Welsh Mountain Zoo Welsh Mountain Zoo News 2024

Fallax

Fallax

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Starting off 2024 with a visit report!

As mentioned in the previous thread, the reptile house has been boarded up with a plan for a future development. I'll put in some more details however:
  • The building is due to be replaced, whether this will be a reptile house or something else I'm not sure.
  • The Hermann's and sulcata tortoises are also both gone and this entire area is blocked off.
  • All the species that were here have left the collection, so whatever new development happens it will have completely different species.
  • The new development does not include the alligator house, which is still open and has a singular female.
Overall, there seems to be a decent bit of work going on at the zoo. Parts of the lar gibbon enclosure have been blocked off to start construction of a new gibbon house and there is also some construction going on in the children's farm (seems to be some kind of overhead structure, but either way the inside was closed).

I'm not sure what the timeframe for these developments are but I'm not expecting them to be done for a while, WMZ is often quite slow with these things due to their budget. A very nice visit though, for once the weather was actually really great (especially for early March) and the new red squirrel enclosures are a great improvement. Highlight is definitely seeing the interactions between the two young sea lions! I'll definitely try to visit more than once this year. :)
 
I’ve noticed that Katie’s (chimp) baby from 2020 has been referred to as both Vicky and Rupee - could anyone clarify why this is and what her current name is?
 
JT said:
I’ve noticed that Katie’s (chimp) baby from 2020 has been referred to as both Vicky and Rupee - could anyone clarify why this is and what her current name is?
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I believe that her real name is Rupee and her public name is Vicky. Many zoo animals have two names, the reasons for this can vary but it is often due to the fact that keepers use the animals real name for training and recall etc. So to avoid the public interfering with this and confusing the animals by shouting their name - a fake/public name is given.
 
GA21 said:
I believe that her real name is Rupee and her public name is Vicky. Many zoo animals have two names, the reasons for this can vary but it is often due to the fact that keepers use the animals real name for training and recall etc. So to avoid the public interfering with this and confusing the animals by shouting their name - a fake/public name is given.
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I had thought this might be the case, odd though that the zoo have used both names in different social media posts. :confused:
 
Fallax said:
Didn't notice this on my last visit, is this very recent? Either way a nice species to have.
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The signage for the magpies had been removed when I visited last Sunday. It was still like this when I visited on Tuesday meaning the laughingthrush must have been moved in at some point in the last 4/5 days.
 
JT said:
The signage for the magpies had been removed when I visited last Sunday. It was still like this when I visited on Tuesday meaning the laughingthrush must have been moved in at some point in the last 4/5 days.
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Can confirm the laughingthrushes were there (and fully labelled) on this last Saturday (16th), so we can trim another day off the possible range. :D
 
A few updates:

Casper the sea lion is back in the pool following a lengthy period offshow due to medical reasons.

The new gibbon house is up - the outer panelling still needs doing but the structure itself is up.

A new cotton top tamarin enclosure has been constructed in the children’s farm - the main group have moved over here and some work was being done inside their old enclosure. The single tamarin has remained in it’s enclosure in the small monkey house (the middle indoor enclosure).
 
Does anyone know what happened to the red-fronted lemurs? Zootierliste says they are currently offshow but no date is provided and its been many years since I've seen them.

Also related, does anyone know why the lemur walkthrough is closed so often? Since the pandemic I've only seen it open very rarely.
 
The reptile house has reopened as the "Tropical Trail"! The zoo website mentions the following species:
  • Golden poison dart frog
  • Golden-eyed stick insect
  • California kingsnake
  • Socotra Island baboon spider
  • Burmese python
  • Three-eyed iguana
Nice to see some new species!!
 
Fallax said:
The reptile house has reopened as the "Tropical Trail"! The zoo website mentions the following species:
  • Golden poison dart frog
  • Golden-eyed stick insect
  • California kingsnake
  • Socotra Island baboon spider
  • Burmese python
  • Three-eyed iguana
Nice to see some new species!!
Click to expand...
Images on the webpage also show Madagascar tree boa, Western girdled lizard, spider tortoise and red footed tortoise. Nice species selection.
 
It's very nice to see that Welsh Mountain have expanded their range of reptiles given that most if not all of their previously held individuals were nothing very exciting, being very common species like sliders & leopard geckos. It's good to see they branched out more on the invertebrates which is also good to see.
 
Fallax said:
The reptile house has reopened as the "Tropical Trail"! The zoo website mentions the following species:
  • Golden poison dart frog
  • Golden-eyed stick insect
  • California kingsnake
  • Socotra Island baboon spider
  • Burmese python
  • Three-eyed iguana
Nice to see some new species!!
Click to expand...
Are the alligators part of the house?
 
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