Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo news 2024

Rajang-GOAT said:
No sign of the Black and White Ruffed Lemurs as their outdoor enclosure was empty and doors to the indoor area were shut, so they could have now departed as the idea was floated above. A shame they couldn't stick around and possibly be mixed in one of the main lemur enclosures but I am interested to see how their area will be dedicated to the flamingos.
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Banham has posted a video of Adelay (apparently spelt Adelie) settling in with their current male Arrow. Sad to see them go as the lemurs are one of my favourites. As mentioned before, the male, Tanjona, headed off to Poland about 3 weeks ago.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
One thing I did notice, in Feathers of the Forest, is that there now seems to be just the two Victoria crowned pigeons (plus three crested wood partridges), down from the four pigeons that were there on my last visit.
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It appears that one of them has gone to Banham as per their Facebook page. He’s in their tropical house.

So far on my visit today, I’ve noticed that the indoor tiger viewing is shut which appears to be due to new windows being put in place. The Crowned Lemurs have also now been granted access to the walkthrough enclosure whilst it is open to the public during the day. They were previously shut in due to the female getting protective.
 
About the Crowned Lemurs.. I misunderstood the train driver and they’ve actually been moved in with the breeding group of Ring Tailed Lemurs in the middle of the track. They are still currently shut in but are planned to be let out in the next couple days. That leaves just the red-bellied and 9 male ring tailed lemurs in the walkthrough.

The new Pygmy Marmosets were very intrigued by guests and were looking out of the windows at people. Still a bit nervous though as when people got close they backed off mostly. The White-lipped Tamarins on the other hand were hiding a lot at the back of the enclosure but got a couple quick glances at them.

The tomato frog in the Kingdom of the Wild building have passed away and that’s why the enclosure is empty.

As mentioned before, at least one of the Victoria Crowned Pigeons has moved to Banham Zoo. A male named Craig.
 
Colchester Zoo have now started releasing monthly reports again, with one dating back to January of this year released today. These are the things I noticed that I don't think have been mentioned here before:
  • On January 25th, a female coppery titi monkey named Copper arrived from Belfast Zoo, joining male Lewis in the Worlds Apart walkthrough.
  • Young male Kirk's dik-dik Gregg was moved to the off-show leopard enclosure to provide warmer winter quarters.
  • On January 27th and 30th, two rainbow lorikeet chicks were hatched.
  • On January 10th, the last shubunkin goldfish in Koi Niwa died. This was the last individual in the collection.
  • On January 12th, male African white-backed vulture Bart died from a neurological issue. This leaves behind the single female.
Things that have already been mentioned include the changes to the binturong and small-clawed otter enclosure, the movements of the banded iguanas and Solomon Island skinks and the birth of the Visayan spotted deer calf.

The report also includes information regarding education, research being undertaken at the zoo, further confirmation of the pausing of the Fisher's estuarine moth breeding and about the zoo's Umphafa Reserve. The report can be read below:
Monthly Reports | Colchester Zoo
 
On 16th April 2024, Colombian black spider monkey 'Cheekaboo' gave birth to her seventh baby. More information can be found in the link below:
Exciting Spider Monkey Birth! | Colchester Zoo

I went to the zoo for an incredibly wet visit this morning. I did not see the new baby spider monkey, but these are some things I did notice:
  • New species: The angelfish and plecostomus aquarium in Heart of the Amazon has been refilled and these two species have been replaced by a new shoal of young red-bellied piranhas.
  • It was good to see all three crowned lemurs were outside in the Lemur Island enclosure. I look forward to seeing more of them in the future.
  • Currently, the old indoor area for the black-and-white ruffed lemurs is home to surplus common squirrel monkeys - the access to the indoor area was open but had a grate over it, through which the monkeys were looking.
  • The false tomato frog tank in Kingdom of the Wild remains empty.
  • On the past couple of visits, I have noticed there is now only one giant anteater remaining.
  • Despite the weather, I had the best view I have ever had of the great grey owl (which was flying around its aviary for a while) and also had probably the best view of the green tree monitors, which were hunting locusts.
  • In terms of wildlife news, I did spot a smooth newt in the little raised pond outside the exit of the Iguana Forest walkthrough.
 
