Visitors to Fota Wildlife Park during the school midterm are in for a surprise as the East Cork Attraction has added endangered reptiles, eye popping amphibians, fluttering butterflies and exotic fish to its collection as part of their new Tropical House. The Tropical House is a €700,000 development which was part funded by SECAD (South & East Cork Area Development) and has taken just under 12 months to complete. The development is also home to a state of the art veterinary facility which will allow for injured or sick animals to be treated at Fota Wildlife Park. The Tropical House which is 280sqm in size is home to 3 reptile, 9 amphibian, 28 fish and 14 butterfly species all of which are new species to Fota Wildlife Park. All of these species will be on display amongst 340 tropical plants at temperature of 26° Celsius all year round. Speaking about the development Fota Wildlife Park Director Sean McKeown said” with tropical temperatures and humid air, you’ll get a sense of what it feels like to be in a rainforest”. He also added that “the house will also have a strong educational message with the four fish tanks demonstrating the ecology of a stream from mountain to deep sea”. One of the eye catching elements to the new development is the tropical butterflies who roam free-range throughout the house and amongst the public pathways. If you are afraid of snakes be warned as one of the new residents is a 2m long boa. Other species that visitors can look forward to seeing include elongated tortoises, iguanas, salamanders, mountain chickens, chameleons and clown fish famous for being “Nemo” in the Disney animated film Finding Nemo. In addition to the amazing species on display the park will be adding more new species over the coming months. The education team at Fota wildlife Park will be giving talks throughout the week on all the fascinating creatures on display and there will be free kids activities all based around “princess and the frog”.
Birth of 1.1 Giraffe calves during January has just been announced. The bull calf was born to Sapphire on 27th Jan and the female to Blaithin on the 25th, Name the Baby Giraffes
0.1 Rothschild Giraffe, Arria (B12/2010 Mauve X Robin) has arrived from Dublin recently. In exchange Fota sent female, Casey (B2012) the other way Fota Wildlife Park Pick Names for Baby Giraffes
Further details about the planned Asian expansion at Fota have been released - Phase 1 (Asian Forest) will be opened in June - Initial species for this first phase will include: * = species already held within the park Red Panda* Lion Tailed Macaque* Visayan Warty Pigs* Sumatran Tigers To be added in the coming years: Malayan Tapirs Sloth Bears Edwards Pheasant Donate to the Asian Forestry Fund *Phase two* Phase two is planned to open in June 2015 and will be focused on Asian Wetlands - Species will include: "A number of unusual Gibbon species" White Naped Crane Red Crowned Crane Oriental white storks White Tailed Eagles Various ornamental waterfowl Asian Wetlands *Phase 3* Phase 3 (Asian Planes) will be the largest of the developments and will include exhibits for: Indian Rhino Takins Blackbuck Goitered Gazelle Onagers Mesopotamian Fallow Deers Turkmenian Markhor Asian Plains
I am really pleased that Fota is making such ambitious moves. Certainly, a very creative and well put together species and exhibit collection plan.
Plans appear to have been changed slightly - with the Indian Rhino now planned for this Summer rather than in 2016 as originally said (advertising for the new season includes mention of them) Possibly due to the desperate need for new EEP holders?
0.3 Philippine Spotted Deer have arrived (new species for the park) Other arrivals include two new Spider Monkey's from Chessington and Zoo Doue in France and 0.2 Scimiter Horned Oryx from Planckendael A Brazilian Tapir has also been born recently The Indian Rhino will also be arriving "later this year" Lots of Arrivals and Departures at Cork’s Fota Wildlife Park
2.0 Northern Cheetahs have been born. The 2nd successful breeding for the park Say Hello to our Cheetah Cubs