Wellington Zoo small news for 2011

there are baby meerkats at the zoo so I thought instead of making a thread just for that I'll make a "small news" thread (even though I dislike generic threads as it makes it more difficult to find information in them). Maybe any "big news" that crops up can be posted in individual threads.
Meerkat pups venture outside | Stuff.co.nz

 

just looking on ISIS and I see that Wellington only has one emperor tamarin now. They imported the pair from Melbourne in 2008 and never bred from them. I hope they bring in some more and have better luck.

 

I've just put some photos of the kakapo chick in the Wellington Zoo gallery

 

tying up loose thread ends, the kakapo chick recovered and left the zoo on the 4th of May: Kakapo out of intensive care | Stuff.co.nz

 

Rare Chatham Is bird treated - environment | Stuff.co.nz

 

yeah, I'm not sure I'll be able to make it this week and then I'll be back in the South Island for the next few weeks after that so I think I'm going to miss the taiko

 

the zoo's hospital has viewing windows so visitors can watch check-ups etc. One of the rooms with a viewing window has a saltwater pool for rescued seabirds.

 

visitors can see the taiko being fed or treated at 11am every day that it remains at the zoo: Wellington Zoo - Wellington Zoo treating critically endangered Taiko chick

 

well I did end up going to the zoo today to see the taiko after all. I wouldn't have been much of a zoochatter if I hadn't, would I? It is quite a lovely bird, and no doubt the only one I'll ever see. I managed some poor photos, battling the usual overly-reflective properties of the hospital windows (!) - and does there always need to be a hoard of school-kids around me when I'm trying to take photos there?!

I'll upload one or two if they're any good, but probably not till next week.

 

they're probably quite regular at the hospital, given their prevalence around NZ. There's a giant petrel there at the moment as well as the taiko (according to the sign there, although the giant petrel was making its public appearance later in the day after I'd gone), and there was a small petrel species there a couple of weeks ago which I think was a little shearwater - I got a couple of photos of that one but I'm waiting on a confirmed ID before posting). There was also a gannet there on that day.

 

I didn't see any of the pigmies in that exhibit today, but I only paused there briefly. The lady at reception did tell me that all three were still in there though. I saw the trio in the Cafe Mojo enclosure as well for the first time (simply because I haven't been in there before). The young one certainly has grown up. I never saw meerkats in this enclosure -- before this year, the last time I was at the zoo the meerkats were still where the leopard tortoises are now. Was the cafe enclosure larger then or always that size? Its very small for meerkats!

Good to hear a new emperor tamarin is coming in. Hopefully they can be the start of a viable population here.

 

I managed to do it earlier than next week after all. The two best taiko photos I got are now in the Wellington Zoo gallery. (But don't expect too much from the words "the two best photos" - they're pretty poor!)