Howletts Wild Animal Park Howletts news 2007-2008

Hadley said:
I was under the impression that Norfolk wildlife park recieved 3 European wolves from Wildwood in Kent, did they also have Iberian wolves?
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I believe that they did. I would be very interested to know if the Iberian Wolf pair at Howletts and the pair on loan to Colchester came from there originally. I think they could well have done so as Norfolk Wildlife Park closed as a wild animal collection last year and the stock was dispersed around the country.
Also I think that they had about 4 Four Spanish wolves and I see that the total for Howletts and Colchester is also 4... I could be totally wrong on this though as I'm guessing here.
 
moloch gibbons

does anyone have any information about the Moloch Gibbon group at howletts, eg. numbers, how it started, involvement with other zoos etc.
according to their website they have 8 males and 12 females, representing half the global zoo population.
 
Kelvin, ISIS has Howletts numbers listed for them as 6m. 9f. 2.

Port Lympne numbers as 3m. 2f. they hold most of the silvers in captivety, there is a website about this species on the net.
 
Howletts has recently been redistributing silvery gibbons born at their zoo parks to EAZA zoos. Belfast have received 1.1 (Omar+Assini) with their offspring 0.1 (Dieng) and 1.0 (Wayang).

Another zoo to recently have received a prospective breeding pair is Saint Martin La Plaine primate zoo in France.
 
Just seen a video uploaded today from Howletts, showing an new African elephant calf, anyone confirm?
 
Have many of the elephants born at Howletts left for other collections?? I know Osh went to the US and i think another young male left because of fears he may be injured by Jums but other than the females that left for Port Lympne to join Kruger i don't think many have left. I suppose its like the common argument on the Black Rhino thread about the Aspinall parks being reluctant to help other institutions.

Is there any news on Kruger's herd over at Port Lympne?? Pregnancies, etc
 
I asked one of the keepers there and she said they never re-home female elephants because female elephants would never leave their mothers in the wild, and it would cause too much stress to the other elephants.
 
Isn't it common practise for zoos to keep female elephant calves in the group unless there is different circumstances (space, fights etc)?
 
ashley-h said:
I asked one of the keepers there and she said they never re-home female elephants because female elephants would never leave their mothers in the wild, and it would cause too much stress to the other elephants.
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Howletts used to be a forward looking place ....? :confused: It is just that the argument over not breaking up female alignments is fine in sofar that the numbers game does not come into play. It obviously has at Howletts, so they sent on 3 females off to Port Lympne.

Anyhow, it is now becoming more common practice in the Asian elephant EEP to move part female family units to other zoos if the herd gets to large. A most recent example has been the 2 pregnant females that left Rotterdam Zoo for Dublin Zoo in 2006/7. To no ill effect as both have now given birth to a healthy calf and the new location is contemplating building a bull enclosure for future breeding ..... So, the above mentioned argument becomes somewhat superficial.
 
CZJimmy said:
Isn't it common practise for zoos to keep female elephant calves in the group unless there is different circumstances (space, fights etc)?
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Yep, and as most zoo's have several unrelated females they keep the female babies to increase the bond in the heard
 
Just about the black rhinos and baboons. Maybe they are thinking of having the rhinos in a paddock in the foreground and the baboons on a cliff face behind or vice versa and they won't actually be mixed. That way visitors could see both at once.
 
South Lakes have managed to keep baboons and rhino in the same enclosure without much hassle as far as i know so don't see why they couldn't share the same space.
 
I think the baboons and black rhinos will mix together okay- more of a problem might be containing the baboons.
 
Don't port lympne have male black rhinos running with the antelope and giraffes in the african safari reserve?
 
a couple of male rhinos, yes. To date I haven't yet managed to visit that area during a Port Lympne visit.
 
Iberian wolves

The 1.2 wolves that were previously at Norfolk Wildlife Park, prior to the change of direction, were from Wildwood Trust. I know because I moved them. The Wildwood wolves are originally from the Carpathians, and not Iberian.
 
That's what I thought. So where did the Norfolk wolves end up? Are you saying they moved to Howletts and that Howletts are claiming them to be Iberian, or did the Howletts wolves not come from Norfolk?
 
johnstoni said:
That's what I thought. So where did the Norfolk wolves end up? Are you saying they moved to Howletts and that Howletts are claiming them to be Iberian, or did the Howletts wolves not come from Norfolk?
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This is interesting... So if the Howletts' 'Iberian' wolves came from Norfolk, they are Carpathian, not Iberian...:(
 
Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. The wolves at Howletts are (as far as know) pure Iberian. There is no connection to Norfolk nor Wildwood (except both collections being in Kent). Howletts received the wolves possibly before the Norfolk transaction. I know the carnivore keepers (Howletts) were very keen on getting into the Iberian program. As somebody already mentioned the Aspinall zoos always look to species that nobody else is doing much with. I wouldn't necessarily agree with this direction... For example: interestingly it now makes for 3 pure populations of European wolf in the country (not withstanding the cross-breed Europeans and Canadian Timbers), as Highland have Scandinavians. None of which are working in the same direction.

From what I heard on the grapevine the wolves at Norfolk went to a private keeper (cannot think of name, North England?). He breeds alot of unusual species for the private pet trade (arctic foxes, genets, sugar gliders etc).
Before anybody asks I doubt that his intention with the wolves would be to breed for the private trade. One of the girls is quite old (an original founder at WW) while the other two were born in 2004/5 and the male is neutered.
What is going on at Norfolk is a whole other ballgame. I am surprised that they are still open.
 
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