Paignton Zoo Paignton Zoo News 2019

TriUK said:
Hmm, this would give staff an opportunity to redevelop the outdoor enclosure finally. I wonder if the Colobus would be better suited to the current Spider Monkey or Mandrill areas?.
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It looks as though they've started taking apart the climbing equipment inside the mangabey house, as well as having dismantled the outside area a while ago. The mangabeys and the Dianas swapped homes a few years ago but I can't quite remember why now - the mangabeys didn't get on with the macaques possibly??

Great news on the subject of the Dianas - male, Toby, has been mixed with the two females and today they were sitting closely together and he was being groomed rather than assaulted :) Fingers crossed for them at last!
 
I wasn't planning to write about a fairly quick visit today. Quite a lot of school parties around, but I saw no poor behaviour; I did take a quick look at the bookings list outside the Education Centre - nearly 1000 children in are due in this week so I hope they are all as good as today's. I am pleased to say that Gambira (orang) was looking quite well, but still separated from the others, and that Toby (Diana) was getting along well with the females. The real news is that there is a baby howler monkey, which surprised me as its little brother born last year is still quite small. All baby howlers look like little old men with long tails.
 
gentle lemur said:
I wasn't planning to write about a fairly quick visit today. Quite a lot of school parties around, but I saw no poor behaviour; The real news is that there is a baby howler monkey, which surprised me as its little brother born last year is still quite small. All baby howlers look like little old men with long tails.
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School parties - I won't mention what I saw then! Good news about the baby howler monkey, which I didn't spot. Pablo was born on 8 June last year.

I see there has been some rehousing in Monkey Heights. The squirrel monkeys have moved to the emperor tamarin enclosure and the golden lion tamarin is in their old quarters. I didn't spot them, but presumably the emperor tamarins have moved into the former golden lion tamarin/saki enclosure. There was a dish of food in there. As mentioned before, the mangabeys are in the colobus enclosure and work is being done in theirs. The colobus aren't on show.
 
Gigit said:
I see there has been some rehousing in Monkey Heights. The squirrel monkeys have moved to the emperor tamarin enclosure and the golden lion tamarin is in their old quarters. I didn't spot them, but presumably the emperor tamarins have moved into the former golden lion tamarin/saki enclosure. There was a dish of food in there.
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I've now seen the emperor tamarins in that enclosure.

Word has it that there will be 12 schools in tomorrow :eek:
 
This week is Bee Week at the zoo and there's an interesting display in the Education Centre. We should all be looking out for, and reporting sightings of, Vespa Velutina, the Asian Hornet, an invasive non-native species from Asia. As a highly effective predator of insects, including honey bees and other beneficial species, it can cause significant losses to bee colonies, other native species and potentially ecosystems. The first 2019 sighting was in June in New Milton, Hampshire.
 
Gigit said:
This week is Bee Week at the zoo and there's an interesting display in the Education Centre. We should all be looking out for, and reporting sightings of, Vespa Velutina, the Asian Hornet, an invasive non-native species from Asia. As a highly effective predator of insects, including honey bees and other beneficial species, it can cause significant losses to bee colonies, other native species and potentially ecosystems. The first 2019 sighting was in June in New Milton, Hampshire.
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It has a chiefly black body with a yellow band on the end I think, as against the yellow/black wasp- like bars of the usual native one. I saw an absolute giant of the usual sort today while looking for Purple Emperor butterfly.
 
Pertinax said:
It has a chiefly black body with a yellow band on the end I think, as against the yellow/black wasp- like bars of the usual native one. I saw an absolute giant of the usual sort today while looking for Purple Emperor butterfly.
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Yes, and a bit smaller than the native one - we were shown a pickled specimen.
 
Very sad news: Duchess, the zoo's African elephant, has died. She will be sorely missed.

From the Paignton Zoo facebook page:

"We are utterly devastated to announce the death of Duchess, our African elephant, earlier today.
Keepers found her collapsed in her enclosure early this morning, and after being assessed by our veterinary team, we took the difficult decision to euthanise her on humanitarian grounds.
We do not know the cause at this time; further details will be released once we receive the results of the post mortem examination.
Duchess was a much loved character at the Zoo and will be extremely missed by everyone."
 
Very sad news :( condolences to the staff and Paignton regulars
 
Duchess 10/7/19

Duchess 10/7/19

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The last photo, she sadly died 4 days later and will be sorely missed!
Giant Panda said:
Very sad news: Duchess, the zoo's African elephant, has died. She will be sorely missed.

From the Paignton Zoo facebook page:

"We are utterly devastated to announce the death of Duchess, our African elephant, earlier today.
Keepers found her collapsed in her enclosure early this morning, and after being assessed by our veterinary team, we took the difficult decision to euthanise her on humanitarian grounds.
We do not know the cause at this time; further details will be released once we receive the results of the post mortem examination.
Duchess was a much loved character at the Zoo and will be extremely missed by everyone."
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Very sad news. I'm glad I got to see her one last time just 4 days before she died.
 
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Giant Panda said:
Very sad news: Duchess, the zoo's African elephant, has died. She will be sorely missed.

From the Paignton Zoo facebook page:

"We are utterly devastated to announce the death of Duchess, our African elephant, earlier today.
Keepers found her collapsed in her enclosure early this morning, and after being assessed by our veterinary team, we took the difficult decision to euthanise her on humanitarian grounds.
We do not know the cause at this time; further details will be released once we receive the results of the post mortem examination.
Duchess was a much loved character at the Zoo and will be extremely missed by everyone."
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Very sad news, my condolences to her keepers and all connections. How old was Duchess?
 
Embu said:
Very sad news, my condolences to her keepers and all connections. How old was Duchess?
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The African elephant "Duchess" arrived at Paignton Zoo, from Longleat, in 1977. I think she was about forty-nine years old.
 
The Hedgehog said:
Rip Duchess I always loved seeing you and I'll never forget you!

Will Paington zoo be getting more elephants
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To put it simply, I don’t think so. Duchess was the last of a long history with elephants for Paignton but I would think that, if anything, they’ll use the space she filled for more giraffe holding.
I too will miss her, she was a real character :(
 
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Very sad, and an end of an era for Paignton.

I did a Keeper Experience over 10 years ago, which included working with Duchess and her stablemate Gay. The staff said there were no plans for elephants in the zoo’s longterm plans once the pair passed away. There was mention of Gaur as a replacement.
 
When the Savannah was still part of the future, white rhino were supposed to replace Duchess. The enclosure is suitable for two elephant cows but not for a bull, so the current thinking on holding elephants wouldn't allow them to continue.
 
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