Yes, but those are Crested/Southern. They still need Horned and Black-necked....... Still no Madagascar Crested Ibis in mainland UK, which is silly. Jersey have been breeding them for years. Wonderful things.
Here's an article on how the zoo manages 4 gorillas, with particular reference to Pertinax: How to juggle gorillas... | Paignton Zoo
According to the news, she's still at large this morning. These animals have the power of invisibility. We always visit their enclosure and do a census and it can be quite a feat spotting them all. Yesterday morning we decided one must be hiding in the trees and then saw she was in front of us on the cliff, in a shadow. When you took your eye off her it was hard to spot her again. We always say you wouldn't stand a chance of seeing them in the wild. I hope there's a happy outcome.
Escaped Tur - the zoo says she's on the edge of the woods near the enclosure so keepers have enabled access and put down food and are waiting for her to rejoin the herd
Hopefully that's not a euphemism for 'taken down the fence and hoping the others won't escape instead'!
I did wonder! However, they can contain the others outside or inside the house if the fence has been taken down. Still waiting to hear if it's all ended successfully. I now fear that people will be eager to see them and our generally unknown oasis of calm in the zoo will be invaded
I've just heard an LBC news bulletin that a West Caucasian tur escaped from its enclosure, but has been recaptured. Has this species been mentioned in a UK news bulletin before?
A female Hamadryas Baboon that gave birth to a still born still had the corpse with her yesterday afternoon at the back of the rock. There were signs informing the public the keepers were giving her time to grieve. Sad to witness and it upset me.
Surely the addition of Red-billed Blue Magpies is going to effectively stop the Ruffs breeding? Maybe they're not going in the Cottage Aviary. TBH I really liked the mix that was in there before -- Grey Gulls, Northern Lapwings, Choughs and Oalawan Peacock Pheasants. Think there were Marbled teal as well. Maybe they're all still there apart from the Choughs, suppose I need to go and have a look.
This morning the only occupant of the Cottage Aviary that I could see was a Pink Pigeon. The Ruffs weren't on show at all. There are three Red-billed blue magpies in an aviary in what I used to think of as the Parrot Area, and five (?) Palawan peacock pheasants in with the Swainson's lorikeets and Sulphur or Citron crested cockatoos. There were Grey gulls in the ABC Centre, I think. There used to be Azure-winged magpies somewhere. Frankly, I've given up trying to ID or find birds now. They seem to move round on an almost weekly basis, never taking their labels with them.
Other news: the exciting new meerkat development is still under construction. The mansion has a roof and the grounds are apparently being re-profiled, with two see-through domes in place - for children's heads to poke through from the tunnel that's already there. The Keepers' houses in a Close behind the Red river hogs are being demolished. Unverified rumours some time ago suggested that this was not to allow for an extension of the zoo, but rather that the land has been sold. P.S. Something that baffles me happened again today - a crowd of people gathered at the gorilla viewing window staring at a comatose Pertinax, while a few steps away nobody was watching a mother and child orang combo being very active??
The pygmy slow loris enclosure in Monkey Heights has been revamped and today contains two squirrel monkeys. I suppose things might change, but it's somewhat disappointing. Cottage Aviary: couldn't see any birds at all today. There are cages to the right of the cottage, behind a fence, with birds that you can't quite see properly. They possibly include the Australian magpie which recently had a short spell in the aviary next to the Hyacinth macaws. I found the Azure-winged magpies in the ABC area.