Does anyone have any knowledge on the possible future of Lena, the Amur Leopard? She's been off show for a considerable length of time now and it seems a shame that's she's been hidden away all this time
 
I went for a morning visit to Colchester Zoo today - these are some things I noticed:
  • NEW SPECIES: The goldfish in the pond in the dinosaur area have been replaced with a large shoal of golden orfe (unsigned) - not the most exciting new arrivals, but arrivals nonetheless.
  • There seems to be a new pathway being built among the trees by the path between the Familiar Friends area and the hyena enclosure (opposite the wallaby enclosure) - not sure if the path will lead to anything interesting, but it is at least something new being constructed.
  • Managed to see the new baby spider monkey, which was still being held by its mother, and the new Ruppell's vulture chick in one of the nesting alcoves.
  • The building work in the Tiger Taiga area is now done - quite a bit of the wooden wall has been painted white, and one of the small windows into the indoor area has been replaced with a much larger window.
  • Was very pleased to see a lot of the more inactive or elusive animals were out and about - two of the tamanduas and the slender-snouted crocodile were outside, one of the Solomon Island skinks was moving around and, for the first time in years, I managed to see the lungfish in the Lake Victoria aquarium in Kingdom of the Wild.
Also, today the zoo released their monthly report for March - completely bypassing February. These are the things of note regarding the animals that have not already been mentioned:
  • The female Geoffroy's marmoset, Poppy, transferred to Blackpool Zoo on 7th March. Very pleasingly, the zoo have said that this is only a temporary departure, with new individuals planned to arrive in the future.
  • Eight rainbow lorikeets (four males and four females) and three Trinidad stream frogs left the collection for Northumberland College on 27th March.
The report can be read below:
Monthly Reports | Colchester Zoo
 
[QUOTE="DesertRhino150, post: 1545494, member: 3402"
  • NEW SPECIES: The goldfish in the pond in the dinosaur area have been replaced with a large shoal of golden orfe (unsigned) - not the most exciting new arrivals, but arrivals nonetheless.[/QUOTE]
Do you think the old goldfish pond is now orfe-full?
 
Piece of April 2024 News Not Mentioned:
DesertRhino150 said:
The dik-diks have had yet another calf - the unnamed male calf was born on 21st March, and is the ninth calf of mother Daenerys and father Demetri.

More information can be found in the link below:
Kirk’s dik-dik calf arrival! | Colchester Zoo
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On April 26th, the zoo named the dik-dik Dash.

Colchester Zoo

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On May 20th, the zoo announced that a (0.0.1) Barbary macaque was born on May 10th, though passed away on May 19th due to a decline in health.

Colchester Zoo
 
DesertRhino150 said:
I went for a morning visit to Colchester Zoo today - these are some things I noticed:
  • NEW SPECIES: The goldfish in the pond in the dinosaur area have been replaced with a large shoal of golden orfe (unsigned) - not the most exciting new arrivals, but arrivals nonetheless.
  • There seems to be a new pathway being built among the trees by the path between the Familiar Friends area and the hyena enclosure (opposite the wallaby enclosure) - not sure if the path will lead to anything interesting, but it is at least something new being constructed.
  • Managed to see the new baby spider monkey, which was still being held by its mother, and the new Ruppell's vulture chick in one of the nesting alcoves.
  • The building work in the Tiger Taiga area is now done - quite a bit of the wooden wall has been painted white, and one of the small windows into the indoor area has been replaced with a much larger window.
  • Was very pleased to see a lot of the more inactive or elusive animals were out and about - two of the tamanduas and the slender-snouted crocodile were outside, one of the Solomon Island skinks was moving around and, for the first time in years, I managed to see the lungfish in the Lake Victoria aquarium in Kingdom of the Wild.
Also, today the zoo released their monthly report for March - completely bypassing February. These are the things of note regarding the animals that have not already been mentioned:
  • The female Geoffroy's marmoset, Poppy, transferred to Blackpool Zoo on 7th March. Very pleasingly, the zoo have said that this is only a temporary departure, with new individuals planned to arrive in the future.
  • Eight rainbow lorikeets (four males and four females) and three Trinidad stream frogs left the collection for Northumberland College on 27th March.
The report can be read below:
Monthly Reports | Colchester Zoo
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There was more work going on on my brief visit this afternoon (was working in the area so took the afternoon as a half day) with work on the walkway above the mangabey enclosure, building work on some new stalls / market bench looking area things near the restaurants at the entrance as well as a couple of paths being closed off with workmen in and the walkway / top viewing for the chimps closed. So quite a bit going on.

The new dinosaur area is both large and loud, though it's hidden by bushes in the main the dino noises are at pretty high volume. Not the target audience myself and while not being a total grinch I did think having it slap bang in the middle of so many enclosures is a bit less 'animal' focused than I'd like. Bailey the lion was paying a fair amount of attention to the noise.

New red bellied tamarins in world's apart were fun to see having caught up with the pied ones at Banham. Was also great to see the young vulture, really pretty. Last year's crowned crane appears to be in with the group in the rhino area now, a nice group of five all together makes for good views. The new pygmy marmosets are super active, lovely little group.
 
