Dudley Zoological Gardens Dudley Zoological Gardens in 2018

Zia said:
does it suggest they don't have enough space out of the water?
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More than likely. The land around the front and back of the pool is roughly only 1-2 metres wide, with steep rocky sections at either end.

I think in the wild sea lions prefer to give birth further up the beach rather than right at the waters edge.

It may also be a safety reason - you don't want a sea lion pub that's just been born falling into deep water.

I've seen a picture of the pool at the moment. It's not completely empty. It looks about 10-20% full.

Interestingly, the huts/shelters that the sea lions have are located at the shallow end of the pools, so when the pools are drained these huts get further away from the waters edge.
 
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I would just like to point out a few things that I had noticed from today's visit:

  • There are now a few Sulawesi macaques living in the current Howler Monkey enclosure by Inca and the Tigers (Although the Howlers were inside while the Macaques were outside). Does anyone know why these few macaques are currently inside the enclosure or when they will be joining the others on the chairlift bank? Surely they can't keep both of these species in the same exhibit!
  • Scarlet Macaws, Black Swans and Black Rats are still kept inside the zoo despite Zootierliste having them both shown on the Former Inventory for DZG for some bizarre reason...
  • The Agouti enclosure inside Lorikeet Lookout is now currently empty and there does not seem to be any sign of them anywhere else around the zoo. Does anyone know where they have gone or what has happpened to them? They have only been at the zoo for about a year.
  • There seems to be a new development going on at the back of the farmyard behind the indoor barn (in the paddock where the alpacas used to live). Any idea what this could be? I actually have my fingers crossed hoping for them to bring in Donkeys or Zebus, or even a new pair of Alpacas (Since I'm suspecting their last one has probably died).
 
Animallover1998 said:
  • Scarlet Macaws, Black Swans and Black Rats are still kept inside the zoo despite Zootierliste having them both shown on the Former Inventory for DZG for some bizarre reason...
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For some reason English collections are particularly susceptible for when species are not listed on the zoo's website that they will then be removed. Even when everybody knows zoo inventories on the website can't be trusted when it is not clearly part of an annual report.
 
The Black Swan I fear is the roaming Black Swan that appears at certain times of the year they used to have a Lesser White fronted goose that also did the same but hasn't been seen for sometime now.
Scarlet Macaws may as well be off show as the cage is ridiculously enclosed in what can only be described as a brick wall with very small holes in.
Are the Macaques being readied to move to a new collection?
I have given up with zootierliste in the UK as it only gives you an idea of WHAT MIGHT be at a collection and not what is even the big collections are now falling fowl to the if I didn't see it then it's gone army.
 
lintworm said:
For some reason English collections are particularly susceptible for when species are not listed on the zoo's website that they will then be removed. Even when everybody knows zoo inventories on the website can't be trusted when it is not clearly part of an annual report.
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I know who one of the biggest culprits is, and have tried calling them out on it several times :rolleyes: they play dumb, and act like the problem is nothing to do with them.

It is what it is, sadly.
 
I visited Dudley yesterday, enjoying nice weather and the total absence of school children ;). I was pleased to see old Inca dozing in her enclosure and I had good views of the tigers, bush dogs, giant anteaters and gibbons. I was nearly deafened by the three groups of ruffed lemurs in the monkey houses, although their relatives in the walk-through didn't join in. It was the first time that I had seen the new snow leopard extension, the binturong exhibit, the naked mole rats in the Chimp House and the new black lemur exhibit nearby. The problem was that I couldn't see any of those animals well. I saw that there was a snow leopard on one of the high shelves and one of the mole rats pottered around for a bit, but I didn't see a binturong at all and I could just make out the tip of a black lemur's tail. Now I know that snow leopards and binturongs need to be out of the public's gaze at times, and that when they show well, they are impressive creatures. I also know that the mole rats and the lemurs are fairly new to their enclosures and may still be settling in.
I liked the mole rat exhibit and I think it will look very good when the colony expands. I quite like the basics of Dudley's 'house style' of wood and wire enclosures, with provision of some glass windows in the wire, but there is a visibility problem with some of them. In particular the new lemur exhibit has very poor viewing. The windows in the outdoor area suffer badly from reflections in the glass, although the lemurs were not outside when I was around.
New black lemur housing

New black lemur housing

On the site of the old red squirrel exhibit, Dudley, 5th September 2018.
Viewing of the indoor show den was even worse. I could just see a little of the male lemur's tail - but nothing else. The brightness of the reflections combined with the dim lighting in the den made things impossible.
Black lemur indoor viewing

