Yorkshire Wildlife Park Yorkshire Wildlife Park News 2025
- Thread starter Smaggledagle
- Start date
JonWild
Well-Known Member
I visit the park at least once a year and I find it to be one of my favourite parks in England. It’s a fairly large place and is very open and the enclosures at the park are some of the best I’ve seen, for example the cheetah and polar bear enclosures. Not many rare species to come across in captivity in the park as most of the species are quite heavy hitters, such as the lions, giraffes, polar bears, tiger etc. I do think it is worth a visit and I would advise going for a full day out as it is a long walk to get around if you want to see everything in my personal opinion, but I would definitely recommend a visit as it is a brilliant facility with a large collection of species and very well done enclosures. I would advise most likely to visit during a fine day as the park is more or less entirely outdoors and I have been caught in the rain a couple times there and have gotten soaked! I would also recommend checking out the website for more information.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
I agree with @JonWild it’s an excellent day out and has lots of great exhibits. I go a few times a year. As well as the big landmark exhibits like the Polar bears there’s a lovely group of giant otters, the super breeding group of red howlers, a wonderful lemur walkthrough and for me one of the best walkthroughs anywhere in Amazonas with the small primates. Lovely group of Rolloways and the ‘big’ species like lions tigers and giraffes. Excellent leopards, fun geladas and a super sea lion enclosure which is just a joy imho. The one thing it lacks is any birds but I can forgive that for the quality array of other things on display.
It is a sizeable place and you’ll do a few km if you go round more than once - as mentioned it is also quite exposed. But the quality of the exhibits is generally high and there are lots of things to enjoy.
Was at the park today. Managed to see pretty much everyone apart from the Binturong so really good trip!
Heard during the Tiger feed that Altai has been brought in with the recommendation of breeding with their long term female Tschuna, apparently it's the parks decision wether to proceed. They're hesitant as she's older (14 I think she said) but is in really good health. They're also concerned because she's a park favourite and it would be terrible if anything happened in the mating process. But first signs are promising as apparently he is very cool and calm around her in season, not getting himself worked up, and apparently she loves flirting with him.
No leopard cubs out in the main pen today, it was Drake, we couldn't even spot them in the back pens. I read somewhere that one of the cubs injured itself in the main pen but that was probably over a month ago so I hope it's just the case of we went on Drakes day and the cubs not still struggling.
No sighting of Darcy the female Cheetah, I know she's been seen getting increasingly bigger so maybe inside with cubs, but just speculation there, could have just missed her.
Anyone know if there are any plans for project polar 2, its just sat empty at the moment.
Heard during the Tiger feed that Altai has been brought in with the recommendation of breeding with their long term female Tschuna, apparently it's the parks decision wether to proceed. They're hesitant as she's older (14 I think she said) but is in really good health. They're also concerned because she's a park favourite and it would be terrible if anything happened in the mating process. But first signs are promising as apparently he is very cool and calm around her in season, not getting himself worked up, and apparently she loves flirting with him.
No leopard cubs out in the main pen today, it was Drake, we couldn't even spot them in the back pens. I read somewhere that one of the cubs injured itself in the main pen but that was probably over a month ago so I hope it's just the case of we went on Drakes day and the cubs not still struggling.
No sighting of Darcy the female Cheetah, I know she's been seen getting increasingly bigger so maybe inside with cubs, but just speculation there, could have just missed her.
Anyone know if there are any plans for project polar 2, its just sat empty at the moment.
Alwaysevergreen
Well-Known Member
Plenty of ducks, pigeons and seagulls, what more could you want.No birds!!!
That’s just fine, if you regard birds as some kind of expendable decorative wallpaper!
Lafone
Well-Known Member
I'd say YWP offers a good place for some really good wild birds. As well as the more common Magpies (actually a good spot for Leucistic corvids), and small birds like Robins, Sparrows etc, Wood pigeons, Mutes and Mallards, they have a healthy number of warblers in their reedbeds (which you can see well from the tiger walkway), breeding Greylags and Tufties on the lake near the Sealions and you can find four types of gulls around the Polar Bear enclosure. Also good Kestrel
They might not have any captive birds (which I do really think is a shame) but wildlife has an established home there and you can add a bird to a day out, if you value our native species. Never wallpaper for me.
