Paignton Zoo Paignton/Living Coasts

Zebra News from the local 'Herald Express'

Bingo given help to earn his stripes with the ladies

PULLING POWER: Paignton Zoo's veterinary team work on Bingo the zebra, working on his teeth and hooves to make him more attractive to the female of the species

A STALLION zebra at Paignton Zoo has had a beauty makeover to make him more attractive to the female zebras.

Bingo, a 15-year-old Hartmann's mountain zebra, had work done on his teeth and his hooves to give him more pulling power with the mares in preparation for a big move to Hampshire.

Curator of mammals Neil Bemment said Bingo is on the move to pastures new at Marwell Zoo with a hope of boosting his breeding success to help save the species.

"Bingo is moving on because, for whatever reason, he hasn't taken to our two females," Mr Bemment said.

He revealed a new French stallion is coming to Paignton to hopefully have more success with mares Taru, eight, and Goma, four.

On Bingo's failure to earn his stripes with the ladies, Mr Bemment said: "It happens. Or it may just be that they are all fairly inexperienced.

"There is a lack of available males in the European endangered species programme.

"We need more foals than we are getting to increase the population. Bingo is being moved on to see if he fares better with Marwell's females."

He was anaesthetised by zoo vet Ghislaine Sayers and his hooves were checked and trimmed while dental work included the extraction of one tooth.

She said: "It all went very smoothly.

"Afterwards he made a very good recovery. He needed dental treatment so it was a good opportunity to check his feet, too.

"He had a problem with a tooth on one side of his mouth leading to uneven grinding of the molars which became progressively worse once an unequal bite was established."

The session brought together a range of experts, including the equine dentistry team from Bristol Veterinary School, Dartmoor farrier Robbie Richardson, anaesthetist Louise Harvey and vet Ian Sayers from Abbotskerswell Veterinary Group.

The work was co-ordinated by Paignton Zoo's own vet team and Mr Bemment.
 
But is he a proven breeder? He's getting on a bit so he may have been previously before going to Paignton, I don't know.

If he's failed to mate unrelated mares at Paignton, there could be a question of whether he will at Marwell, though different husbandry techniques sometimes get results too.
 
Mandrill Death

From the local Herald Express (dated 11/5/10 but this happened a couple of weeks ago)

Zoo mourns magnificent mandrill


ONE of Paignton Zoo's most impressive resident mammals has been put to sleep after being found to have damage to his brain.

Twenty-two-year-old male mandrill Brutusz had been at the zoo since November 1996 and was the father of six youngsters.

Curator of mammals Neil Bemment said: "He was found in a very disorientated state and it was clear that something major had happened.

"The vets anaesthetised him and performed a thorough examination, gave him fluids and took blood samples.

"He was a magnificent animal, with his stunning colouring of white and blue and red on his face and rump and his huge canine teeth."

Mandrills usually live for around 20 years in the wild and up to 25 in zoos.

Acting senior mammal keeper Lucy Manning said: "Brutusz was very special: an excellent alpha male, tolerant of his females and youngsters. Despite his fearsome appearance, he was a gentle soul. He did his bit for conservation breeding."

"We gave him time to see if he recovered but there was no improvement.

"We won't know if he had a stroke or a brain haemorrhage until test results come back."
 
TriGB said:
The Marabou Stork aviary is really taking shape next to Gibbon Island.
The 'word on the street' is that the new curator of birds does not want any bird in the collection/s to be pinnioned i.e. all birds must have access to flight. Subsequently, further sections of the lake will be netted over for pelicans and geese. Flamingoes, cranes etc - I'm unsure?
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The two Marabou Storks are now in their new netted aviary at the edge of the lake, and I was interested to see that one of them has not been pinioned.
 
Can someone please tell me the names of the current 1:1 Cheetah please?
 
Gigit said:
The two Marabou Storks are now in their new netted aviary at the edge of the lake, and I was interested to see that one of them has not been pinioned.
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I am glad the new Bird Curator has taken this step. It is better for the birds, less stressful and increases breeding prospects significantly (after all there will be Bird Import restrictions in the EC/Balai Directive to come soon).
 
I always feel its wrong when birds wings are clipped or Pinioned as it removes a function that was thousands of years in the making.

In my view Its almost the equivelant to chopping one of a primates hands off to stop it climbing out of an enclosure and am just glad paignton are taking these steps to remove the practise.

I dont believe it to be quite as bad within waterfowl (although it still isnt right), but what i cant stand is seeing parrots with it done, where the birds are sat in a crap open topped enclosure with just network of branches or ropes. For such intelligent animals i always find it rather sad.
 
