Marwell Wildlife My Monthly Updates 2009 #2

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I have some very exciting news from Marwell ... I visited today and the pair of black wildebeests (white-tailed gnus) were outside on their hardstanding (at last :)). They currently have green shade netting around their enclosure which a sign explains as "These animals are new to the park. The green shade netting has been placed on the fence line so they can see the boundaries of their outdoor enclosure. Please do not disturb." They looked very impressive and the male snorted several times. Unfortunately, the netting made photography very difficult, but I have tried to get some decent shots.

There are several empty enclosures at the moment. The walkthrough golden lion tamarin enclosure is still closed, with a sign saying "Sorry, the walkway is currently closed." There are two empty enclosures in Aridlands, one being for the long-eared hedgehog and the other for the snake. The larger group of red-ruffed lemurs are still absent from the Lemur World exhibit. The male chipmunks from Encounter Village have been housed with the female group.

I saw Rio the tapir calf outside for the first time today, which was fantastic. She is really looking in good shape.

The pair of ostrich chicks in the old pudu enclosure have been indoors under a heat lamp the last two times I have visited, with the doors shut so that they can't get outside. I don't know why this is.

The fencing is being updated in a number of areas of the park, and in some cases, this is giving the animals new fence lines and more space.

I couldn't see either of the sable antelope calves today, and the two adults that were due to go to France are no longer indoors, so I am assuming that they have already gone?
 
My pictures are in the gallery of the wildebeest and the white rhea chick.

Had a really good day at Marwell today, however no extra news since its been like.. a day since we've had an update. Lol.

Mind you... the warthogs were doing the best to destroy the backing picture of their house. Made me laugh.

:)
 
Thats great news. I could see a bird nursery being a useful exhibit at Marwell, especially with th ostrich and rhea chicks. An idea for the old pudu house prehaps?
 
Jealous that you too saw the wildebeest before me! That's what you get for going away for two weeks haha! :) Must go there this week.

And TLG, the pudu house will be demolished within due course. It's one of the oldest buildings in the zoo, dating back from the 70's when it was built to house cassowary.
 
Marwell Dalek said:
Jealous that you too saw the wildebeest before me! That's what you get for going away for two weeks haha! :) Must go there this week.
Click to expand...

I had a frustrting experience when I went on August 19th. I asked one of the east section keepers when the gnus would go on show, and she told me that they had done so that morning. The male would not come out and the female took a quick look outside and went back inside again. The keeper said it may be a long process getting them to venture outside. Luckily for other ZooChatters it didn't take too long.

It is 35 years since I saw a white-tailed gnu. I will have to go to Marwell next year now and get some decent photos.
 
I had a brief visit to Marwell this afternoon to catch the art exhibition in Marwell Hall as this was the last day of it. There was some fantastic artwork on display and it was a great chance to see inside the Hall for the first time.

There isn't really any news since my visit last weekend except that the green netting on the public's side of the wildebeest enclosure has been removed now (although the rest of it hasn't) and, more importantly, a male Grevy's zebra foal was born on 25th August to mother Wendy. They were on the hardstanding next to the paddock, with some of the other zebras standing right up to the fence so that they could see them. That was a nice surprise :)

I saw the two sable antelope calves and this time they were up on their feet, running around the paddock, which was nice to see.

I have already uploaded some photos to the gallery.
 
As I visted the day after mhale, I don't have too much other than personal experience to report. This wasn't the greatest visit I've had; I expected it to be crowded as it was the very rare thing of a gloriously sunny Bank Holiday Monday, so I kind of expected that. What I didn't expect was having the back of my rucksack drop-bombed by a rook outside the warthogs, leaving me to carry it in one hand during the day which was irritating, as not even the tissue seemed to wipe it off. Then, whilst walking away from the anteaters, along comes round two splattering right down my arm. Fortunately, it covered the part that was covered by my rolled-up shirt sleeves, but it still cued a few swearwords in front of the bank holiday crowds. :rolleyes: Ah well, least it means double good luck! :p
Anyway, I saw the black wildebeest for the first time today, and what handsome beasts they are. When I had my back turned to look at the coatis, I turned back to see that the cow had crept up right behind me, and was measuring me up from the fence. And I noticed that after she urinated the bull came up to sniff it and pull faces, testing it to see if she's in season. Here's hoping. :) Later on, I also got the giraffe house to myself breifly with the whole herd inside, and managed to stroke Isabella's snout. :) And the amphibian centre stock is nearing completetion, with Puerto Rican Crested Toads, Blue-thighed Dart Frogs and Golden Mantellas now on show. Only ones left to go up now are the Danube Crested Newts.
 
