SEPTEMBER 2023
Zoo 2
This month, 6 Rainbow Lorikeets and 1 Black-headed Weaver Bird hatched. Species Hatchings
A shoal of Sumatra Barb joined the collection, which will be used to re-stock the River’s Edge aquarium after finishing quarantine.
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Species Arrivals
A shoal of Cardinal Tetra Fish were added to the freshwater aquarium in Worlds Apart. Two female Guinea Pigs joined the collection.
We lost Percious, the male Great Grey Owl; we will look to source another male where available.
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Animal Passing
23 year old Arthur, the Lion-tailed Macaque, also passed away; this leaves two within the exhibit. Pygmy Hippo, Freddie, who was 34 years old, passed away due to cancer.
An animal escape drill took place involving the escape of a Category 1 animal; a Cheetah.
One male and one female Crested Wood Partridge left the collection from their temporary exhibit at Worlds Apart to move to Call of the Wild. Animals Transferred
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New Keeping Staff
These were individuals born into our collection to the adults in Feathers of the Forest.
We had two new starters this month; a Senior Keeper on Tiger Section and a Senior Keeper on Farm Section.
SEPTEMBER
New windows were added to the Rock Python exhibit.
Zoo Work commenced on a number of exhibits to make improvements to airlock systems, especially for category 1 species. Airlock System Work
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Area Development
The old Komodo boiler room started to be refurbished, with a view to be turned into a Reptile off-show facility.
A team leader internal meeting held to present findings to other staff on the BIAZA Keeper Skills Workshop (this was the second half of the meeting continuing from July).
Work started to improve the visitor viewing area at Mangabey Mangrove and Lost Madagascar Lemurs.
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Internal Meetings Held
A meeting was held with Africa section to look at their progress on working towards the workload set for them in the section inspection and to discuss further priorities. A collection plan meeting was held to focus on the future plans for Africa section and Farm section. The Ethics Committee met to discuss the ethical considerations of Colchester Zoo. This committee meets in person bi-annually.
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Enclosures with Improved Ventilation
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International AGM Attended
Improved ventilation was added to the Smooth-coated Otter (Otter Creek), Poison Dart Frog (Worlds Apart) and Fish tank (Heart of Amazon) exhibits.
Curator, Clive Barwick, attended the European Association of Zoos and Aquarium (EAZA) AGM in Helsinki.
SEPTEMBER
education 1,726
14
pupils visited from
31
education youth groups bringing
45
sessions delivered with
schools in August
313
1,496
participants
participants
This is more than last year, with just 1,372 participants and 43 sessions.
VOLUNTEERs 18
ambassadors engaged with an average
140
visitors per day
The Animal Ambassadors present biofacts, play games and interpret exhibits for visitors. The latest recruits are now finished shadowing and have started doing activities by themselves. New activities are being used around the Zoo, such as the Gorilla stall.
SEPTEMBER
research
We applied for an ABWAK environmental enrichment grant to look at the impact of Enclosure Modifications and Enrichment on the Health, Behaviour and Welfare of Chilean Flamingos.
The Course leader in BSC Wildlife, Ecology and Conservation Science at University of Suffolk, came to the Zoo to setup 10 remote bat recording devices, known as AudioMoths, around the Zoo.
One new study started this month: Investigating the effects of visitors on Bennett’s Wallabies (Notamacropus rufogriseus) in a walk-through enclosure.
The devices are set to record at dawn and dusk and will only record ultrasound (frequencies above 18kHz), which is well above human and most animal audibility. After a week or so, the recorders will be collected to determine which species of Bats are living and feeding around the Zoo and to map their specific locations.
SEPTEMBER
conservation This month saw the UK State of Nature 2023 report published. The report itself shows shocking declines in UK wildlife. Some of the findings include:
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Conference Attended
Zoological Director, Rebecca, attended one day of the Native Species Working Group Conference at Paradise Wildlife Park to present our Fisher’s Estuarine Moth Breeding and Release Programme.
1 in 6
species is threatened with extinction in Great Britain Species have declined on average by
19%
since 1970,
such as the Hazel Dormouse.
151 Nearly
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Species Inspected
species have already been lost since 1500
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Zoological Director, Rebecca, remotely attended a meeting of zoo Conservation Directors to discuss latest conservation initiatives in zoos and avenues for collective further work.
of all native birds
are threatened, such as the Skylark.
The Reptile Team commenced their evening inspections of the Fisher’s Estuarine Moth breeding cages to search for the adult moth emergence and to mix unrelated pairs for breeding.
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Meetings Attended
Zoological Director, Rebecca, remotely attended the BIAZA Field Programmes Committee meeting, for which Rebecca is vice-chair. Meetings were held with our energy companies to look at new ways forward for recording our usage and to organise an audit so we comply with the government’s Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS).
SEPTEMBER
conservation On the 23 and 24 September, the Rhino and Elephant Animal Care Teams joined forces for Elephant Appreciation Day and Rhino Day, with stalls between the outside paddocks of Elephant Kingdom and Kingdom of the Wild for visitors to explore. Members of the public had the chance to learn more about our Elephants and Rhinos, investigate some artefacts, learn about the plights these species are facing in the wild and see some real poo! The Team also pitted Elephants against Rhinos by encouraging the sale of badges to show which animal was the favourite. Amazingly, they were equally matched and the event raised £255.85! These vital donations will support two key animal conservation projects: The Elephant Orphanage Project, based in Zambia, which aims to rescue, rehabilitate and release orphaned Elephants back into the wild.
