Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo news 2024

Zoofan15 said:
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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I wonder if they are going to do this for everything that dies...?
 
ZooNews2024 said:
I wonder if they are going to do this for everything that dies...?
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Of course they don't do it for every animal that dies, but I think it's a great way to pay respects of animals that have made a big impact on the zoo and it's history who warrant having their memories immortalised in a way. Like the few animals Colchester have done this for, Otto was not just another animal and was significant to the zoo by siring 6 of the 7 rhino calves to have ever been born at Colchester Zoo, over a period of less than 15 years. The other animals that this has been done for off the top of my head, White Rhino Flossy, Orangutan Rajang, Chimpanzee Billy-Joe, all lived at the zoo for many decades (since 1970s at least) and became favourites for staff and visitors alike, and in the case or Rajang reached a level of online fame. Billy-Joe has two daughters and two grandchildren in the current chimp group of five. As I said they don't do it for every animal and there is probably a handful or less living at the zoo now that this would happen more. For example in the last 5 years two other chimps (at the zoo since the 90s, one born there) and two tigers who arrived in the early 2000s have passed away without such treatment.
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
Of course they don't do it for every animal that dies, but I think it's a great way to pay respects of animals that have made a big impact on the zoo and it's history who warrant having their memories immortalised in a way. Like the few animals Colchester have done this for, Otto was not just another animal and was significant to the zoo by siring 6 of the 7 rhino calves to have ever been born at Colchester Zoo, over a period of less than 15 years. The other animals that this has been done for off the top of my head, White Rhino Flossy, Orangutan Rajang, Chimpanzee Billy-Joe, all lived at the zoo for many decades (since 1970s at least) and became favourites for staff and visitors alike, and in the case or Rajang reached a level of online fame. Billy-Joe has two daughters and two grandchildren in the current chimp group of five. As I said they don't do it for every animal and there is probably a handful or less living at the zoo now that this would happen more. For example in the last 5 years two other chimps (at the zoo since the 90s, one born there) and two tigers who arrived in the early 2000s have passed away without such treatment.
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May I ask what the significance of White Rhino ‘Flossy’ was?

As an aside, I think it is wonderful to see zoos commemorating their icons. Keepers and regulars can develop connections to certain individuals, so it is nice to honour them, and in the case of animals that had a significant impact on the history of the zoo in question, even one-off visitors may be interested to read about this through zoo signage. Colchester seems to be very good at honouring its history, with signs throughout labelling what enclosures once held before their current inhabitants, such as the rhinos in the Gelada enclosure, and it is nice to see that individual animals are getting the same level of respect.
 
Kalaw said:
May I ask what the significance of White Rhino ‘Flossy’ was?
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Flossy arrived at Colchester Zoo in 1972 and died in 2018, so lived at the zoo for 46 years, seeing when the zoo changed ownership, both rhino enclosures the zoo has had, and spending time living with 10 of the 14 other rhinos that have lived at the zoo. In this time she acted as a grandmother figure to the 4 calves born and was a great ambassador for her species to the many visitors who saw her.
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
two tigers who arrived in the early 2000s have passed away without such treatment.
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Igor and Anoushka have a combined plaque outside Tiger Taiga as you go down towards the nature area and the Fish and Chip shop. It has a picture of them together when they were younger with a couple paragraphs about them with the rainbow like Otto’s. The zoo just never announced it. Freddy never got one and I believe he had been at the zoo for a number of years.
 
Sheepy12 said:
Igor and Anoushka have a combined plaque outside Tiger Taiga as you go down towards the nature area and the Fish and Chip shop. It has a picture of them together when they were younger with a couple paragraphs about them with the rainbow like Otto’s. The zoo just never announced it. Freddy never got one and I believe he had been at the zoo for a number of years.
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Thanks for correcting me, I don't go to the Nature Area all too often so haven't seen it yet but I'll make sure to go and see it on my next visit. I did think about Freddy (Pygmy Hippo) after I made the post, I believe he was at the zoo since Kingdom of The Wild opened in 2001 and obviously sired many calves with Venus, but it has been less than a year since his death so maybe it's still possible he will get one.
 
Piece of May 2024 News Worth Mentioning:

On May 21st, it was announced that the zoo will be transferring a (0.1) Amur leopard to the Dartmoor Zoo in Devon in the future.

Episode 1 - Exploring Dartmoor Zoo by What's New at the Zoo

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On June 12th, the zoo announced that a (1.0) Kirk's dik-dik was born on May 21st.

Another dik-dik calf joins the Pumpkin family! On 21st May, our Animal Care Team were delighted to discover that female Kirk’s dik-dik, Pumpkin, had... | By Colchester Zoo | Facebook
Another dik-dik calf joins the Pumpkin family! | Colchester Zoo
 
Smaggledagle said:
Piece of May 2024 News Worth Mentioning:

On May 21st, it was announced that the zoo will be transferring a (0.1) Amur leopard to the Dartmoor Zoo in Devon in the future.

Episode 1 - Exploring Dartmoor Zoo by What's New at the Zoo

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On June 12th, the zoo announced that a (1.0) Kirk's dik-dik was born on May 21st.

