Yes - Victor, Pixel, Nissan, and Nobby.
EDIT: It occurs to me to wonder when the last time there were seven polar bears in the UK at the same time was!
Yorkshire Wildlife Park Yorkshire Wildlife Park News 2016
- Thread starter claret
- Start date
Yes - Victor, Pixel, Nissan, and Nobby.
EDIT: It occurs to me to wonder when the last time there were seven polar bears in the UK at the same time was!
Can't remember just now- 1980's?- but they all appeared to disappear rather rapidly at about the same time.
Do you think YWP might now complete less enclosures in view of this mixing?
No idea - but it certainly gives them flexibility if they can put them all out together.
littleRedPanda
Well-Known Member
Ahhhh, I just noticed that they had mixed them up already this week (Nissan in with Pixel, Victor in with Nobby) so it's great that they are all getting on together.
There always seems to be rumours about future plans when I visit, I overhear people trying to outdo each other with what they've been told.
There always seems to be rumours about future plans when I visit, I overhear people trying to outdo each other with what they've been told.
Which has led me to wonder where polar bears now rank in terms of UK captive population - the following figures are probably not 100% accurate, relying as they do on my memory of how many individuals are held at various collections supplemented by however recently ZTL has been updated, but it is interesting to note how "common" the Polar Bear has become, and how much the Brown Bear population appears to have fallen since the days it was near ubiquitous........
1) Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) - 20 individuals at nine collections
2) Spectacled Bear (Tremarctos ornatus) - 11 individuals at five collections
3) Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus) - 8 individuals at four collections
4) American Black Bear (Ursus americanus) - 8 individuals at one collection
5) Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) - 7 individuals at two collections
6) Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus) - 3 individuals at one collection
7) Asiatic Black Bear (Ursus thibetanus) - 2 individuals at two collections
8) Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) - 2 individuals at one collection
Of these taxa - excluding the Giant Panda pair at Edinburgh, which barring extensions have a set timescale on their presence - I suspect we are likely to lose the Asiatic Black Bear in the next few years, with the Sloth Bear being the most probable loss after this; despite being held at only one collection I think we will hang onto the American Black Bear somewhat longer as Woburn imported a number of young individuals some years ago.
One thing is for sure however; the Brown Bear is likely to slip several places within the next few years, due to a combination of little breeding taking place within the population, the natural loss of a largely-ageing population and (we can but hope) the numbers of Spectacled and Sun Bears creeping up.
When and where where the last Brown Bear cubs born in the UK? Somewhere like Blair Drummond or HWP perhaps?
Have a feeling it was Blair Drummond a few years ago - but prior to that I cannot recall *any* Brown Bear births in the UK within the last decade or so, offhand.
Blair Drummond did breed fairly recently (within the last five years). Don't think there have been any since.
Living locally I hear loads of rumours all the time, the problem is you can never be sure which are serious and which aren't. I for one certainly never believed they would have polar bears and black rhino. There are a lot of rumours that we will see another primate before long and I have heard penguins mentioned a few times.
Out of interest I was talking to a keeper and they were saying the plan is to eventually house up to 16 bears if they can keep all males. Hopefully this means the future of polar bears are secure in the UK for the foreseeable future.
YWP celebrates there 7th anniversary today
https://yorkshirewildlifepark.com/2016/04/7th-heaven-for-yorkshire-wildlife-park/
https://yorkshirewildlifepark.com/2016/04/7th-heaven-for-yorkshire-wildlife-park/
tw2310
Well-Known Member
new photos
Some new photos in the gallery for those who've been keen to follow the recent developments but haven't been able to get to the park recently.
It's only a few weeks since I've last been, and i'm used to the park constantly changing, but even I was surprised at the huge amount of work going on right now.
In addition to what's shown in the photo gallery there's new shops open in the courtyard, and a new permanent toilet block being built just inside the entrance / next to the indoor slide.
As you go round the park the new African adventure is the busiest in terms of changes. It's effectively cut in half with the rhino house going up quickly just in front of the waterworks. The old camel enclosure is empty with the camel house having been removed and a new hoofstock house (according to the planning website documents) well on the way to being finished at the back of what was the camel enclosure (near the entrance to land of the tigers).
The new café next to the giraffe house looks ready to be kitted out. It's fairly large, but disappointing there's no windows looking out on to the giraffe enclosure. The camels have been moved to a new enclosure at the rear of the giraffes. The new housing is of the usual high standard & much more fit for purpose than the old one looked. Once the enclosure grasses over properly and is tidied up it'll look good. In front of this is another new play area. The paths are good and, for now, it's actually a rare quiet corner of the park. It seems that if people can see the giraffes outside then they're not tending to head down this way yet, though I think this will change once the café opens and kids discover the play area.
