Port Lympne Wild Animal Park Port Lympne 2015

Mike11 said:
That's a lot of carnivores missing, I didn't realise they had lost their Hyena??
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They moved the breeding pair offshow, sent the most recently-bred animal to a reserve in South Africa, split the breeding pair to prevent any further breeding and then (once the breeding female died) I believe they sent the male back to Prague where he had originated.

So they didn't so much "lose" the hyena as actively go out of the taxon. I believe the Indian Desert Cat's disappearance from Europe is due to a similar process.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
They moved the breeding pair offshow, sent the most recently-bred animal to a reserve in South Africa, split the breeding pair to prevent any further breeding and then (once the breeding female died) I believe they sent the male back to Prague where he had originated.

So they didn't so much "lose" the hyena as actively go out of the taxon. I believe the Indian Desert Cat's disappearance from Europe is due to a similar process.
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It seems a really good job to send the youngest brown hyena to South Africa, when this species is in danger of extinction in Europe......

It almost seems like Aspinall is somehow planning to close down his own zoo....
 
A couple of questions off the back of my first visit yesterday.

I gather there are 4 gorilla enclosures: Palace of the Apes, the old chimp house, the 'Loft' Pavilion and and another next to that. Are there groups in the two that are offshow?

There seem to be two separate groups in the Palace. Is one of these moving into the currently empty Old Cage in Howletts? I can't find it now but there was some news that Howletts were bringing in a new male.

Which enclosures lead to the two paddocks you can see from the truck?

The tall tower that is part of the old chimp enclosure was not accessible to the bachelor group. Is it ever and if so do they use it?

Lastly, when PL kept chimps did they use the straw substrate as with gorillas?

Apologies for the deluge of questions, I visited both parks for the first time this weekend and was very taken by the gorillas. I was with non zoo nerd friends at PL so didn't get a chance to ask these questions directly. In fact I didn't even get a chance to see all the primates, as we 'didn't have time'.
 
I have not been to PL for a couple of years but can answer most of your questions, and I doubt there have been many changes to the Gorillas there since, apart from the arrival of the Koulliou group from Howletts. They replace the ill-fated Djala group that was sent to Africa and reside in the Palace of the Apes.

Circular 'Loft' pavilion enclosure( now offshow). Contains five(?) adult males (originally more) 3 (Ambam, Djimu, Kush) still live together. Two( Mataki,Timbou) live separated as singletons due to fighting. Others that lived in here are Djanghou(now at Howletts), Boumi (died) and Oumbie( sent to Twycross) This circular enclosure can be partitioned into sections, like dividing a Pie, and was the first quarters specially built to house bachelor males at Port Lympne. Consequently it still has the oldest males. It connects with the lower of the two big outdoor areas.

Other standard-shaped 'Pavilion' enclosure. Contains 4 younger males, all sons of 'Kifu' at Howletts and came from his group. This connects with the 2nd, upper large outdoor enclosure.

Adjoining this is the Ex Chimp cage with the cylindrical tower outside. Sometimes empty. Has contained several different single adult males in the past(Djala, Jomie, Ujiji) and is used when necessary as a 'spare' enclosure. I've never seen the 4 males currently living next to it,being allowed to use it, but Gorillas given access to this certainly use it.

Palace of the Apes. The last major build for Gorillas at Port Lympne/either Park. Originally held the Djala group. After their return to Gabon, the large Kouillou group were moved over from Howletts. If it is currently split, it may be because some moves are afoot e.g. removing younger males or females from it. But the empty(?) enclosure at Howletts is I think likely to be earmarked for the new male 'Matadi' coming from Paignton shortly, plus several females, both homebred ones and a couple from Hanover Zoo, to form a new group.

Chimps- from memory they were kept on straw like the Gorillas.
 
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Thanks so much for all the info!

Pertinax said:
Other standard-shaped 'Pavilion' enclosure. Contains 4 younger males, all sons of 'Kifu' at Howletts and came from his group. This connects with the 2nd, upper large outdoor enclosure.

