Howletts Wild Animal Park Howletts Wild Animal Park News 2012

Jordan-Jaguar97 said:
Three red bellied lemurs have arrived at the park they arrived from Edinburgh Zoo.

Howletts, the Aspinall Wild Animal Park | Facebook
Click to expand...


Having been to Howletts today, I can confirm that:

a) The red-bellied lemurs are already onshow
b) They have taken the place of the black-and-white ruffed lemurs in the walkthrough enclosure. No word, however, on whether Howletts have merely moved the ruffed lemurs offshow or have gone out of the species.

All in all, I really enjoyed Howletts - definitely one I would recommend to everyone who hasn't already been. And amazingly enough, we managed to see almost everything which was on-show - even the various notoriously elusive species of cats! The only no-show was the Heck's Macaque - I have no idea whether they were being kept offshow or whether I was just unlucky, but judging by how active and visible their Sulawesi cousins were, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter.

As regards a recent discussion about the Lynx at Howletts, they were identified by the guidebook as being Northern Lynx - Lynx lynx lynx, in other words. Judging by the morphology, I suspect this to be accurate.

My only complaint, really, was the severely out-of-date and sometimes mispelt signage on enclosures! I am reasonably sure it has been a long time since ocelots, servals, lynx, fishing cats and pallas cats were all classed under Felis, and I am certain that the African wildcat has never been classed as Felis syvelstris ;);) The guidebook got all of the aforementioned species names right, though.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
Having been to Howletts today, I can confirm that:

a) The red-bellied lemurs are already onshow
b) They have taken the place of the black-and-white ruffed lemurs in the walkthrough enclosure. No word, however, on whether Howletts have merely moved the ruffed lemurs offshow or have gone out of the species.

All in all, I really enjoyed Howletts - definitely one I would recommend to everyone who hasn't already been. And amazingly enough, we managed to see almost everything which was on-show - even the various notoriously elusive species of cats! The only no-show was the Heck's Macaque - I have no idea whether they were being kept offshow or whether I was just unlucky, but judging by how active and visible their Sulawesi cousins were, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter.

As regards a recent discussion about the Lynx at Howletts, they were identified by the guidebook as being Northern Lynx - Lynx lynx lynx, in other words. Judging by the morphology, I suspect this to be accurate.

My only complaint, really, was the severely out-of-date and sometimes mispelt signage on enclosures! I am reasonably sure it has been a long time since ocelots, servals, lynx, fishing cats and pallas cats were all classed under Felis, and I am certain that the African wildcat has never been classed as Felis syvelstris ;);) The guidebook got all of the aforementioned species names right, though.
Click to expand...

Technically they are, as they're a subspecies of Felis sylvestris ;).

Glad you had a good day, did you get the clouded leopard?
 
Javan Rhino said:
Technically they are, as they're a subspecies of Felis sylvestris ;).

Glad you had a good day, did you get the clouded leopard?
Click to expand...

Reading comprehension time - they were labelled as a subspecies of Felis syvelstris, not Felis sylvestris ;)

Clouded leopard photos will be forthcoming!
 
TeaLovingDave said:
Reading comprehension time - they were labelled as a subspecies of Felis syvelstris, not Felis sylvestris ;)

Clouded leopard photos will be forthcoming!
Click to expand...

Nice :)

And that will teach me to skim read, I didn't notice the spelling mistake and assumed you thought the name itself was wrong :p, my apologies :D
 
Giant Anteaters

Things also seemed to be "going very well" with the Giant Ant Eaters yesterday.
 
Had an enjoyable visit on Saturday,though it was a bitterly cold day (for April) , resulting in a few no shows, particularly from the primates.

There are 3 female b&w ruffed lemurs in the walkthrough, the males have left the collection. They are not currently mixed with the red-bellied (though the keeper referred to them as red-fronted, which I believe are a different species?) which have alternate access. We were advised that the plan is to add black & crowned lemur at a later date.

Not an awful lot had changed since my previous visit nearly 2 years ago, except the usual rotation of the tigers around the various enclosures, though was good to see the 2 'barbary' lion females now in one of them.

The path to the elephants where the clouded leopards could previously be viewed is now gated off, although maybe the gate has just been open in the past, I'm not sure.

There is a major redevelopment going on at the old tiger enclosure adjoining the lynx enclosure, where a viewing window is being constructed too.

Not sure whether these have been reported, but there was a very young Gelada baboon and lion-tailed macaque, both clinging to their mothers, probably only a month or two old I would guess.

My main complaint from the day is the hopelessly outdated map, which hasn't been re-done since my first visit there 5 years ago, it still shows siamangs & malayan tapir, which had already left the collection then! The North Chinese leopard have been marked on the map, so surely they could have made more amendments!
 
Jums the Bull elephant is no longer alone, he is in the same paddock but with 2 females and one of the females young calf.

GB
 
pipaluk said:
Not sure whether these have been reported, but there was a very young Gelada baboon and lion-tailed macaque, both clinging to their mothers, probably only a month or two old I would guess.
Click to expand...

Anyone know if this is a 2nd baby for the female Gelada from Colchester? Or is it the other female(but I think she may not breed anymore?) Anyone know its sex yet?
 
I dont know if this has been mentioned in another thread, but 2 barbary lions (Layla and Jabir) the pair that were in the enclosure by the african experience at PL have been moved into an enclosure opposite the Anteaters.

GB
 
Pertinax said:
Thankyou. Seems there was some confusion(above) about its age in that case.
Click to expand...

This is the first (?) Gelada born at Howletts, and without the introduction of the second female from Colchester it would of never happened, as I believe the other female which came from France with the current male cannot breed.
 
The infant born in 2010 is the only Gelada ever born at Howletts, the original pair from France were non breeding until the introduction of the Colchester female
 
I believe the female has bred previously at Le Pal but would not raise her babies, though one at least was handraised. Presumably she's now been prevented from further breeding.
 
Yes you are correct she has bred before in France. She had a habit of killing her babys by rolling them and was sterilized before going to Howletts
 
I thought Layla and Jabir were closely related? Isn't Jabir castrated too? Maybe not?:confused: I think they have been together as a pair at Port Lympne for some years, in an enclosure near where the Safari trucks leave from.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top