Longleat Safari & Adventure Park Longleat Safari Park News 2016

Twenty eight Lions! I wouldn't want to be paying the food bill for them..

I knew they'd somewhat overbred in past management but that's still a ridiculous number

 

New attractions will be opening this year including ‘Little Explorers’ Garden’ - a new themed adventure playground for younger children and a traditional carousel ride.


it's confirmed the species of bear who will be mixing with the wolves was the Brown Bears. do you all remember that ?

 

All 15 lions including Simba and Klaus are now in the wooded part of the lion enclosure

"The first stage of our carnivore redevelopment is done! With some sneaky Go Pro skills we managed to capture our lions heading to their new home for the first time. It's safe to say all 15 lions seemed thoroughly chuffed with their new environment!"


https://www.facebook.com/longleat/videos/1246434835397433/?video_source=pages_finch_main_video

 

African Summer is going well. The lions are loving their new space. I'll be there very soon

 

On the 22nd August BBC's Animal Park is set to return for the first time since 2009. It will begin on BBC One at 9.15am https://www.longleat.co.uk/#/news/animal_park_returns_to_mark_safari_parks_50th_birthday

So make sure you tune in to BBC 1 won't you

 

Watched the 1st episode today really good to catch up with it all again, Nico is still going strong which is great

Giraffe calf called Lady Emma was born to Ella and Gertrude is due around November, apparently Ella lost her first calf although unsure when this was ? (I would assume pre 2012 as she had Odele in 2014)

Was great to see the lions working for their dinner again

 

Agreed, but didn't Mark Lockyear pass away a few years ago?

Also, are there any plans to release a publication to mark the park's 50th?

 

The interview with Mike Lockyer was footage from the original series. He passed away in February 2007

Mike Lockyer - Telegraph

A limited edition 50th anniversary book was released earlier in the year - its available to purchase from the park.

 

Thursday's episode of the revived Animal Park featured a recent AI procedure on the parks two oldest female White Rhinos (Mrashi and Razina).

Although the outcome (successful or not) was not revealed during the program, it did provide some insight into the issues they've had in breeding from the current group. Ie: the male not producing enough semen and not being dominant enough over the females...

 

I have really enjoyed this weeks Animal Park Summer Special, it was nice to catch up with new and old residents of the Park and nice to see keepers like Ian Turner, Mark Tye and Darren Beasley are still working at the Park, the one thing that did disapoint me was there was no mention or any tribute to the late Bob Trollope, he was a familiar and well respected member of the Longleat keepers and I expected them to pay tribute to him!

 

I too was sad to see there wasn't a tribute to Bob, (who featured in many episodes), particularly when he was featured on one of the latter episodes.

Giving Anne's advancing years, and a brand new elephant house, does Longleat intend to once again keep elephants, be that rescue or a breeding herd?

 

You know by a long shot how long ago the new series was shot at Longleat?

 

Article about the Red panda twin :
Red Panda Double-Trouble at Longleat - ZooBorns

 

Some penguins have been affected by Avian Malaria and have sadly passed away

"It is with great sadness that we have to announce that a number of our Humboldt penguins have passed away due to an outbreak of Avian Malaria amongst the colony. This would have been contracted through an airborne mosquito. Although our penguins are a tough bunch this has subsequently led to problems with the remaining group, leading to a very distressing time for everyone involved in their care.

Our team of keepers are absolutely devastated - they have looked after the penguins each and every day, with most of the penguins having been hand-reared by the team since hatching.

Whilst this disease DOES NOT affect humans we have taken the decision to close Penguin Island to visitors in order to give our team additional space and time to care for our remaining birds and to allow the heartbroken keepers time themselves to get through this terrible experience.

Despite the best efforts of our team and with expert advice from other collections around the country who have previously experienced the same tragedy, we have still been unable to save a large amount of these incredible and popular aquatic birds.

Keepers will be spending the coming days and weeks doing everything they can to care and treat the remaining penguins in our collection in the hope that their health improves and they get better.

In the meantime we hope visitors to the park understand the difficult position our team are in and our reasons for closing this popular attraction."

 

Article about the malaria outbreak :
Longleat penguins die in malaria outbreak - BBC News

 

25 Penguins have now been confirmed to have died through the malaria outbreak. Does anyone know how many they had held, not much more than this number I am thinking?

 

Many years ago Marwell lost all of their penguins to the same disease, since then they have been given a daily dose of preventative anti-avian malarial medication. That has been effective, but is does not totally prevent it 100%.

 

Cheetah cubs born

Cheetah cubs make history for being first ever born at Longleat safari park

 

Another article about the Cheetah-twin :
Chirpin' Cheetahs! Twin Cubs Born at Longleat Safari

 

The cubs have been named "Winston" and "Poppy"