When i went in the summer it had a great collection of reptiles birds and you had some good view on the tigers, but otherwise the signage isn't that good and the paths are quite narrow
Yeah, good place. I really like it. Only small but a good collection and I can easily spend the whole day there. I found the signage was good, up until I went this summer and I found a few animals had changed round and there were some new birds, which weren't yet labelled. The only two areas I'd criticise is the pool garden, of which the first half is netted over and has a sign saying they're going to convert it into a walk through aviary, yet only contains a pair of pheasants, though I did see chicks this summer. Also the first part of the forest house. Again another walkthrough, but literally only has 3 birds in. And no signs. Loads of potential there, I'd love to see them used to their best. Had the new Macaques arrived when you went?
yes they were in quarantine, and i missed the civet =((. but you know the american alligator enclosure, i only found out about it when i got outside :S
I always miss the Civet. Do they ever come out in the daytime? Thrigby used to have Sulawesi Crested Macaques. Don't know what happened to them but I think they may have died out? This summer they had a new species move in. I don't what species they are getting though, a keeper just said they couldn't get hold of Sulawesi Crested Macaques, and were getting "stump tailed macaques". Don't know if that is correct as ISIS doesn't list there being that many around.
I really didn't like Thrigby Hall that much! I thought the enclosures were very out of date and dirty and the glass in the Porcupine enclosure was broken. The Forest House/Walkthrough Aviary only had TWO birds in it - a Grey Peacock Pheasant and a Laughing Thrush. There was a lot of signage about animals that simply weren't there. They only had one Manchurian Crane and one Demoiselle Crane - both of which prefer the company of their own species. I also saw only one Hill Mynah aswell as other species. Was not impressed at all. May need to have another visit to see if there were any good points that I missed.
In my opinion, the good points at Thrigby are/were its breeding success with Sumatran tigers, Amur and snow leopards, painted storks, lesser tree shrews, gibbons and others that evade my memory. Its in the innovative design that I think people see the potential in the place. However, in my opinion, Thrigby seem to acquire endangered species and then simply maintain those individuals until they grow old, in rather small exhibits. It is ironic that their website has always mentioned the fact that they were the first collection to sign over their entire stock to the Joint Management of Species Programme, when there appears to be little movement of individuals in or out of the collection. I plead ignorance here, it is of course entirely possible that the single, ageing clouded leopard and temminks cat, babirusa pair etc are surplus to breeding programmes and have been housed at Thrigby to free up space in those collections wishing to focus on breeding them. I wonder where their Sulawesi Macaques went? The siamangs now occupy the open-topped area. Why would they have trouble sourcing an endangered primate species ie langurs (they already hold Javan) or lion-tailed macaques? I'm also interested to know if their cormorants are actually Chinese cormorants? They have never been listed on ISIS, but I think they are a breeding group. I'm sure their white storks used to be described as Oriental White storks but they clearly aren't. Maybe when people have visited some of the birds have simply been hiding in the foliage?
The Sulawesi mcaque group was quite small. Maybe they did die out? Stump-tails would be an interesting replacement. The only other ones I know of in the Uk are the few old 'ex Laboratory' ones left at Monkeyworld and Edinburgh did have a small group too.
I went and did a days volunteering up there last week to get experience with their small cats - mainly the Asian Golden Cat & The Amur Leopard cats, as i hadnt yet worked with these... i thought that the zoo was a nice size however it needed ALOT of work doing to it...enclosures arnt the best but so much could be done to them to give the animals a better life in them. This said, there are only 3 keepers - one of whom is part time so they are very stretched and so dont have time to do enclosure maintenance, enrichment feeds etc... Im not too sure on the black leopard being 'Amur' and i guess that is why the cubs born there have been moved to the Cat Survival Trust, where i was volunteering over easter, and so not really part of the breeding programme? The snow leopards have both come from the Cat Survival trust aswell so arent EEP animals. As someone said earlier, the small cats seem to just be there to free up space in other zoos...as both the Asian Goldie & the Cloudie are oldish males and the 2 Leopard cats are both female.
My point was, that the Clouded leopard and golden cat have been there, as solitary animals, for over 10 years, they weren't old when they arrived. The black leopard was born at the Cotswold wildlife park. Surely it is pure enough to be part of the EEP, otherwise this would suggest the cotswold animals are not part of it? Thrigby makes much of when it joined the JMSP, predating EEPs. So it surprises me that they are using snow leopards for example that you say are not part of the EEP.
