Marwell Wildlife Marwell Zoo News

[Pertinax]

I personally would not favour putting the scimitars in with the Grevy's zebra. The latter are sometimes quite aggressive and the scimitar bull is not mild mannered when it comes to defending his harem.

Marwell have been keeping these two species together (during the summer months) since circa 1971... I don't know if there have ever been any accidents as a result?

 

[CZJimmy]

Marwell have been keeping these two species together (during the summer months) since circa 1971... I don't know if there have ever been any accidents as a result?

Chester Zoo also keeps them together during the summer, if i remember correctly (I may be wrong however) without too much trouble.

Back to Marwell, I haven't visited this zoo yet, but from photos it looks a fantastic place and the possible addition of gorillas and a huge mixed savannah could only improve it further!

 

[Pertinax]

The fact that Marwell still keep Grevy Zebra and Scimitar Horned Oryx together indicates they haven't had any real problems- it was the first 'showpiece' mixed exhibit they had back when they opened.

It is very well organised and run, with a great display of animals and(nowadays) some excellent enclosures- I wish they had a few more larger Primates though. I'm sure they would build a good Gorilla exhibit if they have them in future.

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

It is very well organised and run, with a great display of animals and(nowadays) some excellent enclosures- I wish they had a few more larger Primates though. I'm sure they would build a good Gorilla exhibit if they have them in future.

Surely, some more primates in general would be a serious acquisition. Some langur species (to go with the gibbons), a Cercopithecus species and mangabey of sorts (if the gorilla housing gets off the ground).

Does anyone own a copy of the Masterplan here? Can we have a look into it?

 

[Chris79]

I have just read that Marwell, along with Dvur Kralove, are sending some roan antelope to a sanctuary in Swaziland as part of a reintroduction programme....

 

[kiang]

It looks as though Marwells pair of anteater are being given some blue movies to help them get along a little better.
Anteaters Watch Blue Movies To Get In The Mood (from This is Hampshire)

 

[Bobby_21]

I think its an april fools joke. If you read further down someone mentions the fact that it was an april fools joke by the newspaper

 

[johnstoni]

I have long felt Marwell is a less that excellent zoo and other threads on this site seem to confirm it...especially with the rather suspect mortality rates of the more common antelopes. I too have seen their winter setup....the argument for shutting large hoofed mammals in small yards in our climate is fair enough, but then make the yards bigger if they must be kept in this way outside of the summer months. The vicuna and arabian oryx appear to live on these small hardstands year round. I can think of no other UK zoo that keeps vicuna in this way.

As for the roan antelope 'release', ISIS list these animals as non-specific hybrids. What's going on?

Weirdly though, Marwell are about the only place in the UK to really seem to do well with pygmy hippo, it would seem all they really need is lots of grazing, rather than concrete and woodchips with tropical houseplants hidden behind wire....I don't understand why other zoos don't copy the setup at marwell. And they don't seem to shut the hippos in during the winter.....I'm not sure what it is about the parasite cycle and hippo hooves that exempt them from the current marwell regime.

 

[Pertinax]

Weirdly though, Marwell are about the only place in the UK to really seem to do well with pygmy hippo, it would seem all they really need is lots of grazing, rather than concrete and woodchips with tropical houseplants hidden behind wire....

Yes, it seems they are primarily terrestrial. Certainly Marwell's indoor pools are no bigger than washbasins.. I think for an outdoor paddock they might be better exhibited in a shady woodland setting than an open paddock- the only advantage of this is it does have the necessary grass for grazing, so a half woddland/half open site might be good.

 

[Newzooboy]

I have long felt Marwell is a less that excellent zoo and other threads on this site seem to confirm it...especially with the rather suspect mortality rates of the more common antelopes. I too have seen their winter setup....the argument for shutting large hoofed mammals in small yards in our climate is fair enough, but then make the yards bigger if they must be kept in this way outside of the summer months. The vicuna and arabian oryx appear to live on these small hardstands year round. I can think of no other UK zoo that keeps vicuna in this way.

As for the roan antelope 'release', ISIS list these animals as non-specific hybrids. What's going on?

Weirdly though, Marwell are about the only place in the UK to really seem to do well with pygmy hippo, it would seem all they really need is lots of grazing, rather than concrete and woodchips with tropical houseplants hidden behind wire....I don't understand why other zoos don't copy the setup at marwell. And they don't seem to shut the hippos in during the winter.....I'm not sure what it is about the parasite cycle and hippo hooves that exempt them from the current marwell regime.

