Not a full description because I didn't take notes (bad zoo nerd). But I'll do the best I can. Many photos were taken which will be uploaded soon.
Started with lemur walk through, appeared to be staffed by volunteers, I was a little worried about how well these would be trained. Visitors do try to touch lemurs and need to be told to stop, would volunteers do this?
The chimp island was lovely, lots of natural behaviour, one was using a leaf as a vessel to drink moat water which reminded me of the old chimp tea parties at twycross.
Moved to the discovery centre, which was amazing, some lovely well thought out mixed exhibits, lizards with frogs with fish, very nice.
I'm pretty sure the roti island snake necked turtles had guppys for lunch, but another zoo visitor seemed to think they were always mixed?
Crocodiles with butterflies was amazing, something I've never thought of, but I'd assume crocs don't eat anything so small, and it was a lovely exhibit.
The sealion show made a good attempt at education, but I thought 4 sealions were too much for a single trainer, she seemed to struggle to control all four, she did well, but I have never seen a single trainer show that used more than two animal. I think an extra trainer would help, but I understand the two younger ladies are recent additions so maybe a second trainer will come later.
The childrens farm was lacking in signage and could do with some more activities. While walking round I was confronted multiple times by angry turkeys, they were further enraged by screaming children, I really think they need an enclosure, for the protection of visitors and themselves.
This is when I first encountered the free ranging animals, Mara who were very tame. Other free rangers were wallaby, chinese water deer, peafowl, and muntjac. During the day I spotted all of them, including a brand new baby mara who was still wet, and just learning to walk, and a number of other baby mara and wallaby. I also spotted the chinese deer buck who had rather scary fangs, very impressive.
I headed toward "wild wild whipsnade", a section based on animals that once inhabited Britain. The lynx I didn't see, not sure where they were as I saw no inside area? The wild boar were asleep, with 4 new piglets and a small cluster of older ones, maybe 3? Lovely stripes and seemed very comfortable with the visitors.
The brown bears I only saw one, he seemed happy enough eating a trail of carrots, very enchanting.
The wolverine, which was the main reason I went to whipsnade in the first place was hiding somewhere. I looked for ages and was upset I couldn't see it, I respect animals ability to hide, but doesn't help with the disappointment!
Reindeer were next, nice enclosure, a bit small for a nomadic species and I was a little confused considering their was plenty of space for expansion. The male had the largest antlers I have ever seen, he seemed to be genuinely struggling to lift the weight. No idea why?
White Rhino next and rather frustrating, they were by the house, so I walked round to there only to see them at the far end where we started! There was little viewing opportunity along the fence so I hadn't spotted them moving!
The African area was next, lions looked happy, but obviously asleep! I was a little confused by the steep hill and thus not being able to see part of the enclosure, I walked all over but couldn't work out how to see the back part?
The meerkat area was lovely, I was pleased to see height used well, so many places have the usual small mound but here was a lovely mock termite mound of maybe 7ft? The animals used the full height well and were frequently above my head!
Giraffe seemed nice but still no male for the ladies.
Wolves were amazing, one of them dug a hole and seemed to find a sausage, I was rather intrigued, is burying food usual? Or is food buried for enrichment? And why are they fed sausage? Either way I must have sat there for ages.
Next moose, they looked quite lovely sitting under a tree, I should mention at this point that I have never seen a zoo pay so much attention to planting, I'm no gardener, but every animal appeared to have habitat specific vegetation, it was very impressive.
I headed to hippo then, which was rather lovely, the pygmy male outside was grazing and looking lovely, the common hippos inside looked cramped, I'd like to see them in a bigger pool, but they had access to outside, it was a bit confusing so I have no idea where there outside area was, but I hope it has a larger pool.
Cheetah rock was well built and planted and loads of activities for the kids, which is useful with animals who don't move much!
Passage through asia was annoying, because it was car only, I understand why, but for those without a car it was pointless, you could not see the animals on foot at all.
Sloth bears were sleeping in balls, so other than them looking like bean bags I have no contribution. Cute bean bags though.
Przewalskis horse baby was out, the keeper says 5 weeks now, lovely!
To the Asian Rhino, which was labelled under many names, one horned rhino, indian rhino, asian rhino, although all names are known I think it's confusing for visitors to see all the names. I saw one in the pond and another out, both were lovely and as I've never seen this subspecies before I was very excited. I didn't realise how aquatic they were, the indoor area was 75% water.
Elephants next and I was rather captivated by baby george! He looks amazing but was flanked by two females at all times and it was near impossible to get a photo. The male was kept seperate, I assume because the oldest male youngster (hugh I think) is now sub adult.
Zebras were entertaining, a couple were arguing over whether they were black with white stripes or white with black stripes, after finally cornering a keeper they were told they were grey with white and black stripes, which led to yet more argument! One female was stabled I have no idea why as keeper was cornered by the arguing couple, could it be babies?
Ostrich had babies, four chicks who were very small, I assume only a week or two, but my chick knowledge is with chickens and game so I'm not 100%.
Tigers were asleep, lovely looking enclosure, loads of trees, a large lake, possible the best I've seen, yet everything was visible. Stunning.
Finally the train ride, I was a little annoyed that they charge £4 a person! I've never seen a zoo train that isn't either free or a £1 at most. It was a good ride though, we saw the elephant walk, where the females and the baby were walked in the open trunk to tail. I cringed at the obvious danger of this, how much danger could a full grown elephant do if a child ran in its path?, but it was amazing to see. We also spotted plenty of deer, had a proper introduction to the indian rhino and the african antelope.
