I'm 97% certain that the fencing is due to quarantine, and will thus be removed shortly.
I'm not a great fan of Whipsnade on the whole, but I must say that i thought Cheetah Rock was excellent: good viewing of the animals, nicely landscaped, good interpretation. the only thing I don't like - and it can be seen here - is that as one looks at cheetahs one sees cars behind. Hopefully, in time, planting will block out that view - although possibly the cheetahs quite enjoy it.
Thats great news
Whipsnade to me has always been brilliant i have many memories there it wouldnt suprise me if more vegtation was planted in the enclosure as it could do with it as it hardly has any shelter within the enclosure.
The onshow exhibit is good but contrasts rather with the ugliness of the offshow breeding area- a complex series of chainlink runs and kennels rather like an RSPCA animal shelter.
One thing about this cheetah setup that should be said; the cats seem very active. Often cheetah are just lounging in the grass. I agree that the aesthetic appeal of the off exhibit area leaves a lot to be desired, but it doesn't seem to bother the cats unduly!
Still wish they weren't so close to the lions - but the latter are another story, IMO!
I was surprised when I saw where 'Cheetah Rock' (or whatever) is sited as I thought it was established practice not to house Cheetahs near Lions nowadays because of the 'nervous' factor.
I was surprised when I saw where 'Cheetah Rock' (or whatever) is sited as I thought it was established practice not to house Cheetahs near Lions nowadays because of the 'nervous' factor.
I don't really understand the point of that group of lions.
If the idea was to highlight ZSL's carnivore conservation work in Tanzania, why not Hunting/Painted dogs? If the point (quite understandably) was to get back lions, why not Asiatic?
As it is, the young males of the litter bred a couple of years back have been castrated - obviously there were no takers for them...
I believe that I read somewhere that the plan was to get Asiatic Lions, however whether ZSL then seemed the idea of having two groups (At London and Whipsnade) not feasable, Asiatic Lions are getting rather hard to come by and the breeding situation is not a good one at the moment. The whole African theme could have been one quite appealing to the Park, and having both species in ZSL control was probably the idea. It seems to me that Whipsnade has these lions because they are lions, and if we're honest its a good thing that they are not breeding, as space for African Lions in the UK at the moment is practically impossible.
I'd really like to see Hunting Dogs back at Whipsnade. I remember them from my visits as a child in the 1950's, in a triangular grassy run adjacent to the entrance of the Asian Plains area. At that stage I don't think anywhere else in the UK exhibited them except possibly the odd single or so at ZSL.
Also in this area, in the paddock where the Arabian Oryx now live, were the pair of Hartmann's Mountain Zebras (mother and grown-up son) - the only ones anywhere in the UK then.
