0.0.2 Drills have been born, bringing the troop to 11 members: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2166754876751647
It is. And from the video at least one of them is a female...one good thing about the Aspinall parks is they allow decent-sized groups to develop, in the case of the Drills I saw ten last year with one of them seperated, so possibly this makes twelve(unless the segregated one has left) but the troop now numbers 11. Mind you, to see them properly you need to go just inside the Safari area past the 'no pedestrians' sign- if they are in the old covered part of the enclosure( which is most of the time) people on the trucks don't notice them at all.
A question: having missed the Owston's palm civets at Shaldon yesterday and being unlikely to go down to Newquay or Thrigby - how visible are the civets at PL?
I've only seen one once at PL in 5 or 6 visits since they arrived. That was around 3pm. Edit, it was actually just before 5pm in October 2014, I've found the photo I took.
0.0.3 African Lion cubs were born on 13th May, the first at Port Lympne in over 10 years: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=330593690901795
A couple of comments; 1. The parent Lions' names aren't familiar to me, the last maned(non-castrated) male there was the homebred Moonlight( or his brother Milo) coupled with a female from Berlin(?)- is that still 'Oudrika'? Have they aquired a new pair, or just a new male, and where is Moonlight...? 2. There is no reference to 'Barbary' here. Is this pair not of 'Barbary' origin, or have they just not publicised that this time? 3. the cub she carries out looks like a male. Any explanation to the above welcomed.
1. PL only had 1.2 lions before the arrival of the cubs - a single female next to where you queue for the safari trucks, and this pair now up at the top of the zoo. Their only male is indeed Milo (and the female he was with is Safiyya), so they appear to have been renamed for the press.....similar situations occur all over the place in zoos - for example the baby okapi at London Zoo had a press name (Meghan) and a house name (Ada). 2. They are the ‘Barbary’ pair. The single female is a subspecies hybrid (as are the breeding pair let’s be honest). 3. Unsure if the cub is a male or not - guess we will find out soon enough.
That's a bit odd- he's been Milo for years so I wonder why a name change now? And I thought Safiya was the homebred female with a badly damaged leg- Milo was given an unrelated female partner from- I think- one of the German zoos. I remember the publicity on her arrival.
According to their FB this pair are indeed Milo and Lily, masquerading as Adras and Oudrika- no idea why the name changes at this time though- always been called publicly by the earlier names afaik.
Male lion Sulliman has been put down due to renal failure at the age of 20yrs. Posted earlier today on their Facebook page
With Sulliman's death, does anyone know how many + details (sex/names/ages) of Lions that are now left at both parks?
1.1 at howletts Layla and jabir 1.2.3 at port lympne saffiya old female around 20 mother to male milo(13)who is pared with lily (3) who has nearly 3 week old cubs (3)
Black rhino Zambezi will be relocated to the Grumeti reserve in Africa. He will be joined by another bull called Eric from San Diego zoo
What are the long term plans for lions at the Aspinall parks? Are they still trying to push the “Barbary” line or would investing in Asiatics be the better option?
They didn't mention the word 'Barbary' in the publicity over the recent birth of cubs (see above). That's quite unusual for them.
That would be because they are not 'Barbary'. The mother is 'normal' African and no hint of Barbary about her. PL must have admitted defeat with this particular venture.