I went for a more brief visit this morning, and there are a couple of other things I noticed that are either new since my visit on Sunday, or that I noticed but forgot to mention:
  • Firstly, I noticed that the Victoria crowned pigeon in Feathers of the Forest is sitting on its nesting basket again. It was doing so both today and last Sunday.
  • Unfortunately, since Sunday, it seems that the last bony-headed toad in Orangutan Forest may have died. Both the tank glass and the species sign had notices pasted over them saying that the enclosure is now empty. I definitely recall seeing it on Sunday - I will definitely miss looking for it.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
Unfortunately, since Sunday, it seems that the last bony-headed toad in Orangutan Forest may have died. Both the tank glass and the species sign had notices pasted over them saying that the enclosure is now empty. I definitely recall seeing it on Sunday - I will definitely miss looking for it.
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A wonderful rarity lost from UK collections if this is the case, very grateful to have seen it while I still had the chance.

Zootierliste also claims that the last Sambava Tomato Frog (which if memory serves were kept in Rajang's Forest on my visit in 2022) passed away in April - if this is the case, then are there any animals left in the vivariums in this area, as I don't recall seeing a third species on my visit.
 
Kalaw said:
A wonderful rarity lost from UK collections if this is the case, very grateful to have seen it while I still had the chance.

Zootierliste also claims that the last Sambava Tomato Frog (which if memory serves were kept in Rajang's Forest on my visit in 2022) passed away in April - if this is the case, then are there any animals left in the vivariums in this area, as I don't recall seeing a third species on my visit.
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The bony headed toad exhibit is the only vivarium in Rajang's Forest, the tomato frogs were kept in Kingdom of The Wild (in a newer enclosure and an older one before vivariums on the top floor were redone), and the last tomato frog passed a way a month or two ago as you will see if you find where it has been mentioned in this thread.
 
I visited yesterday, so here are a few things I thought worth mentioning:
  • The White Lipped Tamarins as well as the Common Marmosets that arrived earlier this year were both visible, especially interesting to see the size comparison between the latter and the Golden Lion Tamarins they share their enclosure with.
  • The Bornean Orangutans had a scatter feed once again, Tiga joined Tatau in engaging with this at the roof of the main indoor enclosure this time around.
  • It appears the path being constructed along the path from Edge of Africa to Familiar Friends will possibly be connecting to the Elephant Bush Walk.
  • I got a good view of the Bush Dogs, at least 4, dragging food around their enclosure, not something that happens all too often for me.
  • According to the driver of the Lost Madagascar train, maintenance is taking place on the Lion Tailed Macaque enclosure, and they will be offshow (maybe just kept indoors?) for around 2 weeks.
  • The Guinea Pig Village and the structures inside seemed to be being cleaned and the Guinea Pig inhabitants may have moved offshow to the Sensation Station. I suppose this is likely to be routine/maintenance, I just haven't seen it before.
  • The Gelada baby was visible with its mother when the group was being fed and even briefly got off and had a look around.
 
Visited today for the first time since November 2022. The Zoo was super busy around midday but luckily I managed to see everything I wanted to see.
I snapped a great photo of the Rhino, Zebra, Kudu and Ostrich all together which in my opinion has to be one of the best photos I've ever taken.
It was great to see one of the Amur Leopards super close up as soon as the zoo opened.
I was extremely lucky seeing Blue Duikers out and about around 11am. The Warthog hoglets are super cute.
The Male Kudu is magnificent however I feel like Kingdom of the wild would be an amazing place to house Wildebeest as well.
Saw one Fennec Fox in its outdoor exhibit
Another highlight was seeing the Gelada baby clinging onto mum.
Overall a nice day to Colchester today.
 
On 2nd April, two Humboldt penguin chicks hatched. The mother, Pepper, hatched at Colchester in 2016 while her mate, Chile, came to Colchester from Zlin-Lesna Zoo in the Czech Republic in 2014. This is the pair's second set of chicks.

One chick was not growing as well as the other, so is being hand-reared. The other is growing well and is now starting to venture out of the nest.

More information can be found in the link below:
EGGciting Penguin Chick Arrival! | Colchester Zoo
 
A plaque has been installed to honour the memory of Southern white rhinoceros Otto (1997-2024):

MSN

White Rhinos are listed as ‘Near Threatened’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species therefore Otto played a vital role in the conservation of his species.

In celebration of this, a memorial sign has been put in place at his home, Kingdom of the Wild.

See link for photo of plaque.
 
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