Highland Wildlife Park Highland Wildlife Park News 2024

felis silvestris said:
Visited today on my way back from my holiday in Inverness. I know people don’t visit this place often since it’s so remote but a few things have changed not noted on here:

- The new buildings are looking good. The discovery centre, on the site of where the red panda and Eurasian crane enclosures were, looks nearly complete, another building, which I didn’t what it could be, is being built where the education centre was next to the Himalayan tahr, with the original one seeming to have been demolished. I couldn’t see properly as most of the path had been closed off.

- The Capercailie seem to have left, and Himalayan Monal now occupy both aviaries

- Saw Brodie- he is 2 and a half now and is bigger than his mother Victoria. Saw him playing in his pool with a ball the whole time we watched him whilst his mum rested at the side. I wonder when he will be leaving for another collection- how old was Hamish when he left for YWP? I took some good photos of him- will be able to upload them on here in September along with all my other photos.

- The Eurasian eagle owl aviary behind the lynxes was boarded off, but they were instead moved into one of the Scottish wildcat cages, more precisely the last one before the walkway towards the Himilayan tahr. I couldn’t figure out why they had done this.

- Another one of the wildcat enclosure was signed as empty, with the furnishings still inside. Only two wildcats were seen, in fact, with 3 of the 5 cages being used for them.

- Another Himalayan tahr enclosure is now built, opposite part of the main drive through section, near to where the Prezwalski’s horses usually roam. I saw some keepers building a platform in there, so I don’t know whether they have moved in yet.

- The White-lipped deer have moved from the Bactrian camel and yak enclosure to the former musk ox enclosure. Nearly all of them were waiting next to the path for the car to deliver them their food.

- The Eurasian cranes have moved to a newly built enclosure to the left of the macaque enclosure, with barriers being put up so they don’t see the monkeys next to them. The new section doesn’t have a net on the ceiling and is a similar size to the original aviary, although maybe slightly smaller and more hilly.

- I think it may have been like this for a while, but the indoor area for the Amur tiger is completely closed off. I felt this area of the zoo was the poorest part of a very good zoo, with the enclosure originally holding otters still empty without any change to it, and the four tigers seeming to be getting rotated between the holding cages and the main enclosures, which is a shame because the tigers in the tiny cages paced the whole time saw them, whilst the ones in the main enclosure were not displaying any stereotypic behaviour. I think they have the funds and also the space to build another tiger enclosure the other way, but it would not be as forested by the enclosure now and they also are already building a lot right now.

- A lot of construction was happening, actually. New walls and small things like that were being built in a lot of places.

- A few more empty enclosures than I’d see usually here. Not only were the ones I’ve already said about, but also the Beaver and Snowy owl enclosures were still empty with no change to them, and the lower markhor section, though I believe they are in the old panda enclosure at Edinburgh now.

- The young snow leopard is also very large now, nearly looking as big as her mother. I saw all three today.

- The polar bear males now also have a small extension to the other side of their enclosure that I hadn’t seen before, though it could just be me and it had been there for a while.

- I actually nearly saw every animal today, and got a guidebook!
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iI sounds wonderful
 
Visited yesterday. Was a dry day and saw all the animals albeit the Lynx was hiding in a bush so only saw the fur.

Polar Bear Brodie is still feeding from mum Victoria at the age of two which seems pretty bizarre.

Zoo seems to be well stocked with all carnivores at present. Four tigers spotted (seemed from the signs like there might be five), three snow leopards and three arctic foxes. Wolverines showed up quite well and we're active throughout the day. Also plenty of baby macaques.

All in all a perfect visit
 
Quincey said:
The 2023 Animal Inventory is now available and can be seen here:

https://www.rzss.org.uk/media/10304/highland-wildlife-park-animals-inventory-2023.pdf
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I believe I have asked this question before with no answer, so apologies for repeating myself, but where are the fish kept and why? I always assumed that they were for reintroduction purposes, like the insects that they keep, but none of the species are native to Scotland (or indeed Europe). The leeches, of which they have a very large number (and I assume is the new arrival this year) are also a strange inclusion.
 
ZooNut23 said:
Polar Bear Brodie is still feeding from mum Victoria at the age of two which seems pretty bizarre.
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I think that's quite common in the wild. Usually a polar bear cub will stay with it's mother until 2.5-3 years. Polar bear milk is extremely fatty, and if the mum is in good shape it's common for her to feed longer.

