Blackpool Zoo Blackpool Zoo News 2023
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Three lionesses are arriving later this month:
Blackpool Zoo's African lion Khari returns with three lionesses set to follow
A male tiger is also arriving later this year:
Joining Alyona later in the summer will be a male tiger, introduced to form a non-breeding companion pair.
Blackpool Zoo's African lion Khari returns with three lionesses set to follow
A male tiger is also arriving later this year:
Joining Alyona later in the summer will be a male tiger, introduced to form a non-breeding companion pair.
Jambi
Well-Known Member
Excellent news! I may hold back my next visit to Blackpool until Alyona is back, hopefully she'll be there by mid-August when I'm off work. I can't wait to see both these new enclosures and the renovated penguin pool.
Two King colobus monkeys have been born:
8 pictures of baby monkeys at Blackpool Zoo who could be named Charles and Camilla
8 pictures of baby monkeys at Blackpool Zoo who could be named Charles and Camilla
To be honest, from seeing the photos of the enclosure, it doesn’t look very big, especially knowing that there is 3 more lions joining him with then potential future cubs. Not big at all. Also there isn’t much overgrown foliage for the cats to hide as i assume it has all be cleared in construction. There doesn’t seem to be many hiding places for the lions to get away from guests view either. Overall, not the best UK lion enclosure i’ve seen, and for it being a brand new enclosure the standards and size should be better. Yorkshire wildlife parks enclosure is still the best one in my opinion
Personally I think that this enclosure is looking quite good. It isn't the biggest by any means but now has received a good upgrade. The Indoor areas are where I think the most work was focused with a complete new house built which is a massive improvement on the previous house which was far from ideal.
Great news, considering this species is quite rare in the UK.
As for the lion discussion, the enclosure seems a fine size to me? Will have to wait and see what it looks like with a whole pride in though.
I'm there in 2 weeks time to judge for myself but from the pictures the outdoor enclosure looks a similar size to previously. the indoor area was very poor though previously and from the video the zoo put out seems much improved
On May 17th, the zoo announced that they reacquired a (0.1) Amur tiger named Alyona from Woodside Wildlife Park in Newball, and will be on exhibit in the next couple of days.
Blackpool Zoo
The 0:3 lioness' have arrived
We are delighted to introduce the 3 new lionesses Hira, Emma and Narla. They arrived a few days ago from West Midland Safari Park and have been settling really well into their new home, Big Cat Habitat.
Hira, who will be four in September, along with Emma and Narla, who are both 18, were all born at West Midland Safari Park and have close bonds with each other. Keepers describe Emma and Narla as quite strong individuals, whilst Hira is more of a gentle soul who looks to them for leadership.
Khari has already shown a lot of interest in the new arrivals through viewing windows and they will be gradually introduced over the next few weeks, to form the new pride.
Please note that as the lionesses are still in their settling-in period, there is no guarantee that you will see them on your visit.
We are delighted to introduce the 3 new lionesses Hira, Emma and Narla. They arrived a few days ago from West Midland Safari Park and have been settling really well into their new home, Big Cat Habitat.
Hira, who will be four in September, along with Emma and Narla, who are both 18, were all born at West Midland Safari Park and have close bonds with each other. Keepers describe Emma and Narla as quite strong individuals, whilst Hira is more of a gentle soul who looks to them for leadership.
Khari has already shown a lot of interest in the new arrivals through viewing windows and they will be gradually introduced over the next few weeks, to form the new pride.
Please note that as the lionesses are still in their settling-in period, there is no guarantee that you will see them on your visit.
honestly a move i never would have predicted though does explain why they were willing to take 3 lionesses for such a limited space ( given the intention to build a prided ) as they won’t be factored into the numbers long term. I would love to know the reasoning behind it. I had thought the girls would be imports like whipsnade and the british collection would be flooded with new genetics but nevermind. Given west midlands are moving the young males to a new area i do wonder what their plans are for their own core pride.
Baringogiraffe12
Well-Known Member
A strong mix indeed, could be numerous reasons - lack of availability and thus maybe the only females available, if breeding was to occur, it's obvious the young female and Khari are the spearheads for the new pride of Blackpool.
Had an amazing visit today. I will start of with the new big cat facility. It is much better but I would have referred some expansions to the enclosure on the lion side as it is definitely smaller than what is available for the tigers. Managed to see all 4 lions today and alyona was just about viewable through a door to the off show area.
Other things to note would be that the Ostrich now lives in the long paddock in between the blesbok and the farm. There are no more bongo and signs around the enclosure have changed to zebra signs but the zebras were in the usual area. Irl really like the new penguin beach. Much better than the land space they used to have. The apes were very showy today especially Bukavu the silver back gorilla who was displaying to the group a lot.
Today the ex twycross elephants and emmett had access to all of the outdoor sand areas and the indoor areas whilst kate had access to the grassy paddock. Norjahan was VERY pushy today when it came to food. She was very dominating over Tara today but even managed to move minbu off food.
All in all a very good day
Other things to note would be that the Ostrich now lives in the long paddock in between the blesbok and the farm. There are no more bongo and signs around the enclosure have changed to zebra signs but the zebras were in the usual area. Irl really like the new penguin beach. Much better than the land space they used to have. The apes were very showy today especially Bukavu the silver back gorilla who was displaying to the group a lot.
Today the ex twycross elephants and emmett had access to all of the outdoor sand areas and the indoor areas whilst kate had access to the grassy paddock. Norjahan was VERY pushy today when it came to food. She was very dominating over Tara today but even managed to move minbu off food.
All in all a very good day
Jambi
Well-Known Member
Now that's sad to hear, it's such a lovely animal. I remember from my visit last year, one of the bongo's horns had broken off and some kids were calling it a unicorn. I'll definitely miss the bongo.
Baringogiraffe12
Well-Known Member
Believe that the bongo was the last female and was due to move to Chester and either died after being at Chester briefly or died before the move could take place. The zoo has improved a lot with the obvious upgrades with the penguins and big cats - every year, I think one or both of the young female gorillas will move on, however, both are still at the zoo being thirteen and eleven this year. An orangutan and elephant birth within the next eighteen months would be great.
The zebra situation intrigues me as that's a lot of space for one species and with Blackpool only holding two individuals, father and daughter, the male has sired four foals previously, it would be nice for the zoo to acquire more females - I do hope a new species may take up the old bongo space soon. Some new species to the zoo would be welcome addition as the last new mammal species on-show to arrive was swamp wallaby in 2020.
I think binturong would be a nice fit for the zoo and they're plenty around which need moving to other collections.