Best UK Wolverine enclosure

Best UK Wolverine enclosure?

  • Total voters
    49
  • Poll closed .
TeaLovingDave said:
  • HWP is the only exhibit to provide the wolverines with any swimming opportunities.
  • HWP is the seemingly the only exhibit to allow the wolverines access to the trees within the exhibit - note the active measures visible in photographs of the other exhibits being taken to prevent this being possible elsewhere. Whipsnade does have dead trees scattered through the exhibit to allow some level of climbing however.
  • Wild Place and HWP are very densely vegetated, Whipsnade and CWP more sparsely so *
  • Wild Place and HWP provide multiple exhibits for separation, Whipsnade and CWP do not.
  • HWP has the geographic, climate and terrain edge.
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Just to clarify a few points with regards to Whipsnade:

•A small pond is available to the animals in the corner of the larger enclosure (not enough to fully swim you could argue, but enough to fully submerge)
•Only one large oak tree near the enclosure boundary is fenced off from the animals. A variety of other trees, some quite tall and a mixture of both alive and dead, are available for the animals to climb.
•Whipsnade has a variety of heights/ages of trees, multiple shrubs/bushes and long grass/nettle areas, with some more open patches woven between.
•Whipsnade’s wolverine enclosure comprises of two enclosures and house. One large main enclosure and a smaller but similar style enclosure next to it.
 
pipaluk said:
So Whipsnade's vote is holding whilst votes from some who haven't seen any of the exhibits flood in!!
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Shorts said:
To be fair that's not unique to this thread, it's an intractable problem with all these threads, though maybe this ones a bit worse due to the geographical spread of the exhibits.
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I wouldn't say it's accurate to say votes from people who haven't seen *any* of the exhibits are flooding in :p nor that Whipsnade hasn't benefited from any votes from non-UK members (if one assumes this is the likeliest sector of the forum populace to have zero first-hand experience of the exhibits in question).

1/5 Wild Place votes come from outside the UK (20%)
2/11 Cotswold votes come from outside the UK (18%)
2/14 Whipsnade votes come from outside the UK (14%)
3/17 Highland votes come from outside the UK (17%)
---
8/47 votes in total come from outside the UK (17%)

Even this is misleading, given the fact that I suspect at least some of the non-UK voters will have seen at least one exhibit in question.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
at least some of the non-UK voters will have seen at least one exhibit in question.
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Yes, that is most likely the case. The UK has a lot of zoos in varied places and it takes a concerted zoo trip to see all of them in a certain area. HWP, though it is a very good collection, is quite hard isolated and difficult to reach, so it wouldn't surprise me to find that a good quarter, perhaps even a third of people voting for it have not visited.
 
So before the poll closes, would any of the 11 Cotswold voters please explain why they voted for that exhibit over the clearly better Whipsnade one? Or even better transfer your vote to Whipsnade instead?!
 
pipaluk said:
So before the poll closes, would any of the 11 Cotswold voters please explain why they voted for that exhibit over the clearly better Whipsnade one? Or even better transfer your vote to Whipsnade instead?!
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I didn't realise it is a crime not to vote the same way as your good self, to me I agree with you Whipsnade is better than CWP, but to me it's not the best. If people want to vote for an enclosure in which the wolverine aren't allowed to climb the trees, that is there choice and they don't have to explain themselves to anyone as it is there choice to vote for which enclosure they want.
 
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zoogiraffe said:
I didn't realise it is a crime not to vote the same way as your good self, to me I agree with you Whipsnade is better than CWP, but to me it's not the best. If people want to vote for an enclosure in which the wolverine aren't allowed to climb the trees, that is there choice and they don't have to explain themselves to anyone as it is there choice to vote for which enclosure they want.
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It was just a bit of a tongue in cheek attempt to stir up the vote. I don't think anyone has really made any attempt to explain why they voted for Cotswold which I would personally place last
 
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Poll closed. Congratulations to Highland on winning the vote for Best UK Wolverine enclosure. It was an extremely close fought competition with excellent arguments put forward for each collection with Highland just edging it in the end over Whipsnade. This was their 4th win out of the 5 polls they have been involved in. In my view Wild Place can consider itself a little unlucky in this vote and was perhaps hindered by the fact it is a relatively new enclosure, which few have visited.

