Its been another long time....

Heyyy to my readers....
Sorry I havent posted in a while, been so busy lately with coming back from america for three month, sorting that stuff out and then Ive started back at University for my third year studying a Zoo Management BSc.

I will try to post when I can, American zoos, English zoos, and any other interesting articles I come across.

Thanks for bearing with me!

xx

It's been a long time...

Heyy Guys,

So.. Im currently touring the USA on a road trip around the East Coast, which I have been doing for the past month or so, we have around 4 1/2 weeks left so I shall try and update the Blog when I arrive back home.

I am also visiting a number of the US zoos, so I shall be writing posts on them as soon as I arrive home, but for now enjoy reading my previous posts.

Thanks for bearing with me, and understanding!

Hope to see you soon!

xx

Colchester Zoo....

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, been so busy lately! 

Anyways, I had the chance to go to Colchester zoo the other week and I have decided to make a post and review the zoo.

Once through the entrance, thought it was a good idea to start from the furthest point of the zoo then work our way around, and just go and see the enclosures we wanted to see. The zoo has improved a lot again since I last visited (well since I completed my placement) back in June 2014.

They have literally just recently updated their Penguin enclosure, they have also (Just before I completed my placement) opened their new Sun Bear enclosure, and also opened a new lorikeet walk-in enclosure (which I didn't get chance to visit, but I shall definately be sure to visit that exhibit next time!). 

Started at the Africa section, so we went to the Giraffes, Zebras, Rhinos and Elephants. These are incredible animals with a pretty good sized enclosure. The fact that the zoo have Zebras, Rhinos, Giraffes and Kudos in the same outdoor enclosure is great! It encourages natural behaviours because they would be in the same environment in the wild (although it would be over thousands of miles in the wild). The elephants are in a separate enclosure (most probably due to their size), but despite being in a one species enclosure, they still have a pretty good sized outdoor.

Elephant Enclosure
(Taken by Author at Colchester Zoo)

African Enclosure
(Taken by Author at Colchester Zoo)

African Enclosure
(Taken by Author at Colchester Zoo)

We then headed over to the lions enclosure, this enclosure is a good size, but could be done with being a little bigger although what do lions do all day?! They sleep and rest for most of the day apart from when they are hunting, so I guess this is a good size enclosure for the three lions (1 Male, 2 Females). Reviewing from a visitors point of view, it is a good enclosure as you can see all around apart from the bushes at the front being a bit high, but then the animals need their privacy don't they?!, however there is a small staircase with a high viewing point to be able to allow the visitors to see the lions more clearly from a different perspective. 

Part of the African Lion enclosure
(Taken by Author at Colchester Zoo)

The next enclosure I shall review is the new penguin enclosure along the Inca Trail. This enclosure has just recently been updated. It is the same size, just some of the visitor perspectives and I guess just the way it looks such as the substrates and the water is more purer and cleaner than it was previously. 

The new enclosure has a new viewing platform for visitors, this overlooks the whole enclosure, it overlooks the penguin pool. It allows the visitors to see the penguins much better than before, but still giving the penguins privacy when needed.

New Penguin enclosure
(Taken by Author at Colchester Zoo)

New Penguin enclosure 
(Taken by Author at Colchester Zoo)

New Penguin enclosure 
(Taken by Author at Colchester Zoo)

The last enclosure I am going to review and chat about is the new (well new ish) Sun Bear enclosure. I really like their new enclosure, as it allows their natural behaviours to be expressed a bit more than it used to, and gives them a bigger space to express these behaviours.

Sun Bear Enclosure
(Taken by Author at Colchester Zoo)

Sun Bear Enclosure 
(Taken by Author at Colchester Zoo)

Sun Bear Enclosure 
(Taken by Author at Colchester Zoo)

Well all in all as a whole, Colchester Zoo is up at the top for my list of zoos that I've visited so far. It is a great zoo, with good visitor interactions such as giraffe and elephant feeding (where the public can feed the animals with browse), and with also many talks and encounters to encourage the public to learn more about the animals at the zoo. There is also many information boards around to educate the visitors about the animals around the zoo.

