Dudley Zoological Gardens Dudley Zoological Gardens in 2013

New walkway officially opened

Humboldt Highway - a new £30,000 high-level timber walkway linking Penguin Bay and the upper road adjacent to the recently-refurbished Reptile House was officially opened at the weekend.

The walkway has replaced a set of very steep 1937 steps and will provide easier access for visitors.
 
Have to say that as DZG has already had 200,000+ visitors by the end of August it looks likes being a very good year numbers wise, just goes to show that if you invest wisely and improve the place then the punters will come.
 
New arrivals

Three Sulawesi crested macaques have relocated to DZG from Paignton Zoo. Thirteen year-old male, Rowan and females Poppy, aged three and Jasmine, aged seven have joined DZG’s resident male macaque, Simon, in the Tecton enclosure, in the hope of starting a new breeding group and strengthening the bloodline of these critically endangered creatures.

DZG’s female macaques, Sylvie and Sophie, with their offspring, 20 month-old boys, Steve and Stan, are in the enclosure on the side of Castle Hill between the spider monkeys and the snowy owls.

Meanwhile, the juggling skills of the Asiatic short-clawed otters were noticed by a local Press photographer on a day out at DZG, resulting in the otters making online headlines in the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Metro, Daily Telegraph, The Sun and featuring on Central TV's early and late evening news slots - all great publicity for the Zoo.
 
Angel said:
Three Sulawesi crested macaques have relocated to DZG from Paignton Zoo. Thirteen year-old male, Rowan and females Poppy, aged three and Jasmine, aged seven have joined DZG’s resident male macaque, Simon, in the Tecton enclosure, in the hope of starting a new breeding group and strengthening the bloodline of these critically endangered creatures.

DZG’s female macaques, Sylvie and Sophie, with their offspring, 20 month-old boys, Steve and Stan, are in the enclosure on the side of Castle Hill between the spider monkeys and the snowy owls.

Meanwhile, the juggling skills of the Asiatic short-clawed otters were noticed by a local Press photographer on a day out at DZG, resulting in the otters making online headlines in the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Metro, Daily Telegraph, The Sun and featuring on Central TV's early and late evening news slots - all great publicity for the Zoo.
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I wonder what the long term plan for the macaques? It seems a shame to have two small groups scattered across these enclosures when they would make a much better display as a large group.
The otter report baffled me, it's a common act which I've personally seen lots of times at several different collections. If the otter had been juggling fire or chainsaws then that would be extremely newsworthy... :p
 
Angel said:
Three Sulawesi crested macaques have relocated to DZG from Paignton Zoo. Thirteen year-old male, Rowan and females Poppy, aged three and Jasmine, aged seven have joined DZG’s resident male macaque, Simon, in the Tecton enclosure, in the hope of starting a new breeding group and strengthening the bloodline of these critically endangered creatures.
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Aah! That would explain why I saw a group like that separated from the rest of the Macaques at Paignton a couple of days ago. Hope they do well!
 
Brum said:
I wonder what the long term plan for the macaques? It seems a shame to have two small groups scattered across these enclosures when they would make a much better display as a large group.
The otter report baffled me, it's a common act which I've personally seen lots of times at several different collections. If the otter had been juggling fire or chainsaws then that would be extremely newsworthy... :p
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As far as I know they will be bought together in the future.
 
I'd be surprised if there wasn't fighting when two adult males(new Paignton one and Dudley resident one) meet each other initially?

I would have though the obvious thing was to put the new Paignton male with the existing Dudley females, and the original Dudley male with the new females. Once there were pregnancies from these liasons, mix the two groups(if they can).But maybe the presence of the 2 male offspring has prevented that.
 
Baby wallaby is a girl

A young Bennett's wallaby has been discovered to be a girl. She was first seen by keepers back in June, but has only recently started to leave her mother's pouch. She's been named Adelaide and can be seen in the Wallaby Walkthrough.
 
Went today, apparently both giraffe cows are "probably" pregnant. One should give birth in January/February and the other in March.

I rode on the refurbished chairlift too, which feels a lot higher when your riding it. I couldn't help noticing a the large grassy area next to the Geladas that you travel over. It looks like it would be ideal for some alpine hoofstock. Maybe the Barbary sheep, or they could move the Guanacos from bear ravine and use that paddock for something else.

