Swift parrots and Potoroo
Marwell Wildlife Marwell Zoological Park 2023
- Thread starter dillotest0
- Start date
Springbok
Well-Known Member
Sorry, where are the bush dogs?
Springbok
Well-Known Member
Visited on Wednesday, Weather was horrible. But after a few hours, it cleared up. Here are a few things I noticed:
- Village weaver aviary on the side of Marwell Hall is now empty and unsigned.
-Red legged millipede are now with the ball pythons in cold blooded corner.
-The former black and white ruffed lemur exhibit in life amongst the trees now contain Cotton top Tamarin.
-A new bokiboky viewing window has been installed since I last visited.
-Dorcas Gazelle's indoor window has been blocked by a big amount of hay.
- Village weaver aviary on the side of Marwell Hall is now empty and unsigned.
-Red legged millipede are now with the ball pythons in cold blooded corner.
-The former black and white ruffed lemur exhibit in life amongst the trees now contain Cotton top Tamarin.
-A new bokiboky viewing window has been installed since I last visited.
-Dorcas Gazelle's indoor window has been blocked by a big amount of hay.
Springbok
Well-Known Member
My thoughts on Thriving Through Nature:
-The species were interesting, especially the green toad.
- For what is in there, some species are very hard to spot.
The species contained are: Rock hyrax, Green toad, Rough-scaled plated lizard, Starred Agama and Egyptian spiny-tailed lizard.
-The species were interesting, especially the green toad.
- For what is in there, some species are very hard to spot.
The species contained are: Rock hyrax, Green toad, Rough-scaled plated lizard, Starred Agama and Egyptian spiny-tailed lizard.
How many?
I do think given its repurposed architecture there is only so much that can be done with the Cold-Blooded Corner and surrounding area ... though I do think that something more interesting could be done with the CBC than what it is now.
HelloCrossy67
Well-Known Member
Apologies, I meant to put Bush Dog (In Future), they will be taking over the Old Bat Eared Fox exhibit
HelloCrossy67
Well-Known Member
I agree, I just believe some replanting, reuse and repainting would bring the whole area together more.
I visited today. Not too many there due to the weather. It was my first chance to see Thriving Through Nature.
I liked it but feel it could do with a couple more active species. Even the hyrax were just sat on the large rocks at the back of the exhibit. The senses idea is an interesting concept. Not sure they can do anything with taste, but if they are going down this road maybe they could have thought of finding my ways to make it more tactile. Overall it worked well as a nice calm relaxing place but I am not sure how well it would appeal to the general public or if it would have the same effect on a busy day.
Interesting to see how the animals reacted to the showers. In Wild Explorers there were zebra and oryx in both the zebra and oryx indoor quarters.
Couple of observations.
- The viewing window for the otter's indoor housing has been blocked off.
- There are large signs up around the snow leopard enclosure advertising the fact that they are going to be expanding it.
I also need to award myself some stupid points. On my last few visits I was wondering when they were going to put something in what a long time ago was the mouse lemur enclosure in Life Among the Trees (or World of Lemurs as it was when that enclosure was last used). It was only today that I noticed this is now connected to the bokiboky enclosure giving them another indoor section.
I liked it but feel it could do with a couple more active species. Even the hyrax were just sat on the large rocks at the back of the exhibit. The senses idea is an interesting concept. Not sure they can do anything with taste, but if they are going down this road maybe they could have thought of finding my ways to make it more tactile. Overall it worked well as a nice calm relaxing place but I am not sure how well it would appeal to the general public or if it would have the same effect on a busy day.
Interesting to see how the animals reacted to the showers. In Wild Explorers there were zebra and oryx in both the zebra and oryx indoor quarters.
Couple of observations.
- The viewing window for the otter's indoor housing has been blocked off.
- There are large signs up around the snow leopard enclosure advertising the fact that they are going to be expanding it.
