Yorkshire Wildlife Park Yorkshire Wildlife Park News 2020

Getting? They've got them, you just need to know where to look.

Geladas at Yorkshire WP, 18/01/20 - ZooChat

(see also: Venezuelan Red Howler at Yorkshire WP, 18/01/20 - ZooChat, Roloway Monkey at Yorkshire WP, 18/01/20 - ZooChat)

Other photos on Facebook show that the Roloways have been out in their outside enclosure this week as well.

 

Thanks for the information, hopefully I will get to see all 3 species when I visit this week

 

Good luck! Don't forget to check for hyaenas as well.

 

Hopefully the new walkway should be open soon, otherwise the hyenas and geladas will only be visible from a distance via the tiger walkway. The roloways are in the old okapi enclosure and the howlers are in the former coati enclosure next to the anteaters.

 

Do we know if another species will join the rollaways as I remember the enclosure being big?

 

I am not sure on that front, I will try and ask when I go at the weekend but I think they are a breeding pair, so they may be hoping for babies. I am not sure how much of the old okapi enclosure they have access to as it used to be one house with two or three? outdoor areas, I think moving the okapis just meant building them a new house and I'm pretty sure they are still using the same outdoor areas next to the tigers. If you are lucky enough you may see them running up and down the fences.

 

The Howler and Roloway monkeys have been officially announced on Instagram.

 

Take a look at the new video just gone up on their FB site!

 

Still waiting for an ape species!

 

They look like nice enclosures, particularly if they can climb the bigger trees, unlike at e.g. Paignton where they are hotwired.

He could have said the Roloways are the only ones in England as well as the Howlers. Does anyone know where they came from yet?

YWP are beginning to get a decent selection of Primates now, with their recent additions.

 

The news article on the official YWP website gives the origins for all the new monkeys.

The male Roloway (Rafiki) came from Heidelberg and the female (Kayla) from Mulhouse.

Of the red howlers, the male (Geronimo) and older female (Namid) both came from Cologne while the younger female (Tila) came from Apenheul.

The article can be found here:
Monkey business with new arrivals at Yorkshire Wildlife - Yorkshire Wildlife Park

 

Visited today and if you look over to the new site there is 2 enclosures. Hyenas at least 3 in one and some type of monkeys in the others

 

Those are the Geladas.

 

Visited today on an average winter day weatherwise, fairly windy but very little rain thankfully, only the rhinos failed to make an appearance.
Watched the Roloway monkeys outside for quite a while (handy as the viewing windows are barriered off currently! A good adaptation of part of the okapi paddock.
Good to see viewing windows installed to the new Okapi house, as both remained indoors.
The Red Howlers were all curled up inside, but did see two outside briefly later on a second visit.
One of the highlights of the day was watching an armadillo charging around its outdoor enclosure for at least 10 minutes. I've rarely seen them outdoors and not with as much space, but to see it outside and so active in February was a real surprise!

Only saw one giant otter.

The new polar bear was out and active.

Saw one male Gelada running around on the hill, but failed to spot any hyenas, I will return as soon as the new area is open.

Overall a very enjoyable visit, this place gets better every time!

There was a lot of flooding in several enclosures - polar bear, tiger, Guinea baboons and South American viva in particular.

 

The armadillo brilliant isn't he, we were there couple of days after they arrived and he would nip out do a lap, pop back in for 20 seconds and then run out and do another lap over and over lol

 

One of the female armadillos has been moved to Fife zoo, leaving one male and one female at the park.

 

Visited over the weekend, (long post):

New Development

Phase one of the development should have opened last summer, however they are running behind schedule as the pillars of the current bridge around tiger territory had to be replaced before work on the new bridge could begin. They are tentatively hoping for the development to open over the Easter holidays, however, it is possible it could be postponed until the summer. The new bridge needs surfacing but work has stopped at the minute due to protected birds taking up residence in the wetlands. The hyenas are a breeding pair, I am unsure of their origin but they have settled in fairly well and should be an interesting addition when the expansion opens.

Lions

Ares and Julie have been outside together for the past three weeks, the keepers are tentatively hopeful that this will be a permanent solution for both to have access to an outdoor enclosure without the need for a timeshare. They are not currently being housed together indoors or overnight, the lion house can be split into five individual houses allowing for Carla and Crystal, Simba and Maria and Ares and Julie to be housed apart. The two did display the expected aggression typically observed when introducing animals, however no serious injuries occurred. One major incident occurred when Julie attempted to steal Ares food after working out that he got bigger portions, the resulting fight left Ares with a black eye but he gave as good as he got. The two seem to tolerate each other and hopefully their relationship will grow once Julie goes into season. Maria is currently in season and Simba has been taking advantage of this.

