I had no idea both were absent from the UK! I have seen both of those species at Milwaukee not far away from me, though the Impala there tend to favor the far side of their enclosure and I've not had great luck with the Tommies.
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo ZSL Whipsnade Zoo News 2024
- Thread starter Rosie183
- Start date
Indeed it was extremely frustrating that Whipsnade's last Thomson's gazelles were really off-exhibit and almost impossible to see properly.
Whipsnade, of course, was once very successful with Thomson’s gazelle and had a thriving herd from the 1950s until the 1990s; I remember when the herd numbered over twenty individuals.
Kalaw
Well-Known Member
Thank you. Now that I think about it, I may well have seen Impala in that paddock near the hippos, although I also remember seeing kudu in that space (feel free to correct me if I am wrong there) so perhaps am getting the two muddled up.
Is the gazelle enclosure in the Bongo House the same one mentioned upthread as currently housing a female anoa? Either way, out of interest, I will certainly make a point of finding this hidden paddock on my next visit. It never fails to amaze me how, even after 9 (10 by the time that I find this paddock) visits to Whipsnade over the years, there is always something new that I was yet to discover on each and every visit!
Greater Kudu were also housed in the paddock, but I think by the time the impala came along they had either all gone or were mostly held in the back bit of the paddock.
From what I can tell I think the female anoa is in the yard nearest the path. The gazelle off show area was at the opposite end of the house which I think is still there
Presumably this was one of the calves of Kumar & Roopa, the 2nd breeding pair of G.I. Rhino at Whipsnade. Possibly 'Bardia'. I remember seeing one in a taped off portion of what is now the Elephant paddock.
Whipsnade is very popular at the moment. The car park is close to capacity at the moment according to facebook - (1) Whipsnade Zoo - Our car park is close to capacity today, 5 April.... | Facebook
Likely due to the recent flooding.
Likely due to the recent flooding.
I do understand they aren't a priority species, but zoos do need animals for education purposes and, crudely, to use the space. I can't think of any Indian antelope that are of more conservation value in European zoos which are desperate for the space.
Good to hear lots of people visiting but, as you mentioned, the issues are caused by unusable areas of the car park rather than park capacity.
Not ideal with the easter holidays but it has been a bloody wet winter, so sadly not surprising.
Pandaboi
Well-Known Member
Coming back to this, how many Francois Langurs are kept at the zoo? The species has done well in zoos in the last few years with 4 born at Twycross (since 2022), 2 born at Belfast, 1 born at Fota and 2? born at Whipsnade.
The most recent Whipsnade Animal Inventory lists 2.3 Francois langurs as at 1st January 2024 and a youngster was born on 17th February.
UK actually has more Francois in several collections than rest of Europe.
Pandaboi
Well-Known Member
Hopefully in a few years time more collections will keep this species. Francois are doing much better then the Dusky Langur which only has 5? holders in Europe.
I think Whipsnade's enclosure is brilliant for the Langurs. Hopefully they will have even more success with breeding the Sulawesi Crested Macaques.
Duskies are fading. I don't expect to see them at Twycross much longer either. But Francois have a strong base in UK with scope for exchanges in the future..
I find it frustrating that a zoo like Whipsnade zoo can do so well with a species like the Thompson's gazelle for decades breed them well from likely wild caught animals properly Kenya and they end up just fading away into oblivion. I have a London Zoo book with a wonderful pic of the Whipsnade herd "stating they are all home bred". All the effort in the capture and transport then years of captive breeding end up in a zero.
I agree with @Zorro ... that really it is a - literally - dying shame that zoos in the region do not invest in other endangered langur species. Some senior managements and PR/communication and education departments seem to view them as "unsexy" where they are both highly attractive colobine primates as well as have a serious conservation story to tell (Thailand-Malaysia) beyond just the token langur species Francois' that is making high inroads into parts of Europe now. We have little to show for langurs or mangabeys and colobus primates in Europe anyway .... EAZA/EEP's wake up now to the Asian and African bush meat crisis that is affecting these primates in droves.
Had my first visit to Whipsnade on Thursday for the first time in many years, honestly can't remember when my last visit was, but probably sometime around 2017.
The weather was predicted to be pretty bad, but in the end it was dry, cool but not cold, and just very windy on the outer edge near the top of the Downs, which is expected. It did rain very, very hard at the end of the day, which was fine with the new entrance building to shelter in. (I still remember the old entrance plaza!)
I used the new CentreBus service from Luton rail/bus interchange. The bus departs from Stand 13, which is the furthest stop on the right and across the bus-lanes as you exit Luton rail station towards the town centre, and is part of the capped £2 bus fare per journey. On presenting your bus ticket at the zoo desk you can get your zoo entry ticket half price. This might be a bit of a risk on busy days, as the zoo has been active on social media saying that they have been reaching capacity recently, and are only offering so many walk-up tickets per day on busy days, but if you get there early you should be OK if you are planning on getting in half-price.
