Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens Crocodilians at Cotswold Wildlife Park

[Bwassa]

Paignton held 2 (huge) false gharial until the late 90s.

Does anybody know what happened to these ??

 

[Chlidonias]

This info was taken from another thread from information posted by another user who has now pm me to say it may not be true,as far as i know none of the Crocodilians are for sale at Emerald Exotics they are all owned by the owner but kept their as a means of drawing people into the shop.

about Emerald Exotics on pages 2, 3, 4 of this thread: http://www.zoochat.com/38/best-reptile-collection-uk-23844/index2.html

 

[Bele]

I have been having a sort out of some old Guide Books and found an early Cotswold WP Guide Book - according to the Bartlett Society list it is dated 1976 ( Red panda in tree ) .

Under reptiles its states - several crocodilians are represented in the collection . These include Gavials ( still immature ) and the Mississippi alligator .

Also of interest the large African Enclosure then housed Grevy Zebra -arrived early 1972 and the Thomsons Gazelle that came from Kenya in August 1971 ( I had assumed theirs had come from Whipsnade ) , it states that they have bred successfully at the Park on numerous occasions . Theay also had Smooth Otters as well as the usual Small Clawed .

 

[gentle lemur]

I suspect that there may be have been some confusion between true and false gavials/gharials. I can't recall ever seeing a true gharial in the UK. But I do remember the trio of smooth otters which were among the original inhabitants at Burford.

Alan