Another dik-dik calf joins the Pumpkin family! On 21st May, our Animal Care Team were delighted to discover that female Kirk’s dik-dik, Pumpkin, had... | By Colchester Zoo | Facebook
Another dik-dik calf joins the Pumpkin family! | Colchester Zoo
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The baby Dik-dik has just been called SQUASH.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C8Wfy-oty_z/?igsh=M3pyOG1yb2k0aXZu
 
I went for a visit to Colchester Zoo this morning. These are some of the things I noticed:
  • There is a new very young baby coppery titi monkey in the Worlds Apart walkthrough, which I don't think has been officially announced yet.
  • The walkway through the trees between the Familiar Friends and hyena enclosure (opposite the wallaby enclosure) seems to be nearly complete, and has had gates added. It will be a trail passing several Lego animals - a number are already in place and can be seen through the trees.
  • The lion-tailed macaque outdoor area was closed off and is being redeveloped, with a large new climbing frame and additional ropes added. The viewing windows are also being changed. I checked the indoor area, and there was definitely still a macaque in residence.
  • It is probably not exactly news, but I did notice that the climbing frame formerly for the rock hyraxes has now been removed from the aardvark enclosure.
  • In terms of cherry-crowned mangabeys, there were three animals present. There was the very large animal (presumably male) and two smaller animals (perhaps both females, but I cannot be certain) - both female animals seemed to have minor injuries to their hands or feet.
  • Managed to see the new young dik-dik, which was racing around the outdoor enclosure and stirring up the pair of crowned cranes.
  • The Chilean flamingos had at least two eggs in nests on their nesting beach - I have seen these several times in the past, and do not know if they are real or artificial eggs.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
There is a new very young baby coppery titi monkey in the Worlds Apart walkthrough, which I don't think has been officially announced yet.
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The zoo has now announced the birth of the young coppery titi in the Worlds Apart walkthrough. It was born on 13th June to first-time mother Copper and father Lewis. The pair were only introduced in January 2024, when Copper arrived from Belfast Zoo to join Colchester-born Lewis. The baby is currently unsexed.

This is the first breeding of this species at Colchester since 2019, when Lewis' parents Whiskey and Colby, who can still be seen in the Rainforest Walkthrough with some of their other offspring, gave birth.

More information can be found in the link below:
Love at first Sniff | Colchester Zoo
 
Dillon, a three-year-old male Golden Lion Tamarin has been exported to the Darling Downs Zoo here in Australia from Colchester. A female will soon be exported from Paris to establish a new unrelated pair of Golden Lion Tamarins for the Australasian region - reported on Darling Downs Zoo's FB page.
 
WhistlingKite24 said:
Dillon, a three-year-old male Golden Lion Tamarin has been exported to the Darling Downs Zoo here in Australia from Colchester. A female will soon be exported from Paris to establish a new unrelated pair of Golden Lion Tamarins for the Australasian region - reported on Darling Downs Zoo's FB page.
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I had wondered why I had only seen a single golden lion tamarin on my last couple of visits - I hope he does very well in his new home.
 
During a Humboldt Penguin encounter today, I just happened to be walking by, and the two penguin chicks hatched this year are both girls (I believe). Lots of noisy kids so I couldn’t tell 100% but from their social media voting, they have been named Taco/Nacho and Salsa.

I also believe that Crispin is supposed to be moving from Colchester to Thrigby to breed with their female Amur Leopard. I don’t know if it’s 100% true but I have heard some things about it.

I was also speaking to one of the Aardvark keepers and Oni (female from Chester) was pregnant but unfortunately lost the baby after it was born.
 
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I went for a visit to Colchester Zoo this morning - these are some things that I noticed:
  • Interestingly, one of the indoor enclosures in Worlds Apart adjoining the outdoor walkthrough enclosure that had formerly been off-show (originally an indoor space for callitrichids, with its last inhabitant being a young Komodo dragon) has now been put back on-show. A sign on one of the windows says the space is being redeveloped.
  • The lion-tailed macaque enclosure has now had much of its redevelopment done, with two signs on the windows. One says that 'exciting changes are happening in this area' and describes it as being 'in the final stages of redevelopment' while the other describes the exhibit as being currently empty, with the lion-tailed macaques still visible indoors.
  • Despite the plural mention on the abovementioned sign, I could only see a single lion-tailed macaque indoors. Considering it was being shifted around as keepers were cleaning the two indoor areas, I do suspect that now there really is just the one left.
  • I think a couple more fish species may have gone - I definitely think the last of the Eurasian minnows in the sun bear pool has died off, as I haven't seen it for a number of visits, and while they are still signed, the tinfoil barbs were not at all visible in the orangutan house; considering their size and not being at all shy, I do wonder if they are still there.
  • I did see a couple of the recent youngsters that I hadn't seen before, namely the newest baby gelada and the Ruppell's griffon vulture chick.
  • Was very good to see the pair of binturongs active in their live tree - definitely the highlight of the visit.
EDIT:
  • One thing I had forgotten that might, or might not, be of interest - the bank of trees behind the L'Hoest's monkey enclosure in Edge of Africa has all been cleared. In the masterplan, that is roughly the area where the new lion enclosure would be. Whether that is groundworks for upcoming work or not, I do not know.
 
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I went for another visit to Colchester this morning. There are a couple of updates that are worth noting here:

New species: Although the enclosure is still labelled as being uninhabited, the old fire skink and false tomato frog tank in Kingdom of the Wild now has a permanent wooden sign in place for the green tree skink, Lamprolepis smaragdina. Nice to see a new species arriving, although it is a bit odd that this Southeast Asian lizard is moving into the African house, especially considering that there is an empty tank in the orangutan house that could also suit them.

DesertRhino150 said:
The lion-tailed macaque enclosure has now had much of its redevelopment done, with two signs on the windows. One says that 'exciting changes are happening in this area' and describes it as being 'in the final stages of redevelopment' while the other describes the exhibit as being currently empty, with the lion-tailed macaques still visible indoors.
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This redevelopment is now done, and the lion-tailed macaque has been allowed back out into the updated enclosure. Despite the signs mentioning macaques in plural, I again only saw a single individual.
 
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