Marwell Wildlife My Monthly Updates 2009 #2

Status
Not open for further replies.
A few notes from today:

- With the arrival of winter, Marwell's tradition of keeping hoofstock out of the paddocks (with the exception of the Przewalskis, Tapirs, Gemsbok, Okapi, Ankole and Hippos) is back in place, creating that rather bare feel around the Park. The African Valley for example only had the ostriches using it.
- Oddly, the Przewalski's Horses were occupying the fenced-off zone of the African Valley.
- Marwell's ocelots are down to just the pair now the young have moved off.
- World of Lemurs is open again, though the ruffed lemur enclosures are still unfinished.

And finally, I ended up stopping in the okapi house to listen to the radio that plays inside due to a piece on Doctor Who!

Has the female Amur Leopard arrived yet?
 
Notes from today:

Today was an unofficial gathering of the gemsboks (the oldest section of the oryx club) making today more of a social event than a proper walk-around, for example we spent a fair bit of time mucking about in the play area. :p However, I did find out a good few interesting changes today.

- Kaia the new leopard is on show and settled: A beautiful animal.
- A new enclosure is being built to the right of the ocelots, on the site of the old small cat cages. Didn't find out what it was for though.
- The camels are (sadly) back in the old ankole yard, where a planned kangaroo/emu house has been scrapped umpteen times.
- A lot of Encounter Village is still closed off: The Tamarin Walk-through and rat area. In the former, the tamarins have become too friendly due to unpermitted feeding from the public.
- The snow leopard enclosure has been split in two, ready for the new pair. The doors to the shelter were open, so we suspected whether they were already here.
 
Surely they would have been mentioned in the 'Big Cat Changes' article on the website if they had arrived already. But still, that's very exciting. I think I'm going to have to blag a lift soon to get down there and see all the new changes.

I wonder why the camels have been moved. They looked nice where they were.
 
Now that most of the hoofstock are confined to the hardstand, I imagine they got a bit cramped with the Przewalskis and needed their own space.
 
Notes from today, the 27th December:

- The Megellan Geese have been moved to the flamingo enclosure.
- I saw Ernesto the anteater and the capybara family interacting from behind the fence today, which was interesting to watch. The young were cautious, but after a while they grew very curious.
- The new pair of snow leopards will be arriving mid-January.
- The cusimanse have moved out of the old red panda enclosure.
- The degu/snake pens in Aridlands are still empty.
- My thoughts that the new enclosure being built next to the ocelots was for the servals was confirmed: When it's completed and they move, the offshw cheetah daughters Suki and Jana will move to the current serval enclosures till the new cheetah exhibit is finished and they'll all move there, which will be located somewhere in the przewalski horse paddock. Still keeping my lips sealed on what'll go in the old cheetah/serval enclosures however till I know it's safe to say so!
- Kaia (leopard) was active and looking fantastic today.
- When Kwame (giraffe) went to get milk from Mum Isabella, the older siblings Tia and Christa joined in, despite their age, unrelation and space requirements!
- And of course, today was probably the last time I saw Zambar. I'm really gonna miss that tiger. :(
 
Oooh, sounds like I'll have to make a mid-January trip for the new Snow Leopards haha! Are they not keeping Przewalski's Horses anymore or are they being moved somewhere else in the park? I love those guys :) It's sad that Zambar's moving, but aren't they getting a new female when he goes? Would be nice to see Tiger cubs there again.
 
I don't know what will become of the przewalskis and camels, but I reckon they'll move them to the paddock where the ankole currently are, as that's where they're earmarked in the masterplan: I doubt Marwell would giveaway one of it's founding species. ;) As Gamin and Yenna cannot breed anymore, I think some of the logic behind the move will be to give Zambar's enclosure to a new breeding pair. :)
 
Female cheetah's at Marwell

Great news about the female cheetah's being moved on show.

From a personal point of view I hope when the new cheetah enclosure is built the old enclosure will be converted to house another big cat.

Again like you I will also miss Zambar.
 
I'll give a clue in that it'll house a species that has been kept at Marwell before. ;)
 
Ooh, I'm going tomorrow with my dad, brother and two nephews. Hopefully the weather wont be too bad and Kaia will be out and about. Might mean I actually get to spend some half decent time in the Lizards section with a macro lense :P

I've also promised my youngest nephew to buy him something from the shop. He loves the tigers, so I might get him a small tiger toy :P
 
Wow, the rain doesn't stop in England does it? But because it was quiet, it wasn't so bad :) Saw both Paka and Turkus, Gamin and Zambar and of course the Snow Leopard. I had a close encounter with Zambar when he walked under the glass, turned and suddenly lifted his head with his teeth bared. The best time I've had by the Tigers :) The Snow Leopards enclosure has been halved, but she can still access the other half, so they must have the den as a walkthrough for her.

Finally saw the Black Wildebeest and they are SO beautiful! :D The Red Panda were very easy to spot, but all in all a fairly normal day lol
 
I'll give a clue in that it'll house a species that has been kept at Marwell before
I don't know who is supplying you with "information" but they can only be speculating as no decision has been made to re-use the current cheetah site after these animals have been moved.
 
I'll give a clue in that it'll house a species that has been kept at Marwell before. ;)
Well it appears that zooboy thinks differently to you and your source and given that I know who zooboy is I will believe his answer over yours!!!!!
 
It was one of the carnivore keepers, who I shan't name.
I don`t care if its the section head I will still take what zooboy says as the truth because like I said in my other post I know who he is and apart from that I know I can trust his info to be correct!!!!
 
OK, let me get this straight: It was mhale who was talking to one of the carnivore keepers who later met me the same day and told me, but apparentley it was speculation he was talking and I misinterpreted it as fact when she told it back to me. We've just discussed it and so I can also confirm that whatever's going in there is not set in stone yet.
 
OK, let me get this straight: It was mhale who was talking to one of the carnivore keepers who later met me the same day and told me, but apparentley it was speculation he was talking and I misinterpreted it as fact when she told it back to me. We've just discussed it and so I can also confirm that whatever's going in there is not set in stone yet.
Thank you I`m glad we`ve cleared that up.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top