Although many disagreed over which was the best enclosure I think all agreed that all four are excellent exhibits for Wolverines. I think European species in general which we have looked at so far (Brown Bears and Wolves) have done well in terms of quality of enclosures they are housed in.

Highland: 36.7%
Whipsnade: 30.6%
Cotswold: 22.4%
Wild Place: 10.2%
 
britishzoofan said:
In my view Wild Place can consider itself a little unlucky in this vote and was perhaps hindered by the fact it is a relatively new enclosure, which few have visited.
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For me it is more that I have seen it and while I agree it is great for the wolverine, it is not so great for actually seeing the wolverine. Whipsnade / Highland are both more of a happy medium in that respect.
 
My list would have went:
4.Cotswold
3.Wild Place
2.Highland
1.Whipsnade
Honestly I am not sure about the order of my Top 3 but Cotswold is certainly my least favourite.
 
Zia said:
For me it is more that I have seen it and while I agree it is great for the wolverine, it is not so great for actually seeing the wolverine. Whipsnade / Highland are both more of a happy medium in that respect.
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On every visit (two or three times), I have seen the Wolverine at wild place, whereas at Whipsnade I did not, and only very briefly at Cotswold... I think it's just luck of the draw.
 
ThomasNotTom said:
On every visit (two or three times), I have seen the Wolverine at wild place, whereas at Whipsnade I did not, and only very briefly at Cotswold... I think it's just luck of the draw.
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Indeed, along with a touch of patience :P not been to Wild Place since they got the wolverines, but I've never had any trouble spotting them at any of the other three collections!
 
TeaLovingDave said:
Indeed, along with a touch of patience :p not been to Wild Place since they got the wolverines, but I've never had any trouble spotting them at any of the other three collections!
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The one at Norfolk Wildlife Park was quite easy to see, in its round concrete 'pit - the same pit, I think, that earlier held the Sun Bear, which I remembered being called 'Pooh' but is named as 'Bruno' in the following clip

 
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The wolverines at Wild Place had become a lot more showy before lockdown, I saw them on every visit but I'm not keen on the fact you look down on them from the boardwalk.
It always surprises me how many WP visitors will spend several minutes watching the wolverines believing them to be bears! They must get a bit of a shock when they eventually get to the real bears.
 
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Ned said:
The wolverines at Wild Place had become a lot more showy before lockdown, I saw them on every visit but I'm not keen on the fact you look down on them from the boardwalk.
It always surprises me how many WP visitors will spend several minutes watching the wolverines believing them to be bears! They must get a bit of a shock when they eventually get to the real bears.
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Never had any trouble at any of the other collections but not a sign of them at Wild Place. I don't think it had anything to do with a lack of patience as we were in that area for the entirety of our visit. To be fair it was not long after they had arrived so perhaps they were shy.

I'm also not a big fan of the looking down - not great for photography which is one of the reasons I enjoy to visit the zoo.
 
Zia said:
Never had any trouble at any of the other collections but not a sign of them at Wild Place. I don't think it had anything to do with a lack of patience as we were in that area for the entirety of our visit. To be fair it was not long after they had arrived so perhaps they were shy.

I'm also not a big fan of the looking down - not great for photography which is one of the reasons I enjoy to visit the zoo.
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I first saw Wolverine at Edinburgh in cat row. I was totally fascinated and spent almost an hour watching them. Then to see them at HWP a few years later made me realise how unfortunate the wolverine were to be placed in that horrible cage on the hill! They are a brilliant species to watch! I think Paignton could use some of their woodland walk area & quarry (near the lemurs) to display some small native Eurasian species beautifully- lynx, Red Sqirrel, Wildcat & Wolverine. It would be relatively cheap to do in the future.
 
TriUK said:
I think Paignton could use some of their woodland walk area & quarry (near the lemurs) to display some small native Eurasian species beautifully- lynx, Red Sqirrel, Wildcat & Wolverine. It would be relatively cheap to do in the future.
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Whilst I agree that it would be a nice idea, this is part of the zoos managed woodland that is very unlikely to be developed on in the foreseeable future. After this crisis, any money that the trust has left will go straight back into animal care, maintenance, and current exhibit developments.
 
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