Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens Enrichment

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Dom

Well-Known Member
Hi this is my 1st post, so here goes.....
Ive been to numerous zoos/wildlife parks and many, use "enrichment", especially howletts and others. However i really dont think that cotswolds doesnt really, i mean the cats have roomy enclousures but i just think that they always look very bored, especially the lions. The primates however i feel are very well looked after, and just think the lions and leopards could do with something more exciting to wake them up a little! Possibly scent trails or more things to rip up. Also, tapirs and capybaras swim a lot, so why not dig them a decent pond? Dont get me wrong, Cots is my local park and i really enjoy my visits there and always have and will, but i just dont think they do as much as others. Maybe im just going loopy. Anyone thoughts?

Cheers
 
Yes I agree with you "cats" can "appear bored" and they do sleep around a lot, but as they are by nature "Hunters" they do this to conserve energy, many of the doco's made about big cats which have appeared on the tv have stated how most of their time is spent just sleeping mostly in the day light hours (thats when you would be at the zoo) with much of their hunting happening at night
 
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I have to disagree. Cotswolds do fantastic enrichment with their animals! even the reptiles! their crocs are clicker trained and they are working on some of the venomous snakes. their monitors were very fat & lazy so they rearranged their enclosure so they really had to work to get over rocks and other objects to thermoregulate. It makes them much more active. I have even seen dead squirrels hanging in the jagurundi enclosure!! looked like a suicidal squirrel. suprisingly they dont get any complaints despite it being distasteful. how do you know the lions are bored? just sleeping? or pacing? they dont do much at the best of times!
 
Ok fair enough. Never knew about any of that reptile enrichment! Sounds interesting/dangerous. But you have to admit, there is a well trodden path where the red pandas pace.........
 
Had no idea you could clicker train reptiles. Should try it with my female beardie, might calm her down a bit! Although they might be a bit too thick to train.
I don't think I've ever seen a Red Panda pacing, do they at Cots?
 
Yeah ive seen the pandas and the leopards both pace. Such a shame, So this sort of links back to my original point. I thought that because of lack of enrichment, they looked bored/paced.
 
Can be that, but they could have also picked up the habit in a previous home.
Lanka the Sloth bear at Whipsnade spent most of her time in ZSL London rocking due to her previous home being a very small cage. Through enrichment they reduced this behaviour, but she still does it occasionally, proving that once a habit like rocking or pacing gets imprinted, it can't really be shifted.
 
But then again thats whipsnade.... anyone seen the state their brown bears live in? Disgusting. Theyre all overweight and just sit around waiting for the bear talk to have carrots and oranges thrown at them. But yes i agree with what you said about it being a habit.
 
And they're in what is probably the best bear enclosure in the UK!
Just because they're a bit fat doesn't mean they're not looked after. In fact, you were lucky to see them, I've been there lots of times and missed them because of the thick vegetation.
 
Really? Could have been better in my opinion. But i might be biased because ive seen them running free in the wild. I really didnt enjoy my day at whipsnade.
 
I think its great. It's really big with un-disturbed plants etc.
Lucky to have seen them in the wild though!
 
I found the whole zoo a bit ramshackle really. Expensive too! But i did like the indian rhinos and asian elephants.
 
To be fair a lot of it does look as though it's falling apart. It's improving though.
We went off topic quite quick lol.
 
Yeah just a bit...... oh well. But anyway, il have a closer look next time im at cots for signs of enrichment.
 
ashley-h said:
Can be that, but they could have also picked up the habit in a previous home.
Lanka the Sloth bear at Whipsnade spent most of her time in ZSL London rocking due to her previous home being a very small cage. Through enrichment they reduced this behaviour, but she still does it occasionally, proving that once a habit like rocking or pacing gets imprinted, it can't really be shifted.
Click to expand...

Very small cage? I thought the bears had the whole mappin terraces bar the goat hills.
 
Yep, think it might have been in Poland or somewhere like that.
 
Drummerzoobloke said:
But then again thats whipsnade.... anyone seen the state their brown bears live in? Disgusting. Theyre all overweight and just sit around waiting for the bear talk to have carrots and oranges thrown at them. But yes i agree with what you said about it being a habit.
Click to expand...

Having worked with a large variety of carnivores in captivity, I can tell you that bears seem to pick up pacing all too easily, and it is a nightmare to stop them doing it.

I would also reinforce the point that Whipsnade's bear enclosure, although well over 100 years old, is perfectly fine. The behaviour you mention is entirely the basis of 'good' training. The bears have obviously worked out quite quickly when the bear talk is soon to happen and hang around because they get a feed. Bears also can put weight on and off again so easily that it could drive a dieter nuts! Before the onset of winter bears stack the weight on to get them through the sleepy period. They will still eat (unless you are in the very high latitudes) but not much. When they come out - hey presto skinny bears.
 
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