Save the Rhino International, whose mission is to increase effective anti-poaching/monitoring methods, maintain viable perimeter fencing around reserves and train field rangers on the reserves in Africa and Asia.
SEPTEMBER
conservation “Primate Day” was held on the 1st September. The Marketing Team posted on social media throughout the week leading up to the event, describing some of the distinctive features of the different primates we have at the Zoo. This also helped to advertise the activities we had planned for the actual day.
The day was a success and all 3 stations gained lots of attention from our visitors. We interacted with over 700 visitors and raised £75.48 in donations, which will go towards the primate projects supported by our charity, Action for the Wild.
On the day we had 3 stations set up around the Zoo: ‘Animal Training’ activities were set up at Rajang’s Forest (Orangutans) – our Ambassador Team helped to train our visitors by selecting a member of each group and Target Training them, younger visitors were involved in Clicker Training to see which animal eats which foods and the Keepers were able to talk to visitors about why we train our animals and its benefits. ‘Enrichment Making’ and examples of enrichment we use with our primates were set up at Chimpanzee Lookout (Chimpanzees). Our young visitors could decorate a toilet roll / paper cup, which then had sunflower seeds stuffed into screwed up paper inside them. They could then return for the 3.45pm encounter to see if they could spot their enrichment with one of the chimps. ‘Primate Artefacts’ were available to explore at the Exploratorium which was set up opposite Dragons of Komodo. The Education Team were able to talk to visitors about the plights primates face in the wild, how they can help in the conservation of various species and have the chance to discover some of our primate artefacts.
SEPTEMBER
UMPHAFA
5 new Interns joined the Reserve and were kept busy with inductions, setting up camera traps, fixing roads and a night drive.
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Interns Joined the Reserve
One intern left after a 2 week placement, but then a further 3 joined later in the month. They have been getting stuck into road repair and brush clearing.
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University Joined us on the Reserve
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1 A student from Michael House University joined us for 2 days to do 16 hours of community work required as part of his course at university. He patrolled the R103 picking up litter and bottles that could blow into the Reserve.
Fire Spread on to the Reserve
Reserve Survey Conducted
35 students and teachers from the University of KwaZulu-Natal arrived to conduct their soil studies throughout the Reserve.
Another fire spread onto the Reserve, put in by the community - with it being so dry, the community are trying to burn their areas to try to get green grass for their cattle. These fires are often left unattended and, with the prevailing winds, it pushes them into the Reserve. After putting the small fires out that came into the Reserve, the team jumped over the fence to put in back burns to prevent the fire jumping into the Reserve again. The wind has been playing havoc this month with repeated fires happening in the surrounding area.
A survey of UmPhafa was conducted over a 2-day period as part of the application for ‘Protected Area’ status.
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Student Community Project
They collected over 16 bags on the first day and 6 vehicle loads the second day!
SEPTEMBER
UMPHAFA Animal Licks Put Out
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Boma Cleaned
Species Permit Development
Possibly a nesting pair of Secretary Birds on the reserve; we have seen just 1 bird previously, but this past week it was joined by a mate.
Giraffe on the Reserve have begun to have their calves.
Licks were put out for the animals who desperately need some supplements to keep them going at this time of year.
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Multiple species Giving Birth
Nesting Species
We have been asked to look after 3 female Wild Dogs for approximately 6 weeks, so it was all hands-on deck to tidy up the boma, cut the grass, scrub the water points and get it ready for its new guests. The Reserve Managers have been working on a detailed 5-year management plan for the Cheetah permit. We have sent it to the Endangered Wildlife Trust and the Cheetah Advisory Group for review. They are currently checking it over and have also booked in a visit to look at the reserve on the 10th October.
The Ostrich have had another 10 chicks. Unfortunately, two were already lost by the end of the month, but we hope some escape the Jackals.
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Field Rangers
The Reserve Managers interviewed for two Field Ranger positions. Two candidates both gave an excellent interview and passed the physical and written test. They will be starting with us in October.
SEPTEMBER
UMPHAFA We carried out an aerial game count this month which took approximately 3 hours to fly the entire reserve and spot animals below – being quite a warm day some of the animals refused to come out from the thick vegetation, so we were disappointed not to record more animals than we usually do on a road strip count. The higher numbers were of the Blue Wildebeest and Zebra as they came out from the bush, the Eland and Kudu stayed where they were, despite many attempts to ‘flush’ them out!
A car driven by a drunk driver crashed into our perimeter fence along the R103 – the car and driver were gone by first light, leaving behind numerous empty beer Perimeter Fence Section bottles and at least 30 metres Vandalised of fence damage which took a large part of a day to fix. A large tree also fell down on another part of the fence line which took several hours to clear and then the electric wires and fencing also needed fixing.
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The foundations are in for the new ranger outpost building and work commenced on the block work.
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Outpost Building Begun
Species Tested
In between building, the team continued with brush packing and clearing, and cleared poles and fences from the bush ready to be recycled to create a new short electric fence along one of the boundaries for our Buffalo. Testing has started on our Buffalo to ensure they are disease free. They all passed their first set of testing, just another set to do and then they will be heading our way.
The installation of the solar panels commenced. The team built small buildings and recycled an old water trough to house the inverters. Solar Panel Each small unit also needs Installation Begun a lockable metal gate so the team made these from recycled metal. The company installed rails on the workshop roofs before placing the new solar panels on there in total we have 90 panels on the Elworthy workshop roof, 10 panels at the Intern House and 10 on the Fountaindale workshop.
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SEPTEMBER