We also visited over the bank holiday (on Saturday) and had a lovely day. Shame to hear about the maned wolf - I don't think we ever saw them in all our visits to Hamerton. We did speak to a keeper about the Jackals and she confirmed that visitors have almost zero chance of seeing them as the keepers themselves struggle to spot all three each day. We saw the mother and two younger Servals out in the paddock - they were very active and mum seemed to be observing their hunting practice. There was a lot of pouncing going on I don't know if this is a tip or not - but we did manage to see a tiger quoll. There are three outdoor sections to their enclosure - only two of which have proper viewing sections for visitors and the third which I assume is to give them a semi off show area. If you walk to the right hand side of the enclosure and stand next to the shell ducks you can see into the third outdoor section from a small distance away though. This is where we saw the quoll - it was sleeping on a log and we got lucky as it stirred and did a circuit while we were watching. They are very striking!! The Grisson were also very active after about 14:30. Loved the new Outback section and saw both wombats (Wanda and Albert) very active. She dug a VERY impressive trench while we watched. Does anyone know what happened to the planned new enclosure for the coati? I am sure that there was a sign up in the area to the left of the Lynx last time we visited saying they were working on a new enclosure for them. All that is there now is about 4 posts in the ground and the blank board that the sign was tacked to...
@Zia Although the sign stayed up for a while by the Lynx, I think the Coati's were subsequently planned for the new area by the Outback Aviary ... as well as meerkats and the nocturnal house. It's all a bit of a muddle really. One of the Tiger Quoll has been coming out into the middle section late in the afternoon, quite regularly now.
Thanks @littleRedPanda - I hope there are still plans to improve their accomodation. I'm not a fan of any of the enclosures in that little section on the right as you come in but the Coati and Binturong stand out as being particulalry poor in terms of space. Good news re the quoll - I would love to get a better view next time we visit.
As much as I love Hamerton, I do agree about those small enclosures. A few years ago a friend did the tiger feeding experience at Hamerton and I got to go in as an observer. We were in a small keeper area between the white tiger and maned wolf enclosures, and the maned wolf came and sat down to watch the whole thing, waiting patiently for the remnants of the meat to be given to him. I was impressed with the tiger feeding, but I was also impressed with such a good view of a maned wolf. Hamerton is the first place I saw a maned wolf (on a previous visit) and was so taken with it. Sad to hear he has passed away. I am really tempted to go over and spend a day just watching for the jackals (not that I am even that sure I have been looking in the right place). They seem to have become my new Rusty-spotted cats, now I have had such a good view of the latter. Maybe I will treat myself to another day over there in the half term break or over Christmas (of course not really spending all the time watching for the jackals!)
You'd have more chance in the winter months perhaps - the grass etc is so high atm that they'd have to put on a tutu and do a dance directly next to the gate for anyone to see them.
It would be really nice if they let them into the maned wolf enclosure for a while, although I gather they are quite shy and might not show well in such an open area.
Minor correction, there are four outdoor enclosures, one for each quoll. As @littleRedPanda mentioned, your best chance is the male in the middle section, being very active almost every day in the late afternoon, and occasionally during other parts of the day as well.
That same thought had occurred to me re: the Jackals. I wonder what they will do with the Maned Wolf enclosure? It would be nice if they could get more of the species, but how likely is this without EAZA membership? Of course, knowing Hamerton, if they can't get any more Maned Wolves, they'll probably acquire something even more unusual!
I understand that a new unrelated breeding pair of Maned Wolves will replace Jack in the near future.
Hi all. I'm planning on visiting Hamerton this weekend, and just wanted to make sure of a couple of things: Are the binturongs on display all Javan, or are there some Malayan/generic individuals I should be aware of? Are the two subspecies of swamp wallaby separated and indicated by signage? Same but with the aardwolves? When is a good time of day to see the potoroo, grison, quoll, wombat, and oncilla (if any)? Is the signage up-to-date? Any other tips? Haven't visited since my first time in 2010, really looking forward to it! Thanks!
1) The individuals near the entrance of the zoo are Javan, the ones in a mixed exhibit opposite the Canadian Lynx exhibit are generic. 2) ??? 3) The two aardwolf exhibits are distinct, yes - the Southern individual is in an exhibit labelled to species level near the marmoset exhibits, whilst the two Eastern individuals are in an exhibit labelled to subspecies level opposite the Corsac Foxes. 4) Potoroo are visible throughout the day, Grison are very much luck-based but seem to be more visible towards the end of the day, as are the Oncillas; cannot comment on the Tiger Quolls or Wombats as I have not visited since these went on-display. 5) Yes. 6) Revisit, revisit, revisit. Patience, patience, patience. Most importantly, enjoy yourself
They are, but I cannot recall whether both are on-display at present so left that out from my list of advice rather than give misinformation.
Excellent, thanks! It seems the subspecies of swamp wallaby aren't mentioned on Zootierliste, so they are possibly not on display, but all the more reason to return even if I see everything else well.
Both are mentioned on the zoo's website, one as swamp wallaby and one as black(?) pademelon. I've had this conversation on here before, if I haven't then it's mentioned elsewhere on this thread.
Yes, thought I'd seen it mentioned explicitly somewhere here, thanks. Just wanted to confirm they are both still on display.
When I visited 2 weeks ago, there was only the one swamp wallaby exhibit. I didn't see a tiger quoll outside (indoor viewing useless at present due to stand off bamboo fence ). Wombat always visible indoors, but I saw one outside & watched for 20 minutes at least, early afternoon around 1pm. Saw the grison at various times , as suggested ,keep trying! I should say I visited on a bad weather day for over 3 hours and apart from jaguarundi , rusty spotted cat, jackal , aardwolf I saw everything ( although these 4 are important I know ) .
Do you mean the Wattled Crane? I saw them but didn't look at the sign! No sighting of swamp wallaby in there !
