Dudley Zoological Gardens Dudley Zoological Gardens in 2018

I'm pretty sure there is a fish pond at the bottom of the indoor sloth enclosure inside Spirit of the Jaguar (at Chester Zoo), so I don't see why not. Of course my only worry is if a sloth or any tree-dwelling mammal was to fall into the fish pond and drown considering it is actually quite deep.

 

Aren't sloths pretty good swimmers?

 

Indeed, the afore-mentioned Chester sloths do swim in the tank in Spirit Of The Jaguar. I've not seen it personally but other members have.

 

Okay, so maybe that was a wrong choice of words for to me about sloths and water, now that you mention it I suppose the old tortoise exhibit in Lorikeet Lookout would be more suitable for sloths (and armadillos if they arrive) than it is for the agoutis what were in there last year.

 

A female grey capped emerald dove has arrived at DZG from Banham Zoo to join the male which joined the collection in March. Keepers are hoping that the pair will breed next year.
A perfect pair - Dudley Zoological Gardens

Twin Patagonian maras were born on 2nd September and are doing well. They have not been sexed or named yet. Mini maras - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

The zoo has had to close early today due to the extreme windy weather conditions.

 

About 100 Regal Jumping Spider spiderlings have joined the zoo and are currently living in the farm barn.
A hundred babies on board! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

A pygmy marmoset was born on September 30th - the 15th baby to mum Pam and dad Hendrix.
Baby number 15! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

Four green military macaws have joined the eight scarlet macaws in the new aviary near Lemur Wood (which replaced the triple aviary. The military macaws arrived three weeks ago from Paradise Park in Hayle, Cornwall – the same place the South American scarlet macaws came from in April.
More macaws move in! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

Is the intention to kick start a breeding program for both?
The military are Mexican ssp.?

 

Reindeer, Basil, has left DZG for Kirkleatham Owl Centre in Redcar.
Bye-bye Basil - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

Two recently published silent 8mm films of Dudley zoo from the 1960s and 1970s...

1.) circa 1960




2.) circa 1970

 

Visited yesterday.

A bit of a mixed day, with some good and some disappointing points, which was not helped by the cold, blustery, grey November weather. Many animals had decided to stay indoors so only those with indoor viewing were visible (albeit once you'd looked through your pair of imaginary binoculars against many of the windows first).

So the first enclosure you see when you enter the zoo is the rather nice gelada breeding group enclosure extending up the hillside. However, none of the geladas in this group were outside, and the stairs up to the house were barricaded off, with no sign that I could see explaining why. When we reached the top of the enclosure we looked down to see that the house had had an extension. I don't know the technical term but I'd describe it as one of those outdoor holding areas where the animals can also go in order to get some fresh air without being let into the main enclosure.

The flamingos were out despite the weather, but were being fed by a keeper and a visitor doing a 'zookeeper for the day' experience. The viewing area was closed, so I suspect the birds may have been kept indoors for the rest of the day.

The spider monkeys were very active, which was nice to see.

The bachelor group of 5 geladas used to have only the one mature male, but it looks as though 2 or 3 of the others have caught up and matured into impressive looking animals too.

Only saw one snowy owl, one great grey owl, and one burrowing owl.

There was a male and female pair of golden pheasants in the old raven aviary.

The kookaburras were visible but were sheltering up in the back corner of their aviary rather than being on their usual perch at the front. I suspect they'll be taken off show soon for the rest of the winter months like they usually are.

All the black howler monkeys were staying inside, despite having access to their large outdoor area.

Inca (Asiatic black bear) was curled up asleep inside one of her self-dug hollows up against the wall. I think she usually enters semi-hibernation around this time of year.

For the last few visits the snow leopards have been separated; the male in original section and the female in the new extension. However, this time both sections were opened up, but I only saw one leopard, which I presume was the male, sleeping high up on one of the platforms. The female was nowhere to be seen, not even in the on-show indoor section. All the shutters to the off-show bedrooms were closed and there were one or two staff members milling around.