Gavin123 said:
I dont believe it to be quite as bad within waterfowl (although it still isnt right), but what i cant stand is seeing parrots with it done, where the birds are sat in a crap open topped enclosure with just network of branches or ropes. For such intelligent animals i always find it rather sad.
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I thought the same too- until I kept some pinioned ducks. I soon became aware just how important flight is even to swimming birds- the third dimension of their lives (walking/swimming/flying)is completely removed. Yet they still want to fly. I am increasingly against this practise in all birds.

As for Parrots, Flamingoes, Storks etc, anyone who has seen the wild birds in flight (or film of them) will know what they are missing by being pinioned. Wild Parrots in particular, travel(flying) long distances over the Forest canopy in their daily lives. I agree that seeing Macaws as you describe above is a very poor experience and they always look pathetic, but even some of the better Zoos still exhibit them like this- Colchester, Cotswold, even Jersey(or did till recently).

In the past, several bird gardens had free-flying Macaws but this seems a less common practise nowadays- too many losses of valuable birds? But free-flying Bird Shows demonstrate a similar way Macaws can be exhibited in captivity. Even a large freeflight Aviary is a better option.
 
Pertinax said:
Colchester, Cotswold, even Jersey(or did till recently)
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The colchester birds were the exact ones i had in mind when making the comment, but as i keep on being critical of the zoo i didnt want to say anything more nasty :D Longleat are hardly great with their bird show parrots either, ownly giving them about 3 foot of a branch, so at least colchesters probably get a good 30 foot!

They do the same at Birdworld (or did a couple of years ago), i remember one time one of the brirds was on the ground and couldnt get back up onto its perches. The practice definantly should be abolished in zoos.

I also dont like how many birds of prey are kept in zoos that are used for display purposes. i.e. teathered to a small perch/astroturf style platform. But thats a whole new kettle of fish!:eek:
 
Gavin123 said:
They do the same at Birdworld (or did a couple of years ago) The practice definantly should be abolished in zoos.

I also dont like how many birds of prey are kept in zoos that are used for display purposes. i.e. teathered to a small perch/astroturf style platform. But thats a whole new kettle of fish!:eek:
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I'm surprised Birdworld (the one at Farnham?) do this as I thought they were a reputable bird collection.
I agree its bad practise but I've seen it many times. On the other hand, I can remember freeflying Macaws at the following;

Hayle Bird Garden, Cornwall
Bourton on the Water, Gloucestershire.
Rode Tropical Bird Garden(now closed) nr Bath.

There were probably several others too but maybe not any more.

At Bourton on the Water the Macaws were called in each evening and they roosted in Barrels in the trees, each pair returning to its own barrel for the night where they were locked in for safety (a very long pole was used to secure the latch on each barrels' little sliding barred door) and the birds released again next morning.

I don't know if any of these places have free-fliers anymore- macaws do have a tendency to get lost, especially in high winds etc. and they are too expensive to loose that way.

I have never liked Bird of Prey displays (the static part that is, not the flying part). I know it is normal falconry practise to keep hawks/falcons tethered on their 'blocks' at ground level, but the birds must want to get up higher as in the wild they only land on the ground to catch prey. I suppose 'trained' falcons are used to this to an extent, but I still don't like seeing hawks/eagles/owls(particularly owls) kept like this. Sometimes you see them 'bobbing' which is a sure sign of frustration, that they want to fly up higher but know they can't because they are tethered. This sort of behaviour just gets overlooked.
 
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Pertinax said:
I'm surprised Birdworld (the one at Farnham?) do this as I thought they were a reputable bird collection.
I agree its bad practise but I've seen it many times.
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Yes thats correct, the one at Farnham. But thinking about it, it must be a good 5+ years ago, time just flies by!

But i remember seeing some parrots just passed the entrance that were pinioned.

I also remember on my last visit they had demolished the griffon vulture avairy and built a huge mixed enclosure for all sorts of parrots (cant remember all the species but do remember a hyacinth macaw in it), and the vultures had been pinioned and put in a grassy field with a couple of relatively low to the ground tree trunks to perch on around near the ostrich, rhea, cassowary and emu enclosures.

As i say though its been a few years since i went.
 
Gavin123 said:
Yes thats correct, the one at Farnham. But thinking about it, it must be a good 5+ years ago, time just flies by!

But i remember seeing some parrots just passed the entrance that were pinioned.