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To be fair, YWP is actually one of the best British zoos for wildlife in the grounds. There are Little Owls regularly seen, and the wild ducks go well beyond Mallard and Tufty (Gadwall, Shoveler, Teal, etc). I've seen lapwings, snipe - and stoats are regular as well (I got to watch one killing a rabbit by the Polar Bears not so long ago!). Really nice stuff all round. I mean, it's not Minsmere, but it well outshines most zoo wild areas.
And I always go back to their mission statement, right when the plans first made the local newspapers before they opened - they were building a 'walk-around safari park' - which is a pretty bang-on description of what they built. So, yeah, if you want lots of birds you want to be elsewhere, but only in the same way you wouldn't go to The Deep if you wanted to see giraffes.
Smylers
New Member
Rainy days have their advantages too, though! So long as you're appropriately equipped and it's warm enough such that you can cope with being soaked. We had a fantastic visit in which we were persistently drenched: we got an interesting polar-bear talk, delivered to just us and one other party, so it was almost a private tour, with lots of opportunities to ask questions. Whereas on a return hot, sunny day there were literally hundreds of people around the keeper giving the polar-bear talk, and even though they had a loudhailer, it was hard to make them out and impossible to get to where we could see what they were pointing at.
In general, navigating the park is much easier on rainy days when so many others stay away, and it's easier to get in good viewing spots. On our most recent sunny visit, we struggled to find places to refill our water bottles (while passing several YWP-branded Coca-cola vending machines; I'm not entirely sure that Coca-cola's mission is aligned with that of the park …) and it can get weary walking around with so little shade.
A couple of other, non-rain-related, things you may wish to consider, @Jambi:
- If you need to stay over in the area, consider the on-site hotel and getting a room which is zoo-side and with a balcony. We did that on our most recent visit and got several hours the evening before of watching the maned wolves patrolling around their back lot, and at times could see some tapir as well. It effectively extended our time at the zoo, and we got a much better view of the maned wolves than we did from the path at the front of their enclosure the following day.
(We also enjoyed a game of crazy golf next to the hotel, but that's not on the zoo side and much more a personal preference.)
- Things can start to close well before the advertised closing time. In the morning a keeper advised that late afternoon is a good time for seeing the rhinos, and if they aren't at the front then they may be visible from the path by the lions. But as we tried to head along there at 17:15 we were blocked and told the zoo was closing and we needed to start heading for the exit, a full 45 minutes before the 18:00 stated at booking.
We asked where we could get water and were directed to the Safari Café (which was closed, though the staff did let me past the mops to get water). The toilets outside the café were also closed. A member of staff was surprised by this and used their radio to discover we should go to the toilets in the soft-play area; the soft play itself was closed, and we had to negotiate with more staff to be allowed in to use the toilets. Then the staff basically ushered us out of the park, insisting we went past the animatronic dinosaurs rather than whichever animals we passed on the way in.
Even the gift shop (the one in The Hive, outside the entrance gates) was closed: many places keep that open for a little longer to get extra revenue from people leaving.
Pantherinae
Active Member
A couple of updates:
Auckley (female Amur leopard, named after the village next to the wildlife park) has moved to Warsaw Zoo. They’re giving her time to continue to develop and grow before being introduced to their male.
Noubia (new female Spotted hyena) has been successfully introduced to male Speedy. The park hopes for hyena cubs soon.
Auckley (female Amur leopard, named after the village next to the wildlife park) has moved to Warsaw Zoo. They’re giving her time to continue to develop and grow before being introduced to their male.
