Edinburgh Zoo Edinburgh Zoo news 2011 #1

[Secret Squirrel]

I heard from one of the bird team last Sunday that Cock-of-the-rock are on the premises.

The soon to be Panda enclosure was a tidy building site with it being a Sunday. Crazy amount of Penguin eggs, 58 I think, including the Kings. Chicks very entertaining wandering about among the Gentou nests.

Nice to see some courtship behaviour from the Stellars Sea Eagles too.

 

[cracker]

I heard from one of the bird team last Sunday that Cock-of-the-rock are on the premises.

The soon to be Panda enclosure was a tidy building site with it being a Sunday. Crazy amount of Penguin eggs, 58 I think, including the Kings. Chicks very entertaining wandering about among the Gentou nests.

Nice to see some courtship behaviour from the Stellars Sea Eagles too.

The gentoos in have had well over 100 eggs laid as usual with 58 chicks in the enclosure which is a fantastic number and well done to the keepers there! There is only one female king penguin now and she has an egg with her partner and think it's often him that sits on it so hopefully there will be a much needed chick from that egg.

 

[johnstoni.]

The father of a student I taught, about 15 years ago, was a farmer who kept, as well as deer for venison, a herd of Persian fallow deer. This was in East Sussex, somewhere near Eastbourne (Willingdon, I think - which also has a claim to fame as being the location of the farm on which George Orwell based his setting for Animal Farm). I have no idea whether the herd, or any part of it, still remains - nor whether it was studbook registered.

It was there in 90s, maybe still. The deer paddocks were visible by train, on the left after Polegate on the way to Berwick, just before the 'long man' monument comes into view on the downs, I remember seeing fallow deer here.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

The gentoos in have had well over 100 eggs laid as usual with 58 chicks in the enclosure which is a fantastic number and well done to the keepers there! There is only one female king penguin now and she has an egg with her partner and think it's often him that sits on it so hopefully there will be a much needed chick from that egg.

Yup I saw the King with egg. In my pic you can see that a Gentou chick had gotten up onto the same level as the King, doing a bit of exploration, but couldn't figure how to get down. One of the Keepers had to go over (during the talk) and remove the chick in case it got too close to the King and into trouble from the larger protective bird. (Incidentally the Gentou chick slashed the keepers cheek while she carried it to safety and she had to nip off for a bit of first aid, so much for cute and cuddly!)

I saw Rockhoppers on nests too but my pics didn't come out so well.

 

[Lesley4444]

Hi there...

I am heading for the zoo tomorrow... mainly going to try and get a picture of the new tiger... anyone want pictures of anything? if there are keepers about anything anyone wants me to ask??

xx

 

[kiang]

Any pics from the new panda development and any pics of the new Persian fallow deer, would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

Lesley you may get to see the two together, as last Sunday they were still separated, but staff were aiming to introduce them very soon. May be done by now.

She is a pretty one btw but was sitting right up at the top and back of her enclosure (and all I could photograph was a couple of stripes!)

*Edit. Panda enclosure work picture attachment. Taken by holding my camera over the fencing lol. As you can see they leave the work yard nice and tidy on a Sunday.

 

[Lesley4444]

Does anyone know where they are keeping the Persian fallow deer?

Seeing the tigers together would be amazing... are they back where the tigers were originally? are they gonna get a new jaguar to join mowgli?

 

[kiang]

From secret squirrels pic it looks as though the warthog enclosure is gone, maybe being used as a storage area.
Lesley, i think the deer are in the former camel enclosure, near the top of the hill.

Also, if you see anyone from the bird department, please ask about the cock of the rocks.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

I don't know where the Persian fallow deer is, sorry, or whether they will get another Jag - the tour I was on didn't mention either of those things. I only got that Cock-of-the-rock were on the premises from the Bird Team, and that they hoped that the Rainbow Landings exhibit would be sorted out soon. (I was a bit rubbish at getting the info really! Will do better next time I promise!)

The tigers were where I saw them a few years ago, don't know where they were moved to. The only snap I could get of him was this poor one through the mesh up where he'd been lying on the ledge.

 

[Lesley4444]

ok.. i will try my best <smiles>...

The last time i saw the panda enclosure they had taken away the warthog enclosures and it looked like they were expanding out... i remember thinking that made it look like much larger area to work with

 

[Lesley4444]

Hi there...

Just got back from a good if not rather wet day at the zoo.