I haven't seen the sitatunga for a while and their enclosure / housing looks abandoned, so assume they've gone. Still no movement on the 3rd / 4th polar bear enclosures. There's yellow flag markers plotting the course of the gas pipeline, but other than that very much the same. Only one bear in the original enclosure today, with the other 3 in the 2nd enclosure. Hopefully just giving victor a rest from the kids.
The otters are clearly well settled whilst the red river hog enclosure is currently cut in half, with the addition of a temporary looking house. Hopefully they're looking to introduce another male or group of hogs. It's sad that Buster is gone, especially for anyone who remembers the early days of the park before all the headline draws came along, but last time I saw him he was clearly not looking good.
The amphitheatre is starting to take shape in what was the old hunting dog enclosure. The plans show this to be indoor / under cover, but just now they're clearly concentrating on the layout of the tiered steps / seating.
One thing that was obviously annoying quite a few people today was the state of some of the paths, which is my only ever gripe about the place. They've done quite a lot to improve it in some areas, and I think regular visitors are used to the place changing so often they've become accustomed to the layout changing. More permanent paths I suppose will come in time. For newer visitors though I think it can be a bit off putting.
Despite that minor criticism I love seeing how the park is developing. It has a great feeling of "how you should build a zoo nowadays" when you have plenty of space to play with and no restrictions of old buildings to work around or adapt, which often hinders older establishments. Having spoken to a few of the staff the plan seems to be to focus on adding to the hoofstock and sorting out the rhino enclosure this year, then eventually move on to adding primates to the collection as they develop further around the back of the giraffes and the new camel enclosure. The early plans show this to be the "Asian" sector of the park, whilst the collection plan from a few years ago shows orang-utans, lowland gorillas, mandrill, okapi and snow leopards to be amongst the longer term aims. Still plenty to look forward to.
Some new photos in the gallery for those who've been keen to follow the recent developments but haven't been able to get to the park recently.
It's only a few weeks since I've last been, and i'm used to the park constantly changing, but even I was surprised at the huge amount of work going on right now.
In addition to what's shown in the photo gallery there's new shops open in the courtyard, and a new permanent toilet block being built just inside the entrance / next to the indoor slide.
As you go round the park the new African adventure is the busiest in terms of changes. It's effectively cut in half with the rhino house going up quickly just in front of the waterworks. The old camel enclosure is empty with the camel house having been removed and a new hoofstock house (according to the planning website documents) well on the way to being finished at the back of what was the camel enclosure (near the entrance to land of the tigers).
The new café next to the giraffe house looks ready to be kitted out. It's fairly large, but disappointing there's no windows looking out on to the giraffe enclosure. The camels have been moved to a new enclosure at the rear of the giraffes. The new housing is of the usual high standard & much more fit for purpose than the old one looked. Once the enclosure grasses over properly and is tidied up it'll look good. In front of this is another new play area. The paths are good and, for now, it's actually a rare quiet corner of the park. It seems that if people can see the giraffes outside then they're not tending to head down this way yet, though I think this will change once the café opens and kids discover the play area.
I haven't seen the sitatunga for a while and their enclosure / housing looks abandoned, so assume they've gone. Still no movement on the 3rd / 4th polar bear enclosures. There's yellow flag markers plotting the course of the gas pipeline, but other than that very much the same. Only one bear in the original enclosure today, with the other 3 in the 2nd enclosure. Hopefully just giving victor a rest from the kids.
The otters are clearly well settled whilst the red river hog enclosure is currently cut in half, with the addition of a temporary looking house. Hopefully they're looking to introduce another male or group of hogs. It's sad that Buster is gone, especially for anyone who remembers the early days of the park before all the headline draws came along, but last time I saw him he was clearly not looking good.
The amphitheatre is starting to take shape in what was the old hunting dog enclosure. The plans show this to be indoor / under cover, but just now they're clearly concentrating on the layout of the tiered steps / seating.
One thing that was obviously annoying quite a few people today was the state of some of the paths, which is my only ever gripe about the place. They've done quite a lot to improve it in some areas, and I think regular visitors are used to the place changing so often they've become accustomed to the layout changing. More permanent paths I suppose will come in time. For newer visitors though I think it can be a bit off putting.
Despite that minor criticism I love seeing how the park is developing. It has a great feeling of "how you should build a zoo nowadays" when you have plenty of space to play with and no restrictions of old buildings to work around or adapt, which often hinders older establishments. Having spoken to a few of the staff the plan seems to be to focus on adding to the hoofstock and sorting out the rhino enclosure this year, then eventually move on to adding primates to the collection as they develop further around the back of the giraffes and the new camel enclosure. The early plans show this to be the "Asian" sector of the park, whilst the collection plan from a few years ago shows orang-utans, lowland gorillas, mandrill, okapi and snow leopards to be amongst the longer term aims. Still plenty to look forward to.
