Colchester Zoo Past Animals Kept By Colchester Zoo

[Pertinax]

The Blackbuck arrived with Pair of Waterbuck,and Bactrian Camels in around 1983 from Marwell and ZSL

Well that's interesting as Marwell's very first pair of Blackbuck came from Colchester! These were handraised animals originally from ZSL and the buck was pugnacious as a result. This pair + one male offspring were later sent to Paignton Zoo.

Marwell also received 1.5 Blackbuck from Copenhagen- a male offspring of the original(ZSL/Colchester) pair was also kept so the ones that went back to Colchester may have been partly related to their original ones.

Do you know where Marwell's Blackbuck went when they stopped keeping them. Was it Cotswold by any chance?

 

[hantslad]

Blackbuck

Sorry were still there when i moved to Howletts and Port Lympne in the mid 8o,s and i belive they had gone when i returned in the early 90,s.

 

[Pertinax]

I have some 1960s and 1970s broshes/newspaper clippings. Animals not mentioned yet are:
Owl-faced Monkey

Did they definately have this species? Are there any further details such as when, how many and if they bred?

 

[Goretex]

I got this Pertinax from a newspaper report from Colchester Zoo in 1967.

"Many new Monkeys have arrived includeing a pair of Mandrills, de brazas Monkeys and an Owl-faced Monkey."

There was also a brand new Monkey house built at that time and a picture in bw of it. Very old fashined style building and now completely demolished. "A view of the new Monkey house specially desighned and constructed to give the Monkeys the max amount of comfort and space in both indoor and outdoor runs."

Does anyone know anything about early Monkeys at the zoo? And their enclosures? Was the old Orangutan enclousure origannally part of it.

 

[Pertinax]

early Monkeys at the zoo? And their enclosures? Was the old Orangutan enclousure origannally part of it.

I don't remember the Monkey house referred to here. But the Orangutans were housed somewhere else if I remember correctly- a den plus bare wire-meshed concrete run but I can't remember whereabouts it was.

I'd be interested to know more about those early Mandrills. I don't think(but not absolutely sure) they were founders of the current large group which are descended from one male and two females from the London & Southport groups.

 

[MARK]

I don't remember the Monkey house referred to here. But the Orangutans were housed somewhere else if I remember correctly- a den plus bare wire-meshed concrete run but I can't remember whereabouts it was.

Yes you are quite right the Orangs were kept in a concrete pen but with thick steel bars.

I'd be interested to know more about those early Mandrills. I don't think(but not absolutely sure) they were founders of the current large group which are descended from one male and two females from the London & Southport groups.

I saw the Mandrills there in the early 70s they even had them back then.

They also had the worlds largest Lion Simba weighting at 847lbs . He was a huge cat, his keeper used to go in the pen and feed him a bottle of milk.

 

[Pertinax]

Maybe the orangutans had more than one enclosure. I know the one I saw only had strong mesh on the outdoor area. but they died before they were adult and were later replaced by the now famous 'Rajang' (the Ist birth at Chester but later found to be hybrid)

 

[MARK]

The Brown bears were also kept in a concrete pen very much like the Orangs were, just a concrete box with nothing inside for them, very poor conditions then.

 

[johnstoni]

The latter Orang-Utan enclosure was where the new tropical house will be built. I believe the former exhibit for the orangs is currently holding storks? The indoor house for that enclosure is basically like a concrete bunker, very low ceiling and maybe a window on one side, not much light, with a concrete or maybe thick wooden shelf. This was the indoor quarters for Rajang and the original female he was paired with. The outdoor cage was demolished and rebuilt in the late 1980s I think. The old cage they had was concrete floored, again with a fairly low ceiling of quite sturdy bars, and I think the visitor side had some windows.

The other enclosures for large primates from this time were built around this, I remember gibbons and possibly a mandrill or hamadrayas baboon around 1983 in concrete-and-metal cages adjacent to the orang-utans.

The bears were indeed in wire cages, however they were kept fairly active being able to beg for food from visitors. I never saw stereotpyed behaviour until the glass-fronted exhibits were completed, by which time they had one, elderly syrian brown bear female and the pair of himalayan black bears. At the time, these enclosures seemed naturalistic and a vast improvement.

 

[Pertinax]

.

The other enclosures for large primates from this time were built around this, I remember gibbons and possibly a mandrill or hamadrayas baboon around 1983 in concrete-and-metal cages adjacent to the orang-utans.

I have several Colchester postards from that era- Hamadryas baboons, bear cubs etc and they all seem to have similar weldmesh backgrounds and concrete floors to the cages. I only went once or twice in the early years and was far from impressed. But the current owners have massively upgraded the zoo, even if some of the enclosures are not exactly to my taste...

 

[James27]

Has anyone got any pictures of the bear cages? They sound interesting.

 

[Pertinax]

For a while at least; I am pretty sure they had a couple of asiatic elephants as well - maybe one was a young bull (one had very visible tusks). I presume this was in the old elephant house before Tanya and Zola, (saw this on the cover of a guide book on ebay a few months ago).

I have a postcard of them which is probably the same photo as you saw on the Guide book.

 

[Goretex]

Thank you people for the info on early primates.

There's a report on the Asian Elepahnt from I think 1967. There names were "Moto" and "Toto". They were both 3. The picture is probably the same as on that guide book.

As well as that Monkey house of which I'll have to put on the photo of it some time soon the old Elepant enclosure was built then. "Our Elephants have just had a beautifull new house spcially desighned for them and we hope that they will perhaps one day breed."

 

[DesertRhino150]

I have been looking through older photographs from Colchester Zoo on Flickr and have found these two images that I found to be quite interesting.

The two pictures are from September 1973, and I think they both show a dusky pademelon. I am just wondering if that is an accurate identification?

Looks like a wallaby 2012-01-29_4
That wallaby again 2012-01-29_5

 

[Prochilodus246]

I would say so, and Zootierliste also has an entry for a former holding of the species.

 

[DesertRhino150]

I have just received a guidebook of the zoo from 1972 - I am currently planning a thread on the history of species at Colchester Zoo, and this will be used to help inform that (expect the thread to start during 2024). But there is one animal mentioned in there that I want to clarify first.

So, almost every animal mentioned in the guidebook roughly corresponds to an enclosure on the map included on the inside front cover. The main exception is that the primate section of the book includes reference to the Western lowland gorilla - however, all the apes and monkeys in the zoo (save the gibbons) are listed in one area of the map, presumably the relatively new Monkey House. The gorilla is only written about, with no pictures, but that is true of a lot of the other species in the guidebook.

I was just wondering if anyone had further information to support the idea that Colchester once had a gorilla in its collection around this time?

 

[Pertinax]

Never had a gorilla to my knowledge...

 

[Dassie rat]

I've never heard of a gorilla at Colchester and there is no record of one in ZTL

 

[Tim May]

I am currently planning a thread on the history of species at Colchester Zoo......

Good. I look forward to seeing this thread; I'm sure it will be very interesting.

I was just wondering if anyone had further information to support the idea that Colchester once had a gorilla in its collection around this time?

Never had a gorilla to my knowledge...

I've never heard of a gorilla at Colchester and there is no record of one in ZTL

I've neither seen nor heard of a gorilla at Colchester Zoo; I don't believe there ever was one. It should be noted that the on-line Gorilla Studbook does not list gorilla at Colchester Zoo.