ZSL Whipsnade Zoo My Comprehensive Review of Whipsnade
- Thread starter CZJimmy
- Start date
MARK
Well-Known Member
Great review Jimmy, I dont know if I would call Whipsnade number two in the uk because of the Howletts/Port Lympne collection which I feel could be better and also many of their animals are in huge paddocks as well, I dont know if you have been there but it maybe worth the trip, again great review thanks
Yeah, I haven't visited the Aspinall parks yet, so one of them may overtake Whipsnade, but I don't think I should rank a zoo if I haven't visited it yet.
great review jimmy, i see you didnt think much of cheetah rockme neither
and the hidden fences at the lions, go round the corner then you can see them very clearly! (but down a ditch)
and did you see the baby prezwalskis?
I think Cheetah rock is a good enclosure, but it was a bit busy, so I didn't stay long enough to get a full impression.
I didn't see the baby przewalskis
MARK
Well-Known Member
CZ Jimmy- re the Gaur- that's the mother and calf in the photo. I'm hoping the bull is still in the other quarters- where you'd never get a decent photo.
Port Lympne is vaguely similar to Whipsnade in some respects-open downland etc though very hilly. Also you won't see any fancy exhibits there as at Whipsnade.
Even though PL has all those Gorillas, on balance I probably prefer Whipsnade and its more 'formal' approach (and also I've been visiting Whipsnade more years than I care to remember..)
Port Lympne is vaguely similar to Whipsnade in some respects-open downland etc though very hilly. Also you won't see any fancy exhibits there as at Whipsnade.
Even though PL has all those Gorillas, on balance I probably prefer Whipsnade and its more 'formal' approach (and also I've been visiting Whipsnade more years than I care to remember..)
MARK
Well-Known Member
Also they have all those Black rhinos to plus a good big cat collection and rare primates
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
There seem to be two quite similar threads on Whipsnade at the moment.
just to add my thoughts...
I was at Whipsnade yesterday, and it was lookig as good as it ever has. One aspect Jimmy didn't touch upon in his review is the shows which are offered to the public - I appreciate that many on this forum would steer clear of such things. But I have to say that the Whipsnade ones are pretty good: sealions okay (but a bit naff), birds pretty decent (with toucan, jungle fowl and seriema as well as the more predictable macaws and harris hawk), elephants excellent. None is too long, and the information conveyed is reasonable (with the possible exception of the sealion show). I was with my four year old daughter, and she loved them.
A couple of random observations:
The Arabian oryx mentioned by Jimmy are currently in the paddock which borders the Asian drive-through - you see them as you go in. The Nile lechwe are in the paddock between there and the cheetahs - although the male (oddly) is in the Asian drive-through. The paddock which did have the Arabian oryx in last time I went - next to the hippos = now has kudu in it.
Does anyone know why the lemur species choice is so conservative (ring-tailed) for what could be such a great walk-through exhibit?
just to add my thoughts...
I was at Whipsnade yesterday, and it was lookig as good as it ever has. One aspect Jimmy didn't touch upon in his review is the shows which are offered to the public - I appreciate that many on this forum would steer clear of such things. But I have to say that the Whipsnade ones are pretty good: sealions okay (but a bit naff), birds pretty decent (with toucan, jungle fowl and seriema as well as the more predictable macaws and harris hawk), elephants excellent. None is too long, and the information conveyed is reasonable (with the possible exception of the sealion show). I was with my four year old daughter, and she loved them.
A couple of random observations:
The Arabian oryx mentioned by Jimmy are currently in the paddock which borders the Asian drive-through - you see them as you go in. The Nile lechwe are in the paddock between there and the cheetahs - although the male (oddly) is in the Asian drive-through. The paddock which did have the Arabian oryx in last time I went - next to the hippos = now has kudu in it.
Does anyone know why the lemur species choice is so conservative (ring-tailed) for what could be such a great walk-through exhibit?
I think Whipsnade do their animal shows very well- informative and with only the minumum of 'razza matazz' to keep youngsters interested. Much better than some other places.
The large Nile Lechwe group have their own dominant male(s). The one in Asian Plains I think is an escapee from the small bachelor group which is/was held in the small paddock near the lake cafe. He is very distinctive as he's almost black among all the herds of brown deer. Maybe he jumped the fence when he saw or smelt the bears nearby for the first time...
The kudu group have no male- there hasn't been one for several years now.
Perhaps Ringtailed Lemurs were chosen for their their temperament, bold enough to show properly & interact with visitors in a walkthru exhibit?
I think they are also limited by the dangerous animal act. They had an exhibit of free roaming silvery marmosets and golden headed tamarins. The tamarins had to be placed in with the white faced sakis after a legislative issue. I was interested to read on one of the Colchester threads that they were planning a walk through tamarin exhibit
The health issue was BSE related which is why I dont think ZSL has done much with the greater kudu
At one stage in the 80's/90's it was discovered a whole lot of Antelope species in zoos in Uk ( + elsewhere too?) carried BSE from being fed contaminated concentrate feed. I don't know how many of those species are now clear of it.
Virtually all large antelopes (kudu, oryx, maybe eland) in the UK are tainted by the BSE fiasco. As a result European zoos won't exchange/mix stock until these lines die off. For this reason you are unlikely to see any of these species breeding. The only exception to this that I am aware of are bongo, which appear to breeding like the plague in British collections.
I don't think this is the issue because other UK collections have walk-throughs with B & W ruffs, red ruffs, blacks, and various brown subspecies (ie. Cricket St Thomas, Blackpool, Howletts, Paignton, South Lakes). The main issues are temperament, popularity, group size and group management. On all three issues ringtails come out tops over other lemurs. There is nothing stopping Whipsnade adding a small number of a different species to complement the ringtails, assuming there is enough space in the exhibit.
The tamarin issue may be more due to the individual species' behaviour. Jersey had problems with their GHLTs roaming far and wide, biting lemur's tails and stealing visitor's food. They swapped them for Black lions without any problems.
Do you know which species of Oryx this applies too?
Are there any UK collections where species like Kudu & Eland are kept which are free of contamination?
Ruffed Lemur seems to be popular too, probably because of colour. But when they suddenly start their loud 'roaring' its probably enough to scare little children.