Once, but I think that was the first pair. As I understand it, as the animals are under control of San Diego, the conditions they are kept in are pretty strict, including a minimum temperature which is seldom reached in Scotland.
First post on the forum! I've never seen the koalas in the amphitheater outside (if that's indeed where they're kept). I did get to witness the bizzare 'Human Exhibit' they had in there a few years back though Visited the zoo today, quite busy despite it being a school-day, I'm glad I didn't need to wait in that queue The former Barbary Macaque enclosure is now empty, but there were at least two Barbary Macaque in the monkey house. The Asiatic Lions were closed off, as was the Brilliant Birds. I never normally bother with the koalas, but the one furthest to the left (I think it was Goonaroo) was quite active and making a show of himself. I've never noticed before but there's quite a lot of cases where one species has several exhibits, we all know about the meerkats, but I counted three Goeldi's Monkey enclosures, as well as two for Grevy's zebra and Visayan spotted deer. There might be reasons, but it feels like a lot of wasted space Speaking of wasted space, the extinct animal infographs in the former Cat Walkway have become so overgrown that they're hard to read. If they wanted to stick with the Scotland theme I feel like they could put some native and extinct species in a few of those old exhibits (Pine Martens, Lynx maybe) There was a lot of empty exhibits actually, some that have been that way for a while. I don't think the pen across from the African Plains has been filled since the Maned Wolf? Or was it Musk-Deer? The former Dwarf Mongoose exhibit in the Hippo house is empty too as the occupants are next to the margay (I think that exhibit would be perfect for a reptile or two personally...) The giant anteater was very active, which I believe I've only seen once before, and I got to see the grey kangaroos after having missed them on my last visit As far as the wildcat/margay discussion goes...I actually find the margay easier to find, at least more reliable. I managed to see both species today, but my last two visits the wildcat (my personal favourites) managed to elude me. I find that if you're willing to wait towards the end of the day, the margay is fairly easy to find sitting on the platforms in the indoor section (I've never seen it outside).
Do someone body now if brilliant birds and all other bird exhibits have opened again and if not wen they will
Visited today, nothing major to report on. The main Macaque enclosure is now completely empty with signs up advising it is being refurbished. There are still at least 2 Macaques in the monkey house. I was advised by a volunteer that the Red Panda's are not getting along very well, apparently they had to be separated last week for a while. They were together today and were not being very friendly towards each other.
This new exhibition will house 11 species, including one Natal dwarf chameleon which I believe is the only one on show in the UK?
A new map has been uploaded showing the location of the "Wee Beasties" exhibition, the map has also removed the Barbary Macaques. http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/media/5455/ez-park-map_june_2017_online.pdf
Having wanted to see more herps at Edinburgh for a while, this is exciting! Anyone have any full species lists or photos? It looks like they've built it on (maybe in) the building where they held animal handling sessions for the summer schools (maybe more), where they kept a lot of small animals already. But looking at the map, it seems as though Brilliant Birds is only labelled as 'Fish and Frogs'...Is the construction planned to take a long time or is this something to worry about?
Edinburgh's herps have always been a great disappointment to me. I'm glad they've increased their collection
Are you suggesting they are planning to change the Brilliant Birds exhibit into an aquarium / paludarium?
Not sure, but the labeling on the map is puzzling. I doubt they would totally revamp such a great exhibit, so maybe the current 'construction' work is planned to take a while?
Visited this morning, full list of species in the new Wee Beasties exhibit is: Egg-eating snake Blue Poison Dart Frog Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec Axolotl Fregate Island Giant Beetle Chilean Rose Tarantula Forest Scorpion Natal Dwarf Chameleon Giant African Land Snail Partula Snail Tanzanian Red-Legged Millipede There is also 2 enclosures currently under development, one will be a coral reef containing "underwater beasties". I was very impressed with this new exhibition, it's something Edinburgh has been lacking in for a long time. In other news, both the Asiatic Lions and the Sumatran Tigers were mating and Baku, the young Malayan Tapir, is still at the zoo.