Noubia (new female Spotted hyena) has been successfully introduced to male Speedy. The park hopes for hyena cubs soon.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Had a fun day at YWP today, weather was warm which brought lots of the animals out. The zoo was pretty busy and as well as lots of visitors there was a large group of brownies and guides who arrived in a few coaches - turned out to be the best behaved children I've ever seen at the zoo, all enthusiasm and clearly having a great time. Perhaps there is a badge for that and if not there should be. Not as busy as it will be in half term though and people soon spaced out.
There was a new youngster for the Red Howlers which was fun to see and another good result for the zoo in breeding the species.
Got good views of the most recent Cotton Top youngster who was spending time off the parents but was gathered up and spirited away after it went onto the ground.
Saw the hyenas out together (introduced on 8th October so not sure there will be cubs just yet).
The lions were active with a lot of roaring going on, guess that's due to the new arrivals who were not out. A new fence runs along the line of the waterway in the far side enclosure nearest the house, guess that's to manage any across the water encounters going forwards. Was nice to see Aysa's cubs out and about.
The sealion feed and talk at the end of the day was a lot of fun (always a highlight of a visit for me to see the ex Whipsnade and newer Sealions). They mentioned both the adult females (Bailey and Lara) had had 'phantom' / pseudopregnancies - no pups obviously now expected and with Dominic the male gone assume no others planned for now.
I didn't see the sign for the crowned lemurs in the walkthrough, are they still there?
There was a new youngster for the Red Howlers which was fun to see and another good result for the zoo in breeding the species.
Got good views of the most recent Cotton Top youngster who was spending time off the parents but was gathered up and spirited away after it went onto the ground.
Saw the hyenas out together (introduced on 8th October so not sure there will be cubs just yet).
The lions were active with a lot of roaring going on, guess that's due to the new arrivals who were not out. A new fence runs along the line of the waterway in the far side enclosure nearest the house, guess that's to manage any across the water encounters going forwards. Was nice to see Aysa's cubs out and about.
The sealion feed and talk at the end of the day was a lot of fun (always a highlight of a visit for me to see the ex Whipsnade and newer Sealions). They mentioned both the adult females (Bailey and Lara) had had 'phantom' / pseudopregnancies - no pups obviously now expected and with Dominic the male gone assume no others planned for now.
I didn't see the sign for the crowned lemurs in the walkthrough, are they still there?
How many cotton tops are there now ?
Piece of September 2025 News Not Mentioned:
On September 12th, it was mentioned that the zoo transferred a female (0.1) giant otter named Bonita to Chester Zoo in Cheshire. It was also mentioned that the zoo acquired a female (0.1) giant otter from Chester Zoo*.
* Information sourced from @Nisha in the Giant otters in Europe thread (Page 8 Post #155).
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On October 15th, the zoo announced that a third gelada was born on August 26th, which is on exhibit. The zoo also announced they named the 2nd gelada Kaddu.
Yorkshire Wildlife Park
Adorable Gelada Monkey Born | News | Yorkshire Wildlife Park
* Worth mentioning that the zoo transferred an African wild dog to Exmoor Zoo in Devon sometime in winter 2024.
On September 12th, it was mentioned that the zoo transferred a female (0.1) giant otter named Bonita to Chester Zoo in Cheshire. It was also mentioned that the zoo acquired a female (0.1) giant otter from Chester Zoo*.
* Information sourced from @Nisha in the Giant otters in Europe thread (Page 8 Post #155).
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On October 15th, the zoo announced that a third gelada was born on August 26th, which is on exhibit. The zoo also announced they named the 2nd gelada Kaddu.
Yorkshire Wildlife Park
Adorable Gelada Monkey Born | News | Yorkshire Wildlife Park
* Worth mentioning that the zoo transferred an African wild dog to Exmoor Zoo in Devon sometime in winter 2024.
I believe this has come from Chessington and the plan is to move him onto Whipsnade later next year to breed there also.
Does anyone know if a capybara has passed away i only saw one today which they are usually always together
Probably 7 year old Gamba as he isn't currently at Chessington.
Pantherinae
Active Member
Last week, Northeast African cheetah brothers Kendi and Tafari moved to Chester Zoo to join the breeding programme