible to see through them when this space was used previously and where they were accessed?
  • I arrived at Rajang's Forest at the end of the day and at the time only Tiga was indoors, however a scatter feed on the roof of the main indoor enclosure attracted the females inside. Only Tiga and Mali took part (a good view was possible from the upper viewing platform), while Tatty stayed on the floor, but it was still great to see and probably a first for me.
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
Had an afternoon visit yesterday under many different circumstances, but still a valuable experience nonetheless, with possibly my smallest gap between visits to Colchester Zoo meaning I could spend longer and focus on certain areas after seeing just about everything on Saturday. Here are a few things I noticed:
  • Chimpanzee Lookout was the first destination after I arrived and as I got there the chimps were being fairly active inside, shortly before moving into the tunnel to the outdoors on the sleeping area side, and some venturing through. From the outdoor viewing area, I could see Tombe, Tumba, and Talia: they had found spots to rest, while I could see at least one individual still in the tunnel, which could have been either of the sisters Tara and Kora or both together.
  • I was able to appreciate two very active Emerald Tree Monitors in the Rivers Edge building who seemed to have just been fed, one missed a cricket which then fell onto the ground below as the monitor climbed from right to left across the branches in the enclosure. The other was climbing up on wall of the enclosure next to where it borders the window on the left side.
  • At World of Wings one of the King Vulture was standing on the floor right in front of the window- intriguing a few visitors.
  • At Island Dwellers I saw male and female Philippine Spotted Deer as well as one Visayan Warty Pig despite the heat.
  • I took a couple minutes to appreciate the Black Headed Weaverbird and Leopard Tortoise enclosure in the centre of the top floor in Kingdom of The Wild, such a great display, I believe the only small animal exhibit on that top floor that wasn't replaced/renovated a couple of years ago (apart from saltwater aquarium), rightfully so as it still does its job very well from what I can tell.
  • There seemed to be a few scraps going on between the Ruppel's Griffon Vultures, looked like it was over food, and one of the individuals involved was possibly a younger one (though I can't remember when the last chick hatched). I would not be surprised if this resulted in a few minor injuries, but I assume nothing out of the ordinary.
  • Over this visit and Saturday the Maneless Zebras seemed to be particularly noisy, though not sure if this was the male or female or both.
  • There seemed to only be Koi present in Koi Niwa (as far as I could see), bigger individuals in the bigger tank (usually the only tank with Koi if my memory is correct) and smaller individuals in the smaller tank. This confused me as I was interested in seeing the Taiwan Bitterling after hearing they are the only ones of their kind on display in Europe, but I could only see koi, despite Taiwan Bitterling being the only species directly signed.
  • I was able to see the Rock Hyrax in their new enclosure for the first time, however I noticed windows on the back and left hand side (high up) of the walls, does anyone know if it has ever been possible to see through them when this space was used previously and where they were accessed?
  • I arrived at Rajang's Forest at the end of the day and at the time only Tiga was indoors, however a scatter feed on the roof of the main indoor enclosure attracted the females inside. Only Tiga and Mali took part (a good view was possible from the upper viewing platform), while Tatty stayed on the floor, but it was still great to see and probably a first for me.
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Good write up as usual!

On the weaver birds are Colchester the only place to exhibit them completely inside without external windows? I confess I was a bit taken aback by the exhibit when I visited the first time - Not that the birds don’t look like they are having a good time and it’s not small etc but I’m used to seeing them outside or with more natural light in other places. I guess it doesn’t make a difference to them and wouldn’t be markedly different from free flying birds in a tropical house, but it seems a bit dark (looking in) so I wondered if it’s a one off or it’s more typical and I just haven’t noticed.
 
Went for a brief visit this morning - it was so hot that little was happening among the animals, but this is what I noticed:
  • The crested wood partridges in Feathers of the Forest no longer have any eggs, and there were no chicks in evidence.
  • The signage for the tiger barbs have been removed from the crocodile enclosure at Chimpanzee Lookout, and none were visible.
  • The slender-snouted crocodile itself was in its outdoor enclosure today, and was kicking the substrate (dead leaves and bark) into a large heap.
 
