They opened a new meerkat enclosure today Photos on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amazon-World-Zoo-Park Looks reasonable enough, could do with a bit more enrichment in there for them. I'm sure it will go down well with visitors.
0.2 Red Panda have arrived from Port Lympne today (new species for the collection) In other news: A male Lowland Paca recently left for Lakeland Wildlife Oasis and another two toed Sloth was born (the 12th birth at AW) The park also went out of Canadian River Otter with the last individuals being transferred to France
Can't say I'm sorry about that -their enclosure (as of three or four years ago) was grim, easily the worst enclosure I've seen for otters
All of their outdoor enclosures are very poor and shabby IMO. The indoor mammal areas in the greenhouses smell to high heaven too, as there is no fresh air.
The otter enclosure was certainly not up to much at ALL - but when I visited a little under a year ago the other outdoor enclosures were actually reasonably good, and I did not notice any smell in particular in the indoor enclosures either.
I visited yesterday hoping to see prehensile tailed porcupine but unfortunately it has left the collection I also noted that there are no brush tailed porcupine and 9 banded armadillo either. However the sloth had a youngster which I saw very close up A new penguin enclosure has been built along with a wallaby walkthrough and a lemur walkthrough ( was not open when I visited but looked one of the better enclosures there.) I didn't think much of the flamingo enclosure outside however I expect this is a temporary holding.
A female Ocelot called Olijfje has arrived from Dierenrijk Zoo in hope of adding to the 7 born previously at the Zoo Park. She will soon be introduced to the male, Bow.
According to Facebook, a baby Linne's two-toed sloth born on the 27th December has gone on show; it is the 14th baby of this species to be born at Amazon World.
I visited for the second time last week . My previous visit was quite a few years when they still held lots of rarities . Although the collection is much diminished I felt what they now have is generally reasonably well housed . I did not like the aviary for flamingos , scarlet ibis and other birds , there was only a tiny tank of dirty water ( I suspect part of this was once where the otters were held ). The new Nocturnal House is a big improvement , the largest enclosure held tamanduas , sloths and douroucoulis ; I saw a paca but not the kinkajou it shared with in another large enclosure . I liked the new penguin pool/enclosure . The plate-billed mountain toucan is still present , housed next to a single toco toucan .
Visited in August: A few notes: - The nocturnal house is a huge improvement from my last visit in 2014. In there I managed to successfully see all the species kept (I think?) with relative ease. The exhibits are also much more spacious and suitable for the animals which is nice. Species I saw in there were: - Lowland Paca - Grey-Legged Douroucouli - Kinkajou - Linnaeus's Two-Toed Sloth - Gray Mouse Lemurs - Southern Tamandua - Yellow Armadillo - Southern Three Banded Armadillo - Lesser Hairy Armadillo - Larger Hairy Armadillo - Either Pygmy slow loris or greater slow loris but unsure. One thing I must admit though is that the signage in the nocturnal house is appalling. A mere slide-show for the armadillos that was way up high in the corner of the ceiling and didn't actually show which armadillo was which (its quite difficult to I'd them when it's dark!) This is also the reason I'm u sure of which loris I saw. It could even have been both as it was too dark I couldn't tell what species it was. The exhibit for the Capybara, Greater Rhea and Brazilian Tapir is stil, quite lacklustre. There is little enrichment, very little water (especially for tapir and caybara) and they're essentially in a field with very little grass. Space-wise it's adequate. But there are no trees, no shrubs and just some logs. As a result the animals were pretty much all indoors resting with only the rhea outside sitting in the middle of the empty paddock. The Greater Flamingo/Scarlet Ibis/Cape Thick-Knee exhibit has improved somewhat from my last visit, but it is still far from adequate. No pond, little space and a concrete floor in some places. This is probably the exhibit most in need of a renovation. I also didn't manage to see the little egret. A few new additions since my last visit were a Bennett's Wallaby Walkthrough which was okay, but I've seen better. Little enrichment but there was a small fence which the wallabies could get through to you but you couldn't walk past to them so they had the option to stay away from people which is nice. Another addition was the African Penguin exhibit. This is a nice Improvement from my last visit - a larger pool, little shelters and some foliage they could forage in were all pleasing to see. Although I must admit, this is probably the only time I've seen penguins be so inactive! I saw one penguins head peaking out of a shelter and that was it Also, the Giant Anteater exhibit remains the same. A weird combination of a garden with a brick shed with cat flaps for the anteaters. It hasn't plenty of cover though, I just think it could be a little bigger. Space is clearly an issue at this zoo in this area. Also, are the Azara's Agouti kept in this exhibit? Because I've yet to see them on either trip. Speaking of space, one other gripe is the Ocelot exhibit. I know they've had great breeding success in the past but the exhibit is very narrow and cramped. It's not very tall either. This is also seen in the Ring-Tailed Coati, White-Faced Saki and Red-Ruffed Lemur exhibits. They have acquired some red pandas since the last time I visited too. It just so happened that a talk was about to start when I reached them, so I got a little bit of info on them. They're sisters and so they get along well. They're exhibit was quite small though, with a large brick wall surrounding them. They had about as much space as the meerkats between them. More positive notes: - Very modern and attractive looking meerkat exhibit, right next to the picnic area and food stand. They seem to have been very smart in placing the 'popular' exhibits in this area, with the penguins, squirrel monkeys, wallaby walk through, meerkats and red pandas all in this part of the zoo. - Saw some nice rarities I missed last visit, like the plate-billed mountain toucan. - Also, they've since acquired a pair of Black Howler Monkeys. They share the exhibit with the Squirrel Monkeys and I don't think they appreciated being right next to the outdoor food court too much. - The Sclater's crowns pigeons were still there (always a favourite!) and were in the Sulcatta tortoise pen area, along with a very noisy Blue and Gold Macaw. Think this area is relatively new. - The Ring-Tailed Lemur Walkthrough was pleasantly surprising. although the red-ruffeds had been move out? They even checked your bag for food or drink and made you leave it outside before entering which was interesting, but I suppose it's all in the safety of the animals. One female had a tiny baby on her, a nice surprise Well that's about it for my update! I must admit they've done some hefty renovations since my last visit, but there's certainly still a long way to go! The Ocelots, Coatis, Red-Ruffeds, Flamingos, Red Pandas and Capybara/Tapir/Rhea exhibit could do with some changes. But I do feel one thing this zoo lacks is space. Especially in the outdoor area. The indoor exhibits are good for the most part, the nocturnal hous is fab too - just needs some better signage. A theme present in most of the zoo but definitely in there.
Just looked through my photos again and there's no sign of a pond, and I don't remember one there either. Although, I must admit I have no photos showing the far left of the exhibit so it's possible.
There's a picture on here of the outside enclosure, with a strange looking shallow channel as a water source. I'm sure they have a pond in their indoor area.
Hmm, I just saw the photo you're talking about (one on page four of Amazon World Media?). I really don't think I saw that. Is it possible they moved? Especially since my pictures cover most of the, relatively small, exhibit.
My understanding was that they now have access inside and outside; when I visited several years ago they were indoors only, and had a pond in there. Presumably it's still there.
I'm not sure. When I saw them they were outside and, although they did have one, the inside area wasn't viewable. The image I saw on here was of an outside pond so maybe it's changed since you went? Either way I saw neither.