Here are today's observations from Marwell:

1) The separate pen for the mother rhea and her chicks is now open so that they can explore the whole paddock, but I didn't see all of the chicks
2) The pygmy hippos aren't able to go into their paddocks at the moment as the fencing around the outside of the paddocks (next to the railway line) is being replaced
3) A keeper said that Hercules and Xena the warthogs have had to be separated so that they don't have anymore young, as there isn't room for them. Xena is living with their daughter at the front of the house, and Hercules is living with their two sons at the back of the house
4) The keeper also said that the two new female Rothschild's giraffes will be coming from Holland (but don't know when), then the herd will be separated into two groups, with one group in the paddock and the other in the African Valley
5) The enclosure for the rock hyrax is now empty (don't know where they've gone)
6) Kiska and Akin the amur leopards had been swapped round again, with Kiska in the smaller enclosure
7) Two of the enclosures in Aridlands are still empty
8) The green netting has been removed from the back of the black wildebeest's hardstanding, so the only remaining netting is between them and Josef the Chapman's zebra stallion next door
9) The golden lion tamarin walkthrough is still closed (no idea why)
10) The enclosure for the large group of red ruffed lemurs is still empty and now the enclosure for the group of black and white ruffed lemurs is also empty (the signs have been removed) :(
11) The two ostrich chicks in the old pudu house are still kept indoors
 
Does that mean the warthogs are taking turns to use the outside paddock, and is the split just while she is in season or is this a permanent thing?

Thats very odd about the lemurs, lets hope its just a temporary move or something.
 
Yes, the warthogs are taking turns to use the outside enclosure. The keeper implied that this was a permanent move, as they wish to keep the three offspring along with the parents. If money permits at some point, the enclosure may be extended, but obviously there are other things that crop up that use up the funds so this may not happen for quite a while. It's a shame that Hercules and Xena are separated, but at least they have their offspring for company.

I am at a complete loss as to what is happening in World of Lemurs. I thought maybe the red ruffed lemurs were off-show so that the roof netting could be replaced in their outdoor enclosure (after the great escape), but nothing seems to have happened, and now with the black and white ruffeds disappearing as well, I am wondering what is going on.
 
Perhaps there carrying out larger renovations? Another possible theory would be phasing them out and keeping rarer species; they are fairly common in zoos.

Personally, if the new cheetah enclosure is be on a different site, I think they should move the warthogs there if the cheetahs move exhibit. If they included the path running between the cheetahs and servals as well, this could create a large exhibit where the animals could be seperated and have outdoor access at the same time.
 
Unfortunately the bus that takes me to Marwell has changed to its winter timetable, meaning I can't get to Marwell until next February when it changes back to summer. (Odd times if you ask me to change 'summer' and 'winter' timetables, but hey ho).

So yeah, no more contributions from me unless I happen to go with friends.

Pity, I've really enjoyed this summer. I must have visited Marwell more times this year than I have my entire life.
 
Same here. I just wish I could change the thread title to 'My Marwell Updates', as I now visit two or three times a month in addition to my oryx club meetings. I've got one of them this Sunday btw, so you can expect another update in a few days.

How long till you hear any results from your keeper interview?
 
Yeah, it'll probably a few years till I get a keeper place somewhere. :D

Kay, my inbox has been cleared. :)
 
For reasons I won't explain, I won't be posting updates given at Oryx Club, and it'll just be observations.

20/9/09:

- The nursery pen in the Rhea/Capybara paddock has been removed and the chicks are now mingling with the larger inhabitants.
- Work on the hippo fencing has finished, and the tapirs are now confined to their house and yard whilst work begins on their paddock's fences.
- Into Africa had some scaffolding on the front whilst what I believe was paint work was going on. It certainly seems a quiet place now, with the giraffes in the valley, the sable antelope in the paddock and the hyraxes all dead.
- With the giraffes finally all going into the valley, the bongo have been able to use their paddock again.
- The arabian oryx have been moved again, this time to one of the Hartmann's Zebra yards.
- Kiska is still present.
- The ostrich chicks have grown very fast as ostriches do, and are now about the size of rheas.
- As has been reported, I saw the whole giraffe herd in the African Valley today: The cows and young were in the far west of the valley, whilst Kismet mingled with a few zebras in the Eastern Half, quite close to where I ate my lunch. At one point, the ostriches even charged at the giraffes and sent them running! With all the appropiate animals in there the valley looked very good.
- Another Dorcas Gazelle Calf was born last Wednesday.
- The Snake and Hedgehog enclosures in Aridlands are still empty. It looked like a bomb had dropped in the former bull snake pen, there was a mallet in there and rocks were hacked to pieces.
- A plastic bag had been dropped into the meerkat enclosure and the animals were really squabbling over it. I overheard many "I'll go and tell a keeper..", so I trusted that they had been informed.
- Some landscaping work is going on along the yew tree bank outside the Hall, and this includes the old Nocturnal House, which has been pulled apart after nearly two years of closure.
- The ruffed lemur enclosures are still empty, though I couldn't find a keeper to ask about it as I intended to.
- The Takin House is currently closed for maitenance.
 
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