Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens Cotswold Wildlife Park news 2013-2014

How many Crowned Sifaka's are currrently in Cotswold then? 4? Does anyone have information about their birth year and/or names?

 

They have 2.1 at present,but before the end of the year they could be down to just a pair,as the lone male may be moved to another collection.As for ages or names not a clue.

 

The Arabian Rock Hyrax have bred with the babies on show now

 

VISITED 24 – 05 - 2014

Arrived around 10.15am on a very wet and chilly morning with no sign of the rain stopping soon but it wasn’t going to stop my enjoyment of the day as this was my first visit so a very truthful review will follow with highs and not very many lows to come.
Not too many people around I put this down to the awful weather the admission price I thought was very reasonable compared to some other collections I have visited over the years (including some of the bigger money grabbing collections).

First port of call was an aviary this contained some Ibis a Night heron and a Openbill Stork (a lifer in the captive collection list for me) I feel this aviary could have been better if they had cut back a bit of the shrubbery around the front of the aviary, I am all for privacy for the animals within a captive collection but please give the public a little more area to view in this aviary.

On to the walled garden now this place I loved with its tarmacked pathway and open viewing enclosures along with some great species and aviaries with some great species within them, the whole layout just seemed to roll along and give the public a great area for enjoyment and learning even the small walk through with a few wonderful species of birds within it gave me encouragement for the rest of the collection.

The only downfall in this area I feel is the Lemur walk through as this doesn’t open till 11.30am even though the collection opens at 10.00am I know they have to feed and make sure the animals within the area are safe and well before opening but surely a more realistic time would be 11.00am did pick up another life in the this area (walled garden that is) a Guira Cuckoo a great species to have and a wonderful bird to look at.

Now onto the Tropical walk through this I felt was a great little area (after my glasses had cleared) loved the mixture of species within the area and even the Bats were active and moving instead of just hanging from the roof or wooded slats like in other zoos especially in a lighted area.

Now onto the rest of the park fist I would like to get what is probably the last gripe I have with the collection the pathways why are they not tarmacked the orange sand type ground cover was so wet a in places very dangerous as it was soaked and slippy underfoot but hey that’s the last of the bad points now for the rest of the day.

The Clouded Leopard showed well and I was surprised to see the enclosure so well planted for the animal also like the enclosure for the Pallas Cat for the same reason both of these were lifers for myself but not my niece as this is her favourite zoo and I can see why, The rhinoceros enclosure is so big and open it makes me think they could have more Rhino within this area or even add another species to bring it to a mixed exhibit.

The Chapman’s Zebra were all closed in the hard standing area at the back of their house I could see 1 Foal which doesn’t look that old and was wondering do these share the same enclosure as the Rhino’s, the Giraffe enclosure looks great for the small group and the house looks great with its higher viewing area the Wolf walk around adds a bit of mystery to the place did manage to see the Canadian Timber Wolf a beautiful creature and do wonder why more collections don’t keep wolves.

Love the way the collection as made the most of all areas around the collection the small Reptile House has some wonderful species within it collection I must admit my 2 favourites where the Frilled Lizard and the Crocodile Monitor I will admit to staying a little longer at these to exhibits just to learn more about the 2 species.

Another animal I fell in love with was the Wolverine this was so active running around and looking lively all the time I was there the enclosure appears to be quite a large area. Do they only have one as this is all I saw in the enclosure or are there a pair?

In the Lemur walk through there were 2 Ring tailed lemur youngsters climbing around the exhibit how old are they? The other Lemurs out and about were the Greater Bamboo and the Red Bellied Lemurs the Belted Black & White Ruffed Lemurs were in there inside enclosure.

