If I were you, I would jump on the next Ryanair plane to Prague, as it was in Prague Zoo three years ago that I had the pleasure of viewing a very active trio of Brown Hyenas (it was around their feeding time and I got to see them fed). Large and excellent exhibit as well. I have also seen them in Berlin and in a few more places.
As to the rusty, old chicken-wire thing in which PL houses the UK's only Brown Hyenas, PL has made sure no visitors will get to see their hyenas from now on, unless they're on a private tour, for you'll get rushed past it on the 'African Experience' and given no chance of going there on foot. I was there in April; my first and last PL visit, I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't seen this species several times before...
I don't know too much about photography but this shot looks good enough for the front cover of their Guide Book... a great pity that you can't see them properly at PL any more- particularly as they're they only ones currently in the UK. Pretty daft planning with that.
I first saw this species in Frankfurt Zoo in the 1960's- can't actually remember seeing them anywhere else since. But obviously there's little chance of seeing them at PL from now on.
Is Pertinax too pessimistic? Bwassa took this photo on May Day, so perhaps they may be easier to see now.
I first saw the species at Basle in '72, but I have never see them at Port Lympne or anywhere else in the UK.
GL/Alan- I made the same query in the Barbary Lion photo thread below. Baldur says they can't be seen on foot anymore as they are now 200-300 metres inside the 'vehicles only' area and that Bwassa had some sort of special access to get those good shots.
Is Pertinax too pessimistic? Bwassa took this photo on May Day, so perhaps they may be easier to see now.
I first saw the species at Basle in '72, but I have never see them at Port Lympne or anywhere else in the UK.
Well, I'm only too happy to be called pessimistic along with Pertinax...
I was there last month and the truth of the matter is that Port Lympne has just about taken this species off exhibit by starting with the African Experience thing; you get taken past the exhibit on the truck, it doesn't stop and the driver just makes a casual reference to them as if they were Mallard Ducks on a city pond and not a very rare carnivore. Since all the Hyena species are largely reserved animals, you usually have to stop for a while by their exhibit if you wish to see them, and you cannot get to this rusty, old chicken-wire enclosure on foot after they started the AE. And I know for a fact that Bwassa took this picture during a private tour, for so he told me.
A UK zoo enthusiast who hasn't seen this species yet but wants to should rather spend his 22 quid on a Ryanair flight to Prague, it was there three years ago that I had my best view of this species, and my pictures are in the Prague gallery if anyone is interested.
Fascinating species - it is too bad PL does not put more effort into presenting them properly. Generally, I have found Brown Hyenas difficult to observe in zoos (never been to Prague although - some nice pics in the gallery), I only got a glympse in Berlin once and the only other time I saw them was at San Diego from a far distance when a pair was kept in a canyon away from the public in 1987.
Frankfurt's 1960's pair lived in a regulation enclosure in the Cat House. Very easy to see at close quarters in that sort of situation.
Port Lympne's problem is there is a sort of conflict at work nowadays between aquiring rare and unusual species and effectively displaying them. The new layout has virtually eclipsed the Hyaenas but as a species not of major interest to the vast majority of visitors, I don't expect its of any importance to them.
