Could be a castrated bull. It would have the horns but not the blue/grey colour of a normal bull.
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo ZSL Whipsnade Zoo News 2025
- Thread starter Lafone
- Start date
And, in doing so, a significant chapter in ZSL’s history comes to an end…for now.
See it. Run from it. The Hippocalypse arrives all the same. And now it’s here!
Indeed for the first time since 1950, there are no common hippos at Whipsnade.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Had an enjoyable day at Whipsnade today, weather was very warm but there was a good breeze.
The Hippo signage is still up on the house etc but there is signage about the move around the enclosure and a little bit of a sad moment in an otherwise lovely day.
Lots of school trips but they thinned out after lunch.
The young Blesbok and Gemsbok were inside the houses with their mothers so only saw the Gemsbok.
The Blue Cranes are sitting on the nest still, I'd estimate chicks should hatch in about a week or so. Look forward to seeing if that's succesful. The Red Crowned cranes look to be on a nest too.
For anyone wondering about the trolls kid's event they are on various hard standings around the place for kids to collect stuff etc and sizeable they are too.
This one near the lions has a cage...kids were getting in and out of it but sadly they were able to escape. Poor design!
Good views of the new Meerkat arrivals as they were using the near end of the enclosure without the glass. Same for the lions who adopted the big clump of bushes near the end of the enclosure as a shady spot (also a favourite spot for the Africa Alive lions when they visited, super spot for photos) and were playing around with some boxes.
Great to be able to get into A Passage through Asia again and lots of youngsters for all the deer, looks like another successful breeding year. Good views of the deer in the water.
Wildlife wise, excellent to see the Lapwings in A Passage through Asia have had youngsters and also had a fantastic Peregrine falcon sighting over the downs while I was enjoying lunch. Bonus.
The Hippo signage is still up on the house etc but there is signage about the move around the enclosure and a little bit of a sad moment in an otherwise lovely day.
Lots of school trips but they thinned out after lunch.
The young Blesbok and Gemsbok were inside the houses with their mothers so only saw the Gemsbok.
The Blue Cranes are sitting on the nest still, I'd estimate chicks should hatch in about a week or so. Look forward to seeing if that's succesful. The Red Crowned cranes look to be on a nest too.
For anyone wondering about the trolls kid's event they are on various hard standings around the place for kids to collect stuff etc and sizeable they are too.
This one near the lions has a cage...kids were getting in and out of it but sadly they were able to escape. Poor design!
Good views of the new Meerkat arrivals as they were using the near end of the enclosure without the glass. Same for the lions who adopted the big clump of bushes near the end of the enclosure as a shady spot (also a favourite spot for the Africa Alive lions when they visited, super spot for photos) and were playing around with some boxes.
Great to be able to get into A Passage through Asia again and lots of youngsters for all the deer, looks like another successful breeding year. Good views of the deer in the water.
Wildlife wise, excellent to see the Lapwings in A Passage through Asia have had youngsters and also had a fantastic Peregrine falcon sighting over the downs while I was enjoying lunch. Bonus.
Attachments
There are some nice photos of Lola and Hodor in their new home at Longleat on their FB page.
Advance warning- the late summer term school visitations are upon us, when secondary school students post GCSE examinations etc are bussed en masse into our zoos and (generally speaking) allowed to run riot without supervision. Be warned...
Advance warning- the late summer term school visitations are upon us, when secondary school students post GCSE examinations etc are bussed en masse into our zoos and (generally speaking) allowed to run riot without supervision. Be warned...
Are there some new meerkats?
I never visit during school holidays these days, it’s too overwhelming and behaviour is awful now.
The flip side of that is school trips are rare at the very beginning of the academic year. I twigged some time ago that if you want to book some time off work to fit some quiet zoo visits in, the second or third week of September is a very good time. The weather is usually perfect at that time of year too, decent but not too hot.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Yes two new pups for the mob.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
I agree, I also do love the winter when there's hardly anyone there and it's like having a zoo to yourself! And Xmas eve is my annual treat. This is just coming into the period where I am not going that much though I am going to pop in to check on the cranes if they have small ones and damn the crowds (no one goes to the cranes anyway). There were some older kids at the bird show today though and they really enjoyed it and were talking about it afterwards, so there is some hope.
And those pictures of the hippos at Longleat are lovely!
Highly doubt any post-GCSE students are taken to the zoo by a school tbh.
Xmas eve is a great time for a zoo visit, with most folk otherwisoccupied.
Not all the school kids are bad obviously, but I blame the sgaffing on these zootrips as it is usually non-existent.
There are minimum ratios that have to be met (fairly sure it's around 1:10-12 depending upon age groups - certainly is on activity-based trips e.g. PGL) and schools have to then consider how many they can afford to lose beyond that minimum staffing to continue the school day for everybody else.
Please don't turn this into a school bashing exercise, it's so much harder than anybody outside of schools can possibly understand.
Perhaps the younger years then but their behaviour is often atrocious, though it's the lack of staffing that is the problem there I feel. I'm not against children letting off steam either, but feel zoos aren't the right place.
I've had several unpleasant experiences with unsupervised schoolchildren in zoos over the years I never visit at those times of year as a result. Staff at whatever the ratio, seem invisible in these instances. Perhaps the zoos should restrict access if not the schools' fault.
Strathmorezoo
Well-Known Member
Christmas eve zoo visits, now you're talking, lovely !
Oh cool! Is that 7 now?
So theres no chance that they can upgrade the exhibit to become a holder in the future!
ZooNews2024
Well-Known Member
Junior schools will have lower ratios of 1:6 maybe 1:8, but the level of responsibility is highly variable, as it would be in any other walk of life. I know that some zoos have active 'banned' lists of schools (and others) they will not take bookings from, perhaps all but I couldn't say.