A list of species seen on my visit appear below I may have missed some species or they were no shows but don’t take this as gospel as all the species they hold

Mammals –

ASIANIC LION
AZARA’S AGOUTI
BACTRAIN CAMEL
BLACK TAILED PRAIRIE DOG
BRAZILIAN TAPIR
BRITISH MINIATURE SPOTTED PONY
CANADAIN TIMBER WOLF
CAPYBARA
CHAPMAN’S ZEBRA
CLOUDED LEOPARD
DEXTER CATTLE
DWARF ZEBU
EUROPEAN POLECAT
FRUIT BAT
GIRAFFE
GROUND CUSCUS
GUINEAPIG
LINNE’S TWO TOED SLOTH
LONG HAIRED GUINEAPIGS
LOP EARED DWARF RABBIT
MINIATURE DONKEY
MOORHEN (WILD)
ORIENTAL SHORT CLAWED OTTER
OXFORD SANDY & BLACK PIG
PALLAS CAT
PARMA WALLABY
PATAGONIAN CAVY OR MARA
PREVOST’S SQUIRREL
PYGMY GOATS
REX RABBIT
SLENDER TAILED MEERKAT
WHITE RHINOCEROS
WOLVERINE
WOOLLY PIG
YELLOW MONGOOSE

Primates –

ALAOTRAN GENTLE LEMUR
BELTED BLACK & WHITE RUFFED LEMUR
BLACK & WHITE COLOBUS
COPPER OR RED TITI
CROWNED SIFAKA
EMPEROE BEARDED TAMARIN
GREATER BAMBOO LEMUR
LARS GIBBON
PURPLE FACED LANGUR
RED BELLIED LEMUR
RED HANDED TAMARIN
RING TAILED LEMUR
SIAMANG
SQUIRREL MONKEY

Reptiles –

ALDABRA TORTOISE
BEARDDDED DRAGONNN
BLACK MABA
BLACK TREE MONITOR
BLOOD PYTHON
CAVE RACER
CROCODILE MONITOR
CUBAN BOA
EMERALD TREE MONITOR
EYED LIZARD
EYELASH VIPER
FIJI BANDED IGUANA
FRILLED LIZARD
HERMANN’S TORTOISE
JAMAICAN BOA
MORELET’S CROCODILE
PUFF ADDER
RED EARED TERRAPIN
RED TAILED RACER
RHINOCEROS IGUANA
TURKISH SPINY MOUSE
UTILA SPINY TAILED IGUANA

Birds –

AFRICAN OPENBILL STORK
ASIAN BROWN WOOD OWL
AVOCET
AZURE WINGED MAGPIE
BALD EAGLE
BALI MYNAH
BANK MYNAH
BAR HEADED GOOSE
BARNACLE GOOSE
BLACK CROWNED NIGHT HERON
BLACK HEADED WEAVER
BLACK STORK
BLUE & GOLD MACAW
BLUE BELLIED ROLLER
BLUE EARED PHEASANT
BLUE INDIAN PEAFOWL
BURROWING OWL
CALL DUCK
CAROLINA WOOD DUCK
CATTLE EGRET
CHEER PHEASANT
CHILEAN FLAMINGO
COOT
COSCOROBA SWAN
CRESTED SCREAMER
EMU
EUROPEAN THICK KNEE
FULVOUS TREE DUCK
GAINT WOOD RAIL
GREAT BLUE TURACO
GREAT GREY OWL
GREAT INDIAN HORNBILL
GUIRA CUCKOO
HELMETED GUINEAFOWL
HILDERBRANT’S STARLING
HIMALAYAN MONAL
HOTTENTOT TEAL
HUMBOLDT’S PENGUIN
INDIAN WHITE PEAFOWL
JACKDAW (WILD)
JAVA SPARROW
KEA
KENYAN CRESTED GUINEAFOWL
KESTREL
KING VULTURE
LAUGHING KOOKABURRA
LAYSAN TEAL
LESSER VASA PARROT
LITTLE EGRET
MADAGASCAN TEAL
MAGPIE GOOSE
MALLARD
MALLARD (DOMESTIC – WILD)
MANDARIN DUCK
MANGROVE KINGFISHER
MINDANOA BLEEDING HEART DOVE
MUSCOVY DUCK
NICOBAR PIGEON
NORTHERN WHITE FACED SCOPS OWL
OLD WORLD COMB DUCK
OSTRICH
PHEASANT PIGEON
PHILIPPINE DUCK
PINK PIGEON
PINTAIL
POCHARD
PUNA TEAL
RED BREASTED GOOSE
RED CRESTED POCHARD
RED CRESTED TURACO
REDSHANK
ROUL, ROUL OR WOOD CRESTED PARTRIDGE
RUPPELL’S GRIFFON VULTURE
SACRED IBIS
SCARLET IBIS
SNOWY OWL
SOUTHERN OR CHILEAN LAPWING
SPOTTED LAUGHINGTHRUSH
STRAITED CARACARA
SWAINSON’S LORIKEET
SWALLOW (WILD)
TAWNY FROGMOUTH
TEMMINCK’S TRAGOPAN
TENGMALM’S OWL
TRINIDAD PIPING GUAN
TUFTED DUCK (WILD)
TURKEY VULTURE
VIOLACEOUS TURACO
WADRAPP OR NORTHERN BALD IBIS
WEST AFRICAN CROWNED CRANE
WHITE BROWED CALCOUL
WHITE HEADED DUCK
WHITE NAPED CRANE
WHITE STORK
YELLOW HEADED CARACARA

