zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
It very much looks to me that Marwell,is doing what Chester did 10 years ago,but just look at what has happened in the last few years with regards to new species at Chester!
Marwell Wildlife Marwell Zoo News 2013
- Thread starter Nisha
- Start date
You are probably right, i'm just impatient, it's just become more difficult to be positive with each visit i've made lately.
Visited yesterday for first time in 6 months, didn't see the 2 remaining snow leopard cubs, but they had made a brief appearance from the cave just before i got there.
Firstly the negatives-
In recent times 5 enclosures have been demolished to be replaced by.... Empty spaces- old meerkats, open crane paddocks by tiger toilet block & nyala, old tree shrew cage & conure aviary near the hall.
Wooden viewing platform built to view capybara/rhea paddock-nothing wrong with it, but waste of money IMHO!
Yellow mongoose enclosure by lemurs still empty.
Positives
Vicuna back on show in first stall of the female side okapi house-though didnt see any. What this indicates re okapi breeding is a bit of a negative though maybe.
The new walkthrough aviary was quite good and it was good to see the former tamarin walkthrough in encounter village back in use for the sakis.
For the first time ever, in about 20 visits, i saw the colobus outside(only seen a single diana out there. Saw both anteater out & active and the macaques on their island for a change.
Back to the negatives-the less i say about the new coati area the better probably! Nothing wrong with it if it, but a waste of money for such a common species they already had. Very over the top and out of place at Marwell.
Firstly the negatives-
In recent times 5 enclosures have been demolished to be replaced by.... Empty spaces- old meerkats, open crane paddocks by tiger toilet block & nyala, old tree shrew cage & conure aviary near the hall.
Wooden viewing platform built to view capybara/rhea paddock-nothing wrong with it, but waste of money IMHO!
Yellow mongoose enclosure by lemurs still empty.
Positives
Vicuna back on show in first stall of the female side okapi house-though didnt see any. What this indicates re okapi breeding is a bit of a negative though maybe.
The new walkthrough aviary was quite good and it was good to see the former tamarin walkthrough in encounter village back in use for the sakis.
For the first time ever, in about 20 visits, i saw the colobus outside(only seen a single diana out there. Saw both anteater out & active and the macaques on their island for a change.
Back to the negatives-the less i say about the new coati area the better probably! Nothing wrong with it if it, but a waste of money for such a common species they already had. Very over the top and out of place at Marwell.
I think that you only quote these examples as negatives because you know they were there before- as for whether their absence particularly worsens the zoo I'm not so sure, as none of those were very good exhibits. The old Meerkat exhibit has been replaced with a better one on a new site that was just a patch of grass before- so it cancels itself out, the tree shrew exhibit was poor, and the 2 crane enclosures were mediocre at best, and again, new bird aviaries have been built which are nicer. Conure aviary that was removed has been rebuilt at entrance to encounter village. The capybara viewing platform is improved viewing and I don't think you can call it a waste of money unless you know how much it cost?.........
I agree that the old Yellow Mongoose enclosure has been empty far too long- but I understand work will start very soon to convert for Aloatran Gentle Lemurs.
It seems to me a conure aviary next to the Encounter Village looks very much the better in this place, esp. next to Wallaby area. Would be nice if they took in some further Antipodes heroes (tree kangaroo, koala, rat kangaroo, echidna, wombat .... 
).
Same, I would like to see some more Asian species and perhaps a less haphazard zoning (either zoogeographical or by habitat ... it is even to me).
Marwell would certainly benefit from some more indoor exhibits too.
(alas that will cost a lot of budget which perhaps they may not have at their disposal).
I am really not too negative on Marwell as it stands - even though it has been a hoof stock stallwart before exemplified by large breeding herds of hoof stock. Whether those days will return .., I think not.
).Same, I would like to see some more Asian species and perhaps a less haphazard zoning (either zoogeographical or by habitat ... it is even to me).
Marwell would certainly benefit from some more indoor exhibits too.
(alas that will cost a lot of budget which perhaps they may not have at their disposal).
I am really not too negative on Marwell as it stands - even though it has been a hoof stock stallwart before exemplified by large breeding herds of hoof stock. Whether those days will return .., I think not.
We can dream of the species you mention and if they got them i would definitely stop criticising the place! Maybe putting some of those where they built the new coati complex would have been a better idea.(next to the wallaby walkthrough)It seems to me a conure aviary next to the Encounter Village looks very much the better in this place, esp. next to Wallaby area. Would be nice if they took in some further Antipodes heroes (tree kangaroo, koala, rat kangaroo, echidna, wombat ....
Same, I would like to see some more Asian species and perhaps a less haphazard zoning (either zoogeographical or by habitat ... it is even to me).
Marwell would certainly benefit from some more indoor exhibits too.
(alas that will cost a lot of budget which perhaps they may not have at their disposal).
I am really not too negative on Marwell as it stands - even though it has been a hoof stock stallwart before exemplified by large breeding herds of hoof stock. Whether those days will return .., I think not.
I rather doubt it. Nowadays its more a generalised collection and I imagine any new species additions will be more from the aspect of crowd-pleasers rather than for any other reason.
0.1 Hartmanns Zebra born - The first at Marwell since 1997 (and also the first female foal born in the UK since 2002!)
More new arrivals
More new arrivals
IanRRobinson
Well-Known Member
Excellent. Let's hope this rather rare animal can start to make a comeback in European zoos.
Great news, it seems the species is doing better and better in captivity !
Now that *is* excellent news, considering how many of us were, until recently, convinced this species was going to be gone from the UK pretty soon.
They're still not out of the woods, considering the fact nowhere seems interested in going into the species, but this is a bit more hope than we had previously.
They're still not out of the woods, considering the fact nowhere seems interested in going into the species, but this is a bit more hope than we had previously.
Given the collection manager is both the Studbook keeper and EEP co-ordinator for Arabian Oryx, it seems the species is secure at Marwell, at least while he is in post, which is good news. But still strange that this is now the only UK collection holding them.
Indeed. Hopefully the plan is to get populations up and more balanced, as currently I believe the population is heavily skewed towards females in the EEP.
Maybe when this is achieved, more collections might see the species as worth going into.
For anyone interested, here is the most recent studbook - http://www.marwell.org.uk/downloads/ArabianOryxStudbook2011.pdf
Maybe when this is achieved, more collections might see the species as worth going into.
For anyone interested, here is the most recent studbook - http://www.marwell.org.uk/downloads/ArabianOryxStudbook2011.pdf
Thanks for the link to the Studbook, always intresting and good for some hours of 'research' !
