Some notes brief notes from today in addition to Rob's comments.
I did manage to see the meerkat pups late in the day, but only through the glass so didn't bother with photographs (see the zoo's Faceache page for those). I counted three, all really active.
The Hottentot teal in the Tsavo Bird Safari have young, and again I counted three ducklings. They're both tiny and shy, so you have to be patient.
[RANT]
A side note here: parents, the bird viewing shack in the Tsavo aviary was not designed as a location for changing screaming babies, and if you really must, please don't let the rest of your children run up and down the path making lots of noise while you're doing it. It frightens the birds away. Thank you.
[/RANT]
Lilac-breasted roller in the Tsavo Bird Safari.
There was a professional photographer with a lens the size of one of Patrick Moore's telescopes, accompanied by a member of zoo staff trying to get a shot of the giant otter through the glass, but the otter wasn't cooperating. First person to get a good shot of Chester's otter wins a prize!
The stand of conifers between the old otter enclosure and the red pandas - at the rear of Oakfield House - has been removed and replaced with lawn. This opens up a totally clear area from the back of the Roman Garden right the way to the red pandas. In fact, it's now possible to see the red pandas from Jubilee Square Station and beyond.
The modifications to the Tropical Realm are complete, as Woodbine mentioned. They surprised me as I thought they looked quite good and not as obvious as I was expecting. OK, so there's yet more higgledy-piggledy wood everywhere and it's already suffering in the humidity, but the enclosed areas work well and make use of space that was previously just undergrowth without impacting the planting.
The two fully-enclosed glass vivarium are home to poison dart frogs (nowhere in sight) with the other larger enclosures being Galapagos giant turtle (
Geochelone nigra) pictured above, and radiated tortoise (
Geochelone radiata) pictured below.
Both species have a lot of space, but I can't help thinking it could be used for a more engaging exhibit (trying hard not to use the word "entertaining" here). While they have their merits from a conservation standpoint, I don't think any of us could stand and watch tortoises for more than a minute or two and yet they're in pride of place. Hopefully they'll be accompanied by something more active in the future.
Incidentally, the squiggles on the glass were added to help prevent the birds from flying into them.
Other areas have been given a spruce-up - more new wood along the balcony aviaries - and the entire Tropical Realm is looking a little more cared for, it just needs someone to clean the leaves of the plants as some look really dusty.
