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COLCHESTER ZOO
During the Easter holiday, David, Georgina
and Charles drove to Colchester Zoo, about an hour and a half away. (Sadly Ivy
was working so couldn't join us). Here are a few of the things we saw ......
Reptiles
Philippine Sailfin Lizard |
Baby Komodo Dragon - one of the world's largest
lizards, almost like a miniature dinosaur. |
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Ruminants
African Elephants - including a baby elephant
in the middle. |
Giraffe |
Mountain Goat |
Kudu |
White Rhinoceros (`white' being a corruption
of `wide', referring to its muscular upper lip which helps it
crop grass and other vegetation to eat). |
Damara Zebra (note the `shadow'
stripes between the main stripes) |
Zeedonk - a cross between a Zebra and
a donkey! |
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Miscellaneous Mammals
Georgina's favourite! A Fennec, or Desert
Fox. The huge ears are to hear the soft sounds of food
moving in the black desert night. |
A Canadian Timber Wolf, clearly showing
how similar it is to certain breeds of domestic dog. |
Brown Hyaena - one of the less lovable
members of the dog family. |
A Binturong - from the few remaining
dense forests in South-East Asia, related to the Civet
family. |
Coatis come from South America, and
occupy a similar niche to Raccoons. |
A pile of Meerkats - the one on the right
is taking his turn on sentry duty. |
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Cats
The Cheetah just being fed: the
world's fastest mammal.
Photograph by Georgina |
A Lion, looking completely in
control.(David said `it's lion down'. Georgina
groaned; can't think why.) |
A rather blurred picture of a
Margay in motion - one of the smaller cats. |
Tiger! |
White tigers are very rare. |
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Lemurs - a special and rare
group of primates native only to Madagascar.
Red-Fronted Lemur |
Ring-Tailed Lemur, the
commonest of the group |
Ruffed Lemur, looking at the
peculiar specimen pointing that strange thing at
him. |
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Monkeys and Apes
Capuchin - the
traditional `organ grinder's monkey' |
Gibbon - this is what
Charles wants to be when he grows up! |
L'Hoest monkey - mother
and infant |
Mummy Mangabey, Georgina
Mangabey and Charles Mangabey! |
Mr Mandrill - he
definitely looks In Charge. |
Mother and infant
Mandrills |
Squirrel Monkey |
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Birds of Prey
Kestrel - one of the
commonest birds of prey, which we frequently
see beside English roadsides.
Photograph by
Georgina |
A larger Falcon - this
one a cross between a Lanner and a
Peregrine.
Photograph by
Georgina |
Buzzard - fortunately
becoming a slightly more regular sight in
certain parts of England, reversing decades
of decline.
Photograph by
Georgina |
King Vulture |
Second largest bird of
prey in the world: the Andean Condor has a
wing span of over three metres! |
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Other birds
Flamingoes - all asleep
and reflecting in the lake. |
Ground Hornbills - as
soon as they saw us they came over and
started clattering on the glass with their
bills! Note the eyelashes, unusual in birds. |
African Crowned Hornbills |
Blue & Yellow Macaw |
Red & Green Macaw |
Ostrich - the world's
largest bird, quite incapable of flight but
a very good runner! |
Pair of Pelicans roosting
under a weeping willow on an island in the
lake. |
Yellow billed Storks |
Waldrapp - a member of
the Ibis family, but its bald face means it
is not a thing of beauty (except,
presumably, to other Waldrapps) |
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Aquatic
There were many varieties
of tropical fish in several tanks. Note the
reflection of the little hand pointing, and
the little interested face .... |
A tunnel under the Sea
Lions' pool enables visitors to look at them
from below. |
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Other sorts of ape,
exhibiting enjoyment
Georgina supervising a
little monkey, who had climbed into the toy
ark! |
Inspecting the Tiger with
a mixture of awe and trepidation! |
In the restaurant at
lunchtime, there were a couple of birthday
parties. This `Lion' came to say hello and
light candles ..... |
Georgina, tired but
happy! |
Orang-Utan father and
infant! |
Close up of a little
Orang-Utan |
Fatal attraction ... to
the see-saw! (Photograph by Georgina) |
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