A good day out at Whipsnade today with great weather, bright, clear and not too cold. Pretty busy but not school holiday volumes. Leaves are starting to turn all around the park which makes for some great colours.
Took a snap of the signage about Columbo the sloth bear below. Was actually so sad to see all the toys, feeding balls and firehouse play strips gone from the enclosure. Zoo trip didn’t feel quite the same without the ‘get to the sloth bear enclosure for feeding time’ moment.
On a happier note there was a sign on the bear enclosure saying Cinderella the brown bear has gone to the hibernation den so she won’t be visible from now on but is being joined by new bears in the spring. Excellent to see new bears will be joining the collection.
The new elephant calf was out with the herd and all provided some excellent views, there was playing around with her and Elizabeth, running around when the train came and some branch feeding for all which she tried very hard to join in with. Lovely to see. The size of the enclosure and the long fence means plenty of room for everyone to get a good view so unlike in other places a baby doesn’t mean a practical punch up in the crowd.
Lynx were active and starting to get their winter coats and the young boar are at the play fighting stage which is fun to watch. The youngest flamingo has grown loads and was out in the lake with the other birds and the slightly older juvenile.
Edit - forgot to add that after the bird show today there was bird training for birds due to join the show soon - two hornbills and a hooded vulture were in training and it was very interesting to see how the keepers build up the distances etc in the session. Nice to see that on top of the regular fliers.
