Half-term is here!
February 17th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
The half-term holidays are upon us in Edinburgh this week, and the zoo is bustling with visitors. But of course, the animals aren’t taking a break! Here’s what they have been up to over the last week.
A Pygmy Marmoset baby was born on the 23rd January, and although the sex of the baby as of yet is unknown, it has been ironically named ‘Apocalypse’. Pygmy Marmosets are the smallest monkeys in the world with an average body-length of just 15cm! The Pygmy Marmosets can be spotted (if you look very carefully!) living alongside a pair of Golden-headed Lion Tamarins in the Magic Forest exhibit.
A Pygmy Marmoset carefully grooms a youngster
We waved goodbye to our male Giant Anteater on the 10th February as he left us for Belfast Zoo. He had been living alongside our pair of Maned Wolves in their South American species enclosure. However, being a nocturnal animal, he was rarely seen out and about during the day, preferring to tuck himself away in a corner of his darkened inside enclosure!
In the future, we are planning to introduce a new, young pair of Giant Anteaters to the zoo, with the hopes of breeding them. However, for now, we are putting this off as we await the births of Maned Wolf pups! We will keep you up-dated on the status of our South American animals right here!
A Maned Wolf rests in its hide
Many of us may be glad that the weather has warmed somewhat this week. But one zoo resident that won’t be so pleased are our Wolverines. Wolverines can be found throughout the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Russia and Canada, and are particularly well adapted to cold habitats, possessing a frost-resistant fur and the ability to tear through frozen meat.
Keepers reported that these normally elusive animals particularly enjoyed the recent snowy weather. Currently, our male Wolverine, Xale, has been mixed with one of our females, Pige, in the hopes of breeding them together. These two individuals could be seen play wrestling each other in the snow last week!
Wolverines are typically solitary animals, only joining together to breed when females are in oestrus. Once breeding has taken place, they part to go their separate ways, and the female will rear her kits alone. Therefore, whilst our two wolverines continue to enjoy one another’s company they will remain mixed. However, once they begin to exhibit signs that they would be happier alone, they will be separated again.
We are hopeful that the positive behaviours observed between these Wolverines will lead to a successful breeding season, and we will keep you updated on their progress right here!
Despite its size the Wolverine is considered a ferocious animal
To find out more about Wolverines, please join us on the 19th Febuary for the EAZA European Carnivore Campaign Launch Night. This year, Zoos and Aquaria throughout Europe are highlighting the plight of twelve predator species known as the ‘Dirty Dozen’, and raising money to aid in their conservation. Come along to the Launch Night to find out more about these species, and what RZSS will be doing to conserve them. The talk starts at 7.30pm in the Education Centre.
Cost: £4.50, Members £4.00
Advanced Booking essential on 0131 314 0350 or by visiting www.rzss.org.uk.
Love is in the air?
February 11th, 2009 § 1 Comment
Ah l’amour! As the rest of the world prepares for Valentines Day (or prepares to ignore it!), the residents of Edinburgh Zoo have been happily carrying on, none the wiser this week.
With just a month until the ‘official’ start of the Edinburgh Zoo Penguins breeding season (marked in early March when the keepers lay out nest rings for the penguins), these playful birds have been making the most of their current care-free, single status!
And the recent weather has certainly helped! On Monday 9th February, Edinburgh experienced a particularly heavy snow fall. This provides fantastic enrichment for all of our penguins, encouraging them to show off their natural behaviours such as chasing, belly sliding and investigating!
Playing in the snow – even Penguins have snowball fights!
However, the Penguin keepers decided that perhaps they could join their animals, in enjoying a little bit of fun too. They fashioned a ‘Snow Penguin’ within the enclosure for the penguins to investigate. The bravest and most curious of the birds then enjoyed themselves by pecking away at this mysterious ‘newcomer’ until they were satisfied that it was only snow!
A curious Gentoo Penguin watches on as the keepers make the final touches to their ‘Snow Penguin’
The bravest penguins cautiously approach the ‘Snow Penguin’
We are pleased to announce that our Bush dogs have again enjoyed breeding success! After giving birth to a female pup in only July last year, the Bush dogs have been joined once more by the pitter patter of tiny feet. However, this time they have welcomed not one puppy, but four! At the moment both mother and puppies are keeping themselves hidden away in their inside enclosure, and we do not expect them to begin venturing out for another 4 – 6 weeks. However, we will keep you updated on their progress and will let you know when you can expect to begin seeing them out and about!
An adult Bush Dog ‘sniffs out’ its enclosure
You may recall that a couple of weeks ago our dominant male Chimpanzee, Qafzeh, underwent a vasectomy operation to prevent him from breeding. (See ‘January Continues…’ for the previous story.) In order for this procedure to be carried out Qafzeh was anaesthetized and separated from the rest of the chimp group for 5 hours. The operation went very smoothly, and once the vet team were happy with Qafzeh’s condition, he was released back into the group. Since then Qafzeh has recovered very well. He managed not to open his stitches in the week after the operation… a common problem with primates, and the two incisions made to vasectomise him healed very quickly. The vets advised a short course of painkillers and antibiotics to make him more comfortable in the ensuing days, and also to prevent any infection settling in. He was a very willing patient, and the keepers slipped the medecine into a banana sandwich, which he took great delight in eating!
On a seperate note, over the last few months, Kindia has been making his presence known in the group. He is an up-and-coming young male, and needs to find his place within the group. He has been displaying a lot recently, which is perfectly natural for a chimp of his age. Males typically ‘display’ to one another using body language, facial expressions and by making as much noise as possible! They do this to assert their dominance or hierarchical position within a group.