Black lemur indoor viewing

On the site of the old red squirrel exhibit, Dudley, 5th September 2018.
This is poor design. I wonder if the plans looked OK on the drawing board, so nobody bothered to look at the site and the way that the trees and the sky affect the building. It may be the worst example, but there are lots of other places round the zoo where there are similar problems. I saw people peering through windows and using their hands as sunshades with the giant anteaters, the binturongs, the crested macaques (near the entrance), the indoor orang enclosures and the pygmy marmosets. The enclosures where the windows are shaded by effective roofs, for example at the chimps, snow leopards and yellow-breasted capuchins, are much better. Better lighting in indoor dens would help too. It's a shame to have nice new enclosures, which suit the animals inside them, but frustrate the public on the outside.
 
A key point is that the new lemur enclosure was designed, and possibly built, for squirrels (I'm not sure exactly when it was repurposed). Being more active, they would have alleviated some of these issues.
There's no doubt though, that a lack of consideration of glare and reflections can ruin a good exhibit for the visitor.
 
The reflexion issue as been brought up by many people around the zoo even a few ex-keepers and it seems to have been ignored again.
A problem with the zoo is that they don't consider the positioning of any construction as to the way the sunlight or other constructions/natural growing objects will affect the viewing of the general public, mind you this happens at a few collections I have visited this year.
Surely a small roof or even a lean to could have been built at very little cost to protect the viewing windows but I guess this was to simple for the zoo to consider.
 
FunkyGibbon said:
A key point is that the new lemur enclosure was designed, and possibly built, for squirrels (I'm not sure exactly when it was repurposed). Being more active, they would have alleviated some of these issues.
There's no doubt though, that a lack of consideration of glare and reflections can ruin a good exhibit for the visitor.
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Are they still planning on building a new enclosure for the squirrels? Or has that been scrapped?
 
tom_bear said:
Are they still planning on building a new enclosure for the squirrels? Or has that been scrapped?
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When I asked them on Facebook about when the Prevost's squirrels would be arriving they replied and said they would be going elsewhere in the zoo instead of the new enclosure where they were supposed to go opposite the chimps. I haven't heard anything else about it since and TBH it wouldn't really surprise me if the idea already has been scrapped....

BTW, I know this isn't exactly relevant towards the Squirrels and all, but does anyone know if they still have Red titi in the Monkey House? I couldn't find any on my last visit and I can't remember seeing a signage for them around...

The agouti enclosure in Lorikeet Lookout was also empty on the day of my visit.
 
Animallover1998 said:
BTW, I know this isn't exactly relevant towards the Squirrels and all, but does anyone know if they still have Red titi in the Monkey House? I couldn't find any on my last visit and I can't remember seeing a signage for them around...
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I haven't seen them for a long time. To my knowledge the zoo no longer has titi monkeys (at least not on show anyway).

They recently did a news article regarding 'International Primate Day' where they mentioned having 17 different primate species at the zoo and included this picture...

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Happy International Primate Day! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

All the primate species in the above pic are definitely at the zoo. Although, for some reason red titi monkeys are still on the animal list on the zoo's website.
 
Animallover1998 said:
. . but does anyone know if they still have Red titi in the Monkey House? I couldn't find any on my last visit and I can't remember seeing a signage for them around...

The agouti enclosure in Lorikeet Lookout was also empty on the day of my visit.
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I didn't see any titis. There were no agoutis in Lorikeet Lookout either, but there was a pair in the round aviary next to the restaurant and opposite the smaller sea lion pool. This aviary also held the parrots that were in the aviaries that were rebuilt for macaws and a yellow-backed chattering lory.
 
gentle lemur said:
I didn't see any titis. There were no agoutis in Lorikeet Lookout either, but there was a pair in the round aviary next to the restaurant and opposite the smaller sea lion pool. This aviary also held the parrots that were in the aviaries that were rebuilt for macaws and a yellow-backed chattering lory.
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I see, thanks for reminding me. I'll be sure to have a look around that area on my next visit in December this year.

I'm wondering if this means a new species will be moving into the empty enclosure inside Lorikeet Lookout (I'm secretly hoping for them to get Armadillos or Sloths, I know they're not from the same habitat as lorikeets but YKWIM) :D
 
Animallover1998 said:
I'm wondering if this means a new species will be moving into the empty enclosure inside Lorikeet Lookout (I'm secretly hoping for them to get Armadillos or Sloths, I know they're not from the same habitat as lorikeets but YKWIM) :D
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I suppose any new inhabitants will have to coexist with the fishes in the pool.
 
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