Birds at the Aspinall Parks

[Zambar]

I've haven't been to either Howlett's or Port Lymnpe (though I hope to next year), but from what I've seen on both the websites and Roar is that they keep no avians at Howletts, and only flightless ostriches at Port Lymnpe. So does the foundation feel that it's not right to keep birds in avaries where flight is limited, or was Mr Aspinall just not fond of birds from the start? Like a bit of feedback please.

 

[Pertinax]

He was never interested in birds, just large Mammals like Tigers, Gorillas, Elephants etc. There used to be some Peacocks at Howletts and a pair of blue and yellow Macaws, but nothing else birdwise.

 

[bongorob]

I wouldn't recommend either place if you want to see birds.

 

[Johnny Morris.]

I wouldn't recommend either place if you want to see birds.

Nor me, but they are fantastic zoos and well worth a visit. We made a weekend of it and visited both.

 

[kiang]

looked at an old guidebook and they kept various macaws and greater adjutant stork

 

[Zambar]

Of course, the reason I'm going is to see the gorillas and elephants. I was just wondering about this particular fact.

 

[JamesB]

"flightless ostriches" are there ones that can fly now? :O

 

[Zambar]

By that I was going on the point of whether Aspinall just didn't like avaries.

 

[bongorob]

Nor me, but they are fantastic zoos and well worth a visit. We made a weekend of it and visited both.

I've been to both and enjoyed my visits. In 1995 I had the chocie of going to Howletts or Port Lympne and chose Howletts because they had more animals that I had not seen previously, and the big attraction at Port Lympne was the Sumatran rhinos, but at the time of my visit I believed they had left.

The export was delayed and if I had gone to Port Lympne instead I may have seen them. When I visited in June 1996, the rhinos were no longer there. Saw my first red river hogs though. Now you can't move for the damn things in the UK.

 

[johnstoni]

In the early days, the only aviary was a small macaw aviary next to the honey badgers at howletts housing scarlett and blue and gold macaws. Later, they just held a pair of blue and golds and these bred in the 1st primate cage past the African Elephants, before disappearing from the collection.

Howletts used to have a pair of adujant stork where the lion-tailed macaque compound is now....in a grassy enclosure in front of one of the tapir paddocks. They also had free-roaming guinea, jungle and peafowl.

Port Lympne held double-wattled cassowary and emu when they first opened. The emu were near the top of the park and the cassowary were in the wood lower down, where most of the primates are now held. They also had some pheasants and quail briefly where the current amur tiger house is. Most interesting were the pair of black-necked storks, which were kept in what is now the bush dog enclosure. They were amazing birds, and I have never seen one since.

I don't think any of the storks or ratites bred. I would imagine there are at least some birds now....

 

[Pertinax]

Saw my first red river hogs though. Now you can't move for the damn things in the UK.

Torgamba (the male Sumatran rhino) was supposed to leave a lot earlier than he did, his departure was delayed about a year after it was first announced. I saw the pair twice and him alone twice. You had the very unenviable experience of being only a half- hour away from the only UK Sumatran rhino but not seeing him. I don't think I could have survived that....

Interestingly the pair of Red River Hogs you saw at Port Lympne were one of the first pairs in UK, along with a pair at Belfast, but the Port Lympne pair have never bred. It seems in these pigs there can be 'platonic' relationships too. The old male has now died and a new young male(presumably bred at Howletts where a more recently aquired pair have bred successfully) has been paired with the original female. That might just produce breeding results if the female isn't too old now as a similar thing happened with Belfast's.

 

[redpanda]

You had the very unenviable experience of being only a half- hour away from the only UK Sumatran rhino but not seeing him. I don't think I could have survived that....

Similarly, at the time i went to the bronx zoo, repunzel the female sumatran was still around. However, at that time i was more interested in animals than in zoos. Having a limited time, i saw a rhino symbol on the map and, having already seen the indians, i assumed this was the same species so did not go and have a look. It was after i got back and had a look at the map that i noticed that sumatran rhino was labelled on the key - I had been literally across the path from it. Unenviable isn't quite the word i would use to describe that experience!

 

[jwer]

Poor thing, that'll teach you to not check the species on display BEFORE you go though