Orangutans - all open for females, restricted male access Sakina - not sure it would be such a great idea bringing her back, she'd upset the female hierachy, females 100 x better and more bonded than when she was here Interesting to note that two mother/daughter bonds were broken (mawar/gina; sakina/kishka) and now both ape groups are more cohesive and are mating There is also a new lemur enclosure being developed
Do you know why they transferred Mawar to Prague? She was their main breeding female so I couldn't quite understand why they did that. Also I think the change in the Gorilla group is all down to the new male Badongo rather than Sakina having left- I think he would probably have been mating her too if she was still there- but admittedly her not being there when he arrived, may have made his acceptance by the others go more smoothly.
Whilst I agree that their mating is obv down to having a new silverback, his introduction would never have gone as smoothly with Sakina around, and more importantly the girls would still be divided. All 4 animals sleep in the same quarters now, where as the old group of 5 were separated over 3 rooms. Sakina's export made this cohesian possible. Mawar was exported for the same reasons, Mawar could not be mixed with Dana. Anette is a much more laid back individual and all females can now be mixed
Yep... work on Durrell Wildlife Camp is going full speed ahead, bookings are being taken now and the launch is being planned! It's really exciting! That was the Lac Aloatran Gentle Lemurs going into the West side of 'Lemur Lake', the East side has black and white ruffed lemurs, some very comical ring tailed lemurs and the red fronted brown lemur 'Sam' that I posted a pic of to the Durrell gallery a while back. To the rear of the lookout platform in the video will be some red ruffed lemurs, and on the public side of the fence the planters are full of wild strawberry plants - Lemur Lake is going to be an amazing place to sit and take pics. I really like that the gentle lemurs will have their own little 'marsh'! There are two baby ring tails clinging to their mum in the Kirindy Forest exhibit, baby meerkats in 'Discovery Desert' too. There's a few other things that I wish I could tell you, and later this year or possibly early next year there will be much more of a Durrell media presence in the UK if all goes to plan. The Trust is more committed than ever to it's mission of saving species from extinction. 'Durrell Day' this year centres on an attempt to break the Guiness World Record for recycling the most aluminium cans in an 8 hour period. The money from the cans will be used to plant trees as part of the IPE/Durrell 'tree corridor' project - with the sincere hope that fragmented sections of Brazil's Atlantic rainforest can be 'connected' to allow black lion tamarin populations to find each other, and preserve some genetic diversity. Tougher tree species will be used at the edges of forest fragments - 'green hugs' - to prevent desiccation effects, and further habitat loss. Every 50 cans will plant a tree, and it's hoped there will be 250,000 cans collected... so if you are in Jersey, please save your cans and take them up on the Sunday of Durrell Day weekend (14th and 15th of July). Also, Chester Zoo are very lucky! They have some great former Durrell people on their way to them!
I'm confused as to where this new Lemur place is, is it just for guests staying to see or is it connected to the zoo? Could someone give me an idea where abouts it is?
Hi James, 'Lemur Lake' is to the west of the manor house, east of the 'Island Bat Roost' - on 'camilia walk' and directly opposite the tamarin woods. It's been a lemur enclosure on both sides of the pond for a good many years, but you could previously only view it as a 'walk past' type exhibit. Soon you will be able to walk past the gentle lemur 'house' and sit on the platform - with the lake below you, gentle lemurs on the bamboo level with the viewing platform (back a way to avoid interaction) to the right. On the left will be red ruffed lemurs with a feeding station back a ways but head level with the platform. Across the lake are the black and white ruffed, red fronted brown and ring-tailed lemurs in the mixed exhibit. Whereas previously if they were at 'the back' of the enclosure you wouldn't see them - now, from the platform, you'll see the whole area. Guests at the Wildlife Camp, however, will have the best views of all... the communal area - 'Lemur Lodge' - has the command view of the whole valley area that contains the lake, and there is a lounging deck that you could sit on and watch the whole valley or take pics. From the camp side of the lemur lodge you can see across the whole park to the orang island on the opposite side. The west side of the camp shares it's boundary with the 'behind the scenes' part of the valley, so campers will have lemurs as neighbours! The top of the camp is a wooded area with lots of native red squirrels and birds, blackberry bushes at the boundary and wild strawberries and other forage planted around. It's going to be simply awesome!
I'd have to check with the people involved first, to find out if they don't mind. But these folks are the best, both at their respective jobs, and as people.
Aside from Kahili being pregnant, there are a few other things going on at Durrell. Durrell Wildlife Camp has been open for over a week now, with guests unequivocally loving their stay, by all accounts! Fantastic local projects coming up, with tonight seeing the culmination of the agile frog captive breeding and release project - new Head of Herps Mattias Goetz told me that when he first surveyed the habitats in 2002 he found only 4 clumps of spawn, compared to 126 in 2011, and multiple sites harbouring breeding frog populations! There is also activity gearing up towards the release of red-billed choughs at a local coastal spot, again, the pay off of a lengthy and much considered project for the bird and conservation teams. Golden lion tamarins once again enjoy free run of the 'tamarin woods' along with the emperor tamarins and silvery marmosets. Oh, and we have some of the first legally imported Angonoka - 'ploughshare tortoises' at Durrell... under maximum security conditions! These guys were part of a consignment confiscated in Hong Kong, and subsequently very well looked after at Kadoori Farm and Botanical Gardens before being sent to Jersey, Rotterdam and Chester to begin a captive breeding programme.
these are young tortoises aren't they (as in too young to breed yet)? Are any of them (at any of the three zoos, if you know) going to be on display at all until older, or is that not an option?
Jersey Choughs. So have the two pairs they got from Paradise Park in Cornwall now bred successfully? How many Choughs are at the Park now? Did they get any more from PP, apart from the initial four?
Good to hear, I am staying at the Wildlife Camp in September for 4 nights and really looking forwards to the experience. The last time I was at Jersey Zoo was 17 years ago, so I guess one or two things have changed since then!
....not least of which is our banning of the 'Z' word! (I am being facetious - but we are now called Durrell Wildlife Park on all the signs and road signs etc!). Seriously though, I'm absolutely confident that you'll love your stay! Are you booked on any of the tours or experiences? Feel free to come and say hi when you're here - I'll PM you shortly!
Hi Pertinax, I'm due to be working on the communications for the chough campaign in a few weeks - I can't wait! But for now, have a look at the website that Dr Glynn Young, the conservationist leading this project has set up; Birds on the edge | Saving coastal birds and habitats from extinction. I'll keep you posted on here as things move too if you like.
Thankyou for the Link. It says Jersey now have 'up to five pairs'. Do you know if the extra (three?) pairs at Jersey were bred there this/last year, or have also come from Paradise Park where they got the first two pairs from? Any updates on release dates/numbers etc of Jersey Choughs would be very much appreciated.
Sorry Childonias, I missed this earlier! They are indeed too young to breed, and are still in quarantine at present. I believe the Herps team will be looking at four years before public display - and even then security will be paramount, given that Durrell have had Angonoka stolen from the in-situ breeding facility in the past - with the smugglers going to extraordinary lengths to get to them. Would you like me to upload an image or two into the gallery?
@RickJ, the offexhibit of bowsprit would be quite understandable. All these have been confiscated in the Far East (at least 40+ already) and now redistributed amongst reputable chelonian captive-breeding centers around the world. Most are in the youngest age classes and only very few are adults as yet. It looks more than likely that an US facility will be breeding the species successfully before long!!!
