Gerardo Garcia, curator of lower vertebrates and invertebrates, was interviewed on the Today programme (Radio 4) at approximately 8.45 this morning, about the zoo's captive breeding programme for greater Bermuda land snails (Poecilozonites bermudensis), which has resulted in the zoo sending a group of snails back to Bermuda for reintroduction to their natural habitat.
Here article about this good work Chester is doing : 4,000 rare snails are being taken to their homeland by Chester Zoo
There are some interesting details about the rediscovery of these snails on the BBC website The snail that 'came back from the dead'
From the latest Z magazine - the Monorail will be closing for good in late Summer (no exact date given). The former Chilean Flamingo enclosure will be converted into a South American themed Aviary. Building work should commence on it before the end of this year
The wording on the Grasslands development was odd, seemed to be saying the accomodation element was an option and that the plans have them the option to it, may have just been the way it was worded.
As a matter of interest, does anybody know what is going to happen to the monorail? Will it go for scrap, or be sold for reuse elsewhere?
There's a huge collection of monorial equipment not far away in the Tanat Valley which might be a suitable home for it.
One million people have visited the zoo so far this year - breaking every record in the last 88-years: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2747558278652385
News article about baby chimpanzee, says it is a female. Baby chimp born in front of visitors at Chester Zoo
How do they ensure the new baby is pure West African? Are the males all West African, or those that aren't, vasectomised?
According to the 2014 Studbook (the most up to date one I can find available online) 6 of the 7 males are PTV, with 1 hybrid & 9 of 12 current adult females are PTV with 3 listed as hybrids.
I posted this news in one of the North American Asian Elephant threads back in April. The virus was first identified in 1995 after the National Zoo's calf Kumari died. NZP has long been at the forefront of research and Nationwide testing, but the use of plasma transfusion--much as Chester does with non-suckling giraffe calves--is really eye-opening. If this is a way to successfully battle this terrible disease, that's a major, happy development. We in the US do follow the Hi-Way family and have grieved all four of your recent losses. Indali is a miracle to be celebrated worldwide. Best congratulations for all you do so well in Chester! We admire you.
I regret now not posting my best wishes and hopes for Indali here too on your forum. I am just such the regular on here you mentioned, and I'm sorry for not expressing my support to you directly. Those trying to save Asian elephants in human care are really part of a smallish, but special family that has suffered a lot. We really should support one another more.
A couple of pieces of news have recently appeared on Chester Zoo's website. The first is about the arrival of the four crowned lemurs from Montpellier Zoo. I believe I'm right in saying these animals have been at the zoo for a while, but it seems they are now being mixed with the other lemurs in the walkthrough. More information is in the link below: Endangered crowned lemurs leap into Chester Zoo | Chester Zoo The second bit of news is about the current breeding and reintroduction programme for large heath butterflies - there are currently 150 caterpillars being reared that will be released next year at Astley Moss in Manchester and at Risley Moss in Warrington. More information is in the link below: On the march: rare caterpillars destined for the wild | Chester Zoo