Pertinax said:
The Lion-tailed macaques have also dwindled, but more slowly- highest count in the distant past was around 7, then for many years there were still 4- now three. This must be a geriatric group nowadays.
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I have just noticed that Colchester Zoo has a special 'Management of Zoo Animals' document online that shows the diet sheets of each species at the zoo, and it includes the ages of the lion-tailed macaques:

https://www.colchester-zoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/CZ-Ed-Info-Management-of-Zoo-Animals.pdf

In February 2022, the two males were 21 years old while the female was 26.
 
I went for a short visit to Colchester Zoo this morning (plus another short visit on Monday) - not much has changed on either of these visits.

One thing I did notice is that the outer window to the old pied tamarin enclosure (now crowned pigeon and partridge) was blocked off - on my visit today, it seems that a new viewing canopy is being built above this window.
 
Do Colchester still hold the young female Amur leopard born in 2019? I know she was scheduled to move, however, no indication that move took place.
 
Baringogiraffe12 said:
Do Colchester still hold the young female Amur leopard born in 2019? I know she was scheduled to move, however, no indication that move took place.
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The last I heard was that she was meant to go to France last year however I'm yet to confirm if this went ahead. The zoo were waiting on moving lena so that they could start re introducing Crispin and esra
 
Went for another short visit to Colchester Zoo this morning - these are the couple of things I noticed on my trip:
  • The signage for the crested wood partridges has been removed from the old pied tamarin enclosure in Worlds Apart, and neither individual was visible with only the crowned pigeon seemingly in residence. This leaves the three adults in the Feathers of the Forest display on-show.
  • While maybe not necessarily news rather than an observation - over my past few visits, I have seen no sign of the new female pileated gibbon. Not sure if I've just been missing it every time or if something else has happened.
 
Had a good day at Colchester today - advantage of time off when it’s not school holidays is how quiet it is! A couple of quite large school trips but they were having fun collecting facts on the animals - good to see. Was sunny and warm which was nice and the weather brought a lot of the animals out.

Couple of areas were shut off for decorating for the Halloween event - the sunken pathway between the edge of Africa and the vultures and slightly stranger most of the viewing for the sun bears (one window was still free but the whole of the rest was cordoned and curtained off).

Excellent views of the wolves as the keepers were in with them doing cleaning etc so that was great and the first time I have really seen them there.

Was hoping to see the young crowned crane again but it was shut in the enclosure at the rear. The dik dik in the same space were very active though.

Lots of work going on around worlds apart as mentioned above - assume the windows will be reviewed at some point once the new canopies are done as otherwise it’s two overhangs looking into some dense bamboo.
 
On 3rd October, a pair of two-year-old male Goeldi's monkeys arrived at Colchester Zoo, a species returning after an eight year absence. They arrived from ZooNeuwied in Germany, and are living in the old pied tamarin enclosure at Worlds Apart. The two males arrived with no names and have been called Pedro and Pascal. The hope is for the species to be bred in the future.

Information comes from the link below:
Going for ‘Goeldi’s’ | Colchester Zoo
 
Went for a visit this morning to Colchester Zoo - these are the things I noted:
  • Early in the morning, the Goeldi's monkeys were not visible at all but went back to check again just before leaving and both were coming outside for brief periods.
  • Although they aren't signed yet, the new cardinal tetras are now on-display in the tetra tank in Worlds Apart.
  • Fortunately I managed a good view of the female pileated gibbon today, and she and the male seemed to be getting along well.
  • Quite a lot of interesting activity from many of the animals - the coppery titis in the Worlds Apart walkthrough were both calling on the first trip around (the are incredibly loud for rather small monkeys), the bush dogs were using their pool (the first time I've seen them doing this) and the false tomato frogs were out in the open and even hopping around (normally, they are huddled down in the moss and steadfastly avoid moving).
 
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