Longleat Safari & Adventure Park Longleat Safari Park News 2012

leiclad20 said:
Can anyone answer a few questions?



2) I think the lemur wood repalced wallaby wood - where are the wallaby nowadays?



Cheers in advance.
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The wallabies are still in Wallaby Wood. The lemur walkthrough is just a little bit further up the hill. Sort of next to where the guinea fowl are.
 
Visited today, a first time, i may post my full views later, but it may upset Longleat fans!
Went on the boats as soon as i got in(11am) & was pleasantly surprised to get on the first available boat within 10 mins. Boulas was out on his own, the others locked in, but the commentator said they are planning to try & get him into the main group, the other 3 were to be let out later & Boulas put inside. Starting a breeding group in the distant future was also mentioned(if females ever became available).
 
pipaluk said:
Boulas was out on his own, the others locked in, but the commentator said they are planning to try & get him into the main group, the other 3 were to be let out later & Boulas put inside. Starting a breeding group in the distant future was also mentioned(if females ever became available).
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I am not sure if they have tried Boulas with the others already and failed, or have not gone that far yet. He has becomes pretty tolerant in his middle-age so I'd give it a 50/50 chance of success I suppose. I hope they can as otherwise someone is always going to be indoors - unless there is a small outside cage offshow?
 
Pertinax said:
I am not sure if they have tried Boulas with the others already and failed, or have not gone that far yet. He has becomes pretty tolerant in his middle-age so I'd give it a 50/50 chance of success I suppose. I hope they can as otherwise someone is always going to be indoors - unless there is a small outside cage offshow?
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On the boat trip last weekend, the boatman said that the keepers were monitoring them waiting for the right time (eg body language etc) before they mixed them.
 
mazfc said:
On the boat trip last weekend, the boatman said that the keepers were monitoring them waiting for the right time (eg body language etc) before they mixed them.
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Thanks. I imagine they will have close contact in their adjacent indoor/sleeping areas so the staff can judge how they behave toward each other from that.
 
I dropped into Longleat today (06 Sept) and the situation is the same with the new gorilla colony, ie the brothers aren't mixing with Boulas yet, and they don't know when/if they will be. Boulas was, as previously said, let out in the morning then the brothers in the afternoon. I got photos of both sessions, showing all four, which I've added to ones previously taken from the VIP platform, here The New Gorilla Colony At Longleat - The Wylye Codger if anyone, for certain, can tell me which photos are of Evindi and which are Alf that would be great.
 
The Wylye Codge said:
if anyone, for certain, can tell me which photos are of Evindi and which are Alf that would be great.
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Good shots, particularly of 'Boulas'.

Of the two younger ones, 'Alf' is the bigger, stockier one with the reddish brown on his head and back. Evindi is smaller and blacker.

The 'Alf or Evindi' photo is(I am pretty sure) Alf.

The others on the series;
Photo 3. Alf. 5 Alf. 6 Alf 7. Alf. 8. Alf(left) Evindi (right).
9. Alf(rear) Evindi (front) 10. Kesho(left) Evindi (right) 13 Alf. 14 Evindi(left) and Alf (right).

The enclosure looks good. Do you know if they can climb the trees or are they hotwired to prevent that?
 
Thanks very much for the info, I've added the names to the photos as you advised.

I don't know about the trees, I haven't seen any hotwire and I have been up close as well as with big lenses, however I haven't seen the gorillas up the trees. I'm usually at Longleat regularly but until today I've hardly been there during the school holidays.
 
Alf and Evindi were both up a tree, happily destroying it when we saw them on the boat trip :)
 
Can 'Nico' see these other Gorillas from his island. If so, has he shown any reactions to them, such as hooting or chestbeating?
 
mazfc said:
Alf and Evindi were both up a tree, happily destroying it when we saw them on the boat trip :)
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Thats amazing....I'm really impressed that Longleat were brave enough to include accessible trees. Hopefully the gorillas will lose interest/be limited to the parts of the trees they can reach as they get heavier with age so that the trees withstand any activity sufficient for the park to leave them accessible.

I was slightly surprised when I heard both Boulas and Kesho were going to the same enclosure - are there many successful examples of two silverback males being introduced successfully? I know Kesho is still fairly young, but he's had the experience of 'leading' a group now.
 
johnstoni. said:
Hopefully the gorillas will lose interest/be limited to the parts of the trees they can reach as they get heavier with age so that the trees withstand any activity sufficient for the park to leave them accessible.

are there many successful examples of two silverback males being introduced successfully? I know Kesho is still fairly young, but he's had the experience of 'leading' a group now.
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I think the trees may eventually be killed off by the Gorillas removing the bark from around the lower parts of the trunk (they find it very appetising), rather than from their activities in the branches above. As these are mature trees it will take some while though-maybe several years, so I hope they just let them have the access anyway in this instance.

I cannot think of any example where two 'stranger' silverbacks have been successfully mixed together- any one else know of an example? Adult males living together have usually either grown up together, or started out as one silverback and several younger males in the formation of the group.

It will be interesting to see if they can do it in this case- I'd say a 50/50 chance of success.
 
Anybody know where the nyala have gone? I've been several times in the last few weeks and can't seem to see any... The only animals in the east african reserve seem to be the giraffes and zebra?
 
Boulas update

On Longleat's website in the 'Gorilla Colony' section, the males are profiled and it now includes Boulas where it didn't prevously- they refer to him as 'Butch'- the second silverback 'in the group'. Does that now mean he has been integrated with the others?
 
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