Dudley Zoological Gardens Dudley Zoological Gardens in 2019

Six Egyptian Fruit Bat pups have been born in the last few days:

Dudley Zoo

 

Twin black-and-white ruffed lemurs born. They are the 2nd and 3rd of their species to be born at DZG. The first was a male born 11 months ago.
Peepo baby! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

A male lilac-breasted roller has joined the collection from Birdworld. DZG hopes to source a female to join him. He's a stunner! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

A gelada baboon was born on March 6th to Ebano and Jimna. This is the sixth baby gelada to be born at DZG. Hello little one! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

The baby is a male and has been called Jinka. Of the 6 babies born at DZG, 5 are male and 1 female. Say hello to Jinka! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

Inca passed away last night.



She was 38 years old. Having exceeded the typical life expectancy of her species by more than a decade she was thought to be the oldest Asiatic black bear in Europe, maybe even the world.

She was a huge part of people's visits to DZG over the years and sightings of her during her later years felt all the more special. She'll be missed by many.

Death of Inca - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

That is terrible news, my thoughts are with her keepers.

 

Sad indeed, one of those posts you dread.

 

So sad - will miss seeing her. Her longevity is testament to the care she received at DZG.

 

RIP INCA will be missed by everyone who visits the zoo and by her keepers

 

This is very sad news indeed, Inca was truly one of the most iconic animals ever to have been kept at DZG over the years as well as also being one of my favourite animals there.

I cannot believe this is the end of an era already for Dudley having Asian black bear within its collection... The very thought of her no longer being there fills me with depression and I honestly cannot even think of DZG having no bears at all....

My thoughts go out to all the keepers and other visitors at the zoo who are also feeling devastated by her loss and I am going to greatly miss seeing this species at Dudley so much...

R.I.P.
Inca

 

RIP Inca you will never be forgotten. You opened up every zoochatters visit to Dudley, well if you were exploring, that is. I can remember my first time visiting you all those years ago when you instantly became my favourite at Dudley. RIP

 

According to the zoo's social media pages a pygmy marmoset has been born. The zoo has done incredibly well with this species and this birth brings the group up to 16 individuals.

(unfortunately the link to the news story on their website isn't working)

 

I was watching a programme on Dublin Zoo the other week (not sure how old it was) but they were celebrating the birth of twin pygmy marmosets and mentioned that the father had transferred to Dublin from Dudley. It was nice to hear that progeny from DZG are now breeding in other collections and helping to preserve the genetic diversity of the species.

 

Does anyone know if the planned Tiger extension is planned to to go into the exhibit Inca was in ? The tiger improvements were planned a couple of years ago and it didn’t look to me (a couple of months ago) that any work had even started so wondered if with Inca so old before she passed that they were waiting to start the Tiger improvements as expanding into Incas old exhibit would give them more options

 

No, extending the tiger enclosure into Inca's enclosure was never the plan and won't be the plan as the enclosures are listed Tectons.

As stated earlier in this thread the improvements to the back of the tiger enclosure and dens have not started yet as planning permission, being so horrendously complicated due to the setting, is taking longer than anticipated.

 

Thanks
Wonder what they will do with Incas enclosure, some form of primate ?

 

You need to factor in the indoor accommodation. Any animal that goes in there would need to suit having small antiquated bear dens as its indoor quarters.

Due to its protected status they would not be able to build new housing within the outdoor area and it would be near impossible to mimic what they have done with the howler monkey housing nearby for various reasons.

The enclosure was perfect as a retirement home for a single very elderly Asiatic black bear, but I can't think of many animals that I would be comfortable with seeing in that pit enclosure and would suit the indoor dens. I wouldn't blame the zoo if they boarded up the enclosure again or turned it into a museum piece.

 

What about Macaques ? Can't imagine it's too dissimilar to Newquay's exhibit, the indoors like ?