ZSL Whipsnade Zoo ZSL Whipsnade Zoo News 2025

Pertinax said:
I've now traced the parentage of both Hugo and the new young female(Jiya) from Chester. As I suspected, the only parent rhino that originated in Nepal, rather than being from Indian/Assamese stock, was her maternal grandmother Behan, which makes Jiya one quarter Nepalese. All Hugo's ancestors were from Kaziranga origin. Beni at Chester,(Jiya's father,) and Hugo at Whipsnade also share one pair of ancestors. Only a nitpicking point but the 'Rhinos of Nepal' name for the newer building is a little innacurate now!
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Yes, quite right indeed.

TBH: Would be nice if the EAZA/EEP would manage a new import of fresh young GOHR ex either India or Nepal (latter more likely than former ...).
 
I went to the bird garden tour today (a birthday present from my OH), which I would thoroughly recommend if you have the opportunity.

Headlines from it:
- what was owl wood is now intended to showcase some other species too. A pair of red-crested turaco are intended to move in there sometime in the near future when it isn't so cold.
- there is a rockhopper chick. We went to have a look and I saw an egg but didn't catch the chick, so hopefully someone else has better luck!

A really nice and informative little tour!
 
JoB198 said:
I went to the bird garden tour today (a birthday present from my OH), which I would thoroughly recommend if you have the opportunity.

Headlines from it:
- what was owl wood is now intended to showcase some other species too. A pair of red-crested turaco are intended to move in there sometime in the near future when it isn't so cold.
- there is a rockhopper chick. We went to have a look and I saw an egg but didn't catch the chick, so hopefully someone else has better luck!

A really nice and informative little tour!
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Oh, also (totally forgot this): they are training (or trying to) African sea eagles for the bird show.
 
JoB198 said:
what was owl wood is now intended to showcase some other species too. A pair of red-crested turaco are intended to move in there sometime in the near future when it isn't so cold.
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I remember last year at the bird show they mentioned putting more birds on show,maybe this is what they meant by that. Was hoping they meant building new aviaries.
 
sparkes12 said:
I remember last year at the bird show they mentioned putting more birds on show,maybe this is what they meant by that. Was hoping they meant building new aviaries.
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They mentioned this general idea too, but I suppose it's the difference between using aviaries that are already standing (and they acknowledged that owls aren't the most engaging for visitors!) and building new ones. They also raised an interesting point about heating: Owl Wood doesn't have electricity so they can't put species which need warmer conditions into the aviaries until the temperature in general is warm enough, so there'd be that to consider if building new ones too.
 
The BBC has released archive footage of the first twin Polar bear cubs born the UK. The short newsreel of Aurora and Polaris dates from April 1960.

Whilst the brief synopsis doesn’t state what became of the cubs, the footage is nonetheless interesting as it also shows the old exhibit
 
Panthera1981 said:
The BBC has released archive footage of the first twin Polar bear cubs born the UK. The short newsreel of Aurora and Polaris dates from April 1960.

Whilst the brief synopsis doesn’t state what became of the cubs, the footage is nonetheless interesting as it also shows the old exhibit
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How I would love to see them back at whipsnade, so many places they could go as well, a guy can dream.
 
polarbear said:
Archive video shows UK's first polar bear twins at Whipsnade Zoo
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One of the earliest Polar Bear births in UK, after Brumas(1949) at London and Sebastian(1958) at Bristol. The first pair of twins to be reared also? Tim May will correct this statement if incorrect, I hope. Being Whipsnade not London, of course they never became as celebrated as the urban zoo cubs that came both before and after them. I remember the enclosure quite well, it was roughly oval-shaped and of course very small by today's standards but had a decent-sized(?) pool in the middle. The other bad aspect was the ugly bars with curved tops all the way around it. It was situated not far from the current Lookout cafe area.
 
Pertinax said:
The other bad aspect was the ugly bars with curved tops all the way around it. It was situated not far from the current Lookout cafe area.
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Which, of course is in full evidence from the newsreel where one of the adult bears is chewing the bars and attempting to climb them!

Remnants of the old enclosure are still there if you know where to look! A small staircase that, apparently, leads to nowhere is still situated close to the Cafe near the circular car parking area
 
Panthera1981 said:
Which, of course is in full evidence from the newsreel where one of the adult bears is chewing the bars.

Remnants of the old enclosure are still there if you know where to look! A small staircase that, apparently, leads to nowhere is still situated close to the Cafe near the circular car parking area
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The enclosure was finally fully covered over as part of the SSSI work on that area of the Downs, with the inside areas becoming a bat hibernation (hybernaculum?) as did the original tiger and lion dens. I have an original (small) part of the bars / gate from that area from when it was being covered over.
 
Lafone said:
Visited Whipsnade today around the later opening. The wind was fairly strong, but the rain was torrential the whole time. Not many people out as a result.

Nonetheless lots of animals were showy including the Wolverines. Was interesting to see Miron the tiger doing some training with the keepers and then watching him demolish a hare. Great views of the new Macaque baby and the Langur youngsters as they were all having food near closing time.

The bear enclosure has a loop playing on the large video screen featuring several videos of the bears in their winter den and in the better weather outside, along with information on torpor and when they will be out and about again. Good way to keep a connection to the bears during the winter time.

full
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Hello does anyone know if they still have African Wild Dogs at Whipsnade
 
Lafone said:
The Kookaburras were not on show over the winter when they went into the old Saki monkey enclosure which is now that aviary so I guess they've gone back stage to the bird area.

According to the inventory the zoo had a pair of the Magpies at the start of the year. After the summer they looked to have fledged chicks and the ones in the former Kookaburra aviary were in their juvenile plumage when they moved across in October.
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