Dudley Zoological Gardens Dudley Zoological Gardens in 2013

Redevelopment Plans for 2013/14

Dudley's refurbishment plans for 2013/14 are:

• £15,000 refurbishment of Reptile House, including new entrance, enclosures, walkways, signage and review of stock
• A group of Gelada baboons to be moved to the banks adjacent to the chairlift
• Resurfacing and repairs to roadways across the 40-acre site
• Construction of public viewing platform over tapir pool
• Work to begin on new entrance and car park
• Construction of walkway between Penguin Bay and Reptile House
• Makeover of Farm

Work on Tecton entrance and Safari Shop starts September 2013 with completion Spring 2014 when concurrent work will begin on Bear Ravine and Kiosk 1
 
Lynx

According to the zoo's website, keepers have started the process of introducing the 2 Carpathian lynx to the Eurasian lynx by slightly raising the entry door between the two enclosures, so that they can now begin to see each other.

The introduction process is described as quite lengthy but it is hoped that the Eurasian lynx will soon be able to move back into her former enclosure with the Carpathians.

I hope that this will also result in the Geoffroy's cat returning to his former enclosure too.
 
Bennett's Wallaby

A one year old male Bennett's Wallaby has joined the group in the wallaby walkthrough by the castle.
 
Yellow Shouldered Parrot

A yellow-shouldered Amazon parrot has moved to Dudley from Twycross and is being introduced to Dudley's resident male parrot.
 
I hope the Twycross-bird is a female otherwise it doesn't make little sence. The Yellow-shouldered Amazon is quite rare and captive-breeding is realy neccecery !
 
Yellow shouldered parrot

Yes, the Twycross bird is a female. Sorry - should have made it clear in the original post. :(
 
Patagonian mara

A three month old Patagonian mara, born at the zoo, is female and has been named Marvia.
 
Bony-headed toads

Five bony-headed toads recently arrived from Lakeland Wildlife Oasis in Cumbria - the toads are in the Discovery Centre.
 
Baby ring tailed lemur

A baby ring-tailed lemur, born on December 15, is a boy. He's been named Spock because he has massive ears, and is on show in the small primate house.
 
Visit today

Made my first visit of this year today. It was pretty chilly up on Castle Hill so many of the animals were staying indoors although several came out around lunchtime to enjoy the spring sunshine.

The Geoffroy's cat is still off show and the Eurasian lynx is in his old enclosure. The reptile house is currently closed for refurbishment.

Saw two of the newest arrivals - the ring-tailed lemur born in December and a Barbary sheep born last week. Also managed to see one of the harvest mice in the children's play barn - hadn't realised they were so timy.

Keepers were working in the porcupine enclosure inside Monkey Tails so both the porcupines were stamping round and rattling quills - I think it's the first time I've ever seen them moving as they're normally fast asleep!

In the last few days, the Zoo has announced that the howler monkey born last year is actually a male, not a female as was first thought.
 
Three penguins move to Birdland

Two females and one male from Dudley's Humboldt penguin colony have relocated to Birdland Park and Gardens in Bourton on the Water to help their on-going breeding programme.
 
Latest news

Latest news from the Zoo's website.

Three more Barbary lambs have been born: a baby girl and a set of twins, a girl and a boy; they've not been named yet. The lamb born at the end of February has been named Conan.

Following the official reopening of the refurbished reptile house, a five-year-old Chinese water dragon, called Glen, is now on display.

A male black swan from Dudley has been paired with a female at Birdworld, in Farnham, Surrey.

Eurasian lynx, Chloe, has been translocated to Five Sisters Zoo, in West Lothian, Scotland, as part of an international conservation project.
 
Angel said:
Eurasian lynx, Chloe, has been translocated to Five Sisters Zoo, in West Lothian, Scotland, as part of an international conservation project.
Click to expand...

Interesting; the efforts to introduce her to the new Carpathian Lynx must not have gone so well.

On the upside, this hopefully means the Geoffroy's Cat will be back onshow soon.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
Interesting; the efforts to introduce her to the new Carpathian Lynx must not have gone so well.

On the upside, this hopefully means the Geoffroy's Cat will be back onshow soon.
Click to expand...

I was quite surprised to see that Chloe had moved as the initial feedback about the introduction seemed quite positive. The website mentions that she has been moved to Five Sisters as part of a conservation project. I'm not sure whether the intention is to breed from her - according to a post on this forum last year, she is around 18 years of age from which I had assumed she would be past breeding age.

I will miss her as she is a beautiful cat who has seemed to be far more active since moving into the smaller enclosure but, like you, I do hope that the move will result in the return of the Geoffroy's Cat.
 
Angel said:
The website mentions that she has been moved to Five Sisters as part of a conservation project. I'm not sure whether the intention is to breed from her - according to a post on this forum last year, she is around 18 years of age from which I had assumed she would be past breeding age.
Click to expand...

The intended meaning *could* be that she is being moved as part of the Carpathian Lynx conservation project; if the introductions have not gone well, or if the presence of a strange and different lynx has been distressing the new arrivals, they may think it important for the breeding prospects of the Carpathians that the distraction Chloe caused be eliminated.

This is, of course, all conjecture.
 
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