A male white rhino, named Roscoe, will be arriving from Seneca Park Zoo in about a month. Roscoe the rhino leaving Seneca Park zoo
In the Columbus Zoo's Beastly Banner magazine it says a new area for Central Chinese goral and red-crowned cranes has been added to the Lake Trail, as well as a walk through aviary with budgerigars (parakeets). These are not new animals to the Wilds but their regular enclosure was not on the regular safari tour.
An Indian rhinoceros calf was born out in pasture on August 30th. The gender is yet to be determined.
Rhino birth - first 5th generation ! : Rhino born at Wilds near Cumberland is first 5th-generation white rhino born outside of Africa - Daily Jeffersonian | Cambridge OH | Daily-Jeff.com
There has been a Sichuan takin baby boom at The Wilds.... A total of 11 calves have been born recently!
Just a lovely photograph; https://www.facebook.com/visitthewi...26446795048/10153134054480049/?type=1&theater
My boyfriend and I made our way up to Cleveland this weekend to visit his best friend from college who was in from DC, and on our way back home yesterday, we stopped in for a long overdue trip to The Wilds! This was my first trip to The Wilds in nine years, and oh how it has changed! The zipline safaris, horseback safaris, and the yurt camp known as Nomad Ridge were all new since my last visit, and after hearing about them all, it was very interesting to see them all in place! Two other new features since my last visit were an "Animal Encounters" stage and the Hellbender & American Burying Beetle Conservation Center. The "Animal Encounters" stage was where, for an additional charge of $5, you can sit in on a presentation involving up-close encounters with their outreach animals. We arrived at the end of the day, just as the last encounter was ending, so, needless to say, we did not partake in this.. I did see that the encounter featured a tamandua and a Virginia opossum, but beyond that, I do not know what else their outreach collection consists of. Behind the stage there is a large cage with several large branches and climbing structures, that I assume is used by some of these species throughout the day, but none were inside upon our visit. The Hellbender & American Burying Beetle Conservation Center is, well, a large pole barn within which the breeding a research facilities for the species are held. On one end of the barn there is a window with a covered viewing area that provides views of the hellbenders and burying beetles, though, currently, only the hellbenders are viewable as they have had quite the breeding success lately and tanks set up presenting these salamanders at all life stages. Now, to discuss the tour! -The first noticeable difference is that all but a small portion of their 200+ American bison herd has been moved to a separate enclosure adjacent to the first pasture you enter on the tour, which is not driven through, thus making most of the bison only visible from a distance... This separate enclosure was established as a part of a research and conservation project working with the bison and native prairie plants. They are currently researching the relationship between the bison and these plants and the effect that the bison have on maintaining and improving the health of this mostly lost native ecosystem. -The majority, if not all, of the park's Persian onager mares are/were pregnant and are have slowly been foaling over the past several weeks. We didn't see any of the foals that have been born so far, but all the of the mares we saw appeared heavily pregnant and our guide said that they were expecting additional foals any day. -I have photos of both the new budgerigar feeding aviary and the central Chinese grey goral/red-crowned crane yard alongside the Lake Trail, the first of two points where you can leave the bus and walk around. While the budgerigar aviary was, as expected, nothing special and held a commonplace species, I was quite happy to see that it housed only wild-type budgies! The goral/crane yard was quite small by The Wilds' standards, which, given the massive scope of the park, is not saying much and the enclosure is certainly of perfectly reasonable size for the three goral and two cranes it held (an additional pair of each species are held in a separate yard near the park's holding builds and yards which can be seen from a distance later on on the tour). -From there we traveled on into the pasture housing the park's Przewalski's horses, giraffes, and Sichuan takins (although the takins have actually and accidentally access to several pastures because they freely swim across the lakes!)... -Three Przewalski's horse foals have been born recently, including one at the beginning of last week, and several other mares are due soon! -And speaking of babies.... It was absolutely incredible to see all of the takin calves that have been born this year!! The shear size of the herd is amazing, with animals from a few weeks old all the way up to a few elderly individuals... It was an unforgettable sight! -The park is currently not breeding giraffes as they work to reestablish a breeding herd of Masai giraffes after the majority of their herd was sent to the Columbus Zoo for Heart of Africa.... One of these recent additions was "Lulu" from Cincinnati! It was so lovely to see her again! -The Mid-Sized Carnivore Conservation Center was just recently opened on my last visit and the main building was not yet completed and the dholes had not yet arrived, so it was wonderful to finally catch a glimpse of a dhole! ...Even if it was just the top of its head from a distance. -From there, heading back to the pastures, I got an up-close-and-personal encounter with the park's four ostriches, a relatively new arrival to the park. The male was incredibly curious of my palm-frond patterned t-shirt, and let's just say I ended up with some lovely ostrich slobber on my sleeve! -Speaking of new arrivals, the park has recently obtained a herd of blackbuck that are currently still in quarantine... They are expected to be out on exhibit by the end of the season. -Another new addition to the park is a male llama that they have acquired to protect their herd of Indo-chinese sika deer from coyotes. Both are currently only visible from a distance as the deer and llama are just now getting acquainted in one of the holding yards. -With these two additions, there appears to have been a loss... The Burmese brow-antlered deer. While the species is still listed on the park's website, they are not present on the pamphlet guide you are given at the ticket booth and I didn't see any on the tour... -The Javan banteng herd welcomed a calf quite recently. It was barely visible, lying amongst the three cows, but I could not grab a photo of it as our driver rolled up just a little to far to where I could no longer see it. -The former Rhino Outpost area where you could get out and walk around and have a close-up, stationary view of the park's southern white rhinos and their pasture-mates is now a campsite for over-night tours. -A small herd of American bison has moved into this pasture and are the only bison that you can see up close now that the main herd has moved in their own pasture. -The park's herds of Bactrian deer, scimitar-horned oryx, and southern sable antelope all have very young offspring amongst them. -The youngest white rhinoceros calf, the first fifth-generation calf outside of Africa, is still not on exhibit. -Our tour guide talked to us about the research projects currently being carried out on the park's herd of fringe-eared oryx and Patterson's eland. The oryx are being studied for the extreme adaptations they have developed to survive their harsh environments, and the eland are being studied in hopes of determining the purpose of their dewlaps. -It is currently rutting season for the Père David's deer, and it was an awe-inspiring experience to observe the stags during this time... Their deep roars, the impressive mud and grass slinging displays, and the clash of the antlers... It was simply amazing!
Article about the park's most recent births: The Wilds welcomes several new babies, including one Sunday | NBC4i.com -0.1 Grèvy's zebra born on July 19th -2.4 Scimitar-horned oryx born in May and June -1.2 Southern sable antelope born in May and June - the first in seven years. -1.2 Bactrian deer born in May and June -3.1 Przewalski's wild horses born in June and July
From Facebook: Beginning April 8, the Wilds will become a smoke-free facility. We are dedicated to providing a healthy environment for all our animals, guests and employees. Guests will not be allowed to smoke on Wilds property, including e-cigarettes, with exception for overnight guests. Thank you for your cooperation!
