I had a visit to this zoo today with user Water Dragon.First we stopped off at the Capybara,Mara and Giant anteater enclosure to start off with.The enclosure is very spacious with plenty of shade, a hosepipe sprinkler,pool and various enrichment for the species housed.This was my first time observing a giant anteater for real and I was amazed at the sight of this animal. We then went into the small primate house as well as viewing the other enclosures around such as the ground cuscus(Water Dragons favourite),Roseate cockatoo and the Prevosts squirrels.The primates had plenty of room to manoeuvre and the ring tailed lemurs even had some babies with them.There is also a small habitat for a Jamaican Boa now which is large enough for one. We visited the Elephant and Reptile house after this.Kate the only elephant was coming in and out of her enclosure,occasionally coming towards the fence.Project elephant is well underway with the new facility being constructed which will have a great future for Kate and a future breeding herd.The reptiles are quite varied despite there being a few "pet shop" species such as the Californian king snake and Crested gecko but there are some stand out species such as the Yacare caiman,Nile monitor and Reticulated python.It is a shame the Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes have left the collection though.There are now enclosures for common house spiders and mealworms which is kind of odd.The caimans were particularly active with one nibbling on a branch at one point. Amazonia was next and the squirrel monkeys were being kept indoors for the time being but we did get the chance to see all the birds in there. We walked past the camels on the way to the sea lion demonstration which zoo keeps hyping up as being wild when they are really the domestic variety.The sea lion show did not disappoint especially since a pup was born recently.The sea lions performed all sorts of tricks such as balancing a ball on it's snout,imitating a shark and giving the trainer a hug.Blackpool s also the only zoo in the UK to hold Magellanic penguins and there was plenty of comments from visitors saying they wanted to jump in to escape the heat. Orang-utan Outlook is a very interesting enclosure for the orangs as it gives them various levels of elevation for the public to view them at.The Water Dragon exhibit is good as it simulates natural conditions.The troop of gorillas weren't active until later on in the day.That was also my first time seeing gorillas up close at a zoo. After viewing the zebra and bongo paddocks we moved onto Wolf Ridge.I saw the wolves when the zoo first got them and it was nice to see them again.They were very active approaching the glass and following each other around. Wallaby walkthrough and Lemur wood are quite interesting attempts at walkthrough exhibits as they give the public opportunities to get close to the animals in a safe manner.Unfortunately the animals were not active much except during the Lemur talk Moving on to the front of the zoo where Project elephant is undergoing construction the Aldabra tortoises where out in the sun with Darwin staying in the pool. The dinosaur exhibit is showing its age now.I love dinosaurs and prehistoric wildlife,but the ones at Blackpool should be gone by now.Some of the models are in bad condition such as the terror bird which as paint falling off it,The edmontonia model looks stoned in the eyes and not to mention the huge inaccuracies such as no feathers on the raptors and Spinosaurus not having longer arms.But there is now a stand where for 20p you get a hand full of fish food to feed some small carp that are in the water. Moving onto the big cat house both tigers were inside sleeping,the meerkats where out foraging and the two lions Wallace and Khari were sunbathing.We made frequent visits during the trip and we we treated to both tigers coming towards the glass and the metal bars of the sleeping quarters and the lions approaching the metal bars as well. We moved onto the giraffe house next where we saw the four hybrid giraffes and the two blesbok.Later in the day we came back for the informative talk and feeding session.The giraffe house is only tall enough for females as the keepers explained that a male would have trouble getting inside. After revisits of the giraffe,elephant and reptile,big cat and great ape house we left.I had thoroughly enjoyed my time here as it had been five years since I last visited and was glad that I enjoyed my day. Highlight species Mammals Giant anteater Western lowland gorilla Siberian tiger Ground Cuscus Eastern Bongo Birds Waldrapp Ibis Magellanic penguin Reptiles Yacare Caiman Prehensile tailed skink Reticulated python Nile monitor Jamaican boa
Am I correct in assuming Darwin is the zoo's supposed Seychelles giant tortoise? Very enjoyable review by the way
Thanks zoogiraffe. To clarify Komodo, i was enquiring if Darwin was the zoo's Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa, a very rare subspecies often referred to as the Seychelles Giant Tortoise to distinguish it from the more common Aldabra Giant Tortoise.
To be precise all Seychelles giant tortoises (D. arnoldi and D. hololissa), including the Aldabrans (D. dussumieri) are now in the new (old) genus Dipsochelys. BTW: Latest - but already a while back - genetic studies and research performed on the purported current captive D. arnoldi and D. hololissa have been unable to relate / trace back these with / to museum specimens of the species D. arnoldi or D. hololissa. This is not to say that these studies are the be and end all of this discourse, just that at the time there seemed to be no relation at the time and quite recently an interesting paper has been published in new book on genetics that provides a somewhat different perspective (it all comes down to different haplotypes and a seemingly recent divergence of Seychelles granitic giants from the Aldabrans as a source population). Will follow up and if anything comes up differently ... will let you know.