Has anyone been lately to give an update on the works? If not I may have to pay another visit tommorow.
Big Rob
Well-Known Member
I attended last weekend (22-5-16) and they are progressing nicely with the African plains/Rhino enclosure,even though I cant see it being done before the school summer holidays at the earliest.
The "Ampitheatre " ( Old "animals in action" area) looked almost finished.They were doing major planting work,with the seating and stage area looking to be complete. It wouldn't surprise me if it was finished by now ready for school half-term holidays.
The polar bears continue to have the unlimited use of both finished enclosures where they can use the "tunnel" under the walkway to gain access to either one. I feel a little sorry for Victor as the extra room means he isn't getting the chance to bond with either Nissan or Nobby,the 2 youngest bears,like he would if they were "forced" to be close to him. Pixel took a while to get used to being close to such a huge bear but now they are comfortable with each other. Now that Nissan and Nobby can give him a wide berth I can see it taking much longer for them to overcome their fears.It is definitely stressing Victor a bit that he is excluded from the 3 other bears "games" as he has started pacing along the top of the ridge in the 1st enclosure. I hope they address this issue sooner rather than later.
The only other thing I noticed was that in the Giant otters indoor accommodation the small pools that are used for feeding had been drained and filled with Straw/Hay! Both otters were in the main lake outside being more active and boisterous than I had ever seen them. Hope they can source a male sometime in the not so distant future.
Sorry there are no pictures added to the gallery lately but my laptop has developed man flu so is out of action at the moment.
P.S. I hope you didn't go today Wayne,the weather is atrocious at the moment. And commiserations on the play-off game.
Thanks for the update, the beauty of living local is that I looked out of the window and decided to go tommorow instead. I've gone from a weekly visitor to visiting every few months and trying to see other collections so I really do need to get back soon.
I too noticed that Victor was pacing on my last visit and I feel that he doesn't look as happy as when he was in with pixel so hopefully something will be done soon.
The otter enclosure particularly the indoor quarters are a disappointment compared to their usual quality especially since this is one of the only houses you can see into. I hope that some work will be done on this soon as I know it was built in a rush, they will really need their indoor pools in the winter and filling them in may just be them accepting what many of us believed that the pools were far too small and offered no swimming room. I really hoped they would build something similar to chesters with underwater viewing.
I too noticed that Victor was pacing on my last visit and I feel that he doesn't look as happy as when he was in with pixel so hopefully something will be done soon.
The otter enclosure particularly the indoor quarters are a disappointment compared to their usual quality especially since this is one of the only houses you can see into. I hope that some work will be done on this soon as I know it was built in a rush, they will really need their indoor pools in the winter and filling them in may just be them accepting what many of us believed that the pools were far too small and offered no swimming room. I really hoped they would build something similar to chesters with underwater viewing.
Today, I had the pleasure of visiting Yorkshire Wildlife Park for the first time.
- The park no longer holds flamingo, the remainder of the flock of was sent to Lotherton Hall.
- The rhino house is getting on very well, the path between the new giraffe enclosure and rhino enclosure is open for public to walk along
- The zebras have been moved away from the construction site and put in a field behind the new camel house.
- The amphitheatre is now complete and held a show called "Big Bugs" which had included Stick Insect, Chilean Rose Tarantula & Giant African Milipede
- Pixel stayed to the right hand side enclosure and Nobby and Nissan stayed to the left hand side enclosure, Viktor stayed inside occasionally coming out
Overall, I am very impressed with the enclosure and hope to visit again.
- The park no longer holds flamingo, the remainder of the flock of was sent to Lotherton Hall.
- The rhino house is getting on very well, the path between the new giraffe enclosure and rhino enclosure is open for public to walk along
- The zebras have been moved away from the construction site and put in a field behind the new camel house.
- The amphitheatre is now complete and held a show called "Big Bugs" which had included Stick Insect, Chilean Rose Tarantula & Giant African Milipede
- Pixel stayed to the right hand side enclosure and Nobby and Nissan stayed to the left hand side enclosure, Viktor stayed inside occasionally coming out
Overall, I am very impressed with the enclosure and hope to visit again.
They weren't visible when I last visited, so that makes sense. Now I feel stupid for not taking much time to look at the flamingos when I was last at Lotherton...
They weren't visible when I last visited as well, so that makes sense.
I would really like for them to get some greater flamingo. It would really tie in the meerkats to the new African area.
People are saying they've now got some Grevy's zebra and still some of the old Chapman's (not in the same place)