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^Chris^

Flamingo Land Zoo, Elephants, 1990

Flamingo Land Zoo, Elephants, 1990
^Chris^, 26 Mar 2008
    • camel leopard
      where was the elephant enclosure sited? when did they leave the park?
    • ^Chris^
      I'm not sure, camel leopard. I was too young to really remember what was goin on when this photo was taken.
    • johnstoni
      One of the females pictured, Susie, died in 1992. The other cow, Jangoli, was still young enough to breed and moved to chester in 1994, and has given birth to two surviving calves there.

      I am pretty sure the elephant house held camels for a short while before being rennovated into the current chimpanzee enclousure. The house is the indoor chimp accommodation and the paddock (which was much larger than the photo suggests and became very grassy after susie died as Jangolie would spend much of her time in the corner nearest the public) is now hotwired with some basic upright dead trees for the chimpanzees to climb. At least one animal has escaped from the current chimpanzee exhibit and had to be shot.

      The majority of the elephant exhibit was inaccessible to the public, only a relatively limited area around the house was viewable. As a result, the rest of the paddock would often be underused while the elephants remained near the public. I would speculate as to whether the practice of feeding was either allowed until a certain date or (given my recollection of the calibre of visitor to the place in 1992) they may have recieved a fair amount of food from visitors despite signs prohibiting this.
    • ^Chris^
      Thanks for the information, Johnstoni.
    • Cat-Man
      will flamingoland ever go back into elephants? :)
    • Jordan-Jaguar97
      I doubt it, they probably don't have the space, in 10 years or so I think it'll just be a theme park because that's the way it's heading. A few years ago they had Polar and Brown bears the only major species they have now are Lions, Tigers, Baboons, Giraffes, Rhinos and Zebra.
    • Parrotsandrew
      I'm not so sure Jordan, as a great deal of money has been spent on the zoo in the last ten years, and this year the new Children's Planet has brought several new species to the collection. Last year's Penguin pool must have cost a bob or two as well. I think the zoo started to take off again in 1997 with new signage and the opening of the new Baboon Island. It's true Elephants are very unlikely to return but in terms of charismatic mammals the collection today is much more prestigious than a few years ago. When Jangoli went to Chester the intention had been to bring back two non-breeding cows, but this was decided not to be practical. In the early 2000s there was a chance two ex circus animals could have arrived, but this too did not happen. In the good old days visitors could walk right around the Elephant island. I spent a long time at the very end of it one day in 1975 waltching Gomba and Jangoli enjoying a mud wallow.
    • Pertinax
      I think 'Jangolie' must be the bigger, further animal, as the cow in front doesn't have the bent/broken tail (of which the end part later fell off at Chester).

      Jangolie's story contains a happy ending, an exception to most other Asian females in the UK in non-breeding groups which have not been so fortunate in their later years.
    • Blossom
      How can they not have the space, the entire site is massive, the zoo is a least twice the zsize of the theme park at the moment, and my understanding is that it has expanded in recent years, the Children's Planet is built on a site where there used to be rides and other attractions, and the rothschilds giraffe house is built on the site of a former roller coaster. If anything it is going the other way and expanding. I too doubt that they'll ever have elephants again, but I'd be surprised if that is anything to do with space.
    • Parrotsandrew
      Yes, Jangoli is the further animal.
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  • Category:
    Flamingo Land
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    ^Chris^
    Date:
    26 Mar 2008
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