Just had a look at the wild place website and it seems very much family and kids orientated. Does this seem a fair assessment?
My understanding was that the zoo was going to aim at young families and wild place families with teenagers. However this may have changed since the original masterplan failed to attract the necessary funding. Certainly the airial walkway is much higher and challenging than the one at the zoo, there are playgrounds for young kids though.
A couple of comments - there is a lot of old woodland on the site and it is a good birdwatching location - buzzards are seen daily and both green and great spotted woodpeckers are presnt, along with other woodland birds. Also, a non-breeding group of meerkats is now on show - these are from the main group at Bristol Zoo
New exhibit A couple of comments - there is a lot of old woodland on the site and it is a good birdwatching location - buzzards are seen daily and both green and great spotted woodpeckers are presnt, along with other woodland birds. Also, a non-breeding group of meerkats is now on show - these are from the main group at Bristol Zoo
6 Reindeer have joined Wild Place taking up residence in a revamped enclosure previously held by the Boreray sheep. 3.2 of these arrived from Dudley Zoo (not sure where the sixth came from). Work has started on the off show aviaries in the walled gardens, I look forward to seeing if this will be a new exhibit.
Okapi, Rubani has been PTS at the age of 21 due to advance liver failure. He was one of the oldest Okapi in Europe
They now have 3 Okapis, 2 Females and 1 Male. The females are Lodja who came to the wild place from Bristol. Kibibi came from Rotterdam. The male is called Kivu and came to the Wild Place from Chester Zoo Such sad news.
Any news yet on future pregnancies / breeding success? BTW: those aviaries off exhibit - an idea what is cooking there? Any indication when and how the giraffe development?
The only one to be born at Wild Place was a still-birth in 2014 from female Kibibi which was fathered by a male at Rotterdam Zoo (Kitabu now at Dublin)
6 Gelada Baboons joining Wild Place in Summer 2016 Just spotted on the Wild Place website a new news item; 6 Gelada Baboons will be joining Wild Place in the Summer. The link below provides a bit more information and a photo of these impressive animals! New year, new arrivals at Wild Place Project! | The Wild Place Project Ben
The Wild Place is hardly typical ibex habitat, so it would be expensive to create an exhibit for them. But geladas are less demanding. Might these animals be the spare males from Dudley? Alan
Dudley's bachelor group contains only 5 individuals. Their breeding group consists of 3.3 (the males being the alpha and two youngsters).
Expensive? They're goats! A decent pile of rocks would surely suffice for hoofcare and display purposes.
The site is basically a natural wood. They might be able to use an existing clearing to avoid felling trees, clearing brush and grubbing out stumps. But even a pile of rocks would need foundations and drainage, plus a pretty heavy duty fence. Alan
I suspect / assume these originate from the EEP breeding program surplus stock. New holders are urgently required to absorb particular bachelor male groups!
Geladas- this is a bit more like it for Wild Place. They may well hope to obtain females later on, that's how both Colchester and Dudley went with them, males to start with, and Bristol Zoo with the Drills too.
When I recently visited I was told there would be 6 Mandrills and they would be located near to the Cheetah enclosure
