Colchester Zoo New Species Arrive At Colchester Zoo From The RSCC

My top ten species would be:

2. Fijian banded iguana (Another interesting reptile species wouldn't go amiss)
4. Little red flying fox (Colchester could really do with even a small nocturnal house, and these would be excellent additions)
5. Toco toucan (I really miss the old keel-billed toucans, and these birds are the next best thing)
6. Golden mantella (I think Colchester really should get involved with amphibian conservation- Paignton's amphibian area is simply fantastic)
7. Black-and-rufous elephant-shrew (Would look really good in the Kingdom of the Wild)

None of these species are currently held at RSCC so are not going to find their way from Sandwich to Colchester.
 
None of these species are currently held at RSCC so are not going to find their way from Sandwich to Colchester.

Sorry about that. I found them on the RSCC website, so I just made the assumption that they were kept there.

Also, just out of interest. Does anyone else think that, with a few extra climbing opportunities, the enclosure currently housing binturongs, small-clawed otters and leaf monkeys would make a good sun bear enclosure?
 
1. Owston's palm civet (Colchester really need to get in on the action with this amazing animal- plus I love Indochinese animals, and this is perhaps the greatest of them all)
10. Ground cuscus (Because they desperately need to beef up their current marsupial collection)

They would be my choice. The Jaguarundi would be a nice addition, but space would be the issue there.
 
Colchester has just housed animals 'passing through' before so wheher they are staying or just temporary resident's it brilliant to be able to see new species at the zoo :D

With the South American walkthrough finished this will free up 2 enclosures - the old sloth and Marmoset walkthrough and the Tamandua enclosure, maybe we could have some more temporary residents in them :p (Not necessarily as a walkthrough!!!)

Exciting times for Colchester although hope this does not delay the start on the Tropical exhibit!!
 
You missed the worst one - the Patas Monkey exhibit. I like visiting Colchester for all its faults but that really is dire.


Anywho, back to the topic at hand. Looks like Colchester is the major beneficiary of the run-down of the RSCC - that temporary bear exhibit should be interesting...

I hate the patas monkey enclosure too. Have seen some distressing behaviours in the past from these animals:(. Shame they moved them in the first place as they used to be housed on the site of the squirel monkey enclosure in a fairly large enlcosure. The pygmy hippo enclosure is not my favourite either!

IMO i think that the zoo will hold onto the sun bears as they treat their collection like stamps (or pokemon, got to have them all!:D) But i really hope it wont be a temporary enclosure that is used for years, took nearly 10 years for the new orang enclosure to come to fruition!

IMO the zoo needs expanding badly, i struggle to think of anywhere a new sun bear enclosure could be built, unless they do on the site of the old bear enclosures (that i belived was ear marked for an australian theme however?:confused:)
 
I hate the patas monkey enclosure too. Have seen some distressing behaviours in the past from these animals:(. Shame they moved them in the first place as they used to be housed on the site of the squirel monkey enclosure in a fairly large enlcosure.

IMO i think that the zoo will hold onto the sun bears as they treat their collection like stamps (or pokemon, got to have them all!:D)

The Patas used to number up to a dozen in their old enclosure- quite a large group for this (nowadays) rarely kept species. Now they seem to have dwindled to about 3 and I agree the enclosure is highly unsuitable. They would look far better kept in (even a small) open grassy enclosure with a couple of vantage points, as they are an open savanah-dwelling monkey.

They do rather keep a 'stamp collection' but its a very good one...Bears are also a new species for them again now so I agree they will almost certainly stay.
 
7. Black-and-rufous elephant-shrew (Would look really good in the Kingdom of the Wild)

None of these species are currently held at RSCC so are not going to find their way from Sandwich to Colchester.

There's been a small debate about RSCC still having this species, and the last thing i heared was that they probably still hold this species behind the scenes? It was also put in "former holding" on Zootierliste and later put back by someone saying "still kept behind the scenes".

Do you have any information about this species being kept at RSCC at all, numbers, ratio's, anything?

Edit: just noticed they have been put back to "former holding" in Zootierliste...
 
The Sun Bears will be staying. The facebook page says they will be in the Old Orang Enclosure temporarily whilst a £375,000 enclosure is built for them, although at the moment I'm not really sure where they will go.
 
Great news Roz :D

Although I want to see the 'planting' plans before I cough up any more money to build 'forest' enclosures lol :p

£375,000 doesn't sound that much so maybe they are adapting another enclosure rather than starting from scratch given the terrain and lack of space they have?

Personally I would like to see them nick some of the car park down by the tigers as i feel this is a rather empty 'dull' part of the zoo and I rarely bother to go and see the philippine deer :eek: and they seem to have expanded the carpark outwards anyway!! And it flattish! And would be easy to fence off for access for some major building work of a fantastic 'planted', loads of climbing space, sun bear enclosure :D

I may then risk buying another brick!!:rolleyes:
 
Although I want to see the 'planting' plans before I cough up any more money to build 'forest' enclosures lol :p

A 'SunBear Forest'? ;) ;)D What's the betting there'll still be plenty of fake rockwork and that 'honeycombe' timbering they use a lot of. (as in 'Mangabey Forest')

I can warn Colchester now- Sunbears are pretty destructive- they'll tunnel into anything that isn't concrete floored- and rip up paving or fake rock(!) too if they can get their claws under it!
 
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Like someone said in a previous post the old bear enclosures could be knocked down/modified for the sun bears. Theres very little space that could be used unless they used parts of the car park as was suggested.

I wonder if getting the sun bears was a last minute decision for the zoo?

Ok lets give the creative minds at Colchester some inspiration and give them some ideas of what to call the new enclousure, lol.
 
WOW!!!!!!!!

I really must say this is something big!:cool: I really do hope that wherever this new exhibit will be I hope it will be good and be done quickly for the animals. The old orangutan enclosure is much too small for sun bears I feel.

BTW regarding the Patas monkeys their enclosure is pretty bad. I personally think they should sell there gelada babboons and use that area for the patas monkeys. What do you guys think?
 
WOW!!!!!!!!
BTW regarding the Patas monkeys their enclosure is pretty bad. I personally think they should sell there gelada babboons and use that area for the patas monkeys. What do you guys think?

Colchester has Gelada? Ans sell them?
 
Colchester have a lovely group of Geladas, Paix, over by the lemur islands. The alpha male is called Junior.

I personally like the Geladas and the patas monkeys so wouldn't like to see any of them leave the collection.
 
Although I don't like the enclosure, Colchester's Gelada group are a much better display than the Patas, which are only few in number now.

I would prefer to see the Patas moved to a better (open) enclosure in the 'Edge of Africa' area- the Geladas too but I think its unlikely they'll move in the short term.
 
Colchester have a lovely group of Geladas, Paix, over by the lemur islands. The alpha male is called Junior.

I personally like the Geladas and the patas monkeys so wouldn't like to see any of them leave the collection.

Ahh yes I remember! Just to check, is this near the Meerkats?
 
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