Where are the civets at Thrigby ? I enjoyed the day there when we visited. Went primarily for the Crocodiles, but also for the civets, Clouded Leopard, and Painted Storks.
I believe its been mentioned somewhere on the Forum(don't ask me to find it!!) that one of the founders/ancestors of the 'black' Amur leopard was discovered to be another subspecies.
Okay, but we knew this already that the amur leopard EEP had some genes from another subspecies. As far as I am aware, thrigby are participating in the EEP regardless of having a melanistic animal, or whether the cubs went to the Cat Survival Trust or not......until the EEP coordinator decides differently, these leopards will all be included in the conservation of this species. I wonder, however, what the government of Russia makes of the genetic makeup of the captive amur leopard population.
I popped into Thrigby today for a pleasant hour or so as I was in the area on business. I can report that there was a group of 6 Sulawesi macaques in the open topped enclosure including a newborn. The Stump-tailed macaques are still off show in an enclosure behind the main house. Could anyone tell me what species inhabits the series of mesh tunnels in the 'Forest' house, as there were no signs on the enclosure...
It would have been either prevost squirrels or tree shrews.....unril recently, ISIS showed that Thrigby had the last Large Tree Shrew on display in the UK, possibly Europe, although none for this species are now recorded on ISIS. Previous to this, Thrigby kept (and bred) lesser tree shrews, however I'm not sure there were any by the time the old mammal house closed.
I havn't been to thrigby in a while, but the last time i went i liked it. The house is beautiful and the place has a real quirky sence to it. The enclosures within the park are outdated unfortunately and the zoo could do with extending and updating. Really the owner should have ploughed his money into the existing thrigby hall park as opposed to constructing the new zoo at cromer IMO, especially if moneys so tight they can only employ two full time and one part time keeper! What i like about the zoo is the unusual designs of the enclosures. Such as the stairs that lead up to the tree in the centre of the leopard enclosure. The raised walkways are also an excellent idea around the old primate cages as it allows the public to view the animals at close quarters and at the same level as the monkeys and apes. The tiger enclosure is also good in terms of the viewing opportunities. There is the raised walkway that leads up to the tigers platform within the enclosure, the walkway through the trees that is no wider than a scaffold board (so no good for fatties!) and the underground tunnel leadng to a viewing area within the centre of the enclosure. I find these additions to the enclosure interesting as it is almost more interactive in a sence as it feels as if you are entering the animals enclosures and is far more exciting than walking along a tarmaced path staring through mesh or a large glass window! The other good thing about the collection is the crocodilians, when i went last there was saltwater/estuarine crocs, mugger, american alligator and i belive there was a chinese alligator too (?) The pool is a very decent size for the americans and the fact they have access to an outdoor area in the warmer weather is also a good thing. Does anyone know if the white stork is still flying free? With its huge nest up on the houses chimney! (i believe that the environment agency wanted the animals wings clipped).
There were a few white storks last time I visited suggesting most have either died out, or that one or more have chosen to 'migrate'. During the early 90s, Thrigby supposedly recieved oriental white storks and chinese cormorants, although I never saw any of the former and wonder whether these actually arrived. I have only seen european white storks there. Yes Thrigby is very innovative in its design and that's what makes it such an attractive collection. However, its heyday seems to have been with the construction of the forest house (while the newly-built swamp house had won an award), cats cloisters and walk-through waterbird flight, which all coincided with the raised walkways around the zoo. Not much has really been altered in the last decade, notable breeding pairs/groups of Sumatran tigers, painted storks etc have either died out or stopped breeding (albeit possibly intentionally in the case of the former), and other unusual species which didn't breed have either got to an age where this is highly unlikely or have remained as single animals. I agree about the funding for Amazona zoo, although if both survive the recession and begin to develop, that may prove to be more interesting in the long term. I do feel that Colchester has a habit of poaching the unique features of other collecitons in the region and incorporating them, perhaps unnecessarily, into its site. I'm thinking about the parrallels between Africa Alive for example, with Colchester adding aardvarks, striped hyenas and fossas after Africa Alive began exhibiting these species, not to mention the development of the African-themed area, making up a large percentage of the zoo, once Africa Alive had re-branded. While Colchester clearly should be keeping aardvarks, I don't know if their mixed African paddock is particularly well-regarded in terms of zoo exhibits. Sorry to digress, my point is that the planned crocodile house at Colchester will not help Thrigby as it will provide a more visitor friendly, newer, better-advertised alternative to one of its main attractions.