A little harsh I think......I would defintely put Marwell up there in the top 5 UK zoos. I accept that you say 'less than excellent' rather than anything stronger but I would say that using this scale there are no 'excellent' zoos in the UK. Perhaps this is true. Every good uk zoo has some little (or not so little) negative thing that isn't perfect.

 

[johnstoni]

It depends on the criteria you are using. I mean decidedly 'less than excellent' on welfare terms, in my opinion. If you mean do they have an excellent collection, or excellent breeding record, then I wouldn't disupute that. In fact, managing exotic ungulates in a way not dissimilar to domestic farm stock can be a very effective way to breed from them. For years the huge population of collared peccary at Flamingoland, when most zoos were breeding them very infrequently, was down to the fact one of their main keepers was an ex pig farmer. Similarly, a number of the hoofstock keepers at howletts and port lympne come from domestic livestock backgrounds. I'm sure this is the case for many collections.

But on welfare terms, I would say they are most definitely not in the 'top 5'. What I've seen is mirrored on a number of threads already on this forum, so I won't go into it to repeat what other's have said, but you should really visit the place on a cold winters day to see what most visitors, who come during the summer, don't. Some parts of the zoo are great, and they do really well with a few species that other zoos don't seem to manage to establish. But I think its precisely becuase they have the space and the facilities it is baffling to see some animals given vast enclosures while others make do with extremely small spaces.

 

[Paulkarli08]

Do Marwell Zoo still breed their tigers or are the pair well represented now. Is the young male, 'Zambar' still at the zoo or has he left for breeding purposes?

Are lions going to be returning to the collection, its been several years since the last lioness died?

 

[Newzooboy]

It depends on the criteria you are using. I mean decidedly 'less than excellent' on welfare terms, in my opinion. If you mean do they have an excellent collection, or excellent breeding record, then I wouldn't disupute that. In fact, managing exotic ungulates in a way not dissimilar to domestic farm stock can be a very effective way to breed from them. For years the huge population of collared peccary at Flamingoland, when most zoos were breeding them very infrequently, was down to the fact one of their main keepers was an ex pig farmer. Similarly, a number of the hoofstock keepers at howletts and port lympne come from domestic livestock backgrounds. I'm sure this is the case for many collections.

But on welfare terms, I would say they are most definitely not in the 'top 5'. What I've seen is mirrored on a number of threads already on this forum, so I won't go into it to repeat what other's have said, but you should really visit the place on a cold winters day to see what most visitors, who come during the summer, don't. Some parts of the zoo are great, and they do really well with a few species that other zoos don't seem to manage to establish. But I think its precisely becuase they have the space and the facilities it is baffling to see some animals given vast enclosures while others make do with extremely small spaces.

I live very close to Marwell and in the past have visited the place in excess of 50 times in a year so I have certainly been there on a cold winters day.....

I appreciate the qualification though, and I do sympathise with your views re: they could do more with the space available and some species do appear to get a 'rough' deal in comparison with others......although I don't think they are alone in this regard. I also know what you mean re: winter visit and the place can seem very empty at such times (animals & people).

Could you let me know the titles of the threads dealing with these issues please and would be interested to read through....many thanks.

On a different note, I read last week that Marwell are 'going out' of Chilean Pudu (not yet sure where the remaining animals are going or what is happening to the area they are in) which I think is a real shame as I always considered this enclosure to be well above average compared with others in the uk - see photo in my gallery - (and the breeding record was pretty good). Also, they seemed to fit into the South American themed area for that part of the zoo. Interested in any views or info. on this.

 

[SWA]

Re tigers and lions

There are currently 3 tigers at Marwell.

1 female - Yenna who last had cubs in 2004 (including Zambar, who was hand-raised)

2 males - Gamin - currently living with Yenna - but has has the 'snip' and therefore is a non-breeding animal.

and Zambar - the son of the above 2. He is living in a seperate enclosure.

A few years ago there was talk of bringing another male in to breed with Yenna as she was still considered a valuable breeding animal - but I am not sure it this is still the case.

Lions are planned to make a come back in the future - probably African. But I guess the time line depends on the development of the African Valley.

 

[SWA]

Re Pudu

I also read about the Pudu leaving. In fact I think they only have 1 male at the moment - another male recently departed to Edinburgh. I believe some of the breeding females died recently - so it makes sense to stop having them now rather than bringing in more animals, if that is the way they want to go.

I will try and find out more information on the plans for this area and let you know

 

[SWA]

Re: welfare

I am a supporter of Marwell, but understand some of the welfare issues mentioned. However I think that in the recent years the Park has tried hard to address some of the less satisfactory enclosures eg demolishing the jaguar and old lion enclosure, building the new Snow Leopard and Gibbon enclosure, moving the Kangaroos to a grass area (shortly).

