Howletts Wild Animal Park Howletts Wild Animal Park News 2016

Pertinax said:
I visited both Parks the other day. A few comments from your updates;

Moloch Gibbons seemed to be in every other enclosure.

The new enclosure you mention above- is it for Tigers?- it looks like it.

No sign(or cage label) anywhere of the Hecks Macaques. Still there?

10 Red River Hog. 5 Bongo. Many Dhole. Few smaller cats seen being a morning visit. Good to see the new baby Gorilla- the first there for several years.
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The new enclosure is for snow leopards.

Is there any word on where the next silverback will come from the newly formed family group?

Is the Aspinall Foundation still reintroducing gibbons in Java?

I didn't even know Howletts had Hecks. Were they there last year?
 
FunkyGibbon said:
The new enclosure is for snow leopards.

Is there any word on where the next silverback will come from the newly formed family group?

Is the Aspinall Foundation still reintroducing gibbons in Java?

I didn't even know Howletts had Hecks. Were they there last year?
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Answers;

1. Thanks for that info.

2. No, they are waiting an EEP recommendation- presumably it will be another outsider for genetic reasons.

3. Can't answer, someone else maybe can.

4. They imported a pair of Hecks some years ago now. I think they bred once. They don't seem mentioned anymore.
 
Pertinax said:
Answers;

1. Thanks for that info.

2. No, they are waiting an EEP recommendation- presumably it will be another outsider for genetic reasons.

3. Can't answer, someone else maybe can.

4. They imported a pair of Hecks some years ago now. I think they bred once. They don't seem mentioned anymore.
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Last year the Hecks were in a cage on the drive up to the mansion. They could be seen from a distance if you stood with your back to the snow leopard enclosure on the woodland walk
 
pipaluk said:
Last year the Hecks were in a cage on the drive up to the mansion. They could be seen from a distance if you stood with your back to the snow leopard enclosure on the woodland walk
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I saw one of the Heck's macaques on a visit a couple of years ago from the Woodland walk but saw nothing this time . The off-show cages are only partly visible so seeing their inhabitants ( if any ) depends on where in the cage they are at the time .

I got the impression that the original large Gorilla enclosure in the walled garden was not in use . There were a few gorillas in the cages on the other side of the path .

I did not see any Iberian wolves this time .
 
Bele said:
I got the impression that the original large Gorilla enclosure in the walled garden was not in use . There were a few gorillas in the cages on the other side of the path .

I did not see any Iberian wolves this time .
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There was only one resident now in those cages- their oldest female 'Baby Doll'- the last survivor of their original group of females- she is now 55.

The females from the failed introduction to the ex Paignton/Twycross male Matadi are in the adjacent large enclosure which had hay, not straw, flooring. It looks empty unless they come outside.

On my previous visit I saw an Iberian wolf for about ten seconds- my only sighting ever here, despite numerous attempts at both parks.
 
The snow leopards have moved into their enclosure next to the North Chinese Leopards

Also there are some pallas cat kittens in the pallas cat enclosure next to the lemur walkthrough and opposite Arina (tiger)
 
A new arrival: Press release from Howletts Facebook

We’re very excited to announce that this weekend, the Old Gorillas group will be welcoming a new silverback, Sammi!
Sammi is coming to us from Givskud Zoo in Denmark. To make the move as comfortable as possible, the Old Gorillas section of the park will be closed to the public while Sammi settles in. The Old Gorillas are the family group at the back of the park, near the honey badger enclosure.
For all our gorilla fans, the New Gorillas will be open as usual. Turn left as you enter from the Gatehouse, and you’ll be heading right for them. At the New Gorillas section, you can see some of the beautiful gorillas we’ve pictured below!
 
I hope he settles in better than his predecessor Matadi did(he was quickly transferred to Antwerp owing to incompatability problems). The group setups are still the same though, with the mature Djanghou and his group adjacent. At present Sammi will have only two females- Tebe and the younger Mali (born at Hanover) as the third female intended for this new grouping, Thirza, has since died. No doubt more females will be added if the mixing is successful.
 
I hope they have learned from their experience with Matadi, so they can find a better way of establishing the new group. Perhaps they can put a temporary screen between the ends of the two large cages.

Alan
 
There is a male Siamang on show in the woodland walk. Presumably a female will be following shortly.
 
A new species seen at Howletts the other day. A weasel shot out of the straw in the old Gorilla cages, through a group of several startled sparrows and then disappeared under a bush. Seen plenty of mice & rats in zoo enclosures, but first time for a weasel!
 
1.0 White-naped mangabey born, a first for the park.

Photo from FB page.
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Well, visited today. A few things have changed/been updated in the month since I last visited.

- No sign of Salome and tiny new rhino calf, the other female and her slightly older calf were present in the paddocks.
- Coco the bull elephant has been introduced to Masa's lot (females Masa, Shibi, Jama, Etana and Juluka, and males Mchumba and Impi). He was very interested in all the ladies except Juluka, who spent her day playing with the two boys. Didn't observe any mating.
- The Sumatran surili enclosure in the woodland walk is being torn down :( got good views of the pair next to the mangabeys though!
- The Curse of Pertinax struck us as we saw no Iberian wolves :p
- We saw all 28 gorillas! Ebeki's group were being fed as soon as we arrived, and we saw Bamilla, Emba, Tambabi and Sidonie from Kifu's group indoors. We then went to the Old Gorillas and saw all 11 of Djanghou's group plus all three of Sammi's lot. We also saw Baby Doll!!!! I was extremely happy to see her, as I missed her last time. Finally, on our way to the exit we saw Kifu and Mushie eating indoors again from Kifu's group.
- Lots of drama with the gorillas living at the Old Gorillas complex; in Djanghou's group Kisane (a young blackback) was chasing some of the females and displaying a lot. I'm surprised Djanghou, who is very sensitive, was so calm with him misbehaving like that! Also Sammi was frequently bullying Mali (Kibara) and kept getting reprimanded by Tebe for doing so. This group of three still needs a lot of work from the looks of things. Also, Sammi at one point displayed directly at Baby Doll in the neighbouring cage and she just looked extremely indifferent hahaha
- Are the pudus even at the zoo anymore? If so where?
- Happy to say went past the areas we didn't go past last time, so saw the huge pack of dholes, the huge open-topped lion-tailed macaque enclosure, the rhinos, the bongos, the kudus, the tapirs and some of the deer park species (nilgai, hog deer and axis deer, but no blackbuck or guineafowl).
- Attempted a count-up of all the individuals in the zoo (onshow/in view that is), so if anyone wants to know how many there are of a certain species I can do my best to tell you!
 
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