Apologies if any of that is incorrect, I'm no expert - I learned everything from an old Attenborough which used to be my daughter's favourite when she was a toddler some many years ago
 
Kalaw said:
I believe I have asked this question before with no answer, so apologies for repeating myself, but where are the fish kept and why? I always assumed that they were for reintroduction purposes, like the insects that they keep, but none of the species are native to Scotland (or indeed Europe). The leeches, of which they have a very large number (and I assume is the new arrival this year) are also a strange inclusion.
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I think there used to be a fish tank in the Visitor centre

Quincey said:
The 2023 Animal Inventory is now available and can be seen here:

https://www.rzss.org.uk/media/10304/highland-wildlife-park-animals-inventory-2023.pdf
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Interesting to note one of the Amur Leopards has died - doesn't say if it was the mother or one of the cubs. They are very quiet on that project.
 
Embu said:
The Elk have had calves

Ash and Raven have welcomed twins! Both calves are doing well and will be named by our keepers soon

Patient visitors might be able to spot them exploring under the watchful eye of their mum in the drive-through reserve
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Great news, does anywhere else in the UK breed elk? I know they are already a rare sight in zoos here sadly but I don't recall hearing any news about breeding outside of HWP.
 
Fallax said:
Great news, does anywhere else in the UK breed elk? I know they are already a rare sight in zoos here sadly but I don't recall hearing any news about breeding outside of HWP.
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According to ZTL, the last time that a collection other than Highland bred the species was the Scottish Deer Centre, who did so in 2014, and before that Whipsnade who did so in 2011, so Highland is indeed the only zoo in the UK that is still seeing active breeding success with the species.
 
A few updates from tonight's AGM:

  • The next major building project at HWP following the completion of Scotland's Wildlife Discovery Centre will the the refurbishment, rebuilding and extending of the Polar Bear enclosures.
  • Brodie will staying at HWP for the foreseeable future, the RZSS have refused a request to move him to another facility by the EEP due them deeming that facility to be unsuitable.
  • HWP are going to trial a shuttle bus this year which will run from Aviemore High Street to HWP to help people without transport to get to the park.
 
Quincey said:
A few updates from tonight's AGM:
  • Brodie will staying at HWP for the foreseeable future, the RZSS have refused a request to move him to another facility by the EEP due them deeming that facility to be unsuitable.
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I am afraid the RZSS nor the UK will make itself very popular with Continental Europe on the Polar Bear EEP (remember where all those new polar bears actually came from in the first place), no matter how perhaps valid their concerns for the new location of male Brodie might be ...
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
I am afraid the RZSS nor the UK will make itself very popular with Continental Europe on the Polar Bear EEP (remember where all those new polar bears actually came from in the first place), no matter how perhaps valid their concerns for the new location of male Brodie might be ...
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Some European zoos need to ‘up their game’ for polar bears then - they can do it, as many big city zoos have done amazingly with elephant & great apes - good on RZSS for making a point.
 
For those that have visited recently - are there any signs of some of the Takin being separated or crate trained - eye out for possible transfer to Paignton? thanks
 
TriUK said:
Some European zoos need to ‘up their game’ for polar bears then - they can do it, as many big city zoos have done amazingly with elephant & great apes - good on RZSS for making a point.
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Arguably most. Prague is the only one I can think of that's actively improving its polar bear exhibit. Speaking purely of the ones I've seen, Schonbrunn's is great for the visitor but truly dreadful for the bear which is an insane thought given how new it is, and Tierpark Berlin's is certainly not good when compared to the competition. Cannot criticise RZSS for this decision, but I am interested to know what zoo they rejected.
 
Visitors to the Cairngorms National Park can now learn about nature and how they can save wildlife following the completion of Scotland’s Wildlife Discovery Centre.

Based at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s (RZSS) Highland Wildlife Park, the £6.5 million project comprises three new buildings, an ambitious community outreach programme and a biodiversity action plan to help protect native species:

£6.5 million wildlife discovery centre to open at Highland Wildlife Park | RZSS
 
More people than ever will be able to experience the wonders of nature, thanks to the introduction of reduced-price tickets to Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park.

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which operates both parks, is offering discounted entry for anyone currently on Universal Credit, income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA), Housing Benefit, Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and Income Support.

Those eligible will be able to visit the parks for just £7 per person – a discount of 70% for adults and 55% for kids:

Universal credit discount for visitors to Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park
 
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