The tigers. Now this was the biggest disappointment. Remember the 2017 token vote where £250k would be spent on either the tiger enclosure, the chimp enclosure, or a new bear enclosure, which the tigers won? Well work on that was supposed to start in September this year. I was sure that on a visit in November I would see evidence of work starting, but there were no changes whatsoever. I even peered through a gap in the fence into the dens but they were exactly the same too. Now I may be being very harsh here as there may be a very reasonable excuse as to why work has not yet started, but a small explanation sign isn't much to ask for. Then again a nerdy zoochatter would probably be the only person likely to remember or be bothered that work hasn't yet started.
With regards to the tigers themselves, the male (Joao) was nowhere to be seen, which was a bit unusual, and the female (Daseep) looked quite restless.

The Carpathian lynx were all curled up asleep in one of the bedrooms.

Weirdly, the viewing area for the red pandas was barricaded off for no obvious reason. Again I saw no signage explaining why.

No obvious changes to the tapir/capybara/mara enclosure.

As we approached the new binturong enclosure we saw one of the binturongs confidently strutting around the top part, but just as we got close it made its way inside. Very pleased to say that a lot more climbing opportunities, such as large tree branches and wooden walkways, have been added to the enclosure since it first opened. This simple thing has made a huge difference to the enclosure IMO. Upon looking into the house both binturongs were awake, active, and interacting with each other. One of them is considerably larger than the other.

Both giant anteaters were visible and active within the on-show section of the indoor area. I wonder if once the elderly kangaroos pass away their enclosure will be merged with the right hand giant anteater enclosure.

I saw signage for the newly arrived grey-capped emerald doves two aviaries along from the kangaroos, but did not see the doves themselves.

I only saw 5 out of 8 scarlet macaws in the new aviary, but did not see a single one of the newly arrived military macaws. The new viewing platform to the side of the aviary is open, but still completely pointless as you still can't look through the mesh for more than a few seconds without becoming cross-eyed and slightly dizzy. The mesh is too tight, too shiny, and the wire too thick to look through properly. This is such a shame as the aviary itself is quite nice.

A large new structure between the macaw viewing platform and the entrance to the lemur walkthrough has been built. It's made of green corrugated metal and is about the size of a double garage. No idea what it is for as no signage. Could it be for the Prevost's squirrels?

After proposing it this year and the year before there's still no sign of the new lion viewing platform being built. I guess it has been put on the back-burner after the male lion passed away this year from cancer.

I wish they'd make the paths in the lemur walkthrough wheelchair and pushchair friendly.

As of 31st September they have raised a total of £341,364 for the new orangutan enclosure (the markers must have fallen down off the board last time I visited).

Both sea lion pools are back to being full of water, now that the breeding season has finished.

No changes to 'castle creatures'. I thought the bat enclosure really needed a clean, especially the windows. Probably what is causing the smell.

The capuchins were great to watch as ever.

I thought that a bit of maintenance was due here and there, similar to what has been discussed about Twycross recently, but on a much smaller scale. E.g. the wooden handrail along the penguin walkway needs completely replacing, a lick of paint outside the lorikeet walkthrough exit. The discovery centre, Queen Mary canteen, and lorikeet walkthrough windows could all do with a clean, and the bush dog fence could do with being replaced. And little things like giving the inside of the public viewing gallery of the small monkey houses behind the discovery centre a dust and a clean/wipe-down. It may be zoo but it's still a public attraction.

The Queen Mary aviary currently contains:
- At least 2 agouti.
- Goffin's cockatoos
- Yellow shouldered amazons
- Reeve's pheasants
- A Chattering Lory (thanks @Great Argus for the ID)

Don't know why the children's beach area on the site of the old sensory garden is called 'Ow Bin Ya Sands'. I know it's supposed to be an exaggerated and light hearted take on the black country accent but I've lived in the Black Country all my life and nobody genuinely talks like that all the time, apart from maybe a few salt of the Earth people in their late eighties. Zoos don't just get visited by people in their immediate area. Visitors from even just a few miles further afield will wonder what it is and think it's a bit weird, and dare I say a little bit cringey. Cater for all. Doya now warra min?