Adjoining this is the Ex Chimp cage with the cylindrical tower outside. Sometimes empty. Has contained several different single adult males in the past(Djala, Jomie, Ujiji) and is used when necessary as a 'spare' enclosure. I've never seen the 4 males currently living next to it,being allowed to use it, but Gorillas given access to this certainly use it.
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That clears up my confusion really nicely.
I had assumed from what I had been able to find in other threads that the enclosure holding sons of Kifu was originally part of the chimp accommodation. This in turn lead me to believe there was another hidden cage that maybe lacked an outdoor paddock.

The chimp tower is very striking. It is a shame it doesn't hold something. I'm surprised they don't put another smaller primate species in there.

I will have to return pretty soon to see the bits I missed clearly.
 
Regarding the chimps, does anyone know what happened to the infamous Bustah-is he still alive? And what happened to the boy after the accident-did Aspinall pay the family off?
 
Panthera1981 said:
Regarding the chimps, does anyone know what happened to the infamous Bustah-is he still alive? And what happened to the boy after the accident-did Aspinall pay the family off?
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I think the chimps were shipped to Tygerberg zoo in
South Africa
 
Panthera1981 said:
Regarding the chimps, does anyone know what happened to the infamous Bustah-is he still alive? And what happened to the boy after the accident-did Aspinall pay the family off?
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The boy who lost his arm was awarded a £100,000 payout in 1996
BOY WHOSE ARM WAS BITTEN OFF BY CHIMP GETS $200,000 AWARD | Deseret News

The 2009 Chimpanzee studbook (avaliable on Copenhagen Zoo website) says that Bustah was transferred to a placed called Tygerberg Zoopark in South Africa during 1994. He died in December 2006
 
FunkyGibbon said:
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I had assumed from what I had been able to find in other threads that the enclosure holding sons of Kifu was originally part of the chimp accommodation. This in turn lead me to believe there was another hidden cage that maybe lacked an outdoor paddock.
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No, the Chimp enclosure was built a long time before the 'Pavilion' containing the four males next door was. It may actually be the oldest of all the Ape cages at Port Lympne, followed by the circular Gorilla 'Loft' enclosure. For Chimps it was just the indoor House and simple tower cage. I think the sliding door/access tunnel from the Gorillas next door was tacked on later at some time when they had reason to split off a male into there. I think you might well see a couple of male Gorillas occupying it again at some stage, as there are again several that need to leave their groups at some stage. It can hold a pair of males okay, not more.

Order of builds;

1.Chimpanzees. ( I think)
2.Round 'Loft' enclosure for male Gorillas.
3.Simple Pavilion enclosure for males.
4.Palace of the Apes.(whole enclosure and outdoor area)

The two large outdoor paddocks for the males were added later, around the time the second pavilion was built. When the high wall at the back was new, it was quite an eyesore from a distance but it toned down over time. The original circular bachelor house was simply a cage enclosure before that.
 
In the Monday edition of the 'Metro', the new treehouse hotel was mentioned, it said a lot about what was included in the hotel, and failed to mention the word 'zoo' at any point, only 'reserve'. Also it mentioned the addition of bison made them feel like they were really in Africa!
 
A couple of snippets from today's visit:

There are wolves in the enclosure at the top that held wild dogs in May (I'm sure this has been mentioned elsewhere on the site, but it seemed worth repeating it here).

One of the female ostriches is sitting on a clutch and it's hoped they'll hatch soon.

Samira, the lioness with mobility issues, is now in an enclosure on the opposite side of the road to Krueger, the bull elephant. No-one, not even snowleopard, has ever seen a lion fence this short! I'll upload a picture but I was on the wrong side of the truck.
 
A statement on Facebook indicates that a male Guinea Baboon escaped the enclosure earlier today:

We would like to thank our visitors for their assistance during our animal escape procedure this morning when a guinea baboon escaped his enclosure. Our experienced keepers and veterinary team were on the scene immediately and all visitors were taken inside to safety. The baboon has now been returned to his enclosure. We understand that procedures cause inconvenience to our visitors but visitor safety is our top priority at these times. A full investigation will be taking place and we would like to thank everyone for their patience.
 
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