Wingham Wildlife Park Wingham Wildlife Park news 2017

[Nisha]

Fences are too short for most Big cats or anything of a similar size. Possibly an upgrade for the European Wolves now they're breeding or even the Cheetahs? My other guess (for a new species) would be African Wild Dogs...

 

[migdog]

It's not clear from the photos but there's quite a lot of wooden frames and we saw some fake rocks. My guess to my wife was maybe sun bears, not sure where they'd come from though.

 

[Nisha]

2.1 Cheetah were born 1st July. A first breeding at Wingham

 

[littleRedPanda]

I noticed someone expressing concern for one of the Cheetah cubs and another poster only including two in his recent photos ... has one perished?

 

[littleRedPanda]

From the facebook
"It is very early days and it is living with first time parents so we are keeping a very close eye, but we're thrilled to announce that this morning nando and Kathleen the lowland tapirs became parents. We have left mum and dad to it (they appear to be doing a good job so far) so can't confirm the sex of this little beauty just yet - isn't it gorgeous though!"

 

[Nisha]

A female (black) Jaguar cub was born 11th July. Unfortunately the cub wasn't able to feed and hence was pulled for handrearing. She has since been transfered to the Big Cat Sanctuary at Smarden

 

[littleRedPanda]

I noticed someone expressing concern for one of the Cheetah cubs and another poster only including two in his recent photos ... has one perished?

I decided to pop into Wingham on my way to the ferry and learned that one of the 3 cubs is being hand reared. The other 2 are looking good, as is the Tapir baby.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

A first visit to this collection today ( in the company of @Swampy ) brings resolution to a long-running debate......

Probably should mention but upon my last visit the plantain squirrels that were kept near the gibbons are no longer in the zoo

I believe that the plantain squirrels have died, they were old specimens.

Plantain Squirrel is still in the zoo. It has been moved upstairs into the Chimp house and currently shares the enclosure with the Sloths, Tamandua and the Cotton Top Tamarins

Common marmosets are in with the sloths and tamandua, cottontops are in their own enclosure.

Are you sure? I'm sure it was tree shrews sharing that enclosure (at the end of the corridor) with those animals when I visited at the end of March.

When I visited at the end of May there were common marmosets in there, no sign of tree shrews.

In short - @rhinofanatic was (almost) entirely correct, with the one inaccuracy being a result of an arrival since they posted their information, and Plantain Squirrel *is* still present.

The exhibits in this area contain the following, viewed from the stairs onward:

1) Cotton-top Tamarin
2) Common Marmoset
3) Midas Tamarin and Four-toed Hedgehog (signposted as this but I strongly doubt they were the pure form)
4) Emperor Tamarin and Three-banded Armadillo
5) Long-tailed Tamandua, Linne's Two-toed Sloth, Senegal Galago and (unsigned) Plantain Squirrel

Given the broad similarity between the squirrel and a Belangers Treeshew in colour and size, I suspect it is possible @Shorts saw it in March and misidentified it.

 

[Shorts]

Given the broad similarity between the squirrel and a Belangers Treeshew in colour and size, I suspect it is possible @Shorts saw it in March and misidentified it.

Damn, I need to study "Squirrels of the World" some more.

Philosophical question, if you see something that's a life tick but you don't realise it's a life tick does it still count (do you deserve it)?

 

[Swampy]

A few other observations from yesterday's visit with @TeaLovingDave :
*The only amazon parrots currently on display are a pair of double yellow-headed (signed) & one yellow-crowned (unsigned) in the large cockatoo aviary. Anyone familiar with the collection know where the lilac-crowned & Tucumán are/were?
*Maybe i'm just comparing to Chester's exhibits too much, but a lot of the exhibits in the reptile house seemed quite small & bare.
*There are at least 6 new enclosures being constructed behind the dinosaur display. The largest of these, which looks suited for a large carnivore, currently houses some grey-crowned cranes (presumably temporarily).
*Speaking of the dinosaurs, I now see that Chester's aren't that inaccurate at all
*A couple of unlabelled birds in the tropical house; japanese quail & (i think) lineolated parakeet, both domestic colour varieties.
*There are more butterflies in the main section of the tropical house than the butterfly walkthrough.

