Marwell Wildlife My Monthly Updates 2009 #1

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mhale said:
I missed out on visiting this weekend, so hopefully will go next Sunday :)
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Well, I did visit Marwell today and made the following observations:

1) I saw a penguin chick (the first one I've seen this year)
2) There appeared to be four rhea chicks (they were bigger than I expected though)
3) I saw four ostrich chicks in the oryx / zebra / ostrich paddock, heavily guarded by two females and a male
4) There was no sign of Ascha the amur leopard today
5) Kismet the giraffe and one of last year's calves (I think it was Tiye) were in the valley, but the other giraffes were in the bongo paddock
6) I saw the new degus (in the old dwarf mongoose enclosure) and long-nosed hedgehog (in the old shrew enclosure) in Aridlands
7) The spiny mice are back in their old enclosure in Aridlands
8) Work has begun on refurbishing the bat-eared fox enclosure
9) The vicugna enclosure was empty and the signs for them have been taken down, but the upper part of the stable doors were open thoughout the house and I could hear animals in there, so I wondered if the wildebeest had already moved in (?)
10) The old pygmy marmoset enclosure is empty and the marmosets are now in evidence on the island in Tropical World

The cats were all lounging around today in the heat, but were more active at the end of the afternoon. Turkus the cheetah was stalking a congo buffalo as usual and the buffalo was snorting at him :) They both obviously enjoy the interaction.
 
Yep, that would be the wildebeest, which are quite noisy animals. They should be on show for the Annual Pass Holder's Picnic. :)
 
Um, I never said they'd moved there, need to ask mhale as to whether they've been moved somewhere else in the zoo.
 
I didn't actually see the vicugnas in any other enclosures so I'm not sure what's happening with them. Maybe they were offshow?

Also, I forgot to mention the following:

1) There is new fencing around the wildebeest enclosure
2) New heavy duty fenceposts have been erected around the area to the north of the greater kudu house (where the enclosure has a sign saying it is currently empty). The layout of the posts seemed to indicate that the area was being extended onto the grass verge (nearer to the road) so I would be interested to know what the intention is for that area.
 
Apparentley they plan to renovate the rhino house at some point, so perhaps they could be giving the kudu a new hardstand so the rhino house can be extended?
 
Interesting news about the WIldebeest. I didn't get to go on Sunday cause other things came up, so I'm looking forward to going on the 5th to see them. When is the Pass Holders meeting, again, sorry?
 
Good news on the wildebeest. And about time on a refurbishment to the bats, I've always hated that exhibit with a passion.
 
It's on Friday the 10th July, from 6:30 to 9:30pm. It's not really a meeting, annual pass holders only can bring in a picnic to eat where they like and walk round the zoo in the evening. I've been told the only animals they know of that will be shut in are the zebras.

The bat exhibit isn't too bad in my opinion. What don't you like about it?
 
It isn't terrible it just doesn't live up to the quality of many other bat exhibits. For starters its not walk through, the wire mesh makes it impossible to see virtually anything and overall the enclosure is pretty small and leaves you wanting to see more. Compared to Bristol or Drussilas etc, it just doesn't work for me.
 
This week's observations from Marwell are as follows:

1) This has to be the first piece of news today ... I am very sorry to announce that Ascha the female amur leopard has died recently whilst under anaesthetic for a health check (she had been losing weight and seemed lethargic, plus she was being dominated by her daughter Kiska). I had noticed that she was missing from the enclosure the last two weekends, so I asked a keeper where she was and that was what I was told.
2) The wildebeest are still in quarantine at the moment.
3) The four ostriches from the valley were in the paddock with the gemsboks and Hartmann's zebras today as they had refused to go into the valley!! As a result of this, the Dama gazelles were on their hardstanding all day instead of being in the paddock because they don't mix well with the zebras.
4) Kismet was the only giraffe in the valley, but a keeper told me that there have been as many as four of them out there at once recently, although one of the females stayed out there for two nights and now she won't go near the valley!!
5) The Przewalski's foals are really settling in well. Two of the adults were kicking each other today which wasn't pleasant to watch.
6) The new fencing appears to have been completed in the areas I mentioned last week.

That's all, I think ;)
 
5/7/09:

Ended up bumping into mhale today! Was down in the tiger observation area, where Gamin was resting in the pool. Small world eh? :)

- No black wildebeest on show unfortunately, especially as this was the reason I went to the park today. Here's hoping they'll be out for the Picnic in the Park on Friday evening. I learn't at the information desk that after a time in the chapman's zebra paddock they will be moved into the African Valley.
- On the subject of the valley, only Kismet was in there today and the valley ostriches were being kept in the gemsbok paddock.
- There was a lot of activity in Marabou Mansions where a stony bank has been added.
- The bat house was open, the redevelopment was some more leafy branches.
- Also saw Aridland's new Long-Eared Hedgehog on two occasions, curled in a ball.
- Four very cute new coati kits.
- Didn't see the gibbons either indoors or out.
- One of the Amphibian Centre vivariums has been filled with water, presumably for Danube Newts.
- The still strong capybara family were all cooling off in the pond today, as was Gamin as I mentioned.
 
Sad news about the leopard.
So the eventual plan is to moved the white tailed gnu to the valley, i do hope they will get a few more animals or a pair of wildebeest will swallowed up by the sheer size of the paddock, and not make for great viewing, (from a zochatters point of view, great for the wildebeest).
 
I'm certainly hoping Marwell will have a breeding herd to fill the valley in the future, which can hopefully be done as their sucess with rarely kept antelope species shows. :)
 
rip ascha

will they replace her, or send both the leopards to another zoo, or somting else???
 
Marwell Dalek said:
I'm certainly hoping Marwell will have a breeding herd to fill the valley in the future, which can hopefully be done as their sucess with rarely kept antelope species shows. :)
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It will take them a very long time to build up a herd from a single pair- unless they import more animals. Also, they never bred from their previous trio- though the females may already have been too old when they got them.
 
I believe the park in the Czech Republic where they originally came from has the largest black wildebeest number - 20 isn't it? If they were able to source a few unrelated individuals from there I imagine Marwell would be able to create a reasonably sustainable group.
 
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