The zoo is always carrying out improvements, and I do mean every time I visit the zoo there is always something new to go and visit, no matter how many times I visit.

So I do recommend this zoo to anyone who hasn't or even has visited before to visit these new enclosures to see for yourself how great these are!

Elephants in Tourism (Asia)....

I found this an interesting article, it's about elephants that are used for tourism in Thailand and about an elephant sanctuary that rescues these animals from just that.

http://expertvagabond.com/elephants-in-thailand/

This article explains that the elephants used for tourism are kept in horrible conditions, chained up and used just for money in tourism. There is also a twist to this article because it explains about ENP (Elephant Nature Park), this is where they rescue elephants that have been mistreated and used for tourism and circuses. 

It explains about the elephant tourism industry, which mistreats these animals, and how elephants NEVER forget about anything. The ENP helps rehabilitate these animals (although they shall never forget what happened to them), they still try to help, and give the elephants the life they deserve which is in better conditions to live in (also meaning living in a herd) and also given better and more food, the food they need.

At the ENP, you can get up close and personal with these great animals, helping to rehabilitate them and you also get to learn about this precious species, learning about their natural behaviours and how spectacular they actually are. 

By helping out at this facility in Thailand you get to interact with these amazing animals and your money will be going towards the cost of feeding and caring for these animals, and also towards expanding the size of the sanctuary. 

So if anyone ever comes across being in Thailand, please don't go towards the tourism elephant trekking or anything else to do with elephant tourism (due to what is stated in the article) and I sure do hope you visit this sanctuary instead, either on a day trip or for volunteering for a week. This will certainly be of help to the sanctuary and also it will give you a once in a lifetime chance to get up close and personal with these animals.

I myself sure will definately try to volunteer for a week when I get the chance of course, as I feel this will also work towards my work experience to put on my CV/Resume and of course as stated above it will be a once in a lifetime experience for me to encounter.       

Orphaned animals

Found this on sky news the other day....

http://news.sky.com/video/1398834/mother-needed-for-adorable-ape

This orphaned orangutan was moved from Budapest Zoo to be introduced to a new family at Monkey World in Dorset, which hopefully a new family (+ the keepers for a while) will be able to take care and provide what is needed to this small orphaned baby.

I think monkey world will do a great job of creating a new family and introducing the baby to a whole new world, whilst providing the right husbandry requirements the baby needs to grow into adult hood.

http://www.monkeyworld.org/

Above is the website to the rescue centre that rescues and rehouses neglected, orphaned or unwanted primates. 

ARKive

Have you ever heard of ARKive? 
Well now you have...

http://www.arkive.org/
http://www.arkive.org/giraffe/giraffa-camelopardalis/

This is a different kind of website resource you would normally read, something from the ordinary vision of wildlife websites...

This is a very informative website that has information about species, habitats, plants, places and just general information you may need on something about animals. It also has games, activities and quizzes you can complete on the website, to allow children and/or adults to learn about animals and have some fun! 

This website is also great for information sources, as it collates different information from very different sources across the board which vary from books, websites and journals. It lists all the information sources below the text at the very bottom of the article, so little or no plagiarism is being used.

It also has a glossary of terms to help the readers understand what context is being used and what the definitions are. 

It highlights the world of wildlife, from the smallest to largest- even the endangered animals!   

Enjoy reading and learning new information! 

Australiaaaaa Zooo!

Heyy, Sorry it's taken me so long to post! 

Anyways so on my travels I decided to go to visit Australia zoo!! (Of course, cant go to Brisbane and not go to the famous zoo!) So I am going to write a review on what I think and like or dislike about the zoo!

Australia Zoo entrance sign
(Taken by Author at Australia Zoo)

Once arrived, we went straight to get our tickets and then immediately followed the map to navigate around the zoo. I for one, definately tried to go to every enclosure they have. 

