Hamerton Zoo Park Hamerton news 2020

Pertinax said:
I imagine Ben must be approaching, or even holding, a longevity record for his species?
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The book "Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; From the Living Collections of the World” (Richard Weigl; 2005) lists 52 years as the longevity record for a lar gibbon. That book is fifteen years old and "Ben" has obviously now greatly exceeded that age.
Pertinax said:
Have you any idea how long Ben and Sally were at Paignton?
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The book by Weigl, mentioned above, lists a female lar gibbon as arriving at Paignton on 18th April 1961 and dying there on 3rd May 1994. Presumably this was "Sally".

There is a coy of the lar gibbon studbook available on-line. See link below.
European studbook for White-handed Gibbon (Hylobates lar)

According to this, Hamerton's male lar gibbon arrived at Paignton on 19th April 1961 and then went to Guernsey on 2nd February 1982.
 
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Tim May said:
The book "Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; From the Living Collections of the World” (Richard Weigl; 2005) lists 52 years as the longevity record for a lar gibbon. That book is fifteen years old and "Ben" has obviously now greatly exceeded that age.

The book by Weigl, mentioned above, lists a female lar gibbon as arriving at Paignton on 18th April 1961 and dying there on 3rd May 1994. Presumably this was "Sally".

There is a coy of the lar gibbon studbook available on-line. See link below.
European studbook for White-handed Gibbon (Hylobates lar)

According to this, Hamerton's male lar gibbon arrived at Paignton on 19th April 1961 and then went to Guernsey on 2nd February 1982.
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Useful Tim, thank you.
Looks like the 1958 date could have been a rough estimate of a birth date.
Studbook link is helpful too, and I see it has the birth as c.1959...

Pertinax said:
1. Have you any idea how long Ben and Sally were at Paignton? Lar gibbons on their (original) island were a classic exhibit at Paignton for very many years. As a visitor there since around the late 50's I remember the gibbons of course, and presumably at that time these would have been Ben and Sally and maybe the 2nd male.

2. Do you know how many offspring Ben has fathered in total?
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Both of these data should show up in the studbook, so I'll have a look later.
Yes, 'Ben' and 'Sally' were on the island as far as I know. 'Ben' has all of the tips of his fingers missing, down to the first knuckle. We were told that this was caused by frost-bite following an escape across the frozen moat, and at lest one night spent at large in Paignton town...
 
As some of our news does not appear to be picked up as quickly as in the past, I thought I would pass this on:
From today we have introduced an afternoon ticket booking slot starting at 2pm - in addition to those starting at 10am and 11.30am. None have end times on them, except of course that the Park closes at 5pm.
Our two morning start slots are pretty much continuously booked up, but the afternoons do quieten down a little, so the third slot so will give a chance for season ticket holders and others to pop in when it is quieter.
All of our animal houses are now open, with footfall controls in place where needed, and the two-headed one way system is retained as it seems to be working well.
A new kiosk for outdoor sales of drinks and ice-cream should open this week. Our new 'Bear Meadow' extension is ready to open on Wednesday 29th July as planned, with a revised version of the guide-book to follow soon, adding some of the new arrivals received since the last one. The last few of the current 'Civet' guide are on sale still, and the new version will be a very short print run, as a brand-new one is due for the 2021 season.
 
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Andrew Swales said:
Our two morning start slots are pretty much continuously booked up, but the afternoons do quieten down a little, so the third slot so will give a chance for season ticket holders and others to pop in when it is quieter.
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And of course, a lot of the oddities which the members of this forum like the most tend to be at their most active at such times!

Andrew Swales said:
with a revised version of the guide-book to follow soon, adding some of the new arrivals received since the last one. The last few of the current 'Civet' guide are on sale still, and the new version will be a very short print run, as a brand-new one is due for the 2021 season.
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Are there plans for the new version to be available through the online shop, as was/is the case for the current version? :)
 
TeaLovingDave said:
And of course, a lot of the oddities which the members of this forum like the most tend to be at their most active at such times!
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Absolutely.


TeaLovingDave said:
Are there plans for the new version to be available through the online shop, as was/is the case for the current version?
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Yes, for a while before the new one replaces the old (here in the shop, as a checkout 'extra' with on-line entry tickets, and via old web-site shop). We are assuming the the new one should arrive before the current one sells out, and simply replace it - but recently guide-book sales have picked up noticeably both via the website and at entry, so we may have a gap in availability in between.
 
