South Lakes Wild Animal Park South Lakes

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PAT said:
The sumatran tigers at melbourne have two viewing areas. They seem to spend more time at the glass area.
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Maybe the glass provided a level of soundproofing- I know some big cats don't like loud or sharp noises so it could be a factor...
 
Visitor volumes, too. London gets a huge number of visitors for it's acreage. Thrigby or Dudley tigers would may have had a far more peaceful existence. And South Lakes draw large volumes of visitors at once to surround the tiger compounds, now on two different levels, to watch the talks and feeding times. But then you have Chessington, just to throw a spanner in the works. This is purely speculative as to whether their stress levels or willingness to breed is affected though.
Hasn't London now got the breeding female from Dudley? I'm sure I read that on here the other day. Does anyone know anything about the Sumatrans at South lakes?
 
johnstoni said:
Visitor volumes, too. London gets a huge number of visitors for it's acreage. Thrigby or Dudley tigers would may have had a far more peaceful existence. But then you have Chessington, just to throw a spanner in the works. This is purely speculative as to whether their stress levels or willingness to breed is affected though.
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I guess Thrigby is pretty quiet except weekends, during nine months of the year, apart from Summer school-holiday time. Remember Chessington gets no visitors at all for several months a year during the winter closed season...

Dudley tigers are a good distance away from the public at the back part of the enclosure. Also quite a quiet place during nonpeak periods. But since its resurgance of popularity, London seems very busy almost throughout the year nowadays....
 
johnstoni said:
Hasn't London now got the breeding female from Dudley? I'm sure I read that on here the other day. Does anyone know anything about the Sumatrans at South lakes?
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Yeah London and Dudley swapped females due to the original Dudley pair having had i think 6 cubs who are now i think having cubs of their own. So the genetic line is now well represented.

The male Sumatran was actually a Dudley born cub while i think the female was hand reared in Germany at I think Berlin zoo. They've been together a few years now so i would have thought they should have bred now as I think they are both sexually mature.
 
ZSL Sumatran tigers.

If the male was born at Dudley, and the female was Dudley's breeding female, doesn't that make them related?
 
:p no when i said the male was born at Dudley I was then talking about the Sumatrans at South Lakes rather than the ex breeding pair at Dudley.
 
So,, Bobby 21 you were talking about the South Lakes animals? We had originally been asking about the origins of the current London pair, as I thought the current female had previously been the breeding female when at Dudley. Then mabye you thought we were talking about the current Dudley animals?

So.... South lakes: Male a dudley born cub, female a H/R Berlin born animal..

So... London: Male the same animal which has been there for years (did he father the single cub a few years back?) Female the breeding female from Dudley

So....Dudley: Male the breeding male who fathered the recent cubs there, female the NON BREEDING London female, who arrived when the two places exchanged female tigers.

Is this right so far?
 
Thank god thats all over :) I remember reading that last year South Lakes had a new female lion that had been rescued from I think a circus. Does anyone know if she has settled in well or if there are any signs of stereotypical behaviour related to her past. Are there any plans for breeding now as i think the male and the females, other than the new female, are related so breeding was not done before??
 
New exhibit planned

The website has announced that the cheetahs have left for Whipsnade and that they are very excited about whats going to replace them in their former enclosure. Any ideas what might be replacing them?? Its not a huge enclosure so i'm guessing probably some small carnivore species such as Dhole or maybe the return of Maned Wolves.
 
Possibly could be hyenas and that section of the park is quite African based with the rhino, giraffe and baboon exhibit close by. Where would they get the hyenas from though?? Do many places keep them nowadays, i think there is only one place in the UK that holds them (Africa Alive or Banham i think) so they would probably come from Europe. If it wasn't for that big walkaway it would probably have made a great place for the Mandrills to be kept esp with the tall grass
 
Port Lympne was the only public collection to hold hyena through the 1980s, with striped and brown hyenas in the bottom carnivore enclosures by the lions. I don't think they ever bred, though I could be wrong, and they were sent to retire in South Africa in the 1990s.
Colchester got a pair of Spotted hyenas in the mid to late 80's I think, they still have one of this pair according to ISIS, it must be very old now. Africa alive acquired three striped hyenas in the early to mid 1990s, these successfully raised a litter of cubs, one or possibly two went to colchester who now hold 1.1 as well as the single spotted. Now Africa Alive also just have 1.1, I don't know if these are the two parents of the litter they raised or not.

Throughout this time, the clubb-chipperfield organisation owned striped hyenas, which bred at least once in the 1980's. I assumed they were hand-reared as they made a couple of tv appearances, as these were supposedly the first of their species to be successfully reared in this country. The remainder of this group, or their parents, if there are any still alive, would reside at the Heythop private zoo owned by Jim Clubb in oxfordshire, as part of his 'amazing animals' company, used in TV/film. It is partly for this reason that the striped species has been seen in television adverts and in british films like harry potter over the last decade or so, despite being less common in captivity that the spotted. These are quite possibly the Jim Clubb-owned animals he bred.

If a zoo wished to, I think they could acquire at least striped or spotted hyenas from europe, only all three species are only ESB not EEP status, I don't know if there are any EAZA recommendations to increase the numbers of hyenas in europe.

The related aardwolf are an entirely different matter. There are very few in captivity. When the current animals die of old age at Hamerton and Twycross, that may be the end of this species in UK collections.
 
The spotted hyenas came from Belfast, where they were kept for a number of years and as far as I know bred here on at least one occasion! They were later replaced by African wild dogs!
 
Do you think there is much chance that South Lakes may get hunting dogs?? With Howletts/ Port Lympne and West Mids being successful in breeding them in the last few years there may be some young animals that need to move on to other collections
 
Is the enclosure lareg enough though. I've never been there myself so i woudnt know.

Unless they only keep a small group like London are doing
 
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