I also remember on my last visit they had demolished the griffon vulture avairy and built a huge mixed enclosure for all sorts of parrots (cant remember all the species but do remember a hyacinth macaw in it), and the vultures had been pinioned and put in a grassy field with a couple of relatively low to the ground tree trunks to perch on around near the ostrich, rhea, cassowary and emu enclosures.
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Three pet hates all at one go....:mad:

1. Pinioned(more to be likely to be just feather-clipped?) Parrots.

2. Mixed enclosure of different Parrot/Macaw species- I think they should always be kept by species alone.

3. 'Ground living' vultures- awful.:(
 
Lechwe birth

From Paignton's website:

Rare white antelope born at Paignton Zoo 02/06/2010
A rare white antelope has been born at Paignton Zoo.

The Kafue Flats lechwe calf was born on Sunday 23rd May. She is the first white lechwe born at Paignton Zoo in over 20 years.

Her keepers have named her Sethunya, meaning blossom, because of the hawthorn blossom around the paddock.

Paignton Zoo spokesperson Phil Knowling said: “The lechwe are shy animals in a large paddock and she is very small, so she may be difficult to see - but she is white so she does stand out. She is a naturally-occurring curiosity – and very lovely!”

The youngster’s colouring is due to a double recessive gene that only occurs in females. She is not a true albino as her eyes are blue not pink. She has been examined and micro-chipped by the Zoo vets. Ghislaine Sayers, Head of Veterinary Services at Paignton Zoo, said:

“In the wild this sort of thing makes animals an easy target for predators and they don’t normally reach breeding age, so the gene is not passed on. Zoo animals are more likely to survive but if they bred it would increase the presence of the gene. If we ever re-introduced white lechwe into the wild we would be increasing the presence of this undesirable gene. When she is older we will use a contraceptive implant..”

The Kafue Flats lechwe (Latin name Kobus leche kafuensis) is an antelope found in parts of Botswana, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia, and Angola. It lives on flood plains and grassland. A single youngster is born after a gestation period of 210 days (7 months).

Many white or albino animals lack their protective camouflage and are unable to conceal themselves from predators, so their survival rate in the wild is usually low. Albinos can have health problems including poor eyesight.

The lechwe is threatened by hunting and habitat destruction. The species is classed as Vulnerable, meaning it has been categorised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as likely to become Endangered unless the circumstances threatening its survival and reproduction improve. The Zoo has a small herd made up of one dominant male, two young males and three females.

Copyright Paignton Zoo 2006
 
Paignton???

There have not been many Paignton/Living Coasts updates of late? Has anyone been and noted any developments/changes? I am anxious to know (now I live away from S Devon) how the Gibbons at the end of the Orang Island are doing - i.e. have they been granted access to the island yet or are they still 'couped' up in a glorified aviary - and the Mangebey sitiuation? Are the crocs still being rotated and any news on Duchess the African Ele's health?
Thanks.
 
TriGB said:
There have not been many Paignton/Living Coasts updates of late? Has anyone been and noted any developments/changes? I am anxious to know (now I live away from S Devon) how the Gibbons at the end of the Orang Island are doing - i.e. have they been granted access to the island yet or are they still 'couped' up in a glorified aviary - and the Mangebey sitiuation? Are the crocs still being rotated and any news on Duchess the African Ele's health?
Thanks.
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The situation with the two Gibbons and the Mangabeys is the same. Duchess looks fine - she's been out in the sunshine a lot lately. I haven't been in Croc Swamp for a while as the zoo's been so busy.
 
I can give you a bit of a Living Coasts update:

Octopus Odyssey is now open. It has 4 species living in the exhibit- a fairly large common octopus that can be quite active at the feeding/enrichment session each day, a wonderpus-probably the most active, lesser octopus-these now have eggs on the tank glass and white spotted octopus.

That's the only really big change that's happened this year. There has been lots of breeding over the summer-african penguins, macaroni penguins, inca terns, avocets, redshank, four-eyed fish, big-bellied seahorses (off-show) and there is some breeding going on with the auk species too.

There has been some moving around of animals-5 macaroni penguins have arrived from Twycross zoo, including a hand-reared 1 year old who is becoming a firm favourite with visitors, there are now coral catsharks living in the mangroves area and some of the ducks have moved around with the Barrow's goldeneyes going elsewhere.

I haven't been to Paignton for a few months now (since not long after the maned wolf cubs and the giraffe were born), so can't really update on there.
 
I would be very impressed if they successfully rear any lesser octopus. Unlike more commercial establishments I have worked at, hopefully Living Coasts won't market the hell out of any octopus hatchings as a 'successful captive breeding' unless they actually manage to get them feeding and growing. The female will deteriorate and die after laying eggs unfortunately.
 
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