I unforunately could not find the new deer... i hunted for them in the pouring rain up the top of the hill... they may have been inside the camel house as it was extremely wet when i made my way up there

Again there was no one to ask regarding the cock-of-the-rock... the only keepers i really saw were the carnivore section today... and when i asked they gave me very blank expressions...lol

My first stop at the zoo was the sealions... the male has suddenly got huge!... i actually made it up for the talk today and got to see him out of the water for the first time in a while and he is very impressive... the female they were saying currently has an eye problem... so they were spraying her eyes with medication during the talk. Also i noticed that one of the scarlet ibis had gotten out and was having great fun around the sealion pool. It wasnt there when i went back so i presume they managed to catch it.

I then made my way up to the sunbears...golden cats... aardwolf and marble polecats... i have yet to see the aardwolf or marble polecats...does anyone know the best time to go see them??

I then made my way up to big cat row... Mowgli the black Jaguars enclosure was getting renovated when i first looked in... he is back where the Jaguars were orignally at the begining of the big cat row. One Golden cat was out briefly and both Amur Leopards were out... unforunately the little female still seems to have the habit of pacing infront of the glass... most visitors like this cause they get to see her upclose but i find it alittle upsetting to see her do this. The wolverine was actually out and doing the weirdest thing of licking the glass and pawing at it... i have encluded a picture of it below. The Sumatran tigers are back where the tigers orignally were... the female in the larger of the pen and the male in the smaller. Tibor the male was constantly calling to the female and she looked very interested... she was desperate to get to him... spending alot of time at the top left of her enclosure where the two enclosures are seperated by mesh. She looked understandably nervous but was using the full of her enclosure well... walking from the top platforms all around the forest area. It as alittle difficult to see her but watching her sleek through the green leaves was stunning.

i then made my way past the Maned wolfs.. that as always were not out... and then down to the giant anteaters...they have three there still.. and they were all curled up sleeping. The Asiatic lions were all chilling out under the trees keeping dry as well.

I sampled the new resturant and got to say i was very impressed... The Grasslands is alittle more expensive than The Jungle Food Court but not as expensive as the Mansion House.. a nice middle. And i must recommend the pizza.. it was delicious and definately filled a spot.

Next was the penguins... i attempted to get some pictures of the panda enclosure as well..but they have it pretty well sealed so it makes getting pictures hard... had to put my phone over the fence to get anything. The group of penguins looked impressive. There has always been one male that is more of a grey colour than the normal black gentoo colour... and he <called snowflake i think> has never passed on this gene to any of offspring before but surprisingly this year there were two chick that have the same. The King penguin was sitting on his egg but according to staff they have found him standing in a puddle of water twice so they are not really hopeful that it will hatch. The only female to have breed last year passed away... so the only pair that is left have never sucessfully hatched yet. They are looking for females but there is a distinct lack of King Penguins so they are finding it hard to source them... would be a shame if the iconic edinburgh zoo animal was not at the zoo anymore.

i then went to the red river hog enclosure... they must have given birth again...because there was two little piglets as well as the three older piglets and mum and dad. Not really sure whats going on there...there was no one around to ask at the time.

Finally i went to the sunbear enclosure again and was glad to see the two brothers out... neither of them were showing pacing behaviour like they had when i first saw them This was meant to be because of the enviroment they came from so it was nice to see that the enriched life at the zoo might have stopped it

So all in all a good day...sorry i couldnt get the answers for you all.... i will ofcourse add my pictures to my flickr account but i took some on my phone that i thought i would share now

Photos are in this order - Wolverine behaviour, then two of the new panda enclosure, then one of the new entrance, the shop and then the entrance again

 

[TARZAN]

Hi there...

Just got back from a good if not rather wet day at the zoo.

I unforunately could not find the new deer... i hunted for them in the pouring rain up the top of the hill... they may have been inside the camel house as it was extremely wet when i made my way up there

Again there was no one to ask regarding the cock-of-the-rock... the only keepers i really saw were the carnivore section today... and when i asked they gave me very blank expressions...lol

My first stop at the zoo was the sealions... the male has suddenly got huge!... i actually made it up for the talk today and got to see him out of the water for the first time in a while and he is very impressive... the female they were saying currently has an eye problem... so they were spraying her eyes with medication during the talk. Also i noticed that one of the scarlet ibis had gotten out and was having great fun around the sealion pool. It wasnt there when i went back so i presume they managed to catch it.

I then made my way up to the sunbears...golden cats... aardwolf and marble polecats... i have yet to see the aardwolf or marble polecats...does anyone know the best time to go see them??