Or they could bring in Markhor, Takin, Spanish Ibex...

Oh and outside the the old elephant house I noticed about three big iron rings, like mooring rings for boats. Does anyone know if that were used to chain up elephants in the past?

I found a photo and it looks like they were.
http://images.francisfrith.com/c10/450/44/D103255.jpg
 
Latest news from the website

Following successful breeding of pygmy marmosets, DZG is working to establish a new breeding group. All six females have relocated to new animal collections; one to Belfast Zoo, five to Banham Zoo. The Zoo is hoping to bring in an unrelated female to pair with a suitable male from the current bachelor group.

A new ?5,000 quarantine bay adjacent to the recently-refurbished Reptile House has been constructed in-house by staff. The new quarantine facility will be used for new stock and as a convalescence facility for sick reptiles.
 
Macaque groups brought together

chizlit said:
As far as I know they will be bought together in the future.
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The two Sulawesi crested macaque groups have been combined to form a single breeding troop and are now all in the triple Tecton enclosure. According to the Zoo's website, the introduction process went really smoothly.
 
There was lots of construction work going on the 23rd, the gift shop was gutted and it looked like they were doing work on the roof of the Discovery Centre.

The Reptile House is also half empty, and there are about three exhibits with single Rhinoceros Iguanas.

Anyone know what they have planned for the reptile house or old Gelada enclosure?

And does anyone know if the camels are a pair? One of them looks like a bull but I'd couldn't tell with the other.
 
Baby rhea being hand-reared

Bird keepers are hand-rearing a newly-hatched rhea. The parent birds did not build a nest or incubate the eggs, so keepers managed to rescue an egg and kept it in an incubator for around 40 days until it hatched.

The newborn is being fed several times a day and is already almost the size of penguin.
 
lamna said:
There was lots of construction work going on the 23rd, the gift shop was gutted and it looked like they were doing work on the roof of the Discovery Centre.

The Reptile House is also half empty, and there are about three exhibits with single Rhinoceros Iguanas.

Anyone know what they have planned for the reptile house or old Gelada enclosure?

And does anyone know if the camels are a pair? One of them looks like a bull but I'd couldn't tell with the other.
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As the reptile house has recently been refurbished (and a quarantine area built) my guess would be that they will refurbish the individual enclosures and introduce some new stock.

The camels are called Charlie and Jimandi - and yes, they are a pair. They arrived at the end of 2011 when they were both 12 months old.

Don't know about the old Gelada enclosure but will be visiting in a couple of weeks so will try and find out then.
 
Angel said:
Don't know about the old Gelada enclosure but will be visiting in a couple of weeks so will try and find out then.
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I have heard that it will house a batchelor group of Gelada,as it is now recommended by the studbook that any collection going into,a breeding group also houses a batchelor group as well!
 
I got a copy of ZooNooz the other day, apparently visitor numbers are up. In 2012 between January and July the Zoo had 103,000 visitors and this year they had 120,000.

Is Charlie intact? Do they intend to breed the camels?
 
Brazilian tapir moves to Longleat

Tallulah, the two year-old Brazilian tapir, has left DZG for Longleat Safari Park. She will join another female and a male as part of a breeding programme.
 
Tiger news

It appears, from the DZG website, that mates have been found for both Daseep (Sumatran) and Tschuna (Amur) and that Tschuna will be leaving the collection in the next few weeks. There is no firm date mentioned only that it will happen: "before staff get Santa's grotto ready" (I assume that means before the start of December).

Given that there was a post on the Yorkshire Wildlife thread recently saying that they were getting a female leopard and tiger 'within weeks' is it possible that this will be Tschuna's new home?

I feel really torn by the news - Tschuna is absolutely stunning and will be a real loss to DZG but the thought of possible baby Sumatrans is sooooo tempting....
 
It was a fantastic exhibit while it lasted, getting to see a small tropical tiger and a huge subarctic tiger, literally side by side. But it couldn't last forever and I'm glad they can start breeding again.
 
5.0 Gelada left Tierwelt Herberstein, Austria in mid September for Dudley's new bachelor group
 
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