The zoo has set up a JustGiving page to allow people to make donations. COVID-19 Virus Animal Care Fund
Visited on Thursday last week (19/03/2020). I thought I'd stretch this visit summary out a bit more than usual, as ZooChat is a little quiet at the moment and it might be the last one for a while. My original plan was to wait until the new brown bear enclosure was completed before I went on my first visit to DZC of 2020, which I thought would be April-ish. However, upon finding out they'd only just been given the go ahead to even start, hearing the news that the schools would be closing on the Friday, and not knowing whether zoos would end up being forced to close or how much time I had left to visit if they did, I jumped at the chance whilst I could. With current affairs in mind, the thought was that visiting a zoo, albeit a public attraction, is perfectly fine; a wide open space in the fresh open air (this was before the more serious 'lockdown' measures that have been introduced in the UK since). Even so, we gave ourselves strict rules not to touch any windows, handrails etc., to give any doors we encountered a good elbowing, to give everyone else a wide berth (and a good elbowing if they got too close), and not to buy anything or use any eating facilities. We also thought it best not to visit 'Castle Creatures' and took with us a small bottle of Purell (other brands of hand sanitiser are probably still unavailable). Upon arriving in the zoo car park for about 10am I thought we'd be the only ones there, but saw there were already 10 or so cars parked up (some of these might have belonged to zoo staff though) plus two minibuses from South Staffordshire College (Rodbaston Animal Zone). However, I remember only seeing around a dozen other people who weren't college students or their tutors throughout the entire visit - these weren't just grotty March weekday visitor numbers, these were grotty March weekday in the middle of a pandemic visitor numbers. Anyway, upon entering the entrance building I could see it was full of people, but these were just the students who had already passed through the tills and had congregated to one side whilst their tutor gave them a preliminary talk. It sounded like they were animal management students which makes sense, and also made me rather envious. Only one till was open. There were a couple of regular visitors in front of us and once they'd paid I stepped forward and noticed that the person behind the till was wearing disposable gloves; the first sign of any precautionary measures. I thought this was sensible, as long as the wearer doesn't touch their face that is. I thought that surely a mask would have been better. I did see a primate keeper wearing a face mask whilst accessing an enclosure later on in the day. So, after paying and politely declining the offer of a map, we entered the zoo and I immediately wished the weather had been kinder to us, but it continued to be cloudy, cold, wet and drizzly throughout the visit. The first thing I looked for was whether the geladas were back in their old enclosure to the right of the chairlift, but the macaques were still on the right, which I only gathered when I saw the large ‘Macaques’ sign above the steps leading to the indoor accommodation, as there were no signs of life in the outdoor area. I’d hoped I’d see the baby macaque that was born at the end of January, but only got a glimpse of an adult individual who seemed to be patrolling the small doorway to the off-show areas. There were some red-breasted geese in the flamingo exhibit (a slight clash of continents), which were nice to see. I don’t remember ever seeing them anywhere in the zoo before, but they were active, characterful birds and added some interest to the exhibit. As I rounded the corner to start heading up the slope, I saw a brand-new exhibit up ahead on the left-hand side, opposite the spider monkeys, which I was not previously aware of. It was a new exhibit for the African spurred tortoises; the ones that had been displaced by the new sloth exhibit. It’s basic but nicely done. The only issue is there’s no recessed area to quickly step out of the way of the land train if you happen to be standing in front of the enclosure when it comes past, but that’s very minor. Before visiting the zoo, I’d had an inkling for a while that a new male snow leopard had joined the collection but was completely unsure because I’d seen no confirmation anywhere. As I approached the exhibit, I quickly saw the female in the newer section of the enclosure. I walked further along and saw that the doorway (aka ‘slide’) between the newer and older sections was closed, I thought; “Why is the doorway closed? Surely, if the female was by herself, she’d have access to both sections”. I excitedly looked around the high platforms of the older section when... “Wow”, there he was resting silently on the platform high up in the front left corner. It was a very cool moment. Eventually the female leapt up to sit next to him on a platform in her section of the exhibit on the other side of the mesh. They were sat face to face, and I saw, what I perceived to be, them showing a mix of affectionate and mildly aggressive behaviour towards each other through the mesh. It looked like the female was showing him who was boss. I also noticed that several new platforms had been added to the older outdoor section as well as the on-show indoor area. I went to use the unisex toilets that are hidden under the steps of that weird bit of Tecton between the snow leopards and the Arctic foxes. Due to nearly always forgetting they exist, I hadn’t used those toilets for probably almost a decade and upon entering I was extremely disappointed and surprised by how neglected they were. The walls needed repainting, the sink needed replacing, the windows needed cleaning, and the lock on the only cubicle was broken. The rest of the toilet facilities in the zoo are nothing like this, so why was this one so bad? It felt so unnecessary and something that should have been so avoidable on the zoo’s behalf. I wondered if they were supposed to be closed/ off limits and I’d missed a sign or something, but there wasn’t one and