I also need to award myself some stupid points. On my last few visits I was wondering when they were going to put something in what a long time ago was the mouse lemur enclosure in Life Among the Trees (or World of Lemurs as it was when that enclosure was last used). It was only today that I noticed this is now connected to the bokiboky enclosure giving them another indoor section.
HelloCrossy67
Well-Known Member
Glad to see Thriving Through Nature is a relatively popular exhibit, such a large area of the zoo used again. I plan to return after the new Marmoset/Tamarin and Bush Dog enclosures are built.
There will be more animals- fish in the stream, for example - in Thriving Through Nature; the first animals were only introduced a few days ago so it will be a gradual process but another good reason to keep looking in. As sage is amongst the plants in the public area, taste could be covered in the sensual experience, but I am sure Marwell would not encourage people to taste plants they are not familiar with! In Wild Explorers the different species can get into each others hardstands and housing (if left open) which adds to the interest of the exhibit and a complexity to the design. This is one reason why the barrier between visitors and the animals is greater than it need have been if only rhinos had access into their house; it needs to prevent zebra or oryx crossing it. For the same reason the barrier between visitors and animals has been recently upgraded in the ground level viewing area to the giraffe hardstand so it can now be left open to visitors all day without it having to be manned by staff.
There have been quite a few window changes, including a new one so the dik-dik can be seen inside and one built into the side of the small house adjoining the pygmy marmosets where, I believe, the intended Brazilian cavies will reside. Also removal of the glass from the covered viewing point to the siamangs is a great improvement. It was originally intended that this could be removed once the animals had settled into the enclosure after it had been built - it has taken a long time.
The snow leopard extension signs are very new as they were not there early in the week.
Thanks Zooboy. Nice to hear there are further species planned for Thriving Through Nature.
Interesting to hear where the cavies are planned. I thought it would most likely be somewhere in Life Among the Trees.
With the mixed species paddocks it had occurred to me in the past that one animal could wander into another species indoor quarters. Yesterday was the first time I had seen it happen though.
Interesting to hear where the cavies are planned. I thought it would most likely be somewhere in Life Among the Trees.
With the mixed species paddocks it had occurred to me in the past that one animal could wander into another species indoor quarters. Yesterday was the first time I had seen it happen though.
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I visited today and saw Thriving Through Nature. I have to say, overall I liked it. It is very well presented and it's great that they have repurposed what was otherwise an old building sat there not doing very much. Hopefully it will improve when more species are added and the planting grows etc.
Marwell have some form here. I remember the days on this website when Marwell was constantly scolded for not having an outdoor pool for their Pygmy Hippo. Yet, they are probably the most successful holder in Britain!
Pygmy Hippo first arrived at Marwell in 1983,the first birth was in 1995 which did not survive, there were also births in 1996,2003,2013,2016, so I do not know if they are the most successful holder in Britain.
If they have only had 4 successful births then almost certainly not the most successful.
I stand corrected. Do you have the breeding records for the other collections?
Having a look at the 2012 Pygmy hippo studbook (available online), it seems Marwell also had successful breedings in 2006 (Sirana) and 2008 (Lola)
After having a quick look through the 2012 studbook and then all births that have been announced by UK zoos since 2012, (I used the criteria of only including calves that lived longer than 30 days to define a 'successful' breeding) it appears that Whipsnade Zoo has the most successful breeding record with 15 calves, closely followed by Edinburgh Zoo with 14. Bristol Zoo had 9 successful breedings, with Marwell being joint fourth most successful with London Zoo having had 6 births. The only other zoos that have managed to breed the species successfully according to the studbook in the UK being Colchester Zoo (5) and the long-closed Belle Vue Zoo (2). My method however only accounts for animals born at the aforementioned zoos, so hippos which were conceived at one zoo and then born at a different zoo may not have been taken into account. Potentially leading to some totals not being the accurate representation of actual breeding levels some UK zoos have with the species.
Agreed. I have never seen a pygmy hippo in a fully outdoor pool, it really doesn't seem to matter.