ZSL Whipsnade Zoo ZSL Whipsnade Zoo News 2023

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Whipsnade is certainly looking on the up at the moment.

As much as I’d love another white rhino calf, and I wouldn’t be surprised if another was on the way in the next year (as I saw plenty of mating during visits last year), I believe the rhino in the photo you attached is Nsiswa/Sizzle, the male, and not a pregnant female.
 
Strange we got conflicting info on the hippos, I was quite plainly told Hoover and Lola were deliberately matched and they want to keep breeding them.
As follows is my opinion:
After reading other messages and listening to a keeper talk on Sunday, i think it’s clear that what’s happening with the hippos is uncertain/keeps changing. My reason for this is the conflicting information that different people are being told for example, Hoover coming back once Hodor has left vs. a new male coming in. During the talk on Sunday the man said Hoover had moved to Yorkshire Wildlife Park to breed with a female (So unless he has now moved from Flamingo Land to YWP without anyone noticing and posting about on here, is clearly incorrect). So I guess my point is to take information regarding the hippos future with a grain of salt as it doesn’t seem like all the staff are 100% sure of what is going on as of writing this post.

On a side note: It did make me think that if Yorkshire Wildlife Park were to get common hippo, where would they go?
I first thought the lake by the sea lions would be the cheapest conversion to a hippo enclosure, but with the themed areas it would make more sense to put them somewhere in Africa but I’m not sure where.
Does anyone else have thoughts on YWP and common hippo? [Fantasy]
 
As follows is my opinion:
After reading other messages and listening to a keeper talk on Sunday, i think it’s clear that what’s happening with the hippos is uncertain/keeps changing. My reason for this is the conflicting information that different people are being told for example, Hoover coming back once Hodor has left vs. a new male coming in. During the talk on Sunday the man said Hoover had moved to Yorkshire Wildlife Park to breed with a female (So unless he has now moved from Flamingo Land to YWP without anyone noticing and posting about on here, is clearly incorrect). So I guess my point is to take information regarding the hippos future with a grain of salt as it doesn’t seem like all the staff are 100% sure of what is going on as of writing this post.

On a side note: It did make me think that if Yorkshire Wildlife Park were to get common hippo, where would they go?
I first thought the lake by the sea lions would be the cheapest conversion to a hippo enclosure, but with the themed areas it would make more sense to put them somewhere in Africa but I’m not sure where.
Does anyone else have thoughts on YWP and common hippo? [Fantasy]

The person doing the talk my have been confused. Are you sure he didn’t say a wildlife park in Yorkshire, rather than actually Yorkshire Wildlife Park?

There is no chance of YWP getting common hippos. Not anytime soon anyway.
 
The person doing the talk my have been confused. Are you sure he didn’t say a wildlife park in Yorkshire, rather than actually Yorkshire Wildlife Park?

There is no chance of YWP getting common hippos. Not anytime soon anyway.

Yeah I can confirm he said YWP multiple times. I also cannot see YWP ever getting common hippo to be honest, I was just saying hypothetically.
 
My reason for this is the conflicting information that different people are being told for example, Hoover coming back once Hodor has left vs. a new male coming in. During the talk on Sunday the man said Hoover had moved to Yorkshire Wildlife Park to breed with a female (So unless he has now moved from Flamingo Land to YWP without anyone noticing and posting about on here, is clearly incorrect). So I guess my point is to take information regarding the hippos future with a grain of salt as it doesn’t seem like all the staff are 100% sure of what is going on as of writing this post.

It seems quite a simple scenario to me, the only confusion being which Wildlife Park in Yorkshire Hoover went to( Flamingo Park, not Yorkshire). A simple geographical error on the informant's part?. Apart from that, Flamingo Park have borrowed Hoover to try and breed with their female again. The son Hodor will eventually depart Whipsnade, and at some stage Hoover will return as part of their unrelated breeding pair; Hoover/Lola. I think any other speculation is probably wide of the mark here.
 
There were five a couple of years ago. Wonder what happened to the other two.

Between 2020 and the 2021 stock take list one died as the 2021 list shows 1:3 with one other male noted as dead since the last count.

In 2022 3 females only appear on the list - they stopped showing deaths / variance from the previous count that year but given they haven’t come up somewhere else I’d guess that was a death too.
 
2 of the new Brown Bears are in the smaller enclosure this morning. The other new arrival I understand is out back off show . Cinderella is in the larger enclosure .

oh awesome! Do we know where they came from and if they are males or females?
 
Super
2 of the new Brown Bears are in the smaller enclosure this morning. The other new arrival I understand is out back off show . Cinderella is in the larger enclosure .
Super news! Am planning a visit tomorrow now even more to look forward to.
 
Please let us know if you can find out anything about the new trio and will they eventually be mixed as one group? As are they solitary animals or do them prefer group companion? As previously Snow White and sleeping beauty always hung out together and Cinderella preferred being alone
 
Had a lovely day out at Whipsnade today - forecast was pretty dire but in the end a bit chilly lots of sun and only rained at the end of the day. Zoo was super quiet in the morning but lots of people arrived after lunch.

Lots of activity areas being constructed around the place with temporary plastic fencing - assume for coronation weekend or something as the stuff for the kids trail with the pig and rabbit thing is already in place.

The three new female bears are all settling in well according to a keeper who was answering questions and a volunteer who was also there separately. The two bears who are together in the new area came from a zoo in Sweden. One other bear is in the shared house off show but she came alone and they didn’t say where from. The intention is to mix them all as a group pending introductions etc.

The two new bears that are together were super active - play fighting, playing with treat balls and jumping in and out of the large black water butt / pool. Cinderella was also active and there was some staring through the fences between the pair and her before she went to play in her pond too. It’s the most I’ve seen her wander around in a while. I’d take a punt those two new bears are a bit younger than Cinderella but that’s only based on watching them, so the official news will correct me I’m sure!

The front of the new enclosure is all fenced off now with wicker woven fencing (picture attached) so you can’t go up to the glass but you can get a very good view down the side where the stand off is close to the fence. The two new bears were not shy about coming right up to visitors.

The same mesh garden fence looking stuff has been strapped onto the fence on the main enclosure for a sizeable section in the middle again, as per last year. Second picture shows that. Appeared to be to stop people leaning over Cinderella playing underneath but it’s a view blocker for busy times.

The new Przewalski’s foal is very pretty indeed and was dashing around the paddock. She’s quite forward already and was off in front exploring.

Lots of new fawns in Passage through Asia including for the Pere David deer which was nice to see.

Really enjoyed seeing a new baby Mara with two adults in the burrow near the big tree as you turn out of the drivethrough (opposite the yaks). While they breed well at Whipsnade and you see the young ones around, I’ve never seen one so young there before. Stumbled across them while lurking near the horses, it’s a fairly quiet area so they weren’t being disturbed.

Edit - forgot to add the area next to the elephant paddock is open again post the wet weather so you can walk alongside the enclosure and through the cut through between warty pigs and rhinos but the elephants were still not out in the paddock and were in the area behind the house.
 

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