There are a few enclosures that I really liked the looks of at the zoo, those were the koala walk through, kangaroo walk through and the Africa enclosure, but all of the other enclosures were good as well, I just preferred these ones so I thought I would talk about them. 

I loved these enclosures because of the space, especially for all of them really. All of these enclosures I have mentioned had quite a lot of space to allow the animals to free roam. The Africa enclosure houses the Giraffes, Zebras and the Rhinos, which I thought was a good design, as these species do not prey on each other and actually live with each other in the wild.

Africa Enclosure
(Taken by author at Australia Zoo 2014)

Africa Enclosure
(Taken by author at Australia Zoo 2014)

Africa Enclosure
(Taken by author at Australia Zoo 2014)

There's quite a lot to see at Australia Zoo, the crocoseum (the wildlife warriors show), the reptile house and the recently added wildlife hospital (of an added donation of 2 dollars per person, which is understandable). 

I really liked going into the wildlife hospital and learning about how the zoo's hospital staff rehabilitate the injured animals that have come in. There were mainly koalas as they are the main species that need hospital attention, but there was a turtle that came in the morning we arrived at the zoo, as it was washed up on the near by beach and the zoo's hospital was the closest to the area. It was great learning about why the hospital was set up and how they got the funds to create the hospital. Below are pictures of the hospital and a patient in the hospital who is recovering from surgery (Pictures may be upsetting).

Australia Zoo's Wildlife Hospital
(Taken by Author at Australia Zoo)

Australia Zoo's Wildlife Hospital outside recovery area
(Taken by Author at Australia Zoo)

Australia Zoo's Wildlife Hospital
(Taken by Author at Australia Zoo)

Australia Zoo's Wildlife Hospital
(Taken by Author at Australia Zoo)

Australia Zoo's Wildlife Hospital
(Taken by Author at Australia Zoo)

Oh and one more must see, there is a small education hut about the Irwin family and how the zoo started. This is quite educational and very interesting at the same time to see how the zoo grew and improved over the years. 

Educational hut
(Taken by author at Australia Zoo)

Educational hut
(Taken by author at Australia Zoo)

Educational hut
(Taken by author at Australia Zoo)

So all in all, Australia zoo has grown a lot since I last went 8 years ago, It is one of the best zoos in the World and it has a little more improvement to do (but then again doesn't all zoos?!) but what I am trying to say, it is a great zoo to visit. I recommend trying to see all the enclosures and all the shows the zoo provides for your education and entertainment.

Palm Oil

The link below is an article from the ZSL website about palm oil on food product labels.

http://www.zsl.org/conservation/news/zsl-welcomes-greater-palm-oil-transparency

This article states that ZSL welcomes the new law which came into effect in December 2014, which was the law that food labels must state any oils which includes palm oil. 

This new law will hopefully make consumers read the labels carefully and not buy products that contain palm oil, which will hopefully educate people about the reasons why palm oil shouldn't be used. It will hopefully also educate manufactures and retailers that their products should be made with 100% sustainable oils because of what is happening with palm oil production and the impacts it is making. 

Palm oil production, as some of you may know, is endangering many species and their habitats which includes the orangutan. This production has very negative impacts on the environment which impacts largely on species and their survival.

ZSL are trying to work together with the production companies to ensure the impact decreases and it reduces the pressure on the species. They are working together to try to promote sustainable ways to keep palm oil production, promoting ways to reduce the stresses on the species and other impacts on the environment.  

I think what the ZSL team are working towards and the new laws that have come into place, is a great way of educating people about the devastating impacts they are being made and how they can improve this to decrease what is happening to the environment. 

Last but not least, just a small message to say Please, if you can or when you can, always read the labels of products you are buying to ensure they are made of 100% sustainable products and please try not to buy products that contain palm oil. This will help educate about what is happening to these precious animals and their habitats. Thank You.

Orangutan
(Taken by Author at Chester Zoo in 2012)

Orangutan
(Taken by Author at Chester Zoo in 2012)