I understand your own and Pipaluk's stance completely. During it's "darkest days" I avoided visiting Twycross for the best part of the year and it's only half an hour away! I just got fed up visiting and coming home frustrated and disappointed with the feeling that everything was moving in the wrong direction with no u-turn in sight. Thankfully things reversed (eventually) and I hope Marwell also turns round in due course.
Just come back from Marwell today. First visit to the lemurs walk through. There is some good vegetation in there but to be honest it is awful and incredibly small. The only walk through that I've seen that's worse than this is Wingham and that's only because of the vegetation. The boards are down from the old ocelot enclosure. There are now signs up for Asian otters though I didn't see them. I hope these are new ones and they are not planning to move the ones they already have. That will be a huge downgrade for them. I'm really hoping that the new tropical house will not be as much of a let down as the lemurs walkthrough. To be honest if I didn't visit so many of the partner zoos and it wasn't so local (15mins drive) I wouldn't renew my annual pass. As it is I'm considering getting Twycross annual pass next year.
I've been going to Marwell for 2 1/2 years now (pretty much once/twice a month), and I feel that the Lemurs are more active in their new home. I actually saw the Bamboo lemur which is a change from when he was kept in his other enclosure. While I do think it is a downgrade from their old enclosures, I think that with the walkthrough and then the two indoor areas, it's not as small as people are making it out to be. I found that London's Lemur walkthrough is tiny in comparison. Though, I have not visited many lemur walkthroughs, so I only have London's to compare it to. I'm surprised that they're moving the Asian Otters up by the serval. The last couple of times I've gone, I only found one of the otters out. Anyone know what happened to the second one? I wonder why they didn't replace the ocelot with another cat species? I feel that Marwell is slowly going to improve, but only time will tell. I really hope it does.
The other otter died some time ago,a bat eared fox has also died leaving just a pair which are old.The ocelot enclosure has been used for some time for a fossa which has been of show.
3 Squirrel Monkeys have arrived at Marwell from another zoo. Just seen on their Facebook page, good to see some new species entering the park at last!
They came from Edinburgh,with another 4 or 5 to come from elsewhere,as with Pygmy Marmosets its species that Marwell has had before.
Was excited to receive an e-mail from Marwell this week which was titled 'new species at the zoo'. Was less than excited to discover that it refers to the pygmy marmosets - which I have seen there in the past - and cusimanse - who were once plentiful in their Into Africa giraffe house. It also mentioned the new squirrel monkeys and that there was a new otter, Emerald, to join Suzannah.
I am not disagreeing with you entirely, but the cusimanses were first kept in the old sand cat house, where they first bred, they were then moved but to other areas, but as far as I know they were never kept in the Giraffe house, the only mongoose they have kept in there were a pair of banded mongoose in with the colobus, years ago, prior to the porcupines. They were never "plentiful" at Marwell, indeed they only bred once before dying out for various reasons.
You are right in almost everything you say apart from the fact for a short time there were in the Giraffe house mixed with colobus but started eating monkey food when they were moved out as you say.
A new breeding male Hartmann's Mountain Zebra has arrived - "Zac" was born at Paignton in 2012 and has come to Marwell from the bachelor group at Landau Zoo, Germany
Anyone know when Marwell last had a successful breeding(raising) of Hartmann's? (I think the last one born there died at a few months old). Before that one?
A quick flick through the studbook shows the Hartmann's at Marwell have bred in: 1972- 0:1 1979- 1:1 1980- 2:0 (1:0 died on day of birth) 1981- 0:2:1 (0:0:1 died on day of birth) 1982- 1:1 1983- 1:3 (1:0 died on day of birth) 1985- 1:2 1986- 0:2 1987- 0:2 1988- 0:2 1989- 2:2 1990- 0:2 1991- 2:0 1992- 0:1 1995- 0:1 1997- 1:0 2013- 0:1
I remember him well. He here is as a very young foal at Paignton: Hartmann's Zebra foal 13 May 2012 | ZooChat
I think that was the one that died? So from MagpieGoose's SB list, it looks like the last successful one was as far back as 1997? I know they have also had problems with a male that didn't breed etc.
What goes around, comes around... Didn't Paignton send a previous male Hartmann's to Marwell- was he 'Bingo'? Wonder if he is still there or what.