Dudley Zoological Gardens Dudley Zoological Gardens in 2019

Perhaps it is the furthest north that thie Brumbats group has recorded the species?

 

BABY GIRAFFE BORN -

We’re very excited to announce the birth of a female giraffe.

The calf, who stands around 1.8 metres tall, was born on Sunday 22 September to 10 year-old mum, Josie and 18 year-old dad, Kubwa.

DZG Assistant Curator Jay Haywood said: “Everyone at DZG is delighted with her arrival.

“She’s been snuggled up to mum in the giraffe house for the past week, but we’re thrilled with her progress.

“She’s very inquisitive and I’m sure she’ll quickly become a firm favourite with our visitors."

Keepers are currently busy thinking of a name for the newborn and we’ll announce the news as soon as we know!

taken from face book page

 

Marvellous news!

I can't wait to hopefully catch a glimpse of this special newborn during my next visit in either October or November (Depending on how things go for me)

 

Work on the new mixed exhibit for Linne's two-toed sloth, coppery titi monkey, and Goeldi's monkey is coming along nicely...


Reggie the sloth ready to slowly move into new enclosure at Dudley Zoo

 

Looking really good altogether so far! I must say this feels like a turn towards the right direction for DZG so far and I'm hoping (though I don't want to get my hopes up) the exhibit should be completed and opened to the public by the time I break up for half-term this month!

Speaking of which, does anyone know what has happened to the African spurred tortoises as of now? Are they still in the zoo somewhere or have they been moved on since?

 

The area looks a lot bigger than it used to be.

 

Visited yesterday.

After the appalling weather we've had in the UK over the past week, I expected it to be another cold and drizzly day, but it turned out to be mostly bright and sunny; not warm by any means but not cold either, and only mild breeze.

There was also a decent number of visitors on site throughout.

The macaques were still in the enclosure to the right of the chairlift and the gelada breeding group were to the left. The grass in the right enclosure has recovered very well. I'd like to see them link the two enclosures either side of the chairlift to create one massive hillside enclosure for the geladas - some of the left hand enclosure already goes underneath part of the chairlift.

All the flamingos were outdoors. Despite being a small area, with the rock backdrop, large waterfall, willow tree and large gunnera plant, it is quite a smart looking enclosure.

Only saw two Northern hawk owls in the aviary opposite the burrowing owls (previously there were four). I did not see the other two anywhere else in the zoo, so presumably they are off show or have gone to another collection.

The ex-polar bear Tecton (Inca the Asiatic black bear's former home) was cordoned off. However, I could see lots of tools, wheelbarrows, paint pots etc. in there suggesting work has been going on. I then noticed that a lot of the ground vegetation has been removed, some 'pine tree' saplings have been planted, and lots of plastic tunnelling has been added. This is in preparation for the soon-to-arrive Arctic foxes.

Couldn't see any changes to the tiger enclosure.

The bush dogs were very active.

Counted three Carpathian lynx.

Saw the baby giraffe. She was outside in the paddock with the female. The male is being kept separate for the time being.

I saw the sloth in the extension to the lynx dens. Of course it was fast asleep.

Saw one of the binturongs outside for a few minutes. The foliage in their enclosure has grown a lot.

Only saw one elderly kangaroo. It was being kept company by a couple of red-necked wallabies. I think we should probably presume that the other one has indeed died.

Construction of the new mixed exhibit for Linne's two-toed sloth, coppery titi monkeys, and Goeldi's monkeys appears to be nearing completion and looks very impressive. Located between the otters and Barbary sheep, it is a big structure; about 3 times bigger than what I expected them to build and about twice as high. Even the new indoor areas look way bigger than what was there before. It wouldn't surprise me if there's room for the agouti to go in there as well. Once completed I think it will make one of the best parts of the zoo even better. I was also glad to see a roof over the indoor viewing window has been incorporated into the designs to combat reflections.

There was a pair of golden pheasants in the macaw aviary. I saw 4 military and 7 scarlet macaws.

I saw the pair of Bali mynah in one of the aviaries opposite the Barbary sheep.

The small aviary at the far end of the orang house now contains black-headed weaver birds, which I've never seen at the zoo before. They have already begun weaving their own nests. They are a nice species but the aviary itself is still far too small and exposed for any bird in my opinion. Poor enclosures like this need to disappear.

The gibbons were a great watch as usual. I'll miss seeing them in that enclosure once they move into the new orang enclosure.

