Colchester Zoo

Colchester Zoo

Date opened	1963
Location	Colchester, Essex, England
Land area	60 acres (0.243 km²)
Coordinates	51°51′45″N 0°49′58″E / 51.8625°N 0.83278°E / 51.8625; 0.83278
Number of animals	5666 (2007)
Number of species	over 250 (2010)
Major exhibits	Spirit of Africa, Wilds of Asia, Leopards at Ussuri Falls, Wallaby Walkabout
Website	http://www.colchester-zoo.co.uk

Colchester Zoo is a zoo in Essex, England. The zoo had 547,495 visitors in 2003 and 464,684 in 2004^{[citation needed]}. It features big cat and primate collections as well as many others.

Colchester Zoo is supported by a charitable organisation called Action for the Wild. The charity is dedicated to assisting conservation projects worldwide through the provision of both financial and technical assistance.

Animal exhibits

The animals habitats at Colchester Zoo are presented in a number of different themed zones.

Leopards at Ussuri Falls

Completed in February 2010, this new exhibit houses a pair of Amur Leopard and incorporates more space in a natural environment, with lots of height and areas for climbing plus better viewing for visitors. The area was previously home to Jaguar, Ocelot, Margay and several smaller enclosures for various tamarins.

Spirit of Africa

The Spirit of Africa: Elephant Kingdom is home to the zoo's herd of African elephants, and offers the elephants maximum sight, sound and physical contact with each other along with secure and spacious bull elephant accommodation. Two calves have been born since the elephants moved here from their previous enclosure (on the site of Playa Patagonia)- Jambo the younger calf joined a group at Valencia Bioparc while Kito the older calf moved to Dvůr Králové Zoo. Also housed in the elephants' indoor area are terrariums for a Nile monitor lizard and Indian star tortoises.

Kingdom of the Wild

Kingdom of the Wild mainly features an outdoor paddock home to the zoo's herd of Southern white rhinoceros, Reticulated giraffe, Burchell's zebra, ostrich, a pair of female greater kudu and a group of grey crowned crane. Indoors is a series of smaller exhibits home to pygmy hippopotamus, Patas monkey, plated lizard, Nile monitor lizard, several species of tortoise, village weaver birds, cichlids from Lake Malawi, leaf-cutter ants, reed frogs and a variety of invertebrates. There is also an aviary home to African white-backed vultures and Rüppell's Vulture and the Aardvark Burrow, home to Britain's most successful breeding group of aardvark.

Edge of Africa

Edge of Africa is a series of enclosures housing a variety of African species including a troop of mandrill, black-and-white ruffed lemur, groups of red river hog and warthog, a pair of spotted hyena, a pair of cheetah, Kirk's dik-dik and pairs of grey crowned crane and blue crane. Species that have previously been housed in this area included striped hyena, mantled geureza and blue duiker.

The Lakes

The Lakes currently hold a small collection of waterbirds such as Dalmatian pelican and Chilean flamingo along with a large number of red-eared terrapins that live freely in the lake.

Otter Creek

Living in the former enclosure for harbour seals, Otter Creek is an expanded enclosure that houses a group of six smooth-coated otter. A breeding pair and one of their previous offspring arrived at first from the Rare Species Conservation Centre, but the one youngster left the collection at a later period. The adult otters then went on to have four cubs. The new otter enclosure includes dense vegetation and two different pools.

Familiar Friends

This petting area features a variety of mostly domesticated species including goats, sheep, cattle, chickens, doves, horses, llamas and rabbits. There is also a walkthrough enclosure for Bennett's wallabies- this enclosure formerly housed a breeding pair of Rocky Mountain goat. The indoor barn features not only sheep and poultry, but reindeer, chinchillas, degu, tailless tenrec and a small nocturnal area for a colony of feathertail glider.

Lion Rock

Lion Rock houses a trio of lions that all hailed from Woburn Safari Park. As well as being a home for the zoo's lions, this area also features a large colony of Asia Minor spiny mouse in one of the lion viewing areas and also an enclosure for fennec fox. In the past, rock hyrax have been held in the indoor area. Opposite the lion enclosure is Suricata Sands, an enclosure that holds a colony of meerkats.

Out of Africa

This small area is home to the zoo's blue-eyed black lemurs and mantled geureza, and also features the old den of the zoo's spotted hyenas.

White Tiger Valley

This enclosure previously housed Sasha, the zoo's only white tiger who died on December 15, 2010 age 15. The enclosure now stands empty but will later be turned into a walkthrough enclosure housing lemurs.

Lemur Islands and Gelada Plateau

There are three lemur islands viewed by the land train- one is empty but the others hold red ruffed lemur and ring-tailed lemur. Viewable from the Tanganyika Bridge are not only the lemurs but also a mixed enclosure home to binturong, Oriental small-clawed otter and silvery lutung. There is also a large enclosure called Gelada Plateau, that houses the zoo's group of geladas.

