Knowsley Safari Park Knowsley Safari Park News 2014

karoocheetah said:
Yup - it's impressive when they run as a herd believe me!
I even had a bash at counting them myself :D
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Wow! Had a quick look on the gallery and saw a photo with quite a few individuals in - impressive in itself! Does this make it the biggest herd of antelope in the UK? I haven't heard of a bigger herd and definitely haven't seen one in the zoos I've been to!
 
AdamD601 said:
Just over 100 lechwe!?
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On Monday (14th July) I counted 101, then a recount got 99, so I would suggest pretty much on the button. There are also about 7 or 8 albinos amongst the herd. I did hear that attempts had been made to prevent breeding, but obviously not 100% successful. Come rain or shine, wind or snow the lechwe will be on show.
I was also lucky enough to watch a fallow deer give birth about 20 yards from the car, their numbers are increasing too, there are also several white fallow deer. Not bad as I only got into the park 10 mins before closing time following the rest of the day walking around Chester Zoo.
There has been a healthy increase in diversity of hoof stock at Knowsley in recent years.
 
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Pootle said:
On Monday (14th July) I counted 101, then a recount got 99, so I would suggest pretty much on the button.
There has been a healthy increase in diversity of hoof stock at Knowsley in recent years.
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I thought I was the only one who did things like that...;)

Hopefully the newly arrived Wildebeest will be allowed to increase to a similar level. There is nowhere in the UK that has a really large herd (Port Lympne's being the nearest but it obviously just got a bit smaller again.) IMO Wildebeest are the ultimate Plains animal to give somewhere an 'African' feel.
 
Pertinax said:
I thought I was the only one who did things like that...;)

Hopefully the newly arrived Wildebeest will be allowed to increase to a similar level. There is nowhere in the UK that has a really large herd (Port Lympne's being the nearest but it obviously just got a bit smaller again.) IMO Wildebeest are the ultimate Plains animal to give somewhere an 'African' feel.
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It seems there is a little culb of us counters :)

The wildebeest are due to be added to so the herd will increase.
The size of the herd they have at Woburn is nice they look great on that first paddock with the rhino :D

The albino lechwe gene seems strong at KSP - this year one of the dominant mature males is an albino, proper pink eyes and unpigmented horns too - they have neutered a number of the less dominant males but there are still enough to make a decent herd as we see :D

The fallow herd at KSP is interesting - they have both white and melanistic males in the herd, I think there is only one of the melanistic guys but he is lovely to photograph, hopefully he will have fathered some of this years offspring :D
 
Pertinax said:
I thought I was the only one who did things like that...;).
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Give me a herd, a pride or a troop etc, and I will count it, it just happens in my head without planning. Even when I know how animals there are, I still count them again. Perhaps that's why I don't do photography, I am too busy counting them all...

As for wildebeest, I agree, a large herd would be an impressive site. The 'African Plains section' (if that's is what it is called) is shaping up rather nicely at Knowsley over recent times. Now the grass is pretty tall in many areas it gives it a bit of an authentic look compared to cropped grass.
 
karoocheetah said:
The albino lechwe gene seems strong at KSP - this year one of the dominant mature males is an albino, proper pink eyes and unpigmented horns too -
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I would guess all( or most) of the UK's Red Lechwe are related to Chester's group, which always had the white gene, either directly or indirectly. I can't remember seeing a group in the UK where there hasn't been at least one white one. However previously I'm not sure if they were true albinos or just 'white' as in e.g. White fallow deer. Maybe they have started to throw true Albinos in recent generations though.
 
karoocheetah said:
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The size of the herd they have at Woburn is nice they look great on that first paddock with the rhino :D
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Roughly how many at Woburn now?

A couple of years ago I counted about 27 at PL, they will have increased with two more years of births of course, tempered by any deaths or nucleus groups they have sent elsewhere. Wildebeest are very much on the map again in the bigger UK wildlife and safari parks now.
 
karoocheetah said:
I think there is only one of the melanistic guys but he is lovely to photograph, hopefully he will have fathered some of this years offspring :D
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I'm not sure if black is dominant or recessive to the spotted/other colours. Its a genetic cocktail and any fawns fathered by him will(I think) be black if the females are also black, or possibly if they carry the black gene too. I don't know if two black deer, if they both carry the spotted gene, can produce spotted ones, as well as black, or if one or other of the colours is always dominant.

I have several times seen a normal coloured fallow doe with a black fawn, and once a black doe with a spotted fawn, which indicates black isn't always dominant. The latter was certainly a rather curious sight.
 
KSP have announced over Facebook that Eastern Kiang will soon be arriving as another new addition to the collection.

That's the Tibetan Wild Ass rather than the ZooChat Moderator, of course ;) . This will bring the number of holders in Europe to 19, with Knowsley the only holders in England.
 
HGibbins said:
KSP have announced over Facebook that Eastern Kiang will soon be arriving as another new addition to the collection.

That's the Tibetan Wild Ass rather than the ZooChat Moderator, of course ;) . This will bring the number of holders in Europe to 19, with Knowsley the only holders in England.
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Another impressive addition to Knowsley, following on nicely from the recent acquisitions of wapiti and wildebeest. Such a shame I don't drive as I'd quite like to visit!
 
Got a quick glimpse of the Kiang at the weekend - they are in a fenced off paddock in the first section of the safari drive - but right by the exit in the wooded area. Very handsome looking they are too - 2 adults and a foal :O)
 
Somali Wild Ass

The Somali Wild Ass are also here now and on show. They have a paddock fenced off in the area before the tigers opposite the Hunting Dogs & Iberian Wolves. They look lovely and hopefully will settle in quickly as they were all hiding right over at the back when I saw them a few days ago.

The Kiang Stallion is also here too - in the same area as the females currently but I think separated by a fence. The foal is really very sweet :D

The park had lots of Eland born this year and several of them can be seen feeding from their mothers on the drive which is a nice natural behaviour to see.
The Africa paddocks are looking fabulous now with a lovely mixture of White Rhino, Burchells Zebra, Wlidebeest, Ostrich, Eland, Forest Buffalo & Waterbuck.
 
Brum said:
Another impressive addition to Knowsley, following on nicely from the recent acquisitions of wapiti and wildebeest.
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Are we talking Wapiti, as in Cervus canadensis, or does Brum mean the European Elk (or Moose) pictured earlier in this thread???

Knowsley really are building up a diverse & interesting collection of hoofstock. Wonder if they'll ever bring back Common Hippo........???
 
Bwassa said:
Are we talking Wapiti, as in Cervus canadensis, or does Brum mean the European Elk (or Moose) pictured earlier in this thread???

Knowsley really are building up a diverse & interesting collection of hoofstock. Wonder if they'll ever bring back Common Hippo........???
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It's the elk pictured earlier - would love to see hippo but not sure where they would go!
 
Building work has started on a new Antelope house, to be situated in the Rhino reserve
 
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