Please correct, me if some of species names are incorrect as I have gone by the name plates on the enclosures and exhibits

Sorry no pictures from myself but will ask my Niece to see if she will let me upload some of hers as I only use a camcorder these days.

 

Where did you see the Alaotran Gentle Lemur? Collared lemur not on your list or Mouse lemur.

 

PIPALUK the Alaotran Gentle Lemur was in a small enclosure in the corner as you walk from the tropical walk through towards the Great Indian Hornbill aviary their is a small enclosure with no window on the side of the wooden off show part it was only out for a few minutes and then went back inside again, I didn't see either of the 2 Lemur species I I guess no show's then.

 

Thanks
I must have missed this enclosure when i visited a few weeks ago. One of the staff in the lemur walkthrough told me that the Alaotran & black lemurs were off show, obviously not quite correct.
Could have done with seeing the Alaotran for the 2014 challenge, as i doubt i'll get the chance to see them again for a while-probably Marwell in the summer.

 

You're forgetting London!!

 

Unless the situation has changed in the last few months, i wont see them at London. They've sadly been off show for a couple of years, along with the Aye Aye, which is very irritating!

 

Rearing a Tawny Frogmouth :
Cotswold Wildlife Park Keeper Hand-rears The "Skunk of The Air" - ZooBorns

 

Recently 4 Mangrove snakes have hatched at Cotswold .

 

Cold-blooded breeding succeses at Cotswold :
Cold Blooded Baby Boom in the UK - ZooBorns

 

0.1 Clouded Leopard cub is being handreared

In other news - the Tapirs also produced a female calf during August

Leopard cub abandoned by its mother raised by zookeeper in the bathroom of his family home  | Daily Mail Online

 

I find this story somewhat disheartening. Has the keeper got a DWA licence at home? ("'We decided the bathroom was the best place to bring her up because she could have free rein.") as a bathroom is not covered by licencing legislation... And; "The leopard has now been returned to Cotswold Wildlife Park where she will gradually be introduced to other big cats." So are we all to believe that this cat has no imprinting from it's human "mother" and can the staff show that it has not been imprinted? Such press release stories are hype and spin. Good luck on rearing the cub but sadly I fear that this story will not end in a happy and reasonable conclusion.

 

We can always rely on you to look on the bright side. Eh, bigcat speciali?

Zoo licensing covers staff hand-rearing DWA-scheduled species at home.

Across the global zoo community - particularly in American collections - there is vast experience at resocialising hand-reared clouded leopards. I don't think you should be so quick to dismiss the possibilities...

 

I am well aware of the zoo licensing requirements, the questions asked and raised were done so to highlight such issues, especially with regards to the press article. I do detect a hint of sarcasm Paradoxurus, but nonetheless, I do not believe that I act to quickly to dismiss. We do know the issues with hand-rearing and those associated with certain animal taxa. America has many issues that are very contraindicating to what we we call the better or normal way of practice. Every zoo, collection, will have placed numerous criteria and emphasis on such hand-rearing matters. However, America has its own very difficult set of problems, from Joe Exotic to Doc Antle and the many others. I am as are many others against hand-rearing which goes against the grain of common sense and showmanship and, doing so for the gain of ego, drama and press advertising. That is not to say all hand-rearing is wrong...