Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo news 2025

DesertRhino150

DesertRhino150

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I went for my visit of the year to Colchester Zoo today. These are the things that I noticed:
  • The capuchin enclosure renovation has progressed a lot since my last visit - there is now a very large and complex climbing frame in both outdoor enclosures, and the frame has been put up for the undercover visitor viewing area.
  • There were only two cherry-crowned mangabeys visible - there was a sign about an animal with a minor injury and the off-show indoor area was shut, so the third one may be confined to that area.
  • For the first time since they arrived, I saw all four ostriches out with almost all the other animals (only the giraffes were shut in today).
  • The weaverbird and leopard tortoise enclosure has re-opened. The interior has been cleaned but is otherwise basically the same, while the signage has been updated into the newer style - the weaverbirds are now signed as village rather than black-headed.
  • Unfortunately, I did not see any of the new offspring, although I did see both adult Amur leopards and all three adult Philippine spotted deer.
 
Out of interest, and I honestly can’t remember if I read this somewhere as a throwaway comment, but are the Tropeano family still involved with Colchester? If not, were there reasons for them moving on?
 
Panthera1981 said:
Out of interest, and I honestly can’t remember if I read this somewhere as a throwaway comment, but are the Tropeano family still involved with Colchester? If not, were there reasons for them moving on?
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Dominique Tropeano was still the managing director as of June 2024, and I haven't heard anything to suggest that the leadership has changed since then.
 
Colchester Zoo have announced the annual news about their animal stocktake and have included the numbers of different species at the zoo.

The number of species at the zoo in 2025 (with previous years in brackets):

Mammals - 64 (66 in 2024, 67 in 2023, 68 in 2022, 69 in 2021, 70 in 2020 and 72 in 2019)
Birds - 16 (also 16 in 2024 and 2023, 19 in 2022, 21 in 2021, 24 in 2020 and 39 in 2019)
Reptiles - 26 (24 in 2024, 27 in 2023, 34 in 2022 and 2021, 32 in 2020 and 33 in 2019)
Amphibians - 4 (6 in 2024 and 2023, 7 in 2022, 8 in 2021, 2020 and 2019)
Fishes - 37 (40 in 2024, 45 in 2023, 47 in 2022, 55 in 2021, 60 in both 2020 and 2019)
Invertebrates - 5 (also 5 in 2024 and 2023, 9 in 2022, 19 in 2021, 28 in both 2020 and 2019)

A bit disappointed that mammal species numbers have dropped further - by my count, that should have been four species leaving the collection (to make up for the arrival of the white-lipped tamarins and pygmy marmosets). I know the pied tamarin, Geoffroy's marmoset and ruffed lemur have gone, but cannot think of what the fourth species is.

The full article can be read here.
 
Shocking but inevitable in my opinion. Ziggy was always one to cause trouble when I saw him. The zebras always were on top. The rhinos too were always clashing with each other with cuts on each other. Heart goes to the keepers, anyone who witnessed it and anyone else involved with the incident. Sad that it had to end with his death.
 
Always a risk, calculated or otherwise, when mixing species in small spaces
- and, one of the prices paid for modern trends in exhibitory, which also happens with bears and wolves, and gorillas and guenons.
The ultimate in 'enrichment', perhaps?
 
A terrible outcome, obviously, always a risk of physical injuries, but what about the effects on animals mental health. Do mixed exhibits need to be reavaluated?
 
Strathmorezoo said:
A terrible outcome, obviously, always a risk of physical injuries, but what about the effects on animals mental health. Do mixed exhibits need to be reavaluated?
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It’s really sad. Must be grim for the keepers in particular.

I’d think any review should be on a case by case basis vs all mixed exhibits in principle. I’d assume there is some degree of individual animal behaviour involved vs all rhinos do x.

If yesterday before this happened we could generalise that exhibit style was safe are they all considered inherently dangerous today. Probably not.

Mixing should surely err on the side of caution though and one of the things with all these exhibits is how do they create enough space / avoid clashes. How do they get away from each other.
 
It will be interesting to see what Colchester Zoo does now. I sometimes wonder at times if zoos create mixed exhibits with the visitors experience before the animals welfare, for example, had there been any concerns with this mix prior to today's outcome. As custodians of the animals, surely the animals welfare should be protected
 
Strathmorezoo said:
A terrible outcome, obviously, always a risk of physical injuries, but what about the effects on animals mental health. Do mixed exhibits need to be reavaluated?
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It goes without saying that it's important to not jump to conclusions before we know what has happened. As the zoo have said in their statement incidents like this are very rare and I'm personally not aware of any that have happened before that have resulted in something so terrible and tragic previously in this exhibit, which is reaching a quarter century of use next year.

