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Colchester Zoo is deeply shocked and saddened to announce the unexpected loss of their male Komodo Dragon, Telu

in Animals
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Colchester Zoo is deeply shocked and saddened to announce the unexpected loss of their male Komodo Dragon, Telu on the morning of Thursday 23rd November 2017. 

Telu’s passing was unforeseen; therefore Telu was sent for post mortem to identify his cause of death, however, unfortunately the initial post mortem came back  was inconclusive. Therefore we have had to wait for further test results to help identify what would have caused this sudden death. On receipt of the final set of test results it seems that Telu had died from accute blood poisoning. Unfortunately, as Telu showed no abnormal behaviour or signs of ill-health the evening before his death, there was no indication of a problem for keepers to be aware of any health issues. With such a rapid onset of infection as in Telu’s case we would have had no indication or opportunity to treat this infection and death would have been extremely rapid.

Telu was the first male Komodo Dragon to take residence at Colchester Zoo in a modern, purpose built enclosure. Telu was born at Prague Zoo on the 19th April 2007 and came to Colchester Zoo on 5th May 2010. During his time at Colchester Zoo, Telu sired 24 young with late partner Mutu. 

Telu and Mutu were the first dragons in the UK to breed through a natural mating and he has assisted in the conservation of his species leaving a huge legacy behind, with some of his young moving on to other collections around the world including Lisbon, Leipzig, Calgary, Wroclaw, Pairi Daiza and here in the UK to take part in the European Endangered Species Breeding Programme and continue conserving the species’ numbers.

Telu was a much loved resident at Colchester Zoo who built a very close bond with his keepers, he will be very sadly missed.

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