ZSL Whipsnade Zoo ZSL Whipsnade Zoo 2021

Visited last Friday (09/07/21) for the first time since I was younger and was blown away. As most of you have probably gathered by now, I like the small stuff with fur and sharp teeth so Whipsnade doesn't really cater to my tastes bar a few of the commoner small primates, Red Pandas, and the obligatory Meerkats and Short-clawed Otters (YAWN! ;)). But damn, I had a thoroughly good time and an awesome visit! Second time within a year that a ZSL collection has exceeded my expectations massively! :)

Highlights were active bears of both species, a near complete set of heavy herbivores for the 2021 ZC challenge, spotting two Water Deer within seconds of each other towards the end of the day, seeing Gaur for the first time as far as I can remember, and the weather holding out despite forecasts of showers. We spent the last hour in glorious sunshine! :D

Lowlights were more to do with catering rather than anything else. First of all the main bar and restaurant are online ordering only and neither me nor Cliff could get enough signal to access the site, let alone order anything... :eek: After deciding to grab a sausage roll from the stall at the entrance I was informed that they didn't have any, but if I came back in 5 minutes then I could have one. I politely declined because if I'm paying £4 for a pasty then it wants to be oven baked, can't abide microwaved sausage rolls at the best of times so I wasn't going to be ripped off for one!

Also had to deal with a certain @cliffxdavis telling me about how he'd had a sleepover there, and all the wonderful things he saw and did during said sleepover. Not that he was rubbing it in or anything, apparently......... :rolleyes::p:D
 
Forgot to mention in my initial post that the new aquarium/butterfly house are amazingly well done. The aquarium in particular is small but genuinely world class for it's size.

And I'm quite willing to go on record as saying that if there's a better Warty Pig enclosure in the UK then I'd like to se it. Not a species I particularly like but the way they explored their enclosure made them far more entertaining than usual. Quite the contrast to Bristol's enclosure the following day.
 
Visited today.. some good highlights how quite it was before the school holidays. Elephants were visible and playful same for the red pandas, which was highly unusual. However was very upset for so many lack of visible animals.. the otters couldn’t find, no cheetahs , no Wolverine, barely saw Cinderella the remaining bear , so much overgrown foliage. Also the sealion house is going to be a Avery for the birds of the word shows..
 
Think it’s a cheap way to use the space without spending a lot of money… as it definitely seemed their was less animals then before like 4 zebra.. barely a cheetah to be seen. Wolverine something was covered over so unsure if the last daughter moved elsewhere and just parents remained.. but looked like Empty enclosure .. nice day but saw more animals at Woburn then at whipsnade today
 
Brum said:
Visited last Friday (09/07/21) for the first time since I was younger and was blown away.

Also had to deal with a certain @cliffxdavis telling me about how he'd had a sleepover there, and all the wonderful things he saw and did during said sleepover. Not that he was rubbing it in or anything, apparently......... :rolleyes::p:D
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Have to say the sleepover is brilliant and recommend it to all. I would also say if you do book a sleepover Whipsnade can be cold even in the height of summer so bring warm clothes and if you don't have kids to bring make sure you get an all adults session.
 
Rosie183 said:
same for the red pandas
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Wow, there were signs all around the enclosure last Friday saying the animals were off-exhibit for the foreseeable future. That was a quick turnaround.

Rosie183 said:
However was very upset for so many lack of visible animals.. the otters couldn’t find, no cheetahs , no Wolverine, barely saw Cinderella the remaining bear , so much overgrown foliage
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Complete opposite of our visit, everything bar the Lynx and blackbuck showed well. I thought the Brown Bear enclosure, whilst dense, had enough open areas to view the bear in most of the enclosure. I do admit we got lucky with the cheetahs (Our last ditch attempt got us a head poking through the grass on our final lap! :)), but the Wolverines were extremely active later in the day. :D

Were there any Rockhoppers on show when you were there? The secondary pool was drained on our visit with only ducks and Africans to be seen.
 
