Yorkshire Wildlife Park Yorkshire Wildlife Park News 2020

Just in time for school holidays !!!
I am disappointed that zoos seem to use new attractions this way and
that includes in many zoos, new borns of popular species that re often shut out of sight until schools break up

 

!! GET REAL !!
What a bizarre thing to get disappointed about...

 

Zoos need income nothing wrong with them trying to increase attendance any time of the year!

 

Please share evidence of this?

 

I thought it would be interesting to speculate on which species will be displayed in phase 1 of the expansion. Obviously so far only Spotted Hyena and Gelada have been confirmed. However, I have heard rumours of Gorilla, Red Panda and Penguins, although I am unsure if there is any truth behind them.

The website says "There will be a phased introduction of the animal reserves which represent 3 key zones: Africa, Asia and South America. Habitats within these zones will include South American Pacific, South American Panatal, Asian Forest and African Valley (amongst others) as part of a 5 year masterplan. A bridge and walkway over the existing wetlands will link our new 150 acre site with the current Yorkshire Wildlife Park site."

The addition of Spotted Hyena and Gelada are clearly part of the Africa area which, I assume will be joint to the existing part of the park which borders the new development and contains mainly African species. Therefore, it may be possible the first phase is just African animals making Gorilla's a possibility still.

Furthermore, the new zone appears to be centred around water, with a large lake and several other smaller ones on the proposed artists plans. This makes the prospects of penguins (possibly African Penguins) seem more likely. I'm not sure which other species they could get in that are based around water but my initial thought was Hippos, Flamingos, Crocodiles and possibly Sitatunga or Waterbuck. I'm sure not all these guesses will be correct, yet a few may be.

I would be interested to see what others think and hear their predictions.

 

African elephants have been mentioned in the past but I've no idea whether there is any truth in that.
They would be a fantastic addition if they went ahead with them but this could be years off if confirmed

 

Yes, I could definitely see them fitting in to with the background that we know so far and the species YWP keeps currently. I'm unsure how large the expansion area is and if it could accommodate an Elephant exhibit.

With the new area hoped to be ready by Easter and at the latest the Summer before the lockdown I would expect most enclosures are nearly ready. However, I'm unsure if any animals would have moved in yet except the Hyena and Gelada. If a species such as Gorilla or Elephant had moved from another collection it would most likely be noticed on here or announced by that zoo.

 

Ok, I've been trawling through the planning applications to see if I could find any more details on the expansion and I came across an interesting document. (https://pad.doncaster.gov.uk/NPSPublicDocs/00834239.pdf)

It shows all animal houses built for the first stage of the expansion and enclosures without naming the species which will reside in each enclosure. It also shows some areas and houses which will be used for future stages.

First of all the Spot house and Brava house are I assume for the Spotted Hyena and Gelada respectively. However, that would mean the Gelada enclosure is larger which I'm unsure on.

The other enclosure bordering on the existing area is labelled as for Asian Hoof stock and is a relatively large house which appears to be able to split into four distinct areas. There are at least two species of Asian Hoof stock in this area.

There is one massive house which is not being used for this phase which could be used for Elephants as previously suggested.

It would appear there will be an African and Asian aspect to this next stage. In my opinion the African area is at the top of the map and the Asian area at the bottom.

As for the final enclosures in my proposed Africa section is one for a future date and another smaller one called the Havanna house which is split into two enclosures.

In the lower section there are two smaller exhibits which have no animal houses attached to them.

That leaves the Pump house which appears to have no outdoor exhibits attached to it.

Then the large Sierra house which has large and has two outdoor enclosures one which is quite large and both have pools in them taking up a large proportion of the exhibit.

There is then the Tango house which has a large outdoor attached to it with water and a lot of vegetation.

There is then another medium sized enclosure with no house but vegetation and water in it and another smaller enclosure attached to it.

There are couple of other exhibits planned for later stages in this area.

On a different plan which shows the visitor hub, as well as plans for a hotel, there appears to be a pool for visitors, a new shop and an amphitheater for animal shows.

I would be extremely interested in hearing your predictions for what will inhabit the different exhibits. Perhaps with some sort of competition to see who gets the most correct/closest.

In the meantime I will continue to search for other documents that give more details on the situation.

 

This page gives more details on the different animal houses used and more knowledgeable members may be able to use this I formation to narrow down the species involved.
https://pad.doncaster.gov.uk/AniteIM.WebSearch/Results.aspx

 

Wow - if zoos are restricted to (say) 500 people per site per day, post lock-down - it is difficult to see how a return could be made on an expansion of that size... even if they do have the support of their Local Authority which other zoos lack.

 

I have further noticed the Havanna house has two pools in it and a facility for brushing of the animals. The Spot enclosure has special anti dig precautions taken with the outdoor fencing.

It would appear a large proportion of the new collection spends a significant proportion of time around/in water.

 

Phase 1 guess
Gelada
Spotted hyena
Pygmy hippo

red panda
Gaur/ blackbuck

Californian sea-lion
Brazilian tapir
Bush dogs

elephants very unlikely to be part of expansion as total size of animal area is around 20 acres with the largest exhibit approx 2 acres.

 

Yes, I agree with you in terms of the elephant. I was thinking Gorillas may be more likely for that exhibit. However it will be a long wait to find out.

In terms of your own guesses very sensible and I do hope they are correct as it would be an exciting species line up.

 

Link does not work

 

Sorry I think it had timed out. Here is another link to all planning applications by the zoo and go to the application called the approval of animal housing. If this link doesn't work go to Doncaster council website and you should find it there. https://planning.doncaster.gov.uk/online-applications/simpleSearchResults.do?action=firstPage

 

There may be a clue in the names given to the different animal houses.

For example it would appear Spot correlates to Spotted Hyena.

If that is the case what is the correlation between Brava and Gelada other than that they sort of rhyme.

Other house names are: Havanna, Sierra, Tango, Pump and obviously Asian Hoofstock.

I could of course be grasping at straws due to the boredom of the lockdown. However, I thought it might be a useful exercise to serif anyone could decipher any clues.

 

If you look back to the first page of the 2019 thread you may find what you're looking for

 

I reckon, and hear me out here, that Asian Hoofstock will definitely contain some kinds of Asian hoofstock...

 

Bored and confused!

Obviously, house names Havanna, Sierra, Tango signify South American theme.
But as all this is just speculation for now you will learn in due course.

BTW: Just out of sheer interest: They are not building or are they?

 

I have no idea if they're currently building or not but I would imagine they were pretty close to completion before the lockdown. Of course it's just speculation but it is doing nobody any harm and just providing a bit of fun to pass the time.