In answer to short's philosophical question: While going through photos on my old computer's hard drive, i found a photo I had taken in CERZA safari while I was 10 and labelled as 'glossy starling' was in fact a white-tailed jay & I counted that lifer

 

[lintworm]

A first visit to this collection today ( in the company of @Swampy ) brings resolution to a long-running debate......

What are your thoughts on the "Pardine genets" they have, because to me they do not really look like real Pardine genets and resemble more a common genet in some ways based on pictures in the gallery (fused spots at the dorsal end, tail length, longish black hairs on the dorsal line and overall colour), also the white rings on the tail do not seem completely right, though the number fits Pardine genet (as does the lack of a white tip to the tail)...

 

[TeaLovingDave]

What are your thoughts on the "Pardine genets" they have, because to me they do not really look like real Pardine genets and resemble more a common genet in some ways based on pictures in the gallery (fused spots at the dorsal end, tail length, longish black hairs on the dorsal line and overall colour), also the white rings on the tail do not seem completely right, though the number fits Pardine genet (as does the lack of a white tip to the tail)...

The size, colour and number of spots is completely wrong for Common Genet - truth be told I suspect the main thing making these superficially resemble Common is the coat colour, but the first volume of HBW states that Pardine *can* range from sandy yellow to grey. The curious thing is, these animals actually look like a cross between the illustrations for Pardine and Cape in the aforementioned book - yet most of the captive Cape I have seen photographed resemble the illustration for Pardine more than they do their own species

I suspect that the captive populations of Pardine, Cape and Rusty-spotted may all contain some gene-flow from their sister species; however in this particular case the Wingham stock derives from private keepers who imported new blood a few years ago and who bred the species for the first time in the UK, and other individuals bred by these keepers look a *lot* more like true Pardine.

 

[Zia]

New enclosure inhabitants confirmed as.... (taken from Winghams Facebook feed):

We have been getting asked for months now what will be going in to the new enclosure behind the dinosaurs. The inhabitants arrived a few days ago and were let out for the first time today, however please note that they are NOT on display yet.

This pair of moon bears is still settling in to their new home and while we complete some of the infrastructure around the exhibit it will give them the perfect chance to settle in before they go on display - watch this space... We do not have a date in mind for this yet, however if they come to the bottom corner or climb in some of the areas you might catch a cheeky glimpse from the dinosaurs

For now though here are a couple of photos of the having a sniff about and enjoying their pool. We are very proud of this exhibit and hope to be able to show it off soon! More photos to come (I will try to get some more baby tapir photos too as these have been requested a few times now).

 

[Brum]

Wow! Now that is a nice (and unexpected) addition.

 

[Maguari]

Wow! Now that is a nice (and unexpected) addition.

Indeed. Though I'm not sure about the name 'moon bear', that's a very welcome shot in the arm for the UK's full set of bear species.

 

[littleRedPanda]

they look very young

 

[Zia]

Indeed. Though I'm not sure about the name 'moon bear', that's a very welcome shot in the arm for the UK's full set of bear species.

I don't see a problem with the name tbh - they are known as moon bears, it is not as if they have made it up. In terms of marketing I would say 'moon bear' sounds more exciting / exotic than Asiatic Black Bear to your average zoo-goer.

they look very young

Yes - I was saying the same to my other half.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

I think "Moon Bear" is somewhat problematic given the fact that it is a name applied to *two* species - Asiatic Black Bear and, admittedly less often, Sloth Bear.

 

[Zia]

I think "Moon Bear" is somewhat problematic given the fact that it is a name applied to *two* species - Asiatic Black Bear and, admittedly less often, Sloth Bear.

I have genuinely never heard of anyone using the term for sloth bears.

 

[Maguari]

I guess for me it just feels like a slightly twee and even patronising new-coined name, like with Painted Dog - except with Moon Bear, I've only ever really seen it used by animal welfare charities, who by definition are after the public's money and sympathy (and using the name no doubt for the exact reason you give, @Zia). I'm sure I'll grow used to it in time, as it seems to be spreading. It's pretty irrational, to be fair, given I've no problem with Sun Bear (though, actually, maybe the artificial neatness of that pair of names is part of my problem! I'm quite sure I'd feel the same with White and Black Rhino if those names didn't pre-date me).

Though I do agree that it would never cross my mind that it was referring to Sloth Bear!