Colchester Zoo Rhino enclosure
- Thread starter sasha242
- Start date
karenZOO
Well-Known Member
Hi How far do you want to go back?
In my 1966 book no mention of Rhino but the camels were roughly about where the animal theatre/barn is now. There was a line of paddocks that were the border of the zoo (the land which now has kingdom of the wild/spirit of Africa was not part of the zoo then)
1977 camels approximately where the elephant house is. Rhinos approximately where the meerkats are. (I am trying to compare old maps to new)
1980 guidebooks not catalogued and around here somewhere lol
1990 guidebook has no map!! - Rhino and baby camel in guidebook
2000 guidebook no map - just Rhino mentioned
2002 guidebook includes spirit of Africa
Sorry do not have a scanner to include pictures, and will probably have more info when I can find all my guide books
In my 1966 book no mention of Rhino but the camels were roughly about where the animal theatre/barn is now. There was a line of paddocks that were the border of the zoo (the land which now has kingdom of the wild/spirit of Africa was not part of the zoo then)
1977 camels approximately where the elephant house is. Rhinos approximately where the meerkats are. (I am trying to compare old maps to new)
1980 guidebooks not catalogued and around here somewhere lol
1990 guidebook has no map!! - Rhino and baby camel in guidebook
2000 guidebook no map - just Rhino mentioned
2002 guidebook includes spirit of Africa
Sorry do not have a scanner to include pictures, and will probably have more info when I can find all my guide books
johnstoni
Well-Known Member
Flossie and Simba I believe were the first rhinos at the zoo (Flossie still being alive). The rhino enclosure was a smallish, sloping, paddock roughly where the gelada enclosure is now. For its small size, I was amazing much of it used to remain covered in grass. The house was like a much smaller version of Marwell's rhino house, not very tall, like a sturdy concrete barn with low ceilings. I remember the steel railings round the paddock seeming very low to me for white rhinos.
The camels were in a narrow paddock with chain-link mesh, roughly where the Spirit of Africa house is. I remember both bactrian and dromedary camels. The paddock was narrow, grassed, and backed by bushes behind the fencing, which formed the old zoo perimeter before the new land was used for the African exhibits. After (I think) a period of absence, the zoo once again kept (Bactrian) camels in the former elephant house, before it was redeveloped as Playa Patagonia.
The camels were in a narrow paddock with chain-link mesh, roughly where the Spirit of Africa house is. I remember both bactrian and dromedary camels. The paddock was narrow, grassed, and backed by bushes behind the fencing, which formed the old zoo perimeter before the new land was used for the African exhibits. After (I think) a period of absence, the zoo once again kept (Bactrian) camels in the former elephant house, before it was redeveloped as Playa Patagonia.
Certainly Flossie and Simba were the first rhinos that I ever saw at Colchester Zoo; according to L. C. Rookmaaker’s book “The Rhinoceros in Captivity” the former (which he spells “Flossy”) arrived 1st April 1972 and the latter came from Whipsnade on 3rd March 1974.
Rookmaaker also mentions three other white rhinos, imported from Natal in 1971, that were in Colchester for a while before going to Blackpool in August 1972.
