Sloth Bears At Whipsnade » Whipsnade Zoo

Sloth Bears At Whipsnade
21-05-2008

Please tell me if there is already a thread for this

but i wanted to ask where abouts are the sloth bears being housed at whipsnade? and is it good enclosure?

21-05-2008

There isn't a dedicated thread about this, but it's mentioned a lot in the whipsnade thread.

Apparently the bears have an exhibit close to the asian area of the park and the website states that it is suited to the bear's needs.

22-05-2008

are there any pictures of it anywhere?

22-05-2008

Will be there next week so will get some pictures to post.

22-05-2008

Just added half-a-dozen pictures of the exhibit to my member gallery (Maguari Gallery - Photo Gallery). It's not the easiest enclosure to photograph but otherwise I rather like it. It runs along between the Onagers and the Passage Through Asia, with a few large dens and various logs and stuff strewn about. It's simple but effective. The house backs on to the Przewalski's Horse stabling and features indoor show dens with a viewing corridor in standard Whipsnade style. The bears can also be seen from within the drive-through. Two bears (presumably the two females) were out in the paddock and very active; the other (the male, I further assume) was in a back den but able to see and sniff the females (one of the photos shows all three bears). Encouragingly, there was not the slightest sign of any stereotypic behaviour.

The only real criticism I would offer is that the wire mesh fencing is a bit relentless - either a glass viewing area or a raised platform to lift visitors sight-lines over the fence would have been nice. But from the bears' point of view, a very nice enclosure in fact.

22-05-2008

I just don't get it. Not at all. Please tell me there are two outdoor paddock areas, and not just one and that yard. If they are going to go to the expense of creating a new exhibit surely they could have split the paddock into two? At least on the mappins Lanka could have the top left enclosure. From the photos it just looks like while you can have two bears out in the paddock, you will also have to have one in a concrete yard.

22-05-2008

To be honest, I don't think it has been done at any particular expense (and will have only been planned as a sideline to the Cheetah exhibit). I see your point though; it should be possible to subdivide the area somehow (which as far as I could see it isn't at the moment). I think that the back yard is probably a bit larger than it looks in the photos though as I would assume it runs the whole length of the house.

22-05-2008

I don't really mind the new enclosure. A few more plants would've been nice, but it is a reasonable size and plenty of shelters.

As for the mesh, I imagine they used that so the exhibit could go up as quickly as possible...

22-05-2008

Sure, to the visitor, it adds something to the zoo and is pleasing enough. But not only do the bears lose the privacy of den areas being out of public view, but the second outside area to separate the bears appears far, far worse than the option they had at london. As far as I am aware, Lanka, the mother, is usually shut away, so I suspect the youngest female is on contraceptives (this regime could have changed as the offspring both matured). If all the second enclosure entails is a concrete yard, with house access, then I think this is a quantitatively worse option than the facility at London.

I agree that it may not have been that expensive, but when you look at the capital expenditure at the parks, to build a second major carnivore enclosure (and not market it) in the same year as opening a new rhino area seems rather out of keeping with the normal pattern or speed of developments at either zoo. If ZSL are suddenly able to build new enclosures then that is a departure from their current pattern, and you would think possibly there are a few more pressing enclosure improvements that could come before this.

The whole situation looks like another decision by London to offload some unwanted animals to Whipsnade, possibly the staff felt that the bears should be retired there rather than shipped off to the SSP. I get that the mappin terraces are a little messy for such a complex animal, I just feel that it is a shame to just present them in a nice grassy field when actually, if they cannot all live together, there will always be at least one bear in a worse environment than in London. Maybe one of the offspring will eventually leave for the SSP? There is some amazing woodland at Whipsnade, it would have been great to see these animals rooting around under mature trees.

22-05-2008

The pictures show the enclosure for what it is- hurriedly and very cheaply constructed as a retirement home for the bears. They've used a vacant area of paddock and an existing antelope/deer building plus a run of chainlink fencing to produce a 'typical' Whipsnade enclosure. No glass viewing windows provided as this is not a high profile species like the Lions or Cheetahs and also they 'failed' as an exhibit at ZSL. To me the barn and concrete area still looks as if it should contain ungulates. The whole thing is okay but not very imaginative. Perhaps the bears will be happier in these new surroundings though?

22-05-2008

I'm sure they would be more relaxed and in better health here...but not if they have to be rotated on exhibit.

23-05-2008

i suppose new viewing gallerys might be added later in the year when they have settled in and also was this an already exsisting enclosure?

23-05-2008

It looks very simple and rushed but not a bad exhibit at all. Hopefully they will have better sucsess here.

23-05-2008

I don't know about the viewing areas but I'd be a bit doubtful... the paddock is an existing one, or at least the area that this enclosure occupies.

23-05-2008

Is it where the surplus lechwe males were kept?