Ask me questions if you feel I missed anything, I saw everything but skipped over some.
Started with lemur walk through, appeared to be staffed by volunteers, I was a little worried about how well these would be trained. Visitors do try to touch lemurs and need to be told to stop, would volunteers do this?
The chimp island was lovely, lots of natural behaviour, one was using a leaf as a vessel to drink moat water which reminded me of the old chimp tea parties at twycross.
Moved to the discovery centre, which was amazing, some lovely well thought out mixed exhibits, lizards with frogs with fish, very nice.
I'm pretty sure the roti island snake necked turtles had guppys for lunch, but another zoo visitor seemed to think they were always mixed?
Crocodiles with butterflies was amazing, something I've never thought of, but I'd assume crocs don't eat anything so small, and it was a lovely exhibit.
The sealion show made a good attempt at education, but I thought 4 sealions were too much for a single trainer, she seemed to struggle to control all four, she did well, but I have never seen a single trainer show that used more than two animal. I think an extra trainer would help, but I understand the two younger ladies are recent additions so maybe a second trainer will come later.
The childrens farm was lacking in signage and could do with some more activities. While walking round I was confronted multiple times by angry turkeys, they were further enraged by screaming children, I really think they need an enclosure, for the protection of visitors and themselves.
This is when I first encountered the free ranging animals, Mara who were very tame. Other free rangers were wallaby, chinese water deer, peafowl, and muntjac. During the day I spotted all of them, including a brand new baby mara who was still wet, and just learning to walk, and a number of other baby mara and wallaby. I also spotted the chinese deer buck who had rather scary fangs, very impressive.
I headed toward "wild wild whipsnade", a section based on animals that once inhabited Britain. The lynx I didn't see, not sure where they were as I saw no inside area? The wild boar were asleep, with 4 new piglets and a small cluster of older ones, maybe 3? Lovely stripes and seemed very comfortable with the visitors.
The brown bears I only saw one, he seemed happy enough eating a trail of carrots, very enchanting.
The wolverine, which was the main reason I went to whipsnade in the first place was hiding somewhere. I looked for ages and was upset I couldn't see it, I respect animals ability to hide, but doesn't help with the disappointment!
Reindeer were next, nice enclosure, a bit small for a nomadic species and I was a little confused considering their was plenty of space for expansion. The male had the largest antlers I have ever seen, he seemed to be genuinely struggling to lift the weight. No idea why?
White Rhino next and rather frustrating, they were by the house, so I walked round to there only to see them at the far end where we started! There was little viewing opportunity along the fence so I hadn't spotted them moving!
The African area was next, lions looked happy, but obviously asleep! I was a little confused by the steep hill and thus not being able to see part of the enclosure, I walked all over but couldn't work out how to see the back part?
The meerkat area was lovely, I was pleased to see height used well, so many places have the usual small mound but here was a lovely mock termite mound of maybe 7ft? The animals used the full height well and were frequently above my head!
Giraffe seemed nice but still no male for the ladies.
Wolves were amazing, one of them dug a hole and seemed to find a sausage, I was rather intrigued, is burying food usual? Or is food buried for enrichment? And why are they fed sausage? Either way I must have sat there for ages.
Next moose, they looked quite lovely sitting under a tree, I should mention at this point that I have never seen a zoo pay so much attention to planting, I'm no gardener, but every animal appeared to have habitat specific vegetation, it was very impressive.
I headed to hippo then, which was rather lovely, the pygmy male outside was grazing and looking lovely, the common hippos inside looked cramped, I'd like to see them in a bigger pool, but they had access to outside, it was a bit confusing so I have no idea where there outside area was, but I hope it has a larger pool.
Cheetah rock was well built and planted and loads of activities for the kids, which is useful with animals who don't move much!
Passage through asia was annoying, because it was car only, I understand why, but for those without a car it was pointless, you could not see the animals on foot at all.
Sloth bears were sleeping in balls, so other than them looking like bean bags I have no contribution. Cute bean bags though.
Przewalskis horse baby was out, the keeper says 5 weeks now, lovely!
To the Asian Rhino, which was labelled under many names, one horned rhino, indian rhino, asian rhino, although all names are known I think it's confusing for visitors to see all the names. I saw one in the pond and another out, both were lovely and as I've never seen this subspecies before I was very excited. I didn't realise how aquatic they were, the indoor area was 75% water.
Elephants next and I was rather captivated by baby george! He looks amazing but was flanked by two females at all times and it was near impossible to get a photo. The male was kept seperate, I assume because the oldest male youngster (hugh I think) is now sub adult.
Zebras were entertaining, a couple were arguing over whether they were black with white stripes or white with black stripes, after finally cornering a keeper they were told they were grey with white and black stripes, which led to yet more argument! One female was stabled I have no idea why as keeper was cornered by the arguing couple, could it be babies?
Ostrich had babies, four chicks who were very small, I assume only a week or two, but my chick knowledge is with chickens and game so I'm not 100%.
Tigers were asleep, lovely looking enclosure, loads of trees, a large lake, possible the best I've seen, yet everything was visible. Stunning.
Finally the train ride, I was a little annoyed that they charge £4 a person! I've never seen a zoo train that isn't either free or a £1 at most. It was a good ride though, we saw the elephant walk, where the females and the baby were walked in the open trunk to tail. I cringed at the obvious danger of this, how much danger could a full grown elephant do if a child ran in its path?, but it was amazing to see. We also spotted plenty of deer, had a proper introduction to the indian rhino and the african antelope.
Ask me questions if you feel I missed anything, I saw everything but skipped over some.