The new black lemur enclosure is nothing special, it's ok, that's it. My immediate reaction was why didn't they make it 3x bigger? But that's my reaction to nearly all new animal enclosures at any zoo. I completely agree with @gentle lemur about the poor viewing. It would have been better if they'd have left the glass in front of the outdoor section as mesh, and I did all sorts of silly waves in front of the glass of the indoor viewing window in an attempt to block out the reflection there.

The naked mole rats were very active in their tunnels and good to watch.

The Regal Jumping Spider spiderlings, Tokay gecko hatchlings, and Standing's day gecko hatchlings were all on show in the farm barn.

There was no sign of any agouti in the lorikeet walkthrough, nor was there any signage of them. I wish they'd fill in the annoying koi pool in that enclosure and just put some sloths and/or armadillos in there.

The extension to the camel paddock around the back of the farm barn has been completed, giving the camels a lot more space. Two new viewing areas have also been built. I wish they'd extend the paddock into the space taken up by the nearby children's play area too, but they've recently added new play equipment there, so I guess that won't happen for a while.

Finally, the bear option is still comfortably in lead in the 2018 vote between the bear, orang, and chimp enclosures.

Pics are in gallery.

 

Great report as always. just a few questions and comments.

That sounds great, for an arboreal species there really wasn't a great deal of climbing structures. The bird table still in there?

Did you take any photo's? I scanned the gallery quickly yesterday but didn't notice any.

I wish they'd revamp it and just make it into a standard nocturnal house, it's great as a one-off visit, but nothing has really changed in the last two years. A couple of bats aren't that impressive but if they added some nicer small mammals then it could be a nice experience, just change the name.

Interesting combination, very eclectic. I approve

As someone with a very broad Birmingham accent imagine how I feel when someone does an impression of a Brummie but starts off with "Yam alright?"

Totally agree, a lot of wasted space in a not very large building. Chinese alligators would be nice, maybe they'd fair better than the old Nile croc's.

Thank God for that, the camel paddock was ridiculously small before and it was made even worse by being opposite the Bear Ravine paddock. A comparatively huge area for smaller species demonstrated just how short-changed the camels were!

 

Yep the giant bird tables and raised flowerbeds are still there, but they are a lot less in your face now thanks to all the branches. Even more branches would not go amiss though.

I didn't. I was going to but there were lots of people around and, well, I didn't want people to wonder why is that guy taking a photo of a big shed.

Really like the sound of a small nocturnal house. I agree, the concept of Castle Creatures being exhibits with animals that people would encounter day to day in medieval times was a nice idea, but rats, mice, spiders, leeches, flies, beetles, snails, bats, and earthworms just doesn't grab or interest people. The concept has aged very quickly. The only thing I like about it is the first room you go into, which tells you about the entire history of the castle. They should keep that bit, but then it should just lead straight into a nocturnal house.

They said they were going to "upgrade" Castle Creatures this year but did not say exactly what they were going to do. There were no changes when I visited yesterday.

I know right, for some reason it made for quite an appealing exhibit. No idea why they've moved the agouti or where the lory came from.

I know what you mean. It's not that strong but I have a black country accent and have never said or ever heard anyone else say 'Ow bin ya?'. People say 'how are you?' in their accent.

Imagine visiting a collection in the North-East of England and seeing a 'Why aye man walkthrough' (however I think Geordies do actually say that quite a lot in everyday speech ).

 

Tiger exhibit refurbishment was meant to start in September and as you say it' hasn't well either they are not going to do it or they have decided to leave it for now (great PR at the time and hope that people forget so they can have another PR break with the LONG OVER DUE ORANGUTAN REFURBISHMENT) when this takes place does anyone know what is going to happen to the African Hunting Dogs as they will loose half thier exhibit?

 

I was never bothered by the flower beds, just the bird tables...

You disappoint me Ben, no ZooChatter should be ashamed of taking photo's of random structures!

I think I'd say that just to prove a point!

 

They will lose all of their exhibit as the new orang enclosure will take up the entirety of it. Nothing has been said about what will happen to the African Hunting dogs. I don't think they will be in demand by many collections (apart from maybe Marwell) as I believe they may be quite old or have been inbred by another collection.