Howletts Wild Animal Park Howletts Wild Animal Park News 2016

According to Damian Aspinall's Twitter Page a baby Francois Langur has been born.

 

Heres an article about the birth: Howletts welcomes new baby Langur monkey | Canterbury Times

 

Male Western Lowland Gorilla Matadi (b.2003 at Twycross) has left to go to Antwerp Zoo

 

A month ago I already heard this news and I was very surprised since he only arrived in Howletts in September 2015 .... But I'm happy that he's there now and I hope he will get along with the ladies there and will have a happy long healthy life.

 

Its the fastest transfer I've ever heard of with a male Gorilla- just around five months between moves(i.e. Howletts- Antwerp). Something evidently did not work out at Howletts. I believe there were problems integrating females with him while the close proximity of another silverback in the neighbouring enclosure(Djanghou I think it was) was creating a stressful situation and upsetting the established male. Howletts have formed new groups several times in the past but they haven't brought in a strange male to live close by one of their established groups before- at least not in recent times. I do not know if that was the overriding reason for his move to Antwerp though.

I presume the new females from Europe that were to form the basis of this new group will now be absorbed into one of their existing ones, and that they won't try getting another male, as the same thing would be likely to happen again.

 

The old lynx enclosure by the honey badgers is being renovated for the snow leopards to move in.

 

Interesting. What changes are they making? Presumably they will add the same smooth overhang to the fence that the North Chinese Leopard enclosure has. If I remember the enclosure isn't overly large, but it will certainly be a nice upgrade over the existing exhibit.
Any word on what will go into the old enclosure? Clouded Leopards perchance?

 

The mesh fence is gone. I don't know what else is happening in there I'm afraid, presumably they'll add some height to it. I just asked someone in passing rather than having a proper chat.

 

Snow Leopard move update:

Our Snow Leopards, Ziva and Nuri, will soon be moving to a brand new open-topped enclosure near the Pavilion restaurant!

The cat team will be furnishing the enclosure very soon, and we can’t wait for them to enjoy their new home.

Link to pictures of the work being carried out on new enclosure:

https://www.facebook.com/howlettsanimalpark/posts/10154140095437612

 

I don’t know its parents or gender but I’ve been told there is a 2 week old gorilla in the ‘old gorillas’. I guess it’s too early for it have been officially announced.

There’s also a 2-3 week old lion-tailed macaque in the open top enclosure (some are now living in the woodland area).

 

I'm visiting on Sunday, hopefully they do have a young gorilla

 

Howletts Wild Animal Park near Canterbury celebrates baby gorilla arrival

"The infant gorilla was successfully delivered on April 25 to Sanki and father Djanghou."

 

This seems to be the first successful Gorilla birth at either of the parks since a previous baby in this group was born in 2011-to the same parents, Sanki & Djanghou, around five years ago. As they have around 20 females of breeding age all told, I would be interested to know if this is a deliberate policy nowadays to reduce breeding, or just a very long period in which by chance there were no new babies.

 

Visited today. Managed to get a couple of glimpses of the baby gorilla, clinging on to mum Sanki's arm. The male Honey badger has been moved to an enclosure between restaurant and leopards; keeper told us the female had a baby mid March and they're keeping a close eye on them as it's the first successful birth for her. Their enclosure was taped off today to give them some privacy.

 

Hi everyone,

On an unrelated note, can anyone provide any information on the banded leaf monkey situation?

How many of these animals remian in the park and what specie/subspecie are they currently labelled as? The taxonomy of the surilis is very disputed and am keen to know if these animals were ever confirmed as hybrids or supposed pure bred.

Have any of the south east asian primates held at Howletts (grizzled leaf monkey, spectacled langurs, banded leaf monkeys) bred well there?

Thanks.

 

https://youtu.be/1ejfPk-kjzo Some fantastic old footage of Howletts Gorillas throughout the 1970s. Includes footage of a birth and of the Two original silverbacks Gugis and Kisoro.

 

The baby gorilla has been named Soundi

"We recently celebrated the birth of a baby female gorilla - we’re pleased to announce that she has been named Soundi, in memory of her late grandmother, Sounda. Soundi also has the traditional mix of letters from the names of her mother, Sanki, and her father, Djanghou."

 

Female Gorilla Boma has died :


"Keepers and staff at Howletts Wild Animal Park are saddened to announce the death of Boma, a female western lowland gorilla. Boma was being treated intensively by the dedicated vet team and her keepers for severe pneumonia but unfortunately, she succumbed to the disease earlier this month.

Boma was a favourite amongst keepers and staff at the wild animal park near Canterbury, who describe her as a great character and although she was a high ranking female within her group, she was very gentle towards her keepers and showed particular patience with the team during her treatment.

Howletts welcomed Boma to silverback Djanghou’s group in 2004, where she joined five other females and the impressive silverback as part of a breeding programme, designed to boost the numbers of this critically endangered species. In 2009 Boma gave birth to a son – Nkoumou, who is reported to be doing well in the group, although the team are closely monitoring him."

 

Recent visit

A visit to Howletts was included as part of the package for my recent stay at the Port Lympne Hotel .

The 13 African elephants appear to be split into 2 groups , the 3 older adult females with calves on one , the new male and younger females in the second . Did not see the young rhino though one female was lying in long grass in the big paddock and was barely visible , the male has been sent to Port Lympne .

The main group of dholes is very large , there were others elsewhere in the Park . A new pair of European wolf have replaced the hunting dogs . The male ratel is next to the Chinese leopards , no sign of female ( or rumoured baby ) .

Many of the monkey groups appear to have had breeding stopped - Javan langur , lion-tailed and Sulawesi macaque . Several young spectacled langur and quite a few young moloch gibbons . The colobus and gelada were not mixed ( the gelada in the paddock ) .Francois langur now in a rather small enclosure on the Woodland Walk ( not seen ) , white-naped mangabey ( 1 seen ) behind the Old Gorilla area .

Work ongoing on the old lynx enclosure next to the Chinese leopards . It looks like it will have an open-front viewing area separated by a large ditch from the enclosure .

The new baby gorilla looked healthy , at times it was being carried on its mother's arm and her back . I think it was Damian Aspinall and chums on the roof feeding the group , the male was very pumped up until they left , when he relaxed and went up to the roof to feed .

 

Update.

I visited both Parks the other day. A few comments from your updates;

I saw both Ratels- in their seperate enclosures. No sign of any baby but the female had teats showing clearly.

Elephants were altogether.

Geladas number 7- 1.4.2. The new male is not fully grown yet but presumably is father of the newest babies(juveniles). Not mixed with the Colobus. They make a great display- very active and with their lip-flapping signals and strange alarm calls (like lost souls) that they make.

1.2. W.N. Mangabeys seen in the cage behind old Gorillas.

15(approx) Lion-tailed Macaques in main enclosure plus now a splinter group of circa 8 in woodland walk area.

Moloch Gibbons seemed to be in every other enclosure.

The new enclosure you mention above- is it for Tigers?- it looks like it.

No sign(or cage label) anywhere of the Hecks Macaques. Still there?

10 Red River Hog. 5 Bongo. Many Dhole. Few smaller cats seen being a morning visit. Good to see the new baby Gorilla- the first there for several years.

Yet again I failed to see the Spanish wolves- despite going to their enclosure early on, and then twice later as well.