Dudley Zoological Gardens New Arrivals and Births and Updates

adrian1963

adrian1963

Well-Known Member
I thought with so much bad news coming from my local zoo that I would try and look on the bright side and give a list of new arrivals at the zoo this year.
The list consists of births and arrivals from other zoos/parks I have not listed the animals in the Discovery Centre as I didn’t go in there on my last visit and write down what they have in the Discovery Centre these days
3X Pygmy Marmosets, 2X Goeldis Marmosets, 1X Squirrel Monkey, 2X Barbary Sheep
2X Chickens, 1X Male Rothchilds Giraffe, 8X Humboldts Penguin, 7X Meerkats,
1X Parma or White Throated Wallaby, 4X Little Egrets, 2X Scops White Faced Owl,
1X Barbarusa, 2X Cameroon Sheep, 4X Short Clawed Otters, 1X Chinese Goose*,
1X Embden Goose*, 1X Timor Monitor*, 1X Royal Python*, 1X Red Tailed Boa*,
6X African Spurred Tortoise, 1X Albino South American Ornate Horned Frog,
4X Emperor Tamarin, 1X Burmese Rock Python*

* This denotes animals given to the zoo by members of the public

With the upgrading of the fence around the Chimpanzee enclosure now on the agenda we can only hope that a male can be found for the group of females they have

They are in constant contact with the stud book holders for the Rothchild Giraffes and the Snow Leopard and hope to have good news on both fronts very shortly.

The Primate House refurbishments are now at an advanced stage and they hope to have a group of Maques in by the end of the year at the latest, these will be followed by a group of Spider Monkeys and then a new the Primate house will be home to smaller species of monkey.

The Rothchild Mynah birds appear to have chicks as on my last visit both parents were busy taking food into the nest box

They have now started work on the Otter Enclosure so I think it won't be long before they are moved out of Monkey Tails and put back in thier original enclosure

Phase 2 of the Orangutan House developement is to start this winter
 
It appears to be the refurbishment of the front of the enclosure including the moat
and one of the dreadful white walls will be removed and more climbing equipment installed.
Phase 3 will be the extension to the side of the enclosure this will take the enclosure into the Wild dog enclosure upto the old night quarters gor the lions
(I don't mean the Orangutans will be in the enclosure with the Wild dogs).
 
adrian1963 said:
With the upgrading of the fence around the Chimpanzee enclosure now on the agenda we can only hope that a male can be found for the group of females they have
Click to expand...

I hope they try to source more than a single male. Two or even three would be a more natural combination and a better balance to the existing female group which is now long established. A single male(even an adult one) on his own may well be completely intimidated by them and kept in a lowranking position, which isn't how it should be.
 
The way the keeper was talking they are going to have three males coming in and hopefully this will as you said make the group more natural at long last.
 
As much as I disliked the starkness of the orang utan enclosure it will be a shame if they alter the structure as I think this will spoil the design! Dont all yell at me at once :rolleyes:

Unless they manage to keep the design and mean the removal of a central wall or the right side enclosure this will still gives the impression of a curved wall but won't look much better or give much more room??!

The other side the left hand enclosure which is the one the are expanding they could just cut a doorway in the wall!!?

I would much rather they filled in the moat or bridged it and expanded into the viewing area and then moved the viewing to above than knocked down walls.
 
karenZOO said:
As much as I disliked the starkness of the orang utan enclosure it will be a shame if they alter the structure as I think this will spoil the design! Dont all yell at me at once :rolleyes:

I would much rather they filled in the moat or bridged it and expanded into the viewing area and then moved the viewing to above than knocked down walls.
Click to expand...

The problem with Dudley's Ape House is that whatever they do to it, its always going to retain its overall 'sixties' look. They have already removed one dividing wall and each time they remove more sections it makes its overall appearance more 'unbalanced' than before. Of course I'm all for anything which will give the Orangs more space/climbing area.

My own choice would be;
1.fill in the moat to give more land space to the enclosures.
2. COVER THE FRONT, SIDES AND TOP ALL WITH MESH- creating an enormous cage which would lessen the effect of the highwall backdrop and HUGELY increase the climbing areas for the Orangs- in a way no changes to the existing open area can ever hope to compete with. However, that's probably far too much of a major change to ever expect them to be able to achieve with their finance problems and 'do it yourself' alterations(not knocking that incidentally- they are to be applauded for what they've done so far). But as a result of those constraints, I foresee a more cosmetic improvement which will allow for more climbing facilities to be installed, but won't change the overall spatial use of the enclosure for the Orangutans in the way enclosing it would.
 
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