Went to the birds of prey display. Only one bird displayed as they are coming to the end of their display season and the ex-elephant house Tecton, where the off-show aviaries are located, is currently undergoing essential maintenance work. However, that didn't matter because the bird they were showing was a red-legged seriema; a bird I've never seen displayed before. The display itself was superb. The presenter demonstrated the bird's ability to run after prey, how it stuns/kills (fake) snakes, how it relies on its superior jumping ability to reach the tops of trees to roost safely at night, how poorly it flies, and some of the sounds it makes. They also talked about its sickle shaped claw which it uses to subdue prey, but as the grass was too long to see it, the bird was walked along the top of the wooden perimeter of the display area right in front of everyone - very cool. The presenter also spoke about how seriemas are persecuted by farmers in South America; the bird's eggs are collected en masse and the chicks are raised alongside the farmer's chickens. The seriemas then act as guard animals to protect the poultry from predators. Once the seriemas become adults and start attacking the chickens they are then culled and replaced with the next lot. It was an excellent talk and you could see how much the crowd were enthralled by the bird and interested in the information.

Went to 'Castle Creatures' (contains castle history info as well as exhibits featuring animals people would have lived alongside in Medieval times). I've really gone off it. The smell wasn't great all the way through and all I saw were the mice and rats. I saw the mice right in front of the viewing window; about six of them huddled together eating something. I took a closer look and noticed they were all cannibalising a juvenile mouse and had just got to the juicy bits - not a pretty sight. It's fair to say 'Castle Creatures' was a bit of a downer after the birds of prey display.

Due to the maintenance work going on in the ex-elephant house Tecton, the wallaby walkthrough was closed. A sign said the wallabies had been moved to the reindeer paddock, although I did not see any in there.

Went around the revamped lemur walkthrough for the first time. They've done a heck of a lot of work in there and it looks very smart. They've also done a great job with the paths, although there are still a few steps at the far end. Due to the major cut back of the foliage the revamped walkthrough didn't have same lush immersive feel as it used to, but I'm sure that will change once the foliage starts to grow back properly next summer.

One of the things I wanted to see in the lemur walkthrough is what they had done with the black lemur accommodation after the black lemurs had moved to another part of the zoo. To my surprise the black lemur house was still there and, upon looking through the window, had black lemurs inside. This had me puzzled until I went down to the new black lemur enclosure and saw it contained two black spider monkeys. These are the spider monkeys from BWP that DZG is temporarily caring for after the spider monkey enclosure at BWP was burned down by arsonists.

I watched some of the chimps do a patrol of the perimeter of their outdoor area.

The new leaf-cutter ant exhibit in the chimp indoor viewing area is very nicely done and the information display surrounding it is also very good. The ants weren't using the feeding station or piping as fresh leaves had been placed on top of their nest. The freshwater vampire crabs in the water surrounding the feeding station are quite difficult to see as they are very small at the moment.

No changes to the bear ravine.

There are two baby camels despite the press release suggesting there was only one. I think this is because one of them had to be hand-reared for a while.

Predictably the Tasmanian devils are leading the way in the token voting thing.

Oh and I bought one of the new guide books from the shop.

 

I too thought the exact same thing last time I visited earlier in July this year, I think its safe to say that DZG are now down to just a single Western grey kangaroo as the other male (either Lou or Harold) had probably been PTS somepoint between either late 2018/early 2019.

I know they aren't exactly an endangered species like the tigers or orangutans, but just knowing this old 'roo is the last of his kind left in DZG makes me wonder what they will do after his passing. It would be a shame if they were to go out of Western greys as they are probably my favourite Kangaroo species and therefore one of my favourite animals in Dudley Zoo.

 

The bachelor Gelada group has left DZG for a new home in Latvia
Bye boys! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

With regards to the kangaroo, only Harold is showing on the adoption pages. I'm hoping to get to the zoo in the next week or so and will try and confirm.

 

I wonder what will replace them.

 

Haven't they still got that other group of Geladas (the breeding troop if I'm correct) on the other side towards the owl aviaries? Because I've just had another look at the ZTL holdings only to find they've been moved onto the Former listings.

Not to mention that listing needs some good updating again...

 

Someone has presumed they have gone out of Geladas. Understandable perhaps as there is no mention in the press release about the second/breeding group which is presumably still there. A line or two clarifying that might have been helpful in allowing people to know they still keep the species.

 

My thoughts exactly.... Nevermind.

 

The arctic foxes have arrived and are already in the ex-polar bear Tecton according to a photo on social media.

They are 4 males apparently.

 

Dudley is showing only one still alive (Harold) at over 17 years old.

 

Visited today, and got to see the arctic foxes, they must have just arrived, there wasn't even any signage up yet. All four were running around the enclosure, making good use of the platforms.

The bird of prey display was cancelled on account of the weather, but the a keeper did have the red-legged seriema out in the castle, so I did get a chance to see it.

Does anyone know what the situation is with the tigers? Joao's been at the zoo for six years now but I've not heard anything about breeding.

 

The arrival of the Arctic foxes is the first time the zoo has held the species in more than 30 years.
The four 5-month-old brothers came from Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland.

Arctic foxes arrive! - Dudley Zoological Gardens
(contains video)

 

The baby giraffe has been named Kira. Introducing Kira! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

A baby gelada was born on 17th October. And then there were 11! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

The sloth has moved into his new enclosure, which has been officially opened.
Foxy meets Reggie! - Dudley Zoological Gardens