there was nothing stopping people using them. Definitely something that needs looking at fast because, despite it being a tiny unfrequented space and despite all the good work elsewhere in the zoo, it could easily bring a visitor’s experience plummeting down. I saw the Arctic foxes for the first time. I only saw three, but they were very active and playful. I was amazed at how agile they were as they traversed the platforms and walkways with speed and ease. I continue to think they would be better in an enclosure with a lot more floor space though and I’m slightly uneasy with animals that are on the more intelligent/alert/inquisitive/active side being in unstimulating pit-like enclosures that are a struggle to see out of, which they seemed to be trying to do. The plastic tubing that acts as tunnels still needs concealing better by the substrate. The lynx were back to having access to their large on-show indoor area, where they appear to prefer sleeping in. Both binturongs were fast asleep in their on-show indoor area. I counted 7 Parma wallabies (there could well have been more in the house though). I saw the three new Barbary lambs. They seem to produce 1-3 new-borns every year. I saw the new sloth enclosure in its completed form for the first time. It’s a very smart looking enclosure and the interior has been decked out nicely too. The outdoor area could do with more planting and turf, however it’s not really the season for that right now. I saw the sloth (who was awake but didn’t budge), both titi monkeys, and both Goeldi’s monkeys. It was also good to see a couple of agoutis occupying the floor space too. The monkeys and agouti all appeared to have access to off-show dens. There was a sign on the fence of the sea lion enclosure saying, “Our sea lions are currently in the middle of their breeding season. Keepers are monitoring them closely”. I think I remember noticing that gate in between the two pools was shut so that the male was separated off from the females into his own pool (maybe breeding season is now over). I also saw the new ultrasound ‘pod’ where vets can monitor the females. The new ibis aviary was still under construction. It’s bigger than the very old Queen Mary aviary it has replaced but not by a massive amount. This is almost certainly due to the fact it is so near to the listed Queen Mary ‘restaurant’ (why that thing is listed I’ll never know) and the listed castle. Even when the Queen Mary ‘restaurant’ was first constructed back in the 1930s, its design was restricted to a low profile, single-storey structure due to its proximity to the castle. I spotted some cinnamon teals in the waterfowl pools, which were nice to see, and I don’t think I’d seen them before. I saw all four orangs. When we got to Benji’s (aka Benjamin, b. 1977) indoor viewing window he was sitting near the back. When he spotted us, he did his usual series of elaborate swings towards us, but instead of plonking himself down in front of the window, like he normally does, he slammed right into it. I thought he was going to come straight through the glass! He then proceeded to have a temper tantrum in front of me (I think it was because I had my hood up), so I left him to it. He's definitely still a character! I left the orang house wondering again whether the youngster (Sprout), who will turn 9 years old tomorrow, will be leaving the zoo within the next year and whether her mother Jazz will then be paired back up with Jorong. As of 29th February 2020, £616,380 has been raised for the new orang enclosure. I went around the lemur walkthrough and saw the new 30ft lemur sculpture. It’s not the most realistic looking thing, then again, a giant metal lemur isn’t likely to, but it is impressive and a talking point. It has a good conservation message too when you read the associated signage and anything with a good message that gets people talking about it is definitely a good thing. I think it adds to the walkthrough rather than diminishing it. I think that’s partly because zoos and animal statures/sculptures have always gone hand in hand. While making my way through the walkthrough I also noticed that the ring-tailed lemur house at the far end was in the midst of having a large extension, possibly with large indoor viewing windows too. There were no changes to the bear ravine, however, I didn’t expect there to be as they had only recently been given the ok by Historic England (heritage organisation) to start work. I went into the chimpanzee indoor viewing area and noticed that the leaf cutter ant colony has massively increased in numbers. The very long length of tubing from their nest to the feeding station was heavy traffic all the way along. However, upon inspecting the feeding station I could see that some fine-tuning was needed; there were quite a number of ants that had somehow perished in the water moat surrounding the feeding station and a few ants (including some soldier types with large mandibles) that had escaped the feeding station and were on the outside of the glass. I tried to find a keeper to inform but was unable to find one despite seeing plenty around the zoo beforehand. As has already been stated, there were two black swans in the enclosure with the large pool in the lorikeet walkthrough, but I also noticed a false egg in there. I also saw one of the Victoria crowned pigeons sitting on a nest. I intended to visit the farm barn but missed out on catching the end of its opening hours by seconds. The camel house extension looked good and appears to have increased the size of the house by around 50%. I noticed that some work was going on with the fence around the adjacent children’s play area – hopefully it will become another extension to the camel paddock. Finally, work is well underway on building the new metro station adjacent to the zoo’s carpark, a short walk from the zoo’s entrance. Once finished, this will be a fantastic asset to the zoo as the increased accessibility should help bring in many more visitors. So, there we are, I now wash my hands of this visit summary. Please don’t forget to wash your hands too and hopefully the next visit summaries we read on ZooChat won’t be as far away as we think.
