DZG’s 2016 plans!
As we near the end of 2015, Dudley Zoo and Castle is delighted to reveal exciting plans for next year…
Over the next few weeks a £200,000 revamp will begin on three new projects, including new homes for our breeding group of gelada baboons and our group of flamingos and an interactive walkthrough exhibit where visitors can feed dozens of rainbow lorikeets.
Zoo Director Derek Grove, pictured above, said: “The improvements to these three enclosures are the next stage of our site development plan and will benefit both our animals and our visitors.
“The facilities for the geladas and flamingos will be extended which in turn provides visitors with an improved and more interesting experience.
“The plans focus on the bottom part of our 40-acre site and will provide additional animals and facilities, from the moment visitors step through the gate.”
The baboon paddock is due to be completed by February half term and the other two schemes will be open in time for Easter.
The largest part of the project is the £120,000 planned work on the flamingo enclosure which will see a larger indoor area built with a viewing area and a much bigger pool.
The £40,000 scheme to extend the gelada baboon enclosure includes transforming a former shop building into a walk-in viewing area.
The paddock, which is next to the zoo’s vintage chair lift, will also be extended up the bank to provide more grazing area.
Our Sulawesi crested macaques would then move into the former baboon home next door and every few months the baboons and macaques would swap enclosures to enable the gelada to be able to graze both banks.
This in turn will enable the critically endangered yellow-breasted capuchins to move out of the small primate house into the old macaque exhibit, providing a larger more complex exhibit for these hugely active, highly intelligent South American primates.
Plans to replace our Monkey Tails walkthrough exhibit with the lorikeet experience are estimated to cost £40,000. The current residents, which include titi monkeys and white-faced saki monkeys, would be rehoused with our other primates.
Visitors will be able to get close to beautifully coloured lorikeets and can even buy nectar to feed to them.
Derek added: “Although the walk-through Monkey Tails attraction has always been popular with visitors, we believe that this spacious exhibit would better serve free flying birds and this will also provide visitors with a different type of experience.”
The latest plans follow impressive work which has been carried out on increasing the size of the zoo’s car park and enhancing the entrance.
A striking new gate featuring DZG’s distinctive tiger logo now creates an imposing impression along with five life-size steel models of a giraffe, an orangutan, a tiger, a sea lion and a crocodile.
