Port Lympne Wild Animal Park Port Lympne 2018

How long have they had takins?

 

At least since 2016, they were there in the summer of that year definitely.

 

Black Rhino born on the 5th of January to first time mother 'Kissima'

 

Male Amur tiger Tugar has been put to sleep

Tugar 1998 - 2018

It is with heavy hearts, that we have decided to make the difficult decision to euthanise Tugar, our beloved male Amur tiger...
Tug was born 19 years ago at Port Lympne, where he was hand raised...
Tugar was a very special tiger, he was the kind of animal that keepers might perhaps only meet once or twice in their entire career.
He will be missed terribly by all at Port Lympne...

 

Don't know, but they have had their first birth at the park

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10155245219283093

 

0:1 Black Rhino born at the start of February. The mother is Solio. This is the 40th Black Rhino to be born at Port Lympne.

 

This is great news and for more than one reason if I'm correct,
* 4 calves born in less than 2 years here
* 2 first time mums, both homebred
* Solio having a calf when, from what i believe there have been medical issues (although this may not be true)
*Sammi hopefully has fathered all four, if so then this is great as his bloodline isnt very well represented in Britain possibly not in Europe either
Be great if anyone can confirm the last two points for me or correct me if not

 

I visited PL for the first time since I was a nipper today, spent a good 6 hours there braving the Baltic winds. Unfortunately with the weather there were a lot of no shows, though most of these were semi-nocturnal (Owston's palm civet is not something I'd have expected to see given the cold!) so I wasn't put out by this. Initial impressions weren't amazing, nothing was out in the enclosures near the Safari vehicles, and they delayed the departure of the first vehicle by 30 mins because of 'technical issues', though I felt like they were delaying it so there were more than a handful of people on the vehicle, perfectly reasonable but I'd rather have known beforehand so I could walk around one of the loops! Still, the baboons, lemurs and wild cat began to emerge before we departed which was grand.

The Safari was a considerable upgrade from the old tractor and trailer I vaguely remember, however unfortunately the comms system was broken so there was barely any commentary on this run. Coupled with the driver's reluctance to stop, and the general lack of animals due to the cold the first Safari wasn't amazing. Did get a great view of the local fox though! Great to see so many lechwe and deer species, the blesbok were lovely as well (apparently the 2 females are new).

Took the first stop so I could wander back to Basecamp via the carnivores and primates, unfortunately most species were still inside and refusing to pop out and say hi. Though the enclosures were by and large fantastic, the way they are orientated relative to the paths is infuriating for a photographer (a very personal criticism I know) - being a distance from the path with heavy, reflective mesh at an irritating tangent so you struggle to be at a right angle to the mesh doesn't make for a great pic taking environment. The obvious benefit of this is you put the damn camera down and actually enjoy the animals! Lots of great enclosures here, a very special shoutout to the Pallas cat enclosure which was fantastic, combining the natural elements of their rocky habitat with some verticality to give them a vantage point from which to judge people. Alas, it was snugged up inside.

My impression as I boarded the Safari back to basecamp, having gone past countless empty encloses and paddocks, was that I'd come on a stupid day, and my largely unimpressed state was due to the weather. However, god knows what they put into the water supply (joke, animal rights activists), but at about 1300 everything suddenly decided to come out and play. The empty paddocks suddenly contained rhinos, bison and Przewalski's horses, and the second run through the Safari, with a working tannoy, was much more productive.

Unfortunately, though it's nice to 'tick' a lot of species on the Safari, you just can't spend time enjoying the animals. The takin were miles away, so no baby photos for me, the bears stayed inside, and there was no chance of watching the wild dogs or the various ungulates in the African section. Still, it's a great experience and was thoroughly entertaining.

As an aside, the commentary was all over the place. Though generally good, the bison were apparently south American, and looked "like mini woolly mammoths", whilst there were various other issues with antelopes being called deer, things like that. But, nice to be shown around by people who love their jobs and really care about giving people a good experience.

On my final walk around critters began to really show themselves. I was lucky enough to have great interactions with the Pallas cat, rusty spotted cat and Malayan tapir, watching the European bison fighting and larking about, and watching the various rhinos scampering around.

So final impressions were very positive. Though I may or may not agree with the philosophy behind the park, there's no denying that there are some very special species kept in fantastic enclosures. Great day overall.

 

Port Lympne currently offering a stay in a cottage next to the Wolf Pack. Anyone know how long they have had wolves, their source and how many they have?

 

Haven't been to Port Lympne for a while. They always seem to change their large carnivore enclosures all the time! Lots of questions, apologies!

1. At the top of the park (by the entrance), is it just wolves and a tiger enclosure now? (Where did those 2 lions go, and I assume the wild dogs have moved out from up there)

2. In terms of the wild dogs, are they at the bottom of carnivore territory on show, alongside the wildcats and cheetah enclosure? And is there still an enclosure for the wild dogs on show by the African Experience (after the main safari enclosure), along a walk by the restaurant?

3. Are there tigers and lions still on show at the bottom of the carnivore territory? Can't see the tigers any more on the map.

4. What species is in the basecamp area, I've seen snow leopard and wildcat in there before? Is Marta still there, and is Blizzard still in her off show enclosure?

5. Wasn't there a plan to introduce Persian Leopards or another leopard species into Port Lympne?

6. Is there a lion now on show on the safari?

Sorry for so many questions!

 

I visited Saturday and can't believe what has happened to the place. It's more of a holiday camp now. No access to a lot of the enclosures, some of the small cat enclosures falling apart, Idiots racing around the place in Golf Buggies. It's a shame as i loved this zoo on my first visit just 11 years ago. I've made the decision to not visit again.

 

Both Rothschild giraffe are pregnant and are apparently due any time now, keeper has said that there are only 8 giraffe now over 2 herds so has one of the previous Rothschild calves moved or has one of the Hybrid moved out ?

 

They have 3.0 hybrids:

• Cillian
• Settanta
• Sebastian

Then 2.3 Rothchild's:

• Valentino
• Lunar
• Lehanna
• Mwezi (July 2016)
• Bakora (Dec 2016)

@zootiger

1. Currently just tigers and painted dogs. Wolves have been moved to a new enclosure. Lions moved to Carnivore Territory.
2. Yes there are wild dogs next to cheetah at Carnivore Territory.
3. No tigers at Carnivore Territory. Just lions.
4. Marta passed away some time ago. No snow leopards left as last two were moved to another collection in Europe. So now Scottish Wildcats, Wallaby and Ring Tailed Lemurs at Basecamp.
5. Apparently they recently received Colchester Zoo's 1.1 Amur Leopards.
6. No lion on show on safari.7

@Pertinax They have 3.0 European Grey Wolves. Arrived in 2015 from somewhere in the Netherlands I believe.

 

Anyone know when hybrid giraffe Jonathan moved/died ? He seems to be the one missing.He was born at Marwell back in 2003. They are doing really well with their Rothschild breeding long may it continue

 

Looking on YouTube it appears a giraffe has been born in the last hour

 

A male calf. Mum is Lehana

 

Lunar gave birth 3 hours ago

 

Who is Lunar?

 

The other - formerly pregnant - giraffe.