ODD-TOED UNGULATES
This fairly small group of ungulates, containing the equids, rhinos and tapirs, has a long and colourful history at Colchester Zoo. The equids contain a mixture of unusual subspecies, short-term holdings, domestic breeds and experimental hybrids, only a single species of rhinoceros has been kept but more recently has become one of the zoo’s most successful breeding groups of large mammals, while the tapirs had a long stint at the zoo in olden times but disappeared just before the current millennium.
Past holdings:
Grevy’s zebra,
Equus grevyi
A male Grevy’s zebra moved from Bristol Zoo to Colchester on 21st May 1975, where he remained until his death on 14th April 1977. It is not clear whereabouts this animal was kept in the zoo.
Przewalski’s wild horse,
Equus ferus
According to The Story of Colchester Zoo, the zoo held animals for John Knowles in the early 1970s as they passed through en-route to the then-new Marwell. The book specifically references the Przewalski’s horse as one of those species.
Domestic horse,
Equus caballus
It is difficult to tell exactly when domestic horses have been kept at Colchester Zoo, as the zoo’s owners have always had interests in horses but may have kept them as pets rather than as display animals. In the zoo’s opening year of 1963, there were Shetland ponies present in a paddock roughly where the Elephant Kingdom house now stands. The 1972 guidebook also includes a photo of a Shetland pony, while the map from that year mentions exotic horses living in the paddocks where the Amur tigers now live. The Familiar Friends barn long included horses as one of the animals, but there is not much information as to when they were exactly housed in these areas. From 2012 to around 2021, a series of heavy horse breeds such as shire, Clydesdale and Suffolk punch were brought over from a nearby field to a stable in the Familiar Friends section. This has now been replaced by the guinea pig enclosure.
Zeedonk,
Equus quagga x asinus
The earliest record I can find for a zeedonk at Colchester Zoo is the 1972 zoo map, which shows them in a paddock roughly where the Kingdom of the Wild house now stands, sharing with the zebras. Three were born with the last-surviving individual, named Shadow, born in 1975. By the 1980s, they had moved to their own paddock where the Amur tigers now live. They remained here until around 2002, when they moved into the Kingdom of the Wild paddock. Shadow lived in this paddock until her death in 2009.
Malayan tapir,
Tapirus indicus
I am not entirely certain when this species arrived at Colchester Zoo, but Zootierliste records them breeding there in 1972. The zoo map from this time doesn’t actually include their enclosure (even though they are on the legend, as ‘Himalayan tapir’), but it was quite possibly near where the lemur walkthrough now stands. Zootierliste records this species leaving the collection in 1975, although an illustrated welcome guide map from 1986 shows this species in an area just down from the wolves, now no longer housing animals.
Lowland tapir,
Tapirus terrestris
This species has a surprisingly long history at Colchester Zoo – a pair of them were apparently present on the zoo’s opening in 1963, although it is not clear where they were kept. In 1972, a map shows them probably living on the hillside where the spider monkey enclosure now stands. Between 1984 and 1998, every single map shows this species at the zoo. These include the former paddock alongside the lowest lake that is now a garden and goldfish pond, a paddock along the zoo’s leftmost boundary and latterly in an enclosure where the Komodo dragon house now stands. A 1998 map claimed that the old elephant paddock, now home to the sea lions, would be a new enclosure for this species. They may have occupied the enclosure but for whatever reason did not last long – the tapirs left the collection and the elephant paddock became home to camels instead.
Uncertain holdings:
Domestic donkey,
Equus asinus
The Story of Colchester Zoo records miniature donkeys as being one of the animals present in the petting zoo that opened sometime between 1966 and 1968. There were definitely donkeys around in the early 1970s, as a black donkey was the mother of the zoo’s three zeedonks. When the current enlarged Familiar Friends section opened around 1998, donkeys were originally kept in the paddock now home to the llamas and alpacas. They were later one of the animals that would be walked from off-show accommodation to the temporary stables, which remained until 2021. A social media post by the zoo from 2022 shows they definitely remained at the zoo after their on-show space was removed, but I do not have any indication if the species is still present.
Present holdings:
Plains zebra,
Equus quagga
Zebras were present at the zoo’s opening in 1963, with two animals that arrived in the summer of that year being described as Grant’s zebras in The Story of Colchester Zoo. These animals seem to have been kept continuously ever since, although the subspecies have sometimes changed. International Zoo News reports the arrival of two Chapman’s zebras sometime from January to April in 1986. At some point they were replaced by Burchell’s zebras, which became the first subspecies to be housed in the Kingdom of the Wild paddock until they left in 2014. Finally, they were replaced by the maneless zebras later that year, which remain at the zoo to this day. Zebras have lived in several places in the zoo – from the zoo’s opening to sometime after 1972, they lived in the paddocks where the Elephant Kingdom and Kingdom of the Wild houses now stand, from at the least the mid-1980s to 2002 they lived where the lion is currently kept and since then they have lived in the Kingdom of the Wild mixed paddock.
Southern white rhinoceros,
Ceratotherium simum
The first white rhinoceroses arrived at Colchester Zoo in 1972. Of a herd of fifteen imported from South Africa by Colchester Zoo’s then owner Frank Farrar, at least two came to Colchester itself – they were a bull named Gigantus and a cow named Malinda. The Story of Colchester Zoo suggests there could have been a third rhino, possibly even the female Flossy, who lived at Colchester until her death in 2018. They lived in a quite odd steep enclosure that is now home to the geladas. In 2002 Flossy, together with bull Simba, moved over to the new Kingdom of the Wild mixed paddock. Over time, the zoo went from holding a pair of rhinos to a small herd, with a group of six as of 2024. Since the rhinoceroses moved to Kingdom of the Wild they have been very successful, with seven calves having been born there.
Colchester has had a long history with keeping equids, but nowadays only two of the odd-looking maneless zebra remain for certain.