The new Anteater enclosure (opposite the Pudu) looks really good.

It will be interesting to see if the zebra and antelope will have all year round access into the African Valley.

On my latest visit I noticed that the Hartmann hardstand fencing was being removed and the sign was changed to Grevy zebra. This may be to allow some Grevy access to the new African Valley. The Hartmann (0.4) are now in the hardstanding behind the Amur leopard.

 

[Pertinax]

But I think its precisely becuase they have the space and the facilities it is baffling to see some animals given vast enclosures while others make do with extremely small spaces.

You can trace any zoo's 'culture' to its early formation, the individual or people who started it and the reasons it came about. Jersey had Durrell with all his fascination for creatures of all shapes & sizes. Howletts had Aspinall who wanted to 'befriend the great mammals' and lavished great care on his animal charges but whose 'hands on' ethos resulted in several tragic human accidents and deaths..
Chester had Mottershead with his forward thinking designs for a 'barless' zoo. ZSL/Whipsnade is the very comprehensive 'national' collection.

Marwell was started by a chicken farmer whose model for a zoo was some of the larger American zoos and 'game farms'. His main interests were in hoofed animals and big cats and for some years the accent was on those species almost entirely. Domestic husbandry techniques were successfully applied particularly in the case of the hoofed animals. Later many additional (smaller) species were added to make a more 'traditional' zoo/park but they were aquired largely to fill in gaps and provide more variety rather than any other purpose(or particular interest in them) in mind, so the choices were largely random.Some of these species also require more sympathetic understanding and expertise in care than hoofed stock and this is where Marwell initially fell rather short, both in management and enclosure design. The original Siamang exhibit was perhaps the worst example. Things have improved considerably with regard to many of these species, including, happily, the Siamangs.

Consequently apart from the first class ungulate collection Marwell still represents a rather odd mix and some of the less high profile species have, at least until recently, never been given quite the accomodation and attention they deserve, I think.

 

[johnstoni]

There are some great things about the collection. You could go there and be blown away by the okapi, somali ass, pygmy hippo, leopards, dama gazelles etc, without even noticing if the kangaroos, arabian oryx or vicunas. My feelings are, if they aren't going to give them a proper enclosure, why bother to house them?

I don't actually think the old jaguar or leopard enclosures were all that bad. The need for theming in creating the new amur leopard enclosure resulted in the original female escaping up a tree and out of the wire roof, later dying when she was darted and fell out of that tree....and then the first cub got through a gap in the rocks into the male's enclosure and was killed. It actually says a lot for simplicity.

I think that many temperate zoos are just starting to wake up to the fact that animals from warmer parts of the world don't get as much exercise and are much more limited in the available enclosure space during cold and wet weather. We are starting to see this consideration with some of the more recent elephant houses that have opened in europe. Someone made a comment about the fact it is quite unsatisfactory to see zebra slopping about in mud during winter and then running on bare, compacted earth during summer. Ironically, Marwell seem to place some consideration on soil quality by using the current regime of 'resting' the paddocks. Far better that you divide paddocks into two where possible, and always have one left fallow. Or if the occupants are big enough to ruin the ground in wet weather, make half their space a sand paddock. One of the revealing sights that tells you there is a problem are the gemsbok group, as some individuals have had both horns removed, while others are missing one, possibly from fighting. There is definitely a case for giving these antelope a larger area year-round.

 

[Pertinax]

Gemsbok- some indiividuals have had both horns removed, while others are missing one, possibly from fighting. There is definitely a case for giving these antelope a larger area year-round.

I think the Gemsbok horns get broken/frayed etc from contact with fencing as much as fighting- but close confinement obviously is the root cause one way or the other.

In the wild, Mountain and Grevy Zebra live in very arid areas, not on grassy pastures so paddocks partially given over to sanded or gravelled areas would be perfectly acceptable. I think its wrong for them to be closely confined in hardstanding areas for several months per year as they are wild animals, not domestic horses which can be taken out for exercise.

 

[johnstoni]

you see with with others, like the sable antelopes, short bursts of energy and then they'll meet a fence and have to stop. But what is so frustrating is what an amazing place it is in summer, and of course all the antelope look in fantastic form out in the paddocks then. Aridlands is one of the most promising recent exhibits, they appear to have dug down to the chalk and sanded the enclosure slightly, and the gazelles/addax have use of the full enclosure year-round. It is aesthetically pleasing as well. Hopefully the new african paddocks will be as promising.