ZSL Whipsnade Zoo ZSL Whipsnade Zoo News 2024

We went to Whipsnade for the first time yesterday.
Wednesday evening we very last minute decided (basically before going to bed, lol) we could go here.
It's only 1h15, not sure why we haven't been before.

We got there just after 10, and we left at 6.
Overall, it's such a nice place, and we debated on turning our tickets into an annual pass, but after seeing the entire park we decided not too.
The main bit to the left of the entrance, we just didn't see ourselves going round that bit on every visit.
I also don't do well in the heat, so some bits on that side like Monkey Forest/Cheetas wouldn't be something I would enjoy walking around in the summer time, and to just go in the colder times is silly too.

Does anyone where the male Lion came from?
I know the girls are from Antwerp, which made me very giddy being Belgian, haha!

I'm aweful at writing zoo-reports, so I'll just kind of list the nicer things we saw, and what we didn't saw.
The nicer things:
- 9 week old White Rhino
- 4 week old Camel
- baby François Langur
- saw some baby Meerkats from a distant for only a few seconds
- saw the Lemur talk, and once again, one of the Lemurs took a massive interest in the boyfriends camera, they all seem to want to touch that lens cap he has on it? lol
- the Aardvarks were sleeping inside, and thanks to it just being dark in there (no red light) we actually got a really good look at them
- we started the day with seeing 1 Lynx, and ended the day with 2 Lynx
- we saw all the Hippo's, they were just being fed as we walked into the house, so that was great timing
- did the train ride, good thing we did, as we didn't know about the driving bit, so we still managed to see some animals from better angles due to the train ride
- new species spotted: Ural Owl

We didn't see:
- Wolverines/Bongo/Zebra

I also got too excited (I live of little things) when I saw the gift shop had the actual proper Red Panda earband, and I got an extra one, because mine is starting to wear out a bit now.
I bought mine in The Netherlands last year, as I hadn't come accross them in England until now.
 
pleasant afternoon up at the Zoo, saw the baby meerkats which was a delight as well as the rhino calf.

Saw the macaques out in the wood for the first time which was amazing and will look even better when the troop grows in size. Not sure if it’s mentioned but the female Anoa is now in monkey forest, she was at the back of the very wooded enclosure.

The Zebra and Waterbuck only have access to the side closest to the housing as the fencing opposite the lions is being redone.
 
Lovely day out at Whipsnade today, not too busy ahead of the BH weekend and dry and sunny spells all day. After 4pm there was almost no one around. Lots of animals active across the day from opening to closing.

The new Blesbok calf was out in the enclosure offering excellent views, super to see. Did wait a while for it to wake up after a morning nap, but it was a nice day to sit on a bench watching the rhinos! I noticed the other female Blesboks who were also out have had some sort of resin / wrapping attached to the top of their horns, probably due to the way the new mother is seeing them off, even though they are all together. A bit of sparring and chasing as the others checked out the new arrival.

House Martins busy near the rhino house, feeding on insects and sailing around the enclosure, I expect there are some nests in the rhino house and the Sitatunga area as the birds were going in and out of both.

Active mating in the lion enclosure again, with both females involved. The lions were also playing and running around paying great attention to a team of tree surgeons working in the area next to the end of the enclosure.

The work on the zebra / waterbuck area continues with all the fencing down and what looks like a new fence line being defined.

The hard standing at the end of Passage through Asia had the Przewalski's horse's in it,shut in and eating hay, probably to keep them off the Spring grass.

The red crowned cranes are still sitting on the nest, so that bodes well for another potential hatching this year. The grass has been cut only at the front of the enclosure to protect the nest space.

A keeper confirmed one of the three Asian short clawed otters born last year died at the start of this year, leaving six otters in the enclosure (Carol and Ermie the parents and four young otters born across two years). I had only counted six on a few visits recently, so thought I would ask about it as hadn't seen it mentioned (may have missed it). Sad to hear but good to see the group so active (and immensely noisy as it got towards feeding time before closing).

The windows of the Lubetkin elephant house have been fitted out with a new colourful animal mosaic in the style of the new animal areas like monkey forest, bit of colour to that area behind the carousel.
 
Tim May said:
When I attended the Monkey Forest preview on 17th March, it housed ten Sulawesi macaques and I was informed that the number would soon increase to fourteen. (I don't know if the four additional macaques have arrived yet.)
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I am glad this area is working wonders for Whipsnade and actually pretty chuffed that the female anoa is on exhibit now. With the Visayas warty pigs .. Hats Off to Whipsnade Management!

Panthera1981 said:
I believe the maximum holding capacity is 30
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That would be a good number for a regular troop in Tangkoko or Minahassa, north-east Sulawesi main island.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
That would be a good number for a regular troop in Tangkoko or Minahassa, north-east Sulawesi main island.
Click to expand...

The more they have, the more impressive they are. I remember back in the day when Jersey had a large troop of well over 20 or more. They looked really good. Yet now they were reduced to 4 before going out of them, but at least those 4 are now part of new Whipsnade group.
 
Visited Whipsnade today, the Francois Langur were outside in the trees. Three adults and three youngsters, the one born last year now looking like a small adult, Jinfo, the baby born in March who is now completely brown in colour and another baby born more recently who still had an orange head.
 
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