Giraffes

As the younger boys have been getting older there is the possibility that they will challenge Behansin for dominance. Apparently he is not a great dominant male as he fails to put the others in their place.

Rhinos

Makibo and Najuma have been introduced through the fence and reactions have been positive, they hope to introduce the two in the spring as they seem to enjoy each others company. They will keep Najuma away from Jasper who they worry will become agitated when Najuma is ready to breed as he is a proven breeding male. Keepers are hopeful for babies in the future, the house can be split into six individual enclosures and there are three outdoor enclosures.

Leopards, Tigers and Painted Dogs

They are currently waiting for a recommendation from the studbook to breed the Leopards and Tigers. Drake and Freya (Leopards) are regularly swapped between the two enclosures, and Vlad is moved between Sayan and Tschuna (Tigers), he seems to get along a bit better with Sayan as he and Tschuna seem to be fairly standoffish. The Rukuni pack (Painted Dogs) have split yet again, originally, three animals splintered off from the main pack leaving two packs consisting of three and seven animals, one of the seven has now joined the three leaving a pack of six and a pack of four. It is unclear what the long term plans are for these animals as originally the three were going to be moved on to a new collection, however, they appear to be managing successfully as they have three enclosures (grassland, woodland and an off-show enclosure) to move them between.

Polar Bears

With the current wet weather one of the enclosures has become too waterlogged for the bears to be put out in as there is a risk to their feet so they have had to implement a 'dry dock' plan. It is currently breeding season and Nobby has reached maturity, he no longer wants to be with Victor and has become aggressive, he has also gone off his food. He has had fights with both Victor and Nissan so they have been separated, he has some wounds to the back of his neck. Pixel and Nissan are sill together and become distressed when separated. Dry dock plan means either Victor, Nobby, or Pixel and Nissan have to be shut indoors whilst the others have access outdoors. Hopefully when the breeding season is finished the tension will diffuse and they will be able to be mixed again. Because Victor is on his own he has begun to display a head rolling behaviour. The most likely to breed in the future is Nobby as his father(?) was born in the wild.

Rasputin will spend four months in quarantine in the old brown bear enclosure, the keepers will observe his behaviour to determine who he will best fit with and will either move him across to project polar or potentially move one of the others over to him. He seems to have settled in fairly well but does pace quite frequently, this behaviour developed in France as a result of being separated from Flocke, he also tends to go off his food when separated so keepers in France overfed him prior to the move, the keepers are working on getting his weight down. Moving Rasputin to YWP was in the works for a while but the actual move was sped up due to concerns over delays due to Brexit uncertainty. Rasputin did not react well to the change in elevation, in France he was above the visitors due to the design of the enclosure whereas he is now below them. They are open to taking on Flocke but at the discretion of the studbook, at the moment they understand that they will likely have Rasputin for a few years but he could be moved back to breed again with Flocke or elsewhere if another female is suggested as a potential mate.

Other

Okapi were both inside, escaping from the weather, the new house seems a lot better than the old and the viewing windows offer a nice opportunity to view the animals indoors. On previous visits I have seen the tigers chasing them up and down the fence. The otters are getting on well, hopefully they will mate successfully in the future. Did not see many of the new additions; Roloways, Howlers and Sakis were all inside and the indoor viewing for the Roloways is still cordoned off, but did see the armadillo. A tree came down in Lemur Wood during the extreme weather of the past few weeks, thankfully no escapes but there is still concern for the Lemurs and Warty Pigs. They are holding two squirrel monkeys in quarantine before they are moved overseas, their move was delayed by Brexit, they were having problems with the monkeys biting visitors which is why they have moved out of squirrel monkeys and acquired the Sakis. The coatis were moved to Fife, many zoos are moving their coatis here with the intention of setting up a single, non-breeding, population. They are open to housing most animals but the one they refuse to take is elephants, due to both the spatial requirements and the current commission which is investigating elephants in UK zoos, they don't want to invest in elephants and then be told they have to get rid of them in x amount of years.

(Apologies for any spelling/grammar mistakes, this was a rushed post)

 

What species have been confirmed for phase one of the development? Is it just striped hyenas and gelada at the moment.

 

Striped would be nice, but it’s spotted hyaena.

 

Oh yes, sorry my mistake.