On Qafzeh’s return to the group, fighting broke out between Qafzeh, Kindia, Louis and David. (Louis and David are older males within the group, who previously held dominant positions, and still like to make their presence known from time to time!) Qafzeh’s immediate reaction was to climb to the top of one of the climbing structures and sit in a nest-ring, ‘fear grinning’ at the other chimps. He did not attempt to engage in any sort of counter-attack or defend himself from the other males’ advances. Luckily, his mother, Emma, who is the dominant female in the group, did defend him.
Eventually the two older males, Louis and David stopped their attack and ‘made-up’ with Qafzeh, by demonstrating submissive behaviours and grooming him.
However, by the end of the day Kindia had still not submitted to Qafzeh. Although Kindia has been causing concern for Qafzeh for some time now, it seems he saw an opportunity not to back down to Qafzeh, while he was still feeling vulnerable in his post-op state. This resulted in a number of skirmishes between Kindia and Qafzeh and in defence of their sons, Lyndsey and Emma. This carried on for almost a week, with minor skirmishes between the four chimps, which would inevitably involve the whole group, until finally Qafzeh and Kindia were seen grooming together.
Qafzeh keeps a wary eye out while enjoying some fruit
For now, it seems that Qafzeh’s position as dominant male is more secure and relative peace has been restored to the group. Although what will happen in the future remains to be seen. Qafzeh is keeping a close eye on Kindia, and trying to make sure he is a friend, not a foe. Louis is causing the most upset of late, displaying at Qafzeh every now and then.
Claire, Senior Keeper for the Budongo Trail said, “It is brilliant to see this natural behaviour in a captive group of chimps – they are going through the same challenges that their wild cousins would face, and dealing with the politics in the same way.”
During this period of unrest, the chimps can be fairly aggressive towards each other, and if you visit the zoo you may see a few battered and bruised individuals. Chimpanzees heal very quickly, so what appears to be a nasty cut, isn’t actually as bad to a chimp. The keepers and vets are on hand to administer medecine and patch up and bad wounds as needed, but it is much better to let the chimps sort it out for themselves – if we try to intervene we could potentially do more damage.
We will keep you updated on the ongoing dominance struggle, as it develops, right here!
February begins
February 4th, 2009 § 5 Comments
February has begun with a force, as the country has been swept with snow and blizzards. But of course, this is hasn’t stopped things at the zoo! We are as busy as ever!
Last week, we welcomed the long anticipated arrival of a female Amur Leopard to the Zoo. Zane, a young female has arrived from Helsinki, in Finland, to join our young male Skodge.
The Amur Leopard is critically endangered, and it is thought that there are less than 40 now living in the wild. This species has become endangered as a result of habitat loss, hunting and poaching of its prey, and unfortunately these threats continue to pose a problem to the leopards. This species is considered to be facing an imminent threat of extinction.
It is therefore incredibly important that zoos work together to maintain a healthy captive population of Amur Leopards in order to safe-guard them from extinction. There are currently around 300 Amur Leopards kept in captivity worldwide and here at Edinburgh Zoo, we are hopeful that our young pair will take a shine to each other, and ultimately breed together. As with all of our solitary carnivore species, introducing these two individuals will be a long and slow process, but it should definitely be worth it!
We will keep you updated on their introduction process right here.
Skodge, our male Amur Leopard – possibly one of the most beautiful and threatened big cat species
And yet more animals have been arriving at Edinburgh Zoo this week! Three male Scottish wildcats by the names of Baen, Sim and Stiùbhart have made their way down to Edinburgh from the Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore. These three males are all reaching ‘retirement age’, and are no longer able to breed. However, they have been sent to Edinburgh with the important mission of raising the profile of their species.
Scottish wildcats are one of Britain’s rarest animals, with a wild population thought to be less than 400. This year, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland will be working hard to raise awareness of the Scottish wildcat’s plight and to increase dedicated conservation efforts.
For more information please visit www.scottishwildcats.co.uk
The Scottish Wildcat – a native species on the brink of extinction
Of course, we are always happy to welcome new arrivals to the zoo. But occasionally, we also have to say ‘Goodbye’ to some animals as well. Last week fifteen Gentoo penguins left Edinburgh for Wuppertal Zoo in Germany.
Last summer, our Gentoo penguins had a particularly successful breeding season, rearing thirty-eight chicks in total, and bringing our total number of penguins at the zoo near to the two hundred mark! It has therefore been decided that some of our Gentoos should be moved to other zoos.
Exchanging animals is common practice between zoos, and no money ever crosses hands. The exchange of animals is all controlled by a ‘Studbook Keeper’ who decides where every individual can be moved to ensure that their needs are best met and that they can continue to be part of a breeding population.
We hope our Gentoo penguins will like their new home and have the same success they have experienced at Edinburgh!
A group of young Gentoo Penguins prepare for their big move
All of our animals require a high level of care and attention from our keepers to ensure they are healthy and happy. Inevitably though, this sometimes means facing a visit from the vet! Here at Edinburgh Zoo we have a dedicated veterinary team that work closely with our zoo keepers to ensure that all of our animals are receiving the best possible care.
Thursday 5th February is your chance to hear all about the Zoo vets involvement with the animals in 2008 at the annual ‘Vet Talk’. This will take place in the Education Centre between 7.30 – 9.00pm, and is suitable for over 14’s only.
Cost: £4.50, Members £4.00
Advance Booking essential on 01313140350 or visit www.rzss.org.uk
