I hope so and let's not forget the trump card for Bristol/Wild Place -they're open on a Sunday (Noah's Ark isn't), so if someone wants a zoo near Bristol on probably (?) the second busiest day of the week then Bristol/Wild Place are the only games in town. I think that's partly down to the "gifting" of Noah's not being open Sunday and Bristol does seem very popular (ideal ?) for families with with very small children. I've never seen a zoo with such a high proportion of young families/toddlers/infants -that said I've never been to Drusillas.
The Noah's Ark is one of only 2 ZTL collections with a terciopelo lancehead pit viper, northern grey hornbill, Yorkshire pig and Labrador dog.
Saw the hornbills. Lovely spp who calling. Didn't see any pit vipers. Only venomous spp we saw were the beaded lizards. Saw some Tamworth pigs, but no Yorkshires. No lab either!
I believe (although I could be wrong) that NAZF have 4 giraffe 3:1 the female is a reticulated and the males are her sons all 3 males are hybrid courtesy of their father who has passed away. George born 2012 Geoffrey born 2014 Gus born 2017 Hope this helps
[QUOTE="Shorts, post: 1060200, member: 1] I've never seen a zoo with such a high proportion of young families/toddlers/infants -that said I've never been to Drusillas.[/QUOTE] There's a lot of play paraphernalia at Bristol nowadays plus its easily reachable via public transport etc being within the city, which might explain the marked skew towards the age groups you describe- its been very noticeable at Bristol for many years now I think, since many of the bigger animals left in fact.
Yes, irrespective of what one thinks of it as a serious 'zoo', I think Noah's Ark scores on two levels- the 'big' ABC animals and the huge areas of play equipment- maybe both attract the visitors equally and they don't make any concious decision as both are available there.
I can't disagree about the clear appeal NAZF has with regards to the ABCs (I struggle sometimes to remember that the average person doesn't have the same interest as me in things like quoll, aye-ayes and numerous different types of primates!) The day I visited NAZF last year was on a gloriously hot, sunny day in the Easter holidays, and the place was awash with families mostly crawling all over the numerous play areas. One of my friends did attempt the maze but was surprised to discover more creationist propaganda dotted around in there. We were wondering if we'd ever see them again given the size of the maze (planted to be the size the ark was supposed to be, apparently). Handy place to lose the kids for a while! There is also an amusing model of the ark in a separate room, with creationist posters all over the walls.
Noah's Ark Zoo has received a new African elephant bull yesterday: "Shaka" from Vienna. He left Vienna because he did not get along well with the Viennese ladies... Source: FB Tiergarten Schonbrunn
Great news! Such a fantastic enclosure, can't wait to see it in a few years when they (hopefully) have a larger herd.
This is quite literally the complete opposite of great news. Shaka is an incredibly genetically valuable animal being a wild caught male with no offspring, and now he is being moved into bachelor holding?!? Ridiculous! Here's hoping at least they'll use him for AI with the other breeding age cows in Great Britain.
Couldn’t they have moved “Shaka” to Colchester to attempt to breed with their 3 cows and move their current bull Tembo to Noah’s Ark Zoo bachelor herd as Tembo has bred before and recent attempts haven’t proved successful...will be a great shame if they don’t allow him to breed!
Perhaps ThomasNotTom means that it`s nice to have another Elephant added to that collection. As you say Shaka is genetically important and just because he is arriving here now doesn`t mean this will be a permanent arrangement (possibly this may change). He POTENTIALLY (and I say this hypothetically speaking) could be the new breeding bull for another British collection or abroad in a few years so could just be being held here at Noah`s Ark.
I was under the impression, though I may be entirely wrong, that Noah's Ark are essentially a holding facility for males until a breeding situation is specified whereupon they will be moved.
It is likely that the socialisation he gets in a bachelor group, will make Shaka a better potential breeding bull in the future. As for Tembo, weren't his calves conceived via AI?
To my knowledge Tembo arrived after being rescued from Mary Chipperfield Circus in 1998 and has sired 8 calves in total; 4 stillborn (2003,2005,2008,2011) & 4 successful births Abu- born 2001 at Vienna Zoo through AI, now at Halle Zoo Kito- born 2002 at Colchester through AI, died 2017, Dvur Zoo Jambo- born 2004 at Colchester through AI, now at Bioparc Valencia Thebo- born 2006 at Dresden Zoo through AI, now at Pittsburgh Zoo Not entirely sure if the calves who were stillbirths we’re through AI but I would presume they were. Is it a problem that they were conceived through AI? And is this a common way of African Elephants breeding in zoos?
Shaka left Zoo Vienna two days ago, on Wednesday 11 April 2018 early in the morning. He might arrived at Noah's Ark Zoo yesterday - I hope, he did, still no announcement on his safe arrival yet.
Shala has great genetics, but he is not able to sucessfully mate a female. I guess he is still lacking the social maturity to peacefully dominate females. Therefore the move to the bachelor group is a good thing because he can continue to mature and gain self-confidence there. That will hopefully enable him to become a breeder in a few years. Regarding the Colchester females, none of them are able to breed anymore. They should move Tembo asap because he did breed naturally with one or two females and adult males are desperately needed within the african elephant breeding program!! The lack of breeding bulls is the biggest problem in the US and Europe alike.
Actually, it might - sperm quality often fluctuates and can improve if the animal is less stressed and more self-confident.
