Time to open the 2013 thread. The White-nosed Coati can now be found in the Brown Spider Monkey House. I had my third sighting of the False Gavial in Croc Swamp this week - again it was on the side of the pool under the area housing various snakes and the two monitor lizards. So if you're going there, that's the place to look first.
Both very interesting bits of information, which I will have to bear in mind for my upcoming visit on the 27th January considering the fact that both are new species for me. Of course, my number one hope is to see the echidna, but this is a very luck-based race against time considering the age of the individual, and the fact it is likely in a semi-hibernatory state at this time of year.
You may be lucky with the echidna as it is mild here at the moment. I have to confess that it does nothing for me so I didn't investigate when people were leaning over the wall of its enclosure on Wednesday - but they must have been watching it. The Coati is now a close neighbour so your walk up the hill will not be in vain!
In my limited experience the echidna is most likely to be active in mid-afternoon or later. I'd recommend that the last enclosure to check before leaving should be the tenrecs (between the crested macaques and the amphibians). Alan
1. Has 'Kumbuka' left for ZSL London yet? There was a hold up and he was due to leave in August 2012 but hasn't. 2. Is there any indication when/if 'Banda' the Sumatran Tigeress is leaving soon? Originally she was due to leave after all her cubs left but the last left in July 2011 and Banda is still at Paignton.
Whaaa....? It's an echidna - a spiny, pig-nosed, mole-eyed, egg-laying, ant-eating clockwork toy! How can you not love it?
I have to agree with Maguari! I went in 2010 and completely forgot about the Echidna until I saw the signage for it, however I didn't see it.
This particular Echidna is entertaining, complete contrast to the ones they used to have @ Bristol, which were indoors and I never caught them doing anything.
If I'm not mistaken, it *is* one of the ex-Bristol animals - hence it being at quite an advanced age!
Never seen it lay eggs or eat ants, it just shuffles along the same track or lies anonymously under the heat lamp Seen one, seen 'em all
Anybody know how old that Echidna is? I too have not seen it eat an ant or lay an egg, but the other stuff is pretty good; more fun than a Koala or one of those black & white bear things.
As I alluded earlier, it arrived from Bristol Zoo in 1994 along with the individual which died a few years ago, and both had been at Bristol for some time previously - so it is certainly older than twenty, possibly even thirty. As far as life expectancy goes, I know long-beaked echidna have been known to live upwards of 30 years, but I don't know equivalent figures for short-beaked.
There are records of Tachyglossus living for nearly 50 years. One lived 48 years 9 months in Prague; another 49 years 5 months in Philadelphia. And one individual was still alive in January 2005 after living at San Diego for 48 years 5 months. Reference: Longevity of Mammals in Captivity: From the Living Collections of the World (Richard Weigl; 2005)
also note that all those individuals were wild-caught as adults, so were actually at least a couple of years older than those ages when they died.
You're talking my language Gigit. Ignore this little enclave completely and continue up the hill to find some really interesting animals (clue - they have hooked bills and zygodactyl toes) .
As a public service, I visited the Echidna today and took a photo of it doing one of its favourite things - lying under the heat lamp. http://www.zoochat.com/62/echidna-9-january-2013-a-304090/ I also popped into Croc Swamp to see the False Gavial. It was in the same spot as last week with just its tail showing, so not worth a photo.
