Zoo News
September 2000 to January 2001
Issued by Twycross Zoo
Welcome to the 21st century
and the second millennium (it definitely is now whoever's dating
system you use!) I'd like to start by wishing all our members
a (belated) Happy New Year and hoping that everyone had a good
Christmas. Christmas Day is of course the one day in the year
that the zoo actually closes to the public although of course
some keepers have to come in and clean and feed animals even on
this day. Usually keepers working on the holiday come in early
to get finished so that they can get home for Christmas lunch
and then come in later for an afternoon clean and feed for the
animals.
We almost had a white Christmas
this year with a scurry of snow late on Christmas day and the
week after saw quite heavy falls around the zoo which meant that
the few visitors were treated to the sight of exotic (and often
tropical) animals playing in the snow and Joanna Baker (one of
the new Education Officers) was out and about around the zoo taking
photographs.
2000 has been a busy year
again for the zoo with many events ranging from the completion
and opening of the new elephant paddock to the publishing of Miss
Badham's new book 'Molly's Zoo' (I hope you all bought one for
Christmas!).
As usual there have been several
animals arriving and departing (often as part of breeding programmes)
. New arrivals include a Cotton Top Tamarin to join our group
in the 'World of Small Monkeys', a White Cheeked Gibbon from Oregon
Zoo in the USA, Two Capuchin Monkeys (at present in quarantine),
a Hermann's Tortoise, and a pair of Azure Winged Magpies.
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One very important arrival
is a new Aardwolf (a male from San Antonio Zoo) to occupy the
enclosure built for these animals next to the Bat-eared foxes.
You may remember that a female Aardwolf arrived early last year
from Frankfurt Zoo and was supposed to be joined later by a male.
However unfortunately she died shortly after her arrival so we
are now left looking for a mate for the male, hopefully this will
not take too long and with luck we may yet manage to raise and
breed a group of these unusual animals (if you want to see just
how unusual go along and take a look at the way their front legs
bend!).
At the otter pool we again
now have a pair of Short-clawed Otters who came to us from Battersea
Zoo. For some time after the demise of our last otters this enclosure
was occupied by a group of Pelicans but these have been moved
and it is again in use for its original purpose. It was particularly
nice to see the new pair frolicking in the heavy snow after Christmas.
Some animals have also departed
to other collections amongst these are a Pileated Gibbon,Two Alpacas,
a Scarlet Macaw, two Dholes, a Pygmy Marmoset and a Bush Dog.
Although Autumn and winter
are not the prime breeding season for many animals there have
also been a few births notably two Siamang gibbons, a Black Howler,four
Capybara, four Cuban Boas and an unknown number of Bush Dogs-unknown
because the litter has yet (as I write this) to emerge from its
den.
At present in the 'Monkeys
of the Amazon' house we have a bachelor group of Golden Lion Tamarins
next to the Sakis when the weather improves in the Spring it is
planned that they will move in with the Sakis to form a mixed
species exhibit, there seems to be no reason why the two species
should not co-exist happily but it is always difficult to predict
exactly what will happen in these cases so fingers crossed on
this one!
At some time during 2001 we
are expecting to receive a group of Red Titi Monkeys, a species
not previously kept at Twycross so keep your eyes peeled for these.
As usual during the winter
a great deal of maintenance and refurbishment is being carried
out at the zoo, this ranges from repainting buildings,repairing
cages and laying drainage pipes to the rebuilding of enclosures
and this winter new enlarged outside runs are being constructed
at the Lemur House.
Education Department News
2000 proved to be another
very busy year for the Education department, I have just worked
out the final teaching figures for the year and although not quite
as high as the all time record of 1999 they are the second highest
(at 16,730 ) number of pupils we have ever taught. The two new
Education Officers - Ruth Moore and Joanna Baker - have now settled
in and are proving an invaluable asset to the department.
During December Alan Bates
and Ruth Moore attended the annual BIZE (British and Irish Zoo
Educators ) conference, sponsored by the Zoo Federation this is
takes place at a different zoo each year and this time it was
London Zoos turn. For our department this is one of the most important
events of the year as it gives us a chance to meet and exchange
information with the education officers from the rest of Britain's
zoos. This year was particularly interesting as a number of issues
emerged which, potentially, have big implications for both Twycross
and the Zoo Association.
This years BIZE conference
is being held at Twycross Zoo on the 15th to 18th of November
and will require a lot of extra work from the Education Department
and other zoo staff-organising accommodation, booking/organizing
speakers, arranging catering, guided tours of the zoo etc,etc!
If any zoo volunteers would be prepared to help with this I would
be very grateful as I think come November it will be a case of
all hands to the pump!
If anybody is interested
please contact
and we shall pass your details on to Alan. Many Thanks.