Ranua Wildlife Park Ranua Zoo news

S

Shirokuma

Well-Known Member
The Ranua Wildlife Park in Finnish Lapland is looking for a new home for one of its main attractions, the polar bear cub known as "Ranzo". Now nearly mature, Ranzo will have to leave if his parents succeed in producing a new cub.

It is likely that Ranzo will stay at the Ranua Wildlife Park until the end of this year, but after that, he'll be moving.

"Our superintendent is looking for a new home for Ranzo in cooperation with an international polar bear coordinator," says the park's CEO Tommi Hinno.

According to Hinno, as Ranzo's owner, the park will have a say in where he ends up.

"Since we have one of Europe's largest polar bear facilities, we want Ranzo to have good facilities at his new home. Personally, I hope that Ranzo doesn't go anywhere very warm, since he's accustomed to living in the north," Tommi Hinno adds.

Not good alone

Ranua has two large polar bear enclosures. Even so, Ranzo can't be left alone in one of them when his parents are brought back together.

"Ranzo would miss his mother terribly. He would wander along the walls of the enclosure and whimper loudly," explains zookeeper Pentti Saarijärvi.

The alternative of getting Ranzo a companion has been ruled out since the park already has one compatible and already proven fertile pair, his mother Venus and father Manasse.

If Ranzo's parents do produce a new cub, the Ranua Wildlife Park hopes that it, too, will be a big draw for visitors.

"The probability is now greater than it was in Ranzo's case. Venus has learned how to be a mother and Ranzo was able to grow into a big bear," says Hinno.
Click to expand...


Ranua seeking new home for polar bear cub | Yle Uutiset | yle.fi
 
Bjoern alluded to it in one of his Leipzig posts, it was the Ranua zoo in Finland that received 2 male musk deer form the German zoo.
 
Some more news on Ranua from YLE Finland's public service broadcaster:

Spring love in the air; Lapland zoo hopes for new polar bear cubs
Many animal lovers’ eyes teared up when the popular polar bear cub Ranzo moved to a new home in Austria last week. Now there’s new hope that the union of his parents may bring the birth of a fresh litter of cubs at the end of the year.

Excitement is swirling at Ranua in Lapland over the prospect of new polar bear cubs that could be born at the local zoo. Zookeepers report that a good-looking couple – Venus and Manasse – mated during the spring, lifting hopes that at least one new cub could be born later this year.

“Evidently there’s been love in the air and by November or December we’ll see whether or not we get one or more new cubs,” said zookeeper Mari Heikkilä.

The bear couple’s previous pup Ranzo had been the first cub to survive in captivity in Finland. Last week he moved to the Vienna Zoo in Austria, where he’s already exploring the enclosure he shares with another bear, Lynn.

Owls coming out of their shells too

Spring fever has also taken over another couple at the zoo, Lapland owls Kalle and Alexis. Kalle, who was originally thought to be male, hence the name, is actually the female in the pair. She has now nested and two eggs were found in the avian home. They are expected to hatch in a few weeks.

“Alexis is watching closely as Kalle sits on the eggs. His previous partner’s eggs didn’t hatch, so he probably wants to make sure everything goes well this time,” Heikkilä said.

If the eggs do indeed hatch, the fledglings will be the first Lapland owl chicks to be born at the zoo.
 
I recently visited Ranua Zoo on a visit to Northern Finland in December. It is a delightful place, although quite an unusual layout with Zoo paths totalling several kilometres and basically forming a large circle therefore making it difficult to head back to a certain place quickly.

I have added some of the pictures I had taken to the gallery and I thought I'd make the post here because yesterday Ranua Zoo announced that their female polar bear had given birth to a single cub in late November. Great news to start off 2017!

Martin
 
According to Zootierliste this zoo are the only holders of Norway lemmings.But the latest data was from 2017.Does anyone know If they still have norway lemmings?
 
The Ranua Wildlife Park / Ranua Zoo is now officially called Ranua Resort as they have grown into a travel destination that has also other attractions beside the zoo, but they still use the name Ranua Wildlife Park when only talking about the zoo and its animals. But as a result they have a new logo and also a new website.
 
According to the zoos Instagram, they have received a female Beech marten. The marten was found in Kotka and then taken to Korkeasaari zoo where it recovered in the zoos wildlife hospital. It was then sent to Ranua zoo. This is to my knowledge the only Beech marten in Finnish zoos.
 
They also now have a pair of european minks.

Two Ural owl youngsters moved out from Ranua zoo: To Poland and Belgium.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top