It pretty much seems like a freak accident, and there's obviously a reason something like this hasn't happened before, as Ziggy (male Maneless Zebra) has been at the zoo for over 7 years and the other inhabitants of the paddock haven't really fluctuated much in that time. I don't think this is really something that should be used as example and comparison to other mixed exhibits of a similar nature, and in this case it is important to remember that the enclosure is not massive compared to the mixed savannah at not so far away Africa Alive, and as mentioned individual animals play a big part, which was probably a major factor in this case. For example the last male giraffe at the zoo was moved in 2015 on because of conflict with the rhino, thankfully before anything unfortunate happened, while I don't ever seem to hear of any negative interactions between the current 4 females and the rhinos.

Edit: On the impact on animals mental health, I do worry for the single remaining zebra mare, as while the male Ziggy was still relatively young and was an immature youngster when he arrived, she is fairly old now and has outlived her two fellow females in the past few years, but I am sure the keepers will give her the necessary attention to recover from this stressful experience.
 
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Strathmorezoo said:
It will be interesting to see what Colchester Zoo does now. I sometimes wonder at times if zoos create mixed exhibits with the visitors experience before the animals welfare, for example, had there been any concerns with this mix prior to today's outcome. As custodians of the animals, surely the animals welfare should be protected
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I on the whole enjoy mixed exhibits and think they can be beneficial for the animals and good for public if done properly. This is clearly and sadly an isolated incident, probably down to the individual animals rather than the exhibit itself. But I will say this enclosure is on the smaller side and is probably overstocked with public in mind over the animals, which may have exacerbated things.
 
Strathmorezoo said:
It will be interesting to see what Colchester Zoo does now. I sometimes wonder at times if zoos create mixed exhibits with the visitors experience before the animals welfare, for example, had there been any concerns with this mix prior to today's outcome. As custodians of the animals, surely the animals welfare should be protected
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Shhhh - did you say that out loud?!
 
jtrbmvcq said:
I on the whole enjoy mixed exhibits and think they can be beneficial for the animals and good for public if done properly. This is clearly and sadly an isolated incident, probably down to the individual animals rather than the exhibit itself. But I will say this enclosure is on the smaller side and is probably overstocked with public in mind over the animals, which may have exacerbated things.
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It is NOT an isolated incident.
Perhaps do some quick research before making such sweeping (and incorrect) statements.
 
ZooNews2024 said:
It is NOT an isolated incident.
Perhaps do some quick research before making such sweeping (and incorrect) statements.
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Seems like an unnecessarily rude way of putting things, especially when there is merit to what they've said. Any extra information regarding these sort of occurrences would be greatly appreciated by all I'm sure. I for one am unaware of any rhino-zebra mortal combat at Colchester or the greater UK, certainly not for a while, but I could easily be incorrect
 
I'm pretty sure rhinos and zebras have been mixed at Colchester for as long as the Kingdom of the Wild section has been open, or if I'm wrong about that, then they've been mixed for a while after it opened. This is pretty much the first time I've ever heard of any incident happening between the species there, on this level at least.
 
Colchester Zoo has updated the statement on their website regarding the incident involving Ziggy, the male Maneless Zebra, and the White Rhinos on Friday.

Kingdom of the Wild - Statement - Colchester Zoological Society


“On Friday 10th January male zebra, Ziggy, sadly passed away following an incident in our mixed species African habitat.

Ziggy had lived happily with the other species, including the rhino, in this habitat since November 2017 when he arrived.

On Friday, two of the rhinos, Astrid and her son Tayo, were sparring with one another, which is a regular and natural behaviour for this species. On this occasion, unfortunately Astrid attempted to move Ziggy out of the way and in doing so unintentionally punctured his stomach and he died of these injuries a few minutes later.

In the light of these rare events, we review our care for the animals to minimise the risk of these incidents reoccurring. As a result, the Animal Care Team will continue to closely monitor the animals behaviour in the coming weeks.

These sorts of incidents are extremely rare and we are devastated by this loss, Ziggy was a much loved animal who will be dearly missed.

We would really like to thank our supporters for the well wishes at this difficult time and thank our fantastic Animal Care Team who dealt with this very difficult situation extremely professionally.”
 
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