South Lakes Wild Animal Park South Lakes Safari Zoo News 2022

Clues being posted on Social Media for a new exhibit opening this weekend and they have dropped hints to the animal.

It's where the old train station was.

Images of the animal, kind of looks like honey badger or something along those lines but then the exhibit, doesn't look likely. .

Anyone any ideas?

Safari Zoo
 
Alwaysevergreen said:
Clues being posted on Social Media for a new exhibit opening this weekend and they have dropped hints to the animal.

It's where the old train station was.

Images of the animal, kind of looks like honey badger or something along those lines but then the exhibit, doesn't look likely. .

Anyone any ideas?

Safari Zoo
Click to expand...
I looked up images of honey badgers once that guess came up and compared it to the teaser photo, and the eye shape does match with that of a honey badger. That would be fantastic, I've never seen honey badgers before, and it says on Zootierliste that only one other zoo in the UK, Howletts, has them. I may arrange another visit next month to see the new species, does anyone who's been recently know if the aviaries are back open?
 
Jambi said:
I looked up images of honey badgers once that guess came up and compared it to the teaser photo, and the eye shape does match with that of a honey badger. That would be fantastic, I've never seen honey badgers before, and it says on Zootierliste that only one other zoo in the UK, Howletts, has them. I may arrange another visit next month to see the new species, does anyone who's been recently know if the aviaries are back open?
Click to expand...

I doubt very much it would be Honey Badgers. Exmoor and Howletts (due to be released to the wild) are the only ones in UK and given the whole structure is wooden, it wouldn't be Honey Badger proof.

Agree image looks a bit like a Honey Badger, but suspect it's more likely to be Grison.

Aviaries were not open last week, did see a Sloth outside sat in a Bush though!
Thought the Bettong exhibit was poor too, no viewing for public inside, and given they are nocturnal and you are not allowed on the grass, you are far from likely to see them outside.
It may be a nice exhibit for the animals which is good, but they may as well have kept them offshow.
 
Alwaysevergreen said:
I doubt very much it would be Honey Badgers. Exmoor and Howletts (due to be released to the wild) are the only ones in UK and given the whole structure is wooden, it wouldn't be Honey Badger proof.

Agree image looks a bit like a Honey Badger, but suspect it's more likely to be Grison.

Aviaries were not open last week, did see a Sloth outside sat in a Bush though!
Thought the Bettong exhibit was poor too, no viewing for public inside, and given they are nocturnal and you are not allowed on the grass, you are far from likely to see them outside.
It may be a nice exhibit for the animals which is good, but they may as well have kept them offshow.
Click to expand...
I didn't know what a grison was until you mentioned it, but after looking into it, I agree that a grison would fit better with some of the clues given. Either way, that's another species I haven't seen so it'll be good to add it to my Zoo Life List. I looked on Zootierliste again and it looks like only Hamerton Zoo have them right now, unless of course the ones Safari Zoo are getting have cone from Hamerton.
I'll add it to my shortlist of zoos I next want to re-visit, but I may hold back until the aviaries are open again.
 
Jambi said:
I didn't know what a grison was until you mentioned it, but after looking into it, I agree that a grison would fit better with some of the clues given. Either way, that's another species I haven't seen so it'll be good to add it to my Zoo Life List. I looked on Zootierliste again and it looks like only Hamerton Zoo have them right now, unless of course the ones Safari Zoo are getting have cone from Hamerton.
I'll add it to my shortlist of zoos I next want to re-visit, but I may hold back until the aviaries are open again.
Click to expand...

Hamerton do have them - have to go a few times to see them I’ve been lucky near the end of the day. The aviaries were all accessible including the walkthrough when I visited on 27/8. Not sure if there’s been a change since but heading there tomorrow so will mention if there has.
 
"Everyone meet Popcorn and Peanut, the newest kids on the Cumbria Zoo block. Popcorn (male) and Peanut (female) are unrelated 1 year old Honey Badgers, or Ratels, or ‘most fearless animals in the world’ as voted by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2002, and they will be introduced to their new home here at Cumbria Zoo on Saturday 17th September as they join us from Europe."

Right, what is the name of this place now as they refer to themselves as Cumbria Zoo in that passage, yet Safari Zoo on the facebook page, Safari Zoo Cumbria on their website .... and are still listed as South Lakes Safari Zoo here?!?!?!?!? :confused:
 
Very nice to see another UK collection have ratels, especially considering the Howletts ones might not be there for much longer.
 
littleRedPanda said:
"Everyone meet Popcorn and Peanut, the newest kids on the Cumbria Zoo block. Popcorn (male) and Peanut (female) are unrelated 1 year old Honey Badgers, or Ratels, or ‘most fearless animals in the world’ as voted by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2002, and they will be introduced to their new home here at Cumbria Zoo on Saturday 17th September as they join us from Europe."

Right, what is the name of this place now as they refer to themselves as Cumbria Zoo in that passage, yet Safari Zoo on the facebook page, Safari Zoo Cumbria on their website .... and are still listed as South Lakes Safari Zoo here?!?!?!?!? :confused:
Click to expand...
I just go with "Safari Zoo Cumbria", but yeah, they can't seem to settle on anything definitive, can they? I don't know where "Cumbria Zoo" came from, but most people I know refer to it as "Barrow Zoo" even though it's not actually in that town.

Anyway, so the new arrivals are honey badgers after all, and I do love the names Popcorn and Peanut. I'll either arrange a visit next month, or in Spring because the weather is due to get colder soon.
 
Last edited:
Honey Badgers, nice addition for sure.

I hope there is a lot of concrete in the exhibit, as it looks like a lot of wooden sections and divides!
 
I visited Safari Zoo yesterday, a few points from my visit:
- I managed to see both of the new honey badgers, however there was unfortunately a lot of glare and reflection on the glass of their enclosure, and they move quite fast, so I was unable to get any good quality photos of them. Either way, I'm happy to have seen this species for the very first time.
- An outdoor section of the honey badger enclosure was under construction at the time of my visit, so for the time being they were confined to their indoor viewing area. I'm hoping taking photos of them will be easier once that's done.
- a new rhino calf was born recently, a male named Imfolozi, I saw him with his mother in the Africa paddock, and even though he was only a few weeks old, he was already picking fights with the wildebeest the rhinos share an outdoor space with. It was cute seeing Imfolozi chasing the wildebeest, getting chased back and the mother stepping in and charging after the wildebeest.
- The two walkthrough aviaries are still closed, according to a keeper I asked, new government measures for bird flu are being introduced soon, so they'll most likely remain closed throughout Winter and Spring. I wonder if this will be the case with other zoos?
- I got a good look at most of the animals during my visit, the only no-shows to speak of were the emperor tamarins (which I've never seen), jaguars, giant otters and giant anteater (which again I've never seen). But on the plus side, there were a few animals that were no-shows last time that I did get to see this time, namely the lions, raccoon and red squirrel.
 
** copied from Facebook**
Welcome to the world little adorable one!

If you visited yesterday or today and found our Africa house closed to visitors, here’s why .! Our resident Rhino family welcomed another little bundle of joy yesterday morning.

Everyone say hello to the newest kid on the block - a beautiful, healthy, Southern White Rhino Baby Boy.

The Africa house will remain closed today and more than likely throughout the weekend whilst the little man makes himself at home.


#southernwhiterhino #whiterhino #babyrhino
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top