Yes the volunteer said the red panda only just came back onto exhibit Sunday and so yesterday they were very active especially the younger cub when it came to food..but even mum kept going up and down the tree chasing her cub.
Yes both pools had penguins visible.. we visited the wolverines twice and where the daughter was is closed off.. and couldn’t see either parent.
How many cheetah does whipsnade have?. They had a lot at one stage as remember seeing a mum with like 8 Cubs..but last few visit barely seen one
 
Rosie183 said:
we visited the wolverines twice and where the daughter was is closed off.. and couldn’t see either parent.
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I saw one through the mesh in the off-show paddock, I assume that was the daughter? And I'm pretty sure there were two in the main paddock but it possibly could have been just the one running around and popping up randomly. :confused:
Rosie183 said:
How many cheetah does whipsnade have?.
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We only saw one, but both enclosures had the gates open to the off-show areas so at least two. :)
 
Rosie183 said:
Also the sealion house is going to be a Avery for the birds of the word shows..
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pipaluk said:
If true, that is NOT good news, what a waste!
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Panthera1981 said:
Put the building out of its misery and tear it down. It looked disgusting when I visited last month.
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Is the existing sealion building actually going to be converted into an aviary or is a new aviary going to be built on the site?

I ask because at a ZSL on-line meeting earlier this year, Fellows were informed that the old sealion building would be demolished.
Rosie183 said:
How many cheetah does whipsnade have?
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According to the most recent ZSL Animal Inventory there were 1.3 cheetahs at Whipsnade as at 1st January 2021.
 
Surely having birds on display in close proximity to three very busy visitor hubs (the playground, cafe and the railway) would be detrimental to their health? The whole reason why the Bird Garden (where the show-birds are housed) closed years ago was because of stress from the public.
 
Visited yesterday, and had a very pleasant day out. A couple of things to note (sorry if they have already been covered).

Animal wise: the crested wood partridge's in the butterfly house have had chicks. The volunteer said they hatched 4-5 weeks ago and that takes the number to 2.1.3. I also only saw 4 giraffe and the one of the outside signs for 'khari' had been taken down. I had some very good showings for the elephants, indian rhinos and sloth bear early in the day, especially as when i got to the sloth bear enclosure at 11:15, he was just being let out for breakfast, so spent about 20 minutes watching him! Lastly, the lemur walkthrough was closed, despite being advertised as open (+wearing a face mask).

From a visitor point of view: if you are visiting during the holidays or at a weekend, and wan't to go in the aquarium and butterfly house, then i suggest you arrive at 10 and do that first thing, as there was already a 4 or 5 group queue at 10:15, and when i left at 5:30, there was still a 10-15 group queue. Also i suggest arriving before 10 o'clock or later in the day as at 10:05, when i arrived the entrance queue was all the way through the tunnel and out the other side. Social distancing was also well maintained at the entrance, however, i would say less than half of adults were wearing masks indoors (despite it being strongly encouraged). Finally, i would suggest going to the shop early in the day, as there was a queue from 3/4 onwards.

I know Whipsnade can sometimes get a bit of criticism, but being my childhood and local zoo, i have a bit of a soft spot for it. Overall, i had a great visit!
 
I also had a Lookout Lodge sleepover in mid june and there were a couple of things i thought i could share:
- they currently have 1.1 sudan cheetah, a brother (george) an sister, (in answer to an earlier question) however, one of the guides said that they had arranged for two new females, but that hasn't happened because of covid.
- they have 1.1 eastern bongo (pembe and ashley) and they hope to bring in another female.
- they aren't breading from their chimpanzees as the dominant male has a heart condition that they don't want to pass down.
- they have seen mating with the southern white rhinos, and one of the females is showing some signs of pregnancy, but they don't know for sure.
- one of the guides also said that the sea lion house was going to be knocked down, so we can definitely say that will happen.

overall, it was a great experience. The hosts were great and the food was good too! Would thoroughly recommend.

DISCLAIMER: Please don't take what i have said as confirmation for anything as i may have misheard something. In addition, plans within zoos are constantly changing. I may be wrong. Thank you!
 
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