The new male Snow Leopard is called Makalu. He arrived from Jardin de Plantes (in Paris) a few weeks ago.
A man has been caught raiding the bar at the closed zoo. (And no, it wasn't me! ) Burglary suspect 'caught helping himself to the bar after breaking into Dudley Zoo'
The zoo was featured on local lunchtime news today. The reporter mentioned that it costs around £200,000 per month to run the zoo. The zoo director was then interviewed, who stated: "The majority of our income comes from people paying to come onto the site. We're at a period now where we are having to live off the reserves that we build up. These reserves were set aside for the development programme for some of the animal exhibits, we're doing a big extension to the tiger exhibit (for example), so these plans are going to have to be, not shelved, but they will have to be delayed." BBC iPlayer - Midlands Today - Lunchtime News: 09/04/2020 (6.15 minutes in) COVID-19 Virus Animal Care Fund
Some fantastic footage of the zoo during the early 1960s that was only uploaded to YouTube on Saturday. It includes wide shots of the old leopard cages, which I've never seen before, as well as the polar bears diving into the water from the high platform;
Thank you for sharing this - really excellent to see. The footage of the Polar Bears is fantastic! Quite sobering to think that the small children shown enjoying the zoo will now be at retirement age...
I only visited Dudley for the first time in 2014 but have returned every year since. Although a lot of the enclosures aren't great, only the orange utan is really bad. I enjoy taking a step back in time where things are acceptable in 2020, hope the bear exhibit happens!
First visited Dudley circa 1962. I can remember virtually everything in this film except the Rhesus monkey enclosure, I think that might already have gone by then, it certainly wasn't there by the end of the decade.
Dudley regulars who watched the new BBC nature documentary 'Primates' on Sunday evening (which was flippin' excellent BTW) may have noticed a familiar face. The orangutan seen at the title shot was in fact 'Benji'. The zoo stated beforehand that some of their primates had been filmed for close up shots during the programme's introduction sequence. The zoo did not say which of their animals had been filmed but the introduction sequence also includes black-and-white-ruffed lemur, a large male gelada (against a familiar looking background), Emperor tamarin, Colombian black spider monkey, chimpanzee and cotton top tamarin, all of which are held at the zoo. The close ups of the L'hoest's and De Brazza's monkeys could have been filmed at Twycross and the aye-aye at Bristol. If you missed the programme you can see it here; BBC iPlayer - Primates - Series 1: 1. Secrets of Survival
I feel even more sure he's a hybrid looking at him again- the beard is not typical of a Bornean(wrong colour and more profuse) and the pads are rather a mix of the two types (which are actually quite different from each other). Then there's his coat colour. Either that or he's very untypical for a pure Bornean male.
Or the world's only golden-mutated orangutan . It's highly likely you're right @Pertinax. I guess we'll never know for sure though - unless someone wants to email the zoo when things are back to normal?
I very much doubt the zoo is in any way aware- they will simply have him as a Bornean as he is listed in the studbook. Only a DNA test would prove my theory. He's certainly not as typical as Jorong though. You do sometimes get specimens that are lighter or darker than usual for their species, but coupled with his other characteristics it still make me suspicious.
Benji is a pure Bornean - for starters the Bornean and Sumatran orangutans at the zoo were never kept near each other so a physical hybridisation isn’t possible. On top of that Benji’s parents had around 10 or 11 offspring together, at least two of which are still alive today; Loki at Barcelona, and Temmy at Münster, neither of which look remotely as pale as he does. Finally, the small cheek pads thing; Benji was hand-reared and therefore may not have gotten the correct flow of hormones that parent-reared males would, so the cheek pads may just be small for that reason. Myself and @MagpieGoose believe that he and his two sisters are of the nominate subspecies - this subspecies is characterised as being far lighter in colour than other Borneans (see Oshine at Monkey World compared to the other wildborn animals there as an example). (credit to @MagpieGoose for most of the above info, if anyone knows the answer to an orangutan question on here it’s him!)
If Duisburg's Sumatrans and Borneans were not kept near/adjoining each other that indicates no intermating was possible and he must therefore be pure. The explanation for his lighter colour is reasonable too. I know there is some regional variation too, and have occassionally seen other known Bornean Orangs in the past which appear lighter than the norm (and Sumatrans vice versa.)
