I visited today-there is a baby tapir on show with mum. Meerkats are in the new house. Wallaby walkthrough looks almost finished including signage and reasonably good (for a new exhibit that doesn't really interest me much personally anyway)-I took a couple of reference shots I will try to get uploaded. I also got fairly good views of Margay at last-early morning, they didn't seem bothered by my presence at all. Lions still separated, no sign of female although access was open to the old baboon enclosure and Jay went rushing over to it at one point to start calling.
Our first Zoochat exclusive of the year, great to hear that the new pairing has worked so successfully, so quickly.
Nope, but have put a couple of pics in the gallery. Also cotton-top tamarins in magic forest (I think)-have they always been there and I just forgot/never noticed or are they new/moved from somewhere else?
Is this the place that Edinburgh's Heck's cattle ended up? BBC News - 'Nazi' cattle: Farmer forced to cull part of herd
ah cannie stay silent anymore - after months of silence. remember when ah told you that the zoo couldnae do so many things for budget reasons and lack of money? somehow the zoo has found the money to buy in 14 animatronic dinosaurs for the top of the hill - to help highlight the threat that current animals face in the wild. so we couldnae redevelop the big cat walkway, get a macaque walkthrough and so many other things due to a lack of money, but somehow we can afford to get model animals that died without any human interaction at all.
And what is the problem? The land at the top of the hill is lying mostly empty, most major zoos these days bring in the animatronic dinosaurs, bugs, sea monsters etc as a crowd puller, bums on seats, money through the till, whats the issue? The big cat walway is being worked on, the macaque walkthrough is being built albeit with wallaby rather than macaque .
Tapir baby is male From zoo website: A tiny new arrival managed to make a big appearance just hours before 2014 drew to a close. A male Malayan tapir was born to mother Sayang and first time father Mogli in the early hours of Wednesday 31 December. Lorna Hughes, Hoofstock Team Leader, said: “Experienced Malayan tapir mother Sayang gave birth to a male calf on the evening of 31 December. The last birth of the year at Edinburgh Zoo, the calf has had a big impact on keepers and visitors already. Mekong, after the delta river which flows through where they are found in the wild, is lively and very distinctive. "Although they are not genetically related and are much larger, Malayan tapirs are similar in build to pigs, but have noses and upper lips that form a long prehensile snout and large, barrel shaped bodies made for crashing through dense forest vegetation. Adult tapirs are black, with a white or grey midsection, whilst youngsters like Mekong are born with spots and stripes all over their small bodies, face and legs. Mekong’s adult colouration will come in between four and seven months of age. When Mekong is fully grown he is likely to stand at over three feet tall and be up to eight feet in length, weighing up to 900 pounds. “Sayang is a great mum with lots of experience as she has had five babies now and really knows the ropes. Tapirs are pregnant for around 13 months so it is great to finally see another healthy calf being born. However, although we are very pleased with his progress and he is putting on weight steadily, the first week or so is a sensitive time for mother and baby.” This species is the only tapir native to Asia and in the wild the Malayan tapir are under threat from natural predators, as well as hunting and wide-scale deforestation due to farming and logging. This species are listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, which means that they face a very high risk of extinction in the wild. It is estimated that less than 2,000 individuals make up the wild population. The young tapir is on show to visitors at Edinburgh Zoo at the Malayan tapir enclosure. - See more at: Edinburgh Zoo - New Year Arrival
I've given my thoughts on the dinosaurs when other zoos have had them, so I won't get into that argument again! But it is interesting though that 2 other zoos seemingly in trouble or lacking animals have tried the same thing in the last 2 years : Twycross then Marwell. This has also happened at 2 zoos in better shape too though in Chester and Bristol before them! At least they are sticking them at the top of the hill!
Worth noting that the Big Cat area is not getting redeveloped, the plan is just to leave it as an empty space initially with a cat touch table then to turn it into a garden area - we are becoming more botanic than zoological
It is a reflection that the busiest parts of the zoo are often the playgrounds, or that anoying clanking wallkway opposite the sun bears. You are right other zoos have used these -I remember Scarborough (I think) had fibreglass dinos in the 70s, and Chester's dinosaurs were fun a few years back, especially the ones that squirted water at you. A sign of the times that the animals are not enough to attract sufficient numbers. Is the big cat walkway being renovated? The last I heard from the zoo was that it was being demolished and landscaped, and they would deciode 'in the future' what to do with both the area and the idea of holding cats.
Royal Zoological Society of Scotland ? Then from the blog: Chief Executive’s Blog | RZSS Blog I'm holding my thoughts on the latest 'residencies' scheme - interesting that the 'thinker in residence' has been there for 20 months! RZSS Residencies Blog – Kathy Sorley, Thinker in Residence | RZSS Blog
What use they are going to put the space to has not been announced, however Ricafan has proven reliable information in the past and it's not the first time I've heard that it would just be landscaped (as with the aviaries behind the sun bears)
Well worth asking though Kiang to be sure. Information about cat walkway came from the volunteers meeting held a few months back as well as internal communications. Tis also worth noting that aye whilst we do have that there wallaby waalkthrough, it is not in place of macaque walkthrough - zoo needed to change things to get the macaque walkthrough and, as it always went back to, told us that the zoo had no money to invest in many new things (wallaby and otter walkthroughs aside) and that they would be focussing on renovating and fixing what we already have before getting new things in.
Edinburgh would seem to be returning to the attitudes of the Waugh regime, with a management who see the site as a problem rather than an opportunity. Sadly, it doesn't seem to be the only "establishment" zoo in the UK that values its marketing department more than its keepers.
The former addax/vicuna paddock was always earmarked for the walk through enclosure in whatever form it was going to take. A lot of the infrastructure is dated and needing upgraded or replaced, i.e drains and electrical supply neither which is done on the cheap plus there is the replacement for the hilltop safari trailers in whatever form they will take. p.s are there still meerkat in the enclosure next to the hippo house?
aye there be something else that annoys me. Chester, Colchester, Twycross, ZSL, Durrell, Paington, San Diego etc. they be varying zoos of varying sizes but they all be replying to stuff on their Facebooks quickly. Edinburgh's team however rarely if ever reply and technically, its meant to be left to volunteers but when volunteers do reply they get into trouble from the staff. I just weep at this it is such a travesty that the zoo facebook team cannot be bothered replying to it, same with twitter (on Twitter they are more interested in advertising weddings!!!). I don't even want to begin to think how many visitors we've lost because the zoo social media team has not bothered to give a reply. since ah made my post they have now since replied to people, which also followed complaints about them not replying - funny that eh?