Wingham Wildlife Park Wingham Wildlife Park news 2021

DesertRhino150

DesertRhino150

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15+ year member
Wingham Wildlife Park has released a video tour today on Facebook showing an exhibit that is planned for opening this year - its development started before the first lockdown.

The new exhibit area will be an invertebrate house, with a single long corridor. On the left-hand side after entering are a number of enclosures housing most of the invertebrate species, including:
- Several species of cockroach (including Broad Keys cockroach, headlight cockroach, bat cave cockroach, Madagascar hissing cockroach and dubia cockroaches)
- Cat Tien stick insect
- Blue death-feigning beetle and two species of Pachnoda fruit beetle
- Leaf-cutting ants Acromyrmex sp. (while Sandwich Wildlife Park has Atta sexdens)
- Gooty ornamental tarantula, Brazilian whiteknee tarantula, Chilean rose tarantula and huntsman spider
- Italian wood scorpion and emperor scorpion
- Giant vinegaroon and Florida tailless whip-scorpion
- Pancake slug
- Snail Pleurodonte isabella
- With more species to come - there are at least two aquatic or semi-aquatic species whose inhabitants were not announced

The area on the right-hand side of the corridor will be dedicated entirely to a single species, with a hatchery for the white-clawed crayfish.

Outside there will be a garden containing giant plastic statues of British invertebrates, with species including mole cricket, ladybird spider, tansy beetle and yellow-tailed scorpion.
 
In today's video tour it was confirmed that the Arctic Wolves have moved from SWP to WWP. They are in the former Grey Wolf enclosure. I don't know what has happened to the lone male European wolf that was previously in this enclosure - whether he has left altogether or it was a straight swap. Possibly they have covered this on a previous video but they didn't mention it on this one.

Edit - realised it is covered in the comments, they say:

"We found a new home for her son in Dierenrijk in the Netherlands where he is settling in very well with a new girlfriend"
 
Looking at their recent Facebook post, the two Llamas from Sandwich have arrived and one of the comments also suggests that the Amur leopards are soon to arrive within the next few weeks. :)
 
Animallover1998 said:
Looking at their recent Facebook post, the two Llamas from Sandwich have arrived and one of the comments also suggests that the Amur leopards are soon to arrive within the next few weeks. :)
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I understood it more that the female Amur Leopard at SWP will move to WWP in time - that they have had confirmation from the Studbook but they say they have a lot of work to do before this can go ahead...

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Zia said:
I understood it more that the female Amur Leopard at SWP will move to WWP in time - that they have had confirmation from the Studbook but they say they have a lot of work to do before this can go ahead...

View attachment 477105
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Another cat species for the collection - they've built quite a number now.
 
Zia said:
I understood it more that the female Amur Leopard at SWP will move to WWP in time - that they have had confirmation from the Studbook but they say they have a lot of work to do before this can go ahead...

View attachment 477105
Click to expand...

I would assume that the work they allude to is building her an enclosure...as I don’t think there are any suitable spots for her at the moment? I haven’t been in a while so I can’t quite remember if there are any spare enclosures.
 
ShonenJake13 said:
I would assume that the work they allude to is building her an enclosure...as I don’t think there are any suitable spots for her at the moment? I haven’t been in a while so I can’t quite remember if there are any spare enclosures.
Click to expand...

As far as I know there are not.

From one of the tours I remember them saying they are going to split the caracal enclosure back into two - but I can't remember who would be moving into the second half. That obviously would not be big enough for the leopard regardless.
 
The plan seems to be that work on the current reptile house (the have been longterm plans for reptile house works that were halted due to Covid, maybe new house?) will create a new enclosure for the Clouded Leopards, which will free up their current enclosure for the Amur Leopard.

The Raccoon Dogs have moved into the cat enclosure section closest to the porcupines.
 
Just been confirmed on the FaceBook live tour that the llamas have gone to a farm in Scotland
 
Seems like a good idea to build a new enclosure for the cloudies the current one is a bit bare. Not sure if it will be big enough for an amur leopard however.
 
They've said on the live tours that the current Clouded Leopard enclosure size is about the same size as the Amur Leopard enclosure at Sandwich.

Personally I think a lot of the enclosures at Wingham are bare. I thought so on my visit in 2016, and as much as I enjoy the lockdown live tours, it's disappointing to see the enclosures still look bare. The new Himalayas area is an improvement, but again, feels very bare. I know they've made a deliberate choice of a deforestation theme in that area, but some of the monkey enclosures especially could really do with more planting if possible.
 
Yeah I completely agree I feel like the new part almost becomes an eyesore with the wood up there used as the enclosure walls, Id personally prefer fake rock haha. Its interesting the cloudies will be down by the reptile house im guessing their house will be in there and then there will be outdoor enclosures connected to it??

Personally I think all the big cat enclosures need redoing hopefully this will also be done in the future.
 
I do agree with many of the enclosures being too bare - the Jaguar enclosure is a good example. I know during the Live Tours they have said they intend to repurpose as much as possible so hopefully that will mean improvements at Wingham.
 
Had a good trip to wingham today and noted a few things

-work on the new cheetah enclosure is well underway with the new house almost done, the space in front of the cheetahs has been cleared and it looks like something else is going to be built there.

-the reptile house will not be reopening again until the new one is built. Apparently the reptile/nocturnal/tropical house will all merge into one big building.

-the bear cub will also be leaving this year and going to another collection and then the adults will be put back together.

-the clouded leopards were also separated with what looks like a rotation of the outside enclosure.
 
Wingham have released a blog post outlining all the species that have moved over there from the now-closed Sandwich Wildlife Park.

Birds
- Five Humboldt penguins (they have been integrated into the current flock, with some of the original birds moving to new homes)
- Dusky and chattering lories have moved in next to the vervet monkeys

Carnivores
- Arctic wolves and raccoon dogs, as already mentioned on this thread

Mammals
- A hand-reared crested porcupine that has been integrated with the current group
- The pair of Northern Luzon giant cloud rats have moved back into their old enclosure
- The meerkat and cusimanse groups have moved over
- Two female pygmy goats have moved over

Primates
- Two male pygmy marmosets, being housed in the tropical house
- Bachelor group of Senegal bushbabies
- Father and daughter pair of black-tailed marmosets

- The upstairs of the Chimp House has also welcomed back the male two-toed sloth and Southern tamandua

Reptiles and Amphibians
- A veiled chameleon and three cane toads have moved over

The full blog post can be found here:
Hello Newbies - Animal Experiences At Wingham Wildlife Park In Kent
 
Wingham Wildlife Park have announced the arrival of thirty white-clawed crayfish, which will be part of a breeding-for-reintroduction project.

Information comes from the Wingham Wildlife Park Facebook page.
 
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