Andrew Swales said:
Yes, for a while before the new one replaces the old (here in the shop, as a checkout 'extra' with on-line entry tickets, and via old web-site shop). We are assuming the the new one should arrive before the current one sells out, and simply replace it - but recently guide-book sales have picked up noticeably both via the website and at entry, so we may have a gap in availability in between.
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Excellent - will have to keep my eyes peeled and ears open to ensure I pick one of the revised editions up in the brief time you'll have them available before the next "full" edition :)
 
I really want to visit Hamerton this year but to be honest I don't want to mix with strangers until there is a vaccine. However I don't want the zoo to fail so, inspired by the ZSL crowdfunding appeal, I thought I would see if there was a JustGiving Appeal. There is but when I went through it said "Donate to Steph Frost crowdfunding for Animals and pets" and this seemed somewhat vague and I did not feel comfortable that I could be sure it would get to the Zoo.

I tried the Hamerton site and there is a donations option but then I was worried it would attract VAT!

Simplest way to give please that will all arrive for Hamerton to use.
 
That is helpful, thanks very much. Although I just tried it and my bank does not recognise their account number as a valid number. I tried it with and without the space. Might just take out and annual membership and not go for 6 months.
 
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Hope it helps, by the way if you do visit it has been much much quieter in the afternoons so not too much crowd avoidance is needed! I'm off there this afternoon
 
cliffxdavis said:
That is helpful, thanks very much. Although I just tried it and my bank does not recognise their account number as a valid number. I tried it with and without the space. Might just take out and annual membership and not go for 6 months.
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Just checked and the on-line bank number is good, and has worked fine over all the pandemic. The possible problem could be that it is for Hamerton Conservation and Heritage Centre cic, our community interest company which runs the coffee-shop and will eventually develop the zoo museum. All donations are just that, and free of VAT; and are automatically transferred straight over to the zoo. Season ticket purchases we have to pay VAT on unfortunately as they are classed as a 'sale'. What I haven't checked (but will now you raise the thought in my mind) is what rate VAT is now charged on a season ticket which could be part used in a 5% period and part in a 20% period... I would assume that it would be at the rate prevailing at the date of purchase, but this is HMRC after all...! Yes, H is quite right, afternoons (especially the second half) are much quieter.
 
Andrew Swales said:
Just checked and the on-line bank number is good, and has worked fine over all the pandemic. The possible problem could be that it is for Hamerton Conservation and Heritage Centre cic, our community interest company which runs the coffee-shop and will eventually develop the zoo museum. All donations are just that, and free of VAT; and are automatically transferred straight over to the zoo. Season ticket purchases we have to pay VAT on unfortunately as they are classed as a 'sale'. What I haven't checked (but will now you raise the thought in my mind) is what rate VAT is now charged on a season ticket which could be part used in a 5% period and part in a 20% period... I would assume that it would be at the rate prevailing at the date of purchase, but this is HMRC after all...! Yes, H is quite right, afternoons (especially the second half) are much quieter.
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Went to the crowd funder on your web page, went through with no issues.
 
pangolin12 said:
Hi @Andrew Swales , do you know when the revised guide books will be on sale? (I will certainly buy one once released:))
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At current sales levels, we have a few weeks supply of the current one in stock, so will be ordering the new one next week for delivery by the end of the month. The 'new' one is very much a limited edition (!), and will only have a small run. It is a re-covered, edited and re-set version of the current one with some new pictures and 4 new pages. It is intended to last just through till next Easter when a completely new one will replace it for 2021 - all being well!.
 
Look forward to picking up a copy, whether this is through the online giftshop or managing to get down to visit Hamerton in person :)
 
Had my annual birthday treat of a visit to Hamerton yesterday - and a great visit it was :)

The whole booking / queuing / distancing set up was excellent imo. There is a slight bottle neck at the front of the park where people enter, turn right and immediately stop to watch the ringtails but the small indoor houses in this area are kept closed until the afternoon to try to alleviate this. The smart option is to turn left and head on over to see the new bear meadow though - a great addition to the zoo and much larger than I expected it to be. Chatted to a keeper (who btw was very complimentary about how hard you work @Andrew Swales) about the finishing touches for this enclosure. I imagine it has been tough to complete during lock down and there is an partially finished shipping container on the right hand side (human side of the fence). He advised the intention is to have a raised and covered veiwing area here. As a photographer this makes me very happy indeed and I think it will be great once they are in a position to complete it.
 
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