Howletts » Howletts Wild Animal Park

Howletts
01-09-2007

Just read in a local paper that the pair of Iberian wolves have produced cubs, also a Giant Anteater has been born and Geladas have been added to the new open-air colobus exhibit.

01-09-2007

Howletts now claimed to have returned Sumartran rhinos to the wild. I know that they sent them back to indonesia, but does that realy count?

01-09-2007

they have just sent two captive bred Black rhino back to Africa for release

01-09-2007

wow geldas moved to howletts - now 3 zoos have these rare and threatned speacies - good to hear about the anteater and the wolves

01-09-2007

No. Only one, the male 'Torgamba,' was returned to Way Kambas Sanctuary, after the other(s) died at Port Lympne and this wasn't to the wild. I've noticed the way its written implies they had a successful breeding programme as with other species they have successfully reintroduced, but as you know, thats not so.

01-09-2007

Its good that they have bred the Iberian Wolves. Here is a Subspecies of wolf with very few in captivity anywhere outside Spain, as back-up to the wild population. Its a species where reintroduction of younger animals would probably be feasible too. So a worthwhile species for them to concentrate on.

Are you sure about Geladas? I can see nothing on their website about them. It seems an odd species to mix with Colobus as they occupy very different habitat 'niches' in the wild. Port Lympne do have a group of Guinea Baboons though which were living in rather overcrowded conditions in a cage by the entrance. Its not these they are referring to, is it?

Which park are they talking about here?

02-09-2007

They have just completed an open-topped monkey enclosure at Howletts, just inside the entrance, where I think the paddocks used to be. In two adverts in local papers, it has mentioned that 'striking Gelada baboons have just joined the colobus monkeys in the new open-topped monkey enclosure at Howletts'. An unusual combination, but then they have been acquiring many new primate species over the last couple of years.

02-09-2007

Okay, yes that sounds certain enough. And yes, after a period of comparative stagnation, they seem to be building new primate exhibits again. Last year it was the Lion Tailed Macaques at the bottom of the lime avenue.

This new Gelada/Colobus enclosure- where youy say 'just inside the entrance' do you mean the public entrance or the private one (the big white gate) that leads from the road up to the Mansion?

This means the group of about fifteen Guinea baboons that came from Paris Zoo are still in that crowded cage by the entrance at Port Lympne. I somehow assumed they would build them an enclosure in the 'African Experience', or maybe have them free-range!

03-09-2007

I initially assumed that they were acquiring such a common primate species (Guinea Baboon) for the African experience. If they can afford to fence the area for Rhino I don't understand why they haven't done the same for the baboons. Around two dozen in that entrance cage is certainly a lot.

The Gelada/Colobus enclosure is just inside the public entrance, near to the newer Gorilla complex. I think it used to be paddocks housing Nilgai/ Bongo from time to time. On their site they have a webcam focused on it and you can see from that where it is positioned within the zoo.

03-09-2007

Geladas and Colobus together is certainly a rather odd mixture. I'd be interested to know where the Geladas came from too. They have bred a number of Colobus at both parks so this is probably also a further attempt to alleviate overcrowding. I'm always interested that Howletts/Port Lympne still seem to breed things like Tigers or Colobus very freely but don't part with many of them- they just build more enclosures to house the extra...

They took the Guinea baboons at Port Lympne from Paris(Vincennes) Zoo as they had a surplus. But I didn't expect them to stay permanently in that small cage by the entrance. I imagined they would put them in the African Experience area but it hasn't happened.

03-09-2007

i heard on roar that the guinea baboons were in a holding cage ( I.E the small cage ) and were moving to a new encolurse but that was a year ago and still no move - and at colchestre zoo 2 males were in a seprate encoulse with a sign saying moving to another collection - perhaps this is where they came from

03-09-2007

has roar started again, when and where?

03-09-2007

no not yet but soon spetmebre it said on the howletts website

Iberian Wolves.
04-09-2007

Does anyone know where their Iberian Wolves came from- was it Spain or another zoo- the Norfolk Wildlife Park had some and has recently closed as a wildlife collection, were they from there?

Also, how many do they have(before breeding) and which park are they kept at?

04-09-2007

Can't answer your 1st question. The current pair are kept at Howletts, Bekesbourne.

Colchester also have a pair on loan.