A second Indian rhino has arrived. Up close and personal with the Fota animals - Indian Rhinos | Irish Examiner
They've had 2.0 more or less since the exhibit opened - 1.0 from Whipsnade and the other from Terra Natura
Was at Fota on Sunday the 14th and thought i'd review the Asian sanctuary as it now nears completion with the arrival of 3 lions this summer. Takins and markhor are to come in 2017 while bears (species unknown) to arrive in 2018. Firstly I feel AS adds a lot to Fota and makes a visit an hour or two longer than before. The exhibits are of high quality and will look better when the planting matures. It is currently home to Asian lions, Indian rhino, agile gibbon, lar gibbon, Sumantran tiger, lion tailed macaque, francois langur, Visayan warty pig and Philippine spotted deer mixed, also marked on the map is an exhibit for red pandas but on my visit housed a male grey kangaroo However I think that AS takes off the "monkey island" area as a lot of the primates have been moved. A few of the islands are now abandoned and the former main exhibit for Lion tailed macaque is very over grown and is now home to just two inhabitants which is a shame as it is quite a large island. The former agile gibbon island is now home to two Saki monkeys and two meerkats.. quite a weird mix.. Also there was a lot less waterfowl than there used to be. What I propose is that maybe the monkey islands area be turned into a South American area as their is many South american animals present in this area anyway such as the penguins, monkeys and flamingos. This would mean the tapirs and capybara could be moved up and possibly the capybara could return to be being free range as they were most frequently seen around here anyway. The area beside the large African paddock where the cheetah, red pandas etc live now could be used for the colobus monkeys and lemurs which used to live at the top of the park, The former tapir exhibit could be used for a new species. I also managed to get myself some work experience for Transition year in Fota looking forward to it so much
Never seen a map from the park, the markhor and takin are pencilled in on the map for this year and if you look at the logo of the Asian sanctuary in the top right hand corner, is that a golden takin? http://www.fotawildlife.ie/assets/map