Medellin Monkeys and Hornbill Hill

The Medellin Monkeys enclosure is home to one of the main groups of Colombian black spider monkey. Hornbill Hill is a steep and narrow pathway that featured enclosures for Waldrapp ibis, Southern ground hornbill, black hornbill, red-billed blue magpie and at the top of the hill there is an enclosure that has previously held snow leopard, fossa, giant anteater and various New World monkeys and an African aviary that normally holds purple gallinule, hamerkop, Von der Decken's hornbill and curlew. There is also a small hidden enclosure for Geoffroy's cat. The Hornbill Hill aviaries and part of the Medellin Monkeys exhibit has been demolished to make way for the new sun bear enclosure.

Heart of the Amazon

This complex mainly centres around the zoo's large troop of common squirrel monkey, but also features silver dollar, anglefish, green iguana and a pair of Red-backed bearded saki. The enclosures just outside of Heart of the Amazon were previously home to both black and brown bears but currently house a pair of L'Hoest's guenon and the troop of yellow-breasted capuchins.

Wilds of Asia

Wilds of Asia is made up of an indoor house and several nearby enclosures. The indoor area holds a Philippine sailfin lizard, Burmese pythons, Amboina box turtle, a variety of Asian fish and rufous hornbills. The rufous hornbill enclosure has previously held rhinoceros hornbill, Southern tamandua and fishing cats. The outdoor enclosures hold a group of lion-tailed macaque, a pair of pileated gibbon, rhinoceros hornbill and red pandas.

Playa Patagonia

Playa Patagonia is on the site of the zoo's previous African elephant and Bactrian camel exhibit, and houses an all-female group of South American sea lion.

Sun Bears

Living temporarily in the former orangutan enclosure are a pair of sun bear, that arrived from the Rare Species Conservation Centre. Both the male (Jo-Jo) and the female (Srey-Ya) moved over to the UK from Cambodia, where they had both been rescued at a young age. They are getting a new enclosure near Medellin Monkeys. Another enclosure that formerly held gibbons now holds a surplus pair of Colombian black spider monkeys. In the future, this area will be demolished and become a new tropical house home to Cuban crocodile, yellow-breasted capuchin and several other tropical species.

Worlds Apart

This indoor display holds a variety of smaller tropical species, including both green anaconda and yellow anaconda, poison-dart frogs, coral reef fish, ocellate river stingray, piranha, emperor tamarin, several South American cichlids and pied tamarins.

Worlds Apart Walkthrough

The outdoor addition to Worlds Apart is this South American walkthrough that contains some animals from the previous walkthrough such as the pair of Linne's two-toed sloth as well as other species including golden lion tamarin, Geoffrey's marmoset, silvery marmoset, Goeldi's marmoset, Chaco chachalaca and a pair of Southern tamandua.

Iguana Forest and South American Walkthrough

The former walkthrough near the old orangutan exhibit houses a group of golden-headed lion tamarins, as well as emperor tamarin. The adjoining Iguana Forest holds several green iguanas confiscated from airport customs, yellow-footed tortoise and North American box turtle. This walkthrough also previously housed the zoo's Lesser Malayan chevrotain.

Orangutan Forest

This enclosure is home to the zoo's pair of orangutans. Both are male, with the older male (Rajang) being a hybrid and the younger male (Tiga) being a pure-bred Bornean orangutan. As well as this pair of orangutans, the complex also holds various stick insects, several freshwater and coral reef fish, Giant Asian pond turtle and Amboina box turtle.

Inca Trail

This group of enclosures houses the zoos' second large group of Colombian black spider monkeys and a second group of Humboldt penguins along with an aviary home to scarlet ibis.

Penguin Shores

Penguin Shores houses the zoo's main colony of Humboldt penguins, as well as several aquariums of freshwater and coral reef fish including the butterfly goodeid, Home's hinge-back tortoise and an aviary that currently houses a Montserrat oriole and Victoria crowned pigeons although in the past it has housed rufous hornbills and keel-billed toucans.

Tiger Taiga

This enclosure houses the zoos' pair of Amur tigers. There are two enclosures so that they can be separated if needed, and both enclosures have a pool and some vegetation. Beyond the tiger enclosure is a large paddock home to a group of the critically endangered Philippine spotted deer.

Dragons of Komodo

This large indoor exhibit holds the pair of Komodo dragons as well as also temporarily housing the zoos' Cuban crocodiles as they await their new enclosure in the tropical house (on the site of the old orangutan enclosure).

Chimp World

This older exhibit was custom built to house the zoo's group of chimpanzees. As well as these animals, the Chimp World complex also is home to a breeding group of L'Hoest guenon and a female pair of Slender-snouted crocodile. Animals that were formerly housed in this area include American alligator and rock hyrax.

Other Species

Other species found in the zoo include giant anteater, collared mangabey, grey wolf, African wild dog and black-backed jackal.

Television Documentary

The third series of the Channel 5 show Zoo Days came from Colchester Zoo. This series was presented by former Blue Peter star Konnie Huq and began transmission on 9 June^[when?] and ran for 4 weeks.^[1]

Images from Colchester Zoo

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  A wolf at Colchester Zoo.

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  A male gelada baboon at the zoo.

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  A female greater kudu

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  A mother ring-tailed lemur with day-old twins

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  Lanner falcon

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  An African elephant

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  A Tiger

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  A swimming penguin

References

1. ^ Zoo Day's at Colchester Zoo

External links

• Official site