Dudley Zoological Gardens Dudley Zoological Gardens in 2017

New farm barn opens! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

But does anyone actually have a species list? With the 4 species mentioned along with sirens and axolotls that is still only 6 tanks...

 

A red-legged seriema has joined the collection. It is only a few months old and is currently off-show while it is being hand reared and trained by keepers. It will be joining the birds of prey display at around Easter-time.

Meet Delta! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

A very nice species indeed, the zoo is really expanding its bird collection recently.

 

What do you mean expanding there bird collection, When I visited recently there were many bird species no longer at the collection or off show I say this as many of the signs for the species have now been removed.

 

Which species?

 

DZG’s three juvenile Asiatic short-clawed otters have relocated to a new home in Scotland.

The male and two girls, who were born in July 2015, have moved to Camperdown Wildlife Centre in Dundee.

The transfer has left four otters remaining at DZG – the two parents, 12-year-old Buddy and eight year-old Keyah, plus two five month-old pups, who were born as part of our latest litter in June.

 

... and here's the link: Otters head to Scotland - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

Azure winged magpie, Meller's duck, Yellow billed duck, Red billed blue magpie, Violet Turaco, Bali starling and a few other waterfowl were missing from around the collection with no signage visible anywhere for them.
The Black cheeked lovebird aviary was empty but I put that down to the time of year.

They may have moved around the collection and had the signage put up since my visit but it was looking rather like they had moved on

 

Thanks Adrian. I'll keep an eye out for them next time I visit.

 

I have just found an old guide book I must have got when I visited as a child. It was 2 shillings so pre 1971 and the cover is in colour, the rest b&w.

On the cover is a painting with a child holding a balloon while sitting on his fathers shoulders. There are various animals including chimps, gorilla, elephant, zebra and macaw. Inside are photos of Polar bear, Coypu and Spotted Hyena among others.

The office guide and map was by C.F.Grace and the Head keeper was C.Round.

Can a guide book expert here date it for me?

 

Dudley guides aren't the easiest to date, but this one is ca.1968.

 

The yellow breasted capuchin born on 22 August is another male - the seventh to be born at DZG.
Chewie's a little cutie! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

Thanks, that would have made me about 12. I think I came up on a XYZ (15 shilling a year membership fee) club coach trip from ZSL.

 

Visited today and the species labelled were;
Sudan Plated Lizard
Giant African Land Snail
Axolotl
Lesser Siren
European Mantis
African Pygmy Hedgehog
Giant Stick Insect
Giant Millipede
Jungle Nymph
Leopard Gecko
Walking Stick Insect
Spiny Mice
Syrian Hamster
Giant Rabbit
Guinea Pig

Other things of note include;
-A wooden structure has been built in the indoor Chimpanzee viewing area, hopefully this will be a Reptile enclosure.
-I was very impressed by the new indoor Lynx enclosure, they seemed a bit more showy.
-Onto Orangutans: Jorong was kept off-show today with Jaz and Sprout having access to the outdoors. One of the viewing windows for Benjamin's indoors was closed off for maintenance. The latest update on the amount raised for the new Orangutan enclosure is £215,658.
-There is now a Rhinoceros Iguana mixed with the Frilled Lizards although unlabelled. The Rhinoceros Iguana also have there own exhibit. The Red-tailed Racers are now back in there own exhibit after being mixed with the Bornean Blood Python on my last visit.
-The new Snow Leopard enclosure extension looks very good with glass being added.
-The zoo seems to have added alot more signage since my last visit, including the waterfowl enclosure and the African Hunting Dogs.

 

Thanks for that MG, still a fair few species from the discovery centre missing but it's a better line-up than was previously mentioned. I thought lesser hedgehog tenrecs may have been featured as well but obviously not. Does the zoo still hold them? As I know they were slated for the DC but never materialised...

 

Any changes to the triple parrot aviaries MG?

 

Nope, still had the Military Macaws, Goffin's Cockatoo and Yellow-shouldered Amazon and no changes to the enclosure yet.

 

A female Victoria crowned pigeon has joined the collection after arriving from Banham Zoo and can now be seen in the Lorikeet Lookout exhibit. Another species I had on my wishlist for Dudley.

Elf discovers a new arrival! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

Binturong, Prevost’s squirrels and naked mole rats!

The zoo has unveiled their plans for 2018...

£405,000 will be spent on animal projects.
Plus another £150,000 will be spent on improving visitor facilities.

The animal projects include:

• By February half-term, a £10,000 exhibit for naked mole rats in the chimpanzee indoor viewing area. The colony will come from Chester zoo. (This must be what MG saw the start of on a recent visit).
• By the Easter hols, a revamp of the farmyard. This includes a £30,000 refurbishment of the outdoor area including new animals and children’s play equipment. (They were supposed to do it this year but who cares).
• By May Day, a new £25,000 Binturong enclosure in the area of the yellow mongoose exhibit. The new exhibit will be 4.5m high, which will allow the ground-dwelling yellow mongoose and a new male tree-dwelling Binturong – who’s coming from Olomouc Zoo in the Czech Republic – to live together.
• A new £25,000 Prevost’s squirrel exhibit. The two currently empty red squirrel enclosures will be demolished and replaced with a single large exhibit to house SIX males from Chester Zoo.
• A new £15,000 area in Lemur Wood specifically for the black lemurs. (In my opinion this is a lot to spend just because the one adult female is a bit loopy. Hopefully it wont spoil the look of a very nice lemur walkthrough).
• Extending the camel paddock around the adventure playground. (Hurray! But why not just ditch the adventure playground if there's one going in the farmyard and make the extension even bigger?).
• Improving the Brazilian tapir enclosure.
• Updating 'Castle Creatures'.
• Completing work on the parrot aviaries. (Guess this means the Queen Mary aviary and triple parrot aviaries).
• Carrying out the winning £250,000 project from the 2017 visitor vote – looking highly likely to be the Sumatran tiger extension option.

The visitor facilities projects include:

• redeveloping toilets.
• providing new playground equipment.
• Building a new lion viewing platform.
• Transforming the former sensory garden area into a children's beach for the summer holidays; complete with buckets and spades.

Unveiling 2018 plans - Dudley Zoological Gardens

Crikey!