Longleat Safari & Adventure Park Longleat Safari Park News 2023

Alwaysevergreen said:
They have two Tree Porcupine, Parsnip and Fennel. They are very active around 11am-12 noon when they are fed. Kinkajou are always asleep on top of their box! Never seen them out at all, and rarely even awake before closing.
The Tree Porcupine share with a Skunk called Cecil.
There is also a Prehensile Tailed Porcupine, who shares its exhibit with Golden-Handed Tamarins (Gaston and Mrs Potts). The Prehensile Tailed Porcupine, is called Pumpkin and often comes to the front of her inside exhibit later in the day, I've also never seen her outside.
They also now have a pair of Sloths called Chico and Truffles, who are in an odd exhibit, which surprisingly is unmanned given there are ropes above your head and they will often get very close to you.
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Thank you for this. Did not know they had prehensile tailed porcupines as well, that is great.

My kinkajous are always asleep as well, they are very nocturnal, I am interested in those as I like to look at enclosure and enrichment ideas.

Alwaysevergreen said:
Get an Annual Pass. It's £100, and gives you unlimited entry all year round, including for many events like Sky Safari, and he Lights Festival, plus 10% off gift shop and food, and 20% of experiences. At £38 to visit longleat, its like 3 visits and its paid for itself. I used to live very close and went every 2 weeks, its one of the better value annual passes around, and certainly value for money if you live close.
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Great idea, may have to do that.
 
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Is the remaining Brown Lemur still there? Think she was called Ada
 
ZooAtHome said:
My kinkajous are always asleep as well, they are very nocturnal, I am interested in those as I like to look at enclosure and enrichment ideas.
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I recall the kinkajous I saw at Zoo Berlin in 2022 I believe were awake albeit idle ... but of course they were in the nocturnal basement of the cat house, so proper photography was difficult!
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[Pictured: The best picture I could get ... still some legion better than the pictures I got of the African Pygmy Mice !!]
 

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dillotest0 said:
I recall the kinkajous I saw at Zoo Berlin in 2022 I believe were awake albeit idle ... but of course they were in the nocturnal basement of the cat house, so proper photography was difficult!
View attachment 610656
[Pictured: The best picture I could get ... still some legion better than the pictures I got of the African Pygmy Mice !!]
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They are primarily nocturnal, ours get up around 7pm and then when I get up in the morning at around 7am they are never up. I believe they go to bed just before sun down. They will get up if I do enclosure maintenance or go in to feed them. Sometimes they will sit out during the day, but rarely.

An excellent photo haha.
 
hari Jones said:
The north American porcupines are spud and parsnip
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Unfortunately, Spud has now passed away (Parsnip did a couple of years ago) leaving one young female called Fennel. The skunk who they shared the enclosure with has also recently passed.

Embu said:
Is the remaining Brown Lemur still there? Think she was called Ada
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Yes she was still there on my visit last month, she's 27 I think!
 
Wow!! That's an amazing age and an amazing testament to her keepers care.

Was it just the single skunk they kept? Rescued as a pet I believe and was de-scented I think, if it's the same one(but I may have got my wires crossed)
 
Springbok said:
I have just got word that Sonja the hippo has passed away.
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If true, it's truly sad news. Longleat's hippos were always a big part of my trips as a child, and given their age I'm sure they were for a lot of others. But she certainly lived to a good age. It must be very difficult on Spot
 
cerperal said:
If true, it's truly sad news. Longleat's hippos were always a big part of my trips as a child, and given their age I'm sure they were for a lot of others. But she certainly lived to a good age.
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Indeed. It will be interesting to see if Longleat have a long term plan for Common hippo, considering Spot and Sonja were practically feral! A significant upgrade in housing would be required and there’s no way they’d be able to keep a bull!
 
Panthera1981 said:
Indeed. It will be interesting to see if Longleat have a long term plan for Common hippo, considering Spot and Sonja were practically feral! A significant upgrade in housing would be required and there’s no way they’d be able to keep a bull!
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I suspect they’ll be fazed out at they won’t be allowed to keep them new ones on the lake I don’t think and it’s a huge investment
 
Charles said:
I suspect they’ll be fazed out at they won’t be allowed to keep them new ones on the lake I don’t think and it’s a huge investment
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I have a horrible feeling that will be the case, but they wouldn't be that big an investment. The two girls floated about for nearly 50 years, occassionally eating a hay bale and chasing a farmer. Longleat already has trained hippo keepers too, so that's the majority of the cost gone. There's also the added part of them being a major part of the boat ride too, even if they did bugger all. But they'd definitely need a new house and who's to say they'll acclimatise to sea lions.

One less holder of an already rare species, unfortunately...
 
Charles said:
I suspect they’ll be fazed out at they won’t be allowed to keep them new ones on the lake I don’t think and it’s a huge investment
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Have Longleat been told they can’t continue to hold the species? Yes, there would be costs in renovating the housing but a majority would be saved as Half Mile Lake likely acts as its own filtration system!

It would be a shame for the species to disappear, considering the unique holding space they have. Perhaps the answer could be to enclose part of the lake and go with Pygmy hippo.
 
Panthera1981 said:
Perhaps the answer could be to enclose part of the lake and go with Pygmy hippo.
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Given pygmies need to have access to warm water and spend the majority of their time on land, if Longleat decide to keep a hippo species and choose pygmies I'd guess either a completely new exhibit in the main park or a small part of the lake and a much bigger house - both I would hazard as more expensive options. That's the good thing about common hippos - they're rather hardy.
 
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