Lots of nice changes since my last visit, was very impressed with the Aquarium (though it was very full due to the rain at the time). The tanks were of a very high standard, and definitely make you stop and really look at what is in there.
Managed to see the baby White Rhino, the volunteer informed it was a male, and only around 3 weeks old; it hasn't been named yet, but they thought it might go to a public or ZSL Member vote.
Caught sight of the off-show Anoa currently housed in the Bongo house, is this individual due to move into Monkey Forest? Interesting to see the fenced off area at the other end of the house is still there, where I saw the short-lived Thomson's gazelles when they were there a few years back.
Don't think I've seen the Meerkat/Aardvark development before, that has to be the largest Meerkat enclosure I've ever seen! There were three very young Meerkat kits which were very entertaining.
Of course, Monkey Forest is brand new, and I thought it was a great new development. It needs some time to grow-in for sure, but the enclosures are amazingly big which hopefully will allow for large monkey troops to develop. A volunteer at the shelter opposite the Anoa says that the slopes the other side of the path have been seeded with native wildflowers, am sure it won't take long for the rough areas to be colonised by other plants too. The pathways still seemed to need more work on the wicker fencing, but this feels like a minor quibble.
Does anyone know what the development between Monkey Forest and the Indian Rhino area is? Is it a new hardstanding for Passage Through Asia?
They've probably been there for a while, but it was nice to see the little bird-pond enclosure at the back of the White Rhinos had a pair of Blue crane which were wading through the water, don't think I've ever seen this species exhibited with an extensive pond before.
Very strange to see absolutely no sign left of the old Sealion House, like it never existed!
Pygmy Hippos were no-shows, as were the birds in the butterfly house, and the Cheetahs. Didn't manage to see the baby Langur, but did see the rest of the troop. Otherwise it was a lovely day despite the rain at the end of it. As with London lately, it was encouraging to see so many new developments that have come to fruition, and really hope that this positive trend can continue at both ZSL sites.
The weather was predicted to be pretty bad, but in the end it was dry, cool but not cold, and just very windy on the outer edge near the top of the Downs, which is expected. It did rain very, very hard at the end of the day, which was fine with the new entrance building to shelter in. (I still remember the old entrance plaza!)
I used the new CentreBus service from Luton rail/bus interchange. The bus departs from Stand 13, which is the furthest stop on the right and across the bus-lanes as you exit Luton rail station towards the town centre, and is part of the capped £2 bus fare per journey. On presenting your bus ticket at the zoo desk you can get your zoo entry ticket half price. This might be a bit of a risk on busy days, as the zoo has been active on social media saying that they have been reaching capacity recently, and are only offering so many walk-up tickets per day on busy days, but if you get there early you should be OK if you are planning on getting in half-price.
Lots of nice changes since my last visit, was very impressed with the Aquarium (though it was very full due to the rain at the time). The tanks were of a very high standard, and definitely make you stop and really look at what is in there.
Managed to see the baby White Rhino, the volunteer informed it was a male, and only around 3 weeks old; it hasn't been named yet, but they thought it might go to a public or ZSL Member vote.
Caught sight of the off-show Anoa currently housed in the Bongo house, is this individual due to move into Monkey Forest? Interesting to see the fenced off area at the other end of the house is still there, where I saw the short-lived Thomson's gazelles when they were there a few years back.
Don't think I've seen the Meerkat/Aardvark development before, that has to be the largest Meerkat enclosure I've ever seen! There were three very young Meerkat kits which were very entertaining.
Of course, Monkey Forest is brand new, and I thought it was a great new development. It needs some time to grow-in for sure, but the enclosures are amazingly big which hopefully will allow for large monkey troops to develop. A volunteer at the shelter opposite the Anoa says that the slopes the other side of the path have been seeded with native wildflowers, am sure it won't take long for the rough areas to be colonised by other plants too. The pathways still seemed to need more work on the wicker fencing, but this feels like a minor quibble.
Does anyone know what the development between Monkey Forest and the Indian Rhino area is? Is it a new hardstanding for Passage Through Asia?
They've probably been there for a while, but it was nice to see the little bird-pond enclosure at the back of the White Rhinos had a pair of Blue crane which were wading through the water, don't think I've ever seen this species exhibited with an extensive pond before.
Very strange to see absolutely no sign left of the old Sealion House, like it never existed!
Pygmy Hippos were no-shows, as were the birds in the butterfly house, and the Cheetahs. Didn't manage to see the baby Langur, but did see the rest of the troop. Otherwise it was a lovely day despite the rain at the end of it. As with London lately, it was encouraging to see so many new developments that have come to fruition, and really hope that this positive trend can continue at both ZSL sites.
Glsd you had a good time! I’ll try to answer a couple of questions.
The female anoa will move to monkey forest, as it has two separate inside areas for anoa.
I believe the work is for a hard standing, probably to help the Pwzwalskiis horse during the winter months.
The blue cranes were there until late autumn when they went off show so good to see they are back on show!