Highland Wildlife Park New arrivals at the HWP

@solari27: the distance from the city is perhaps one of the reasons why the Edinburgh Zoo receives around 800,000 visitors a year while the wildlife park receives only around 70,000 visitors a year. I'd love to see the park receive more acclaim, as with red pandas, amur tigers, snow leopards, japanese serow and other cold-weather animals it has an interesting collection. I suppose that it lacks a Budongo...haha.
 
snowleopard said:
@solari27: the distance from the city is perhaps one of the reasons why the Edinburgh Zoo receives around 800,000 visitors a year while the wildlife park receives only around 70,000 visitors a year. I'd love to see the park receive more acclaim, as with red pandas, amur tigers, snow leopards, japanese serow and other cold-weather animals it has an interesting collection. I suppose that it lacks a Budongo...haha.
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and it lacks the snow leopards, at the moment too, but they are planned to come in soon, along with Amur leopards.
 
highlands wildlife park's attendance will continue to grow through exhibiting the larger more attractive animals, like the tiger and leopards (and you never know perhaps polar bears in the future...i hope), but the park really needs a large interactive display, costing a few millions representing the parks goals and the cold habitats its trying to protect, this building may not have to exhibit animals but could act as a visitor centre of sorts. having never visited the park my post should be taken with a pinch of salt and for all i know the park may already have such a display.

such a exhibit may not improve intendance from the wow factor of charismatic animals, but it would certainly improve the reputattion of the park so that visitors may feel as though there really is a goal behind all the animals. (not saying that HWP hasn't already acheived a good reputation, nor am i suggesting that there is no conservation action occuring.) i am sugegsting that such an injection of cash coud really improve the site and that such a building would be a good way to spend the money.

ps this post is total rubbish if the park already has such a building, or hwp can't get the cash :D
 
foz said:
having never visited the park my post should be taken with a pinch of salt and for all i know the park may already have such a display.
ps this post is total rubbish if the park already has such a building, or hwp can't get the cash :D
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You said it yourself, but if you've not visited the park, how can you possibly be commenting on what it needs to do to improve?
 
its just what i imagine a new park egtting off its feet with a fantastic array of animals need, something to really display their conservation work.

and does anyone know how the tigers are doing on their superb enclosure?
 
foz said:
its just what i imagine a new park egtting off its feet with a fantastic array of animals need, something to really display their conservation work.

and does anyone know how the tigers are doing on their superb enclosure?
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But its not a new park getting on its feet its a well established park with a proven track record expanding its collection to give more diversity of species within the park!
 
i beelived the park to be relatively new and not with a huge attendance, and i'm not disputing its acheivements. i persoanlly think the park is simply wonderfull and couldn't be in a more appropriate settings for the animals. anyway the post was just my mind wondering off, simply my imagination running wild with idea of changing the park. sort of a momentary collapse into my world of personal zoos. owell it doesn't matter anyway.
 
If you call some where that has been open over 30 years a new collection then yes indeed it is new but to me thats an established collection.
 
sorry i didn't realise how long the park has actually been going for:o, (thanks for stopping me :) ) how old is the mountain/tundra habitats concept been around?
 
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2007. Amazing how many new species they've got in just two years (off the top of my head, in no particular order):

- Yak
- Kiang
- Mishmi Takin
- Tundra Reindeer
- Bactrian Wapiti
- Red Panda
- Japenese Snow Monkey
- Amur Tiger
- Markhor
- Bharal
- Chinese Goral
- Afghan Urial
- Himalayan Tahr
- Himalayan Snowcock
- Himalayan Monal

And the Japanese Serow, Bactrian Camel, Muskox, Musk Deer, Amur Leopard, Snow Leopard, Pallas Cat and Polar Bear are still to come!
 
foz said:
sorry i didn't realise how long the park has actually been going for:o, (thanks for stopping me :) ) how old is the mountain/tundra habitats concept been around?
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Not a problem,as for how old the concept is not sure i first heard about it about 2005 or 6 the first animals for the new areas arrived at the park in 2007 and have kept arriving in a steady stream since then.
 
I really must get up there but it would have to be a very long weekend.

I didn't realise I was pronouncing Kingussie wrongly but I have recently seen Slumdog Millionaire (excellent film, by the way), and now I know the correct way...(that would be something like kin-oosey, feel free to correct Kiang:) )
 
Correct pygathrix king-you-see.

I do think the park could do with some indoor areas scattered around, as the weather in this part of the country can be downright awful at times.

The first animals into the park as part of the mountain/tundra theme were the male bharal from Edinburgh.

A balance has to be found though between the new biomes and the reason for the park in the first place, that being a showcase for Scottish wildlife past and present and the RZSS must not lose sight of this.
But for the past 30 years or so attendance levels have always been below the 100'000 mark and something was needed to be done to rectify this.
 
Marwell Dalek said:
- Tundra Reindeer
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They have had the tundra reindeer for some time. I think you mean the Forest Reindeer. They have also changed the wolves from generic greys (actually Canadian/European crosses) to Scandinavian population. Both are in European breeding programs.
 
Ah yes, mean't the forest ones. Oh, and I forgot the Carpathian Lynx, but it's only a subspecies of the European Lynx anyway.
 
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