Chester Zoo Chester Zoo Discussion, Speculation & Questions 2019

That's a relief.

 

SLOTZ !

Christmas Special ...

 

Staff dressed as elves?

 

I wonder when that was filmed... not Christmas presumably!? I actually feel quite sorry for the keepers, being roped into doing this stuff!

I really enjoyed the extensive Red Panda coverage though!

 

I was quite unconvinced by all the flim-flam about the macscara barbs. I was tempted to use much less polite phrasing, but I have restrained myself.

 

It was a bit of a cringe-fest, wasn't it? I rather like forgetting the Kardashians exist when watching animal programmes to be honest! I feel like they've looked at past episodes and tried to drum up some mainstream interest in the fish in the same way they have previously for frogs and insects - only without any real charm. Saying that mountain chicken frogs have big thighs seems odd... then you look at them and think, wow, they have got big thighs! Saying that the barbs are curvy - no, sorry, try again!

 

Singing Christmas carols while standing in front of lush green grass and fully-leaved deciduous trees...

 

Hello, I was wondering about the current amount of giraffes at the zoo?

 

One bull, three breeding females, three male offspring and three female offspring.

 

We are finally starting to get a few season 7 and 8 SLOTZ episodes! The episode about Indali is really wonderful news. I had known about the use of plasma, the blood's white cells that fight infection, but the news is the use of Interferon, a protein-based treatment that actually stimulates cells to kill viruses. It sounds so perfect, one has to wonder why this hasn't been attempted in elephants before. It's strong enough to be used on human cancers, so bravo to Chester for having the courage to try something unconventional to save Indali. Nothing has been consistent in treating the virus, so kudos to you for realizing there nothing to lose and vital knowledge and Indali's life to gain. This brave experiment could be a breakthrough in saving calves with EEHV everywhere. I feel so thankful.

 

I do have random questions related to SLOTZ viewing:

1. Female giraffe calves?! That's wonderful! Having seen Merou's success siring boys--Kidepo, Murchison, Narus, Mbuto--I had never seen an episode or heard news of girls! How wonderful to imagine a matriarchal herd with six females!

2. I just saw episode 8 of season 6 for the first time, and in shots of the roadway outside the exhibits, keepers are using a cart to get around that has the driver's seat and steering wheel on the left, like ours here in the US! Don't all your vehicles have right-side driving/steering?

(No criticism! If using atypically-sided vehicles makes for successful sun bear births, we should do it here!)

 

Its not illegal to drive left hand drive vehicles on our roads, there are quite a few around, not least visitors who drive over from the continent. You just take a little more care when the drive side doesn't match the road system, but its not a problem.

But foremost with little utility things like these mini-trucks, golf buggies and so on that only ever buzz around on tracks around private land, there's no point in building them two ways, and no advantage to being right hand drive.

Anyway, that was thread drift wasn't it

 

These machines can be registered for road use, either as agricultural vehicles or for limited use. We have two Kubota RTVs so registered. They are not restricted to private land, are left-hand-drive and are identical in every way to their American counterparts. There is only one production line at the factory in GA, some stay on the home market and some are exported.

As NigeW said there is no restriction on using left-hand-drive vehicles in the UK, or indeed right-hand-drive ones in Europe. If there was Britain would starve, as most of our food is delivered by European lorries, often paying lower taxes and lower labour rates - which helps keep prices down in UK shops, as demanded and expected now by the public.

 

Never knew. Thanks to you both!

How old are the three female giraffes, and what are their names? Maybe the were born before SLOTZ began?

 

Off-topic, but ...

There are some British vehicles built with the driving seat to the left, such as roadsweepers so that the driver can check his positioning.

There are some Swiss vehicles built with the driving seat to the right for safety reasons on mountain roads - you want the driver close as possible to the edge!

As Clin Keeling used to say "there is no knowledge which is not useful".

 

Lol. Thank you for this very comprehensive lesson in atypical driver siding! Once I read these responses, I realized that we too have the same exceptions, like mail trucks with the steering wheel on the right to make deliveries easier and safer.

BTW, to return to a recurring speculation:. In the SLOTZ episode I just saw about the successful treatments used on Indali during her bout with EEHV, they featured a lot of Sundara calming and reassuring her young daughter. Indali was two, so this took place a year ago, but even then, Sundara definitely looked pregnant. She's carrying in a very high and pointy silhouette. If you pick up a pregnant dog under the shoulders and let it "hang" in place, there will be a noticeably wider mid-section, violin-shaped. Lol. Just imagining an elephant in such a position is hysterical, but if she were to stand up on her hind legs, she would absolutely be violin-shaped. And this was a year ago! Between this shape and the typical 3-year intervals Chester tends to follow, I REALLY think she's not only pregnant, but nearing the end of her term.

 

We will know when Chester announce on social media and website. I would hope and expect she's pregnant again but may not be due until next year. Let's hope IF she is, that she produces another daughter and she has the same fight and luck that Indali has.