I then made my way up to big cat row... Mowgli the black Jaguars enclosure was getting renovated when i first looked in... he is back where the Jaguars were orignally at the begining of the big cat row. One Golden cat was out briefly and both Amur Leopards were out... unforunately the little female still seems to have the habit of pacing infront of the glass... most visitors like this cause they get to see her upclose but i find it alittle upsetting to see her do this. The wolverine was actually out and doing the weirdest thing of licking the glass and pawing at it... i have encluded a picture of it below. The Sumatran tigers are back where the tigers orignally were... the female in the larger of the pen and the male in the smaller. Tibor the male was constantly calling to the female and she looked very interested... she was desperate to get to him... spending alot of time at the top left of her enclosure where the two enclosures are seperated by mesh. She looked understandably nervous but was using the full of her enclosure well... walking from the top platforms all around the forest area. It as alittle difficult to see her but watching her sleek through the green leaves was stunning.

i then made my way past the Maned wolfs.. that as always were not out... and then down to the giant anteaters...they have three there still.. and they were all curled up sleeping. The Asiatic lions were all chilling out under the trees keeping dry as well.

I sampled the new resturant and got to say i was very impressed... The Grasslands is alittle more expensive than The Jungle Food Court but not as expensive as the Mansion House.. a nice middle. And i must recommend the pizza.. it was delicious and definately filled a spot.

Next was the penguins... i attempted to get some pictures of the panda enclosure as well..but they have it pretty well sealed so it makes getting pictures hard... had to put my phone over the fence to get anything. The group of penguins looked impressive. There has always been one male that is more of a grey colour than the normal black gentoo colour... and he <called snowflake i think> has never passed on this gene to any of offspring before but surprisingly this year there were two chick that have the same. The King penguin was sitting on his egg but according to staff they have found him standing in a puddle of water twice so they are not really hopeful that it will hatch. The only female to have breed last year passed away... so the only pair that is left have never sucessfully hatched yet. They are looking for females but there is a distinct lack of King Penguins so they are finding it hard to source them... would be a shame if the iconic edinburgh zoo animal was not at the zoo anymore.

i then went to the red river hog enclosure... they must have given birth again...because there was two little piglets as well as the three older piglets and mum and dad. Not really sure whats going on there...there was no one around to ask at the time.

Finally i went to the sunbear enclosure again and was glad to see the two brothers out... neither of them were showing pacing behaviour like they had when i first saw them This was meant to be because of the enviroment they came from so it was nice to see that the enriched life at the zoo might have stopped it

So all in all a good day...sorry i couldnt get the answers for you all.... i will ofcourse add my pictures to my flickr account but i took some on my phone that i thought i would share now

Photos are in this order - Wolverine behaviour, then two of the new panda enclosure, then one of the new entrance, the shop and then the entrance again

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The female sea lion has an eye problem, I wonder how they are going to solve this problem long term, relocating the sea lions to a collection whose sealion pool is not one hundred years old or bring their own sea lion pool up to standard whereby the animals will no longer have to suffer eye problems, I am interested to see that there are two more red river hoglets, think it is time to get back on red river hog watch, just in case.

 

[Pertinax]

I am interested to see that there are two more red river hoglets, think it is time to get back on red river hog watch, just in case.

So they are still breeding then. I doubt they will dare put any more down though. How big is the enclosure- big enough to keep more than the current group?

 

[Lesley4444]

I think so... the enclosure opens up at the top so they get both their own enclosure and going in with the Bongos as well... with7 in there it should make a nice display

 

[Pertinax]

I think so... the enclosure opens up at the top so they get both their own enclosure and going in with the Bongos as well... with7 in there it should make a nice display

...which is why I am still totally puzzled as to why they put the first pair of piglets down...

 

[TARZAN]

I think so... the enclosure opens up at the top so they get both their own enclosure and going in with the Bongos as well... with7 in there it should make a nice display

Yes the enclosure is certainly big enough for seven red river hogs and also bongo, it was after all big enough for that excellent pair of breeding white rhino who lived there previously.

 

[Pertinax]

Right, now I know where they live (I haven't visited for many years now).

I'm still very curious as to their reason for euthanasing the first litter of hoglets though- seems a very strange decision.

 

[TARZAN]

Right, now I know where they live (I haven't visited for many years now).

I'm still very curious as to their reason for euthanasing the first litter of hoglets though- seems a very strange decision.

And a decision which brought the zoo a lot of negative publicity.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

I then made my way up to the sunbears...golden cats... aardwolf and marble polecats... i have yet to see the aardwolf or marble polecats...does anyone know the best time to go see them??

The aardwolves and marbled polecats both require patience, and a little luck - a lot more luck in the case of the polecats, to be honest!