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Wingham Wildlife Park Newsletter
August 2009
As ever we have had a lot of new arrivals this month to add that little bit extra to your next visit. We are working very hard at the moment to improve our contributions towards both conservation and education at the park. We have made many additions to our animal collection to allow us to run breeding projects across many groups of animals including primates, birds and reptiles, as well as helping in the form of releases to the wild (Scottish Wild Cats), habitat protection (Slow Worms & Wild Birds) and rescues (Barbary Macaques). Please read on for even more new conservation projects at the park later on in this newsletter.
On the education front we have some interesting new signs around the park which are sure to get your kids involved even more with the park experience! These are set to be put up around the park any day now, since we do have them back from the printers now. When they are up they will allow the children (and adults for that matter) to read the question on the front, and then check their answer by flipping it over. Its a great way to get those unusual facts to stick in your mind... You never know "What is a baby Wallaby called?" may just crop up in that next pub quiz!
Once again we have some more movement on our top lake, which sadly at the moment looks more like a large puddle because of the terribly dry weather we have had for so long now. Our new Pink Backed Pelicans don't seem to mind however and have settled in very well over the past few weeks, already having learnt to follow the keepers around when the food bucket comes in to sight. Also you might be able to spot (although she is currently still quite shy) our new female Capybara to add to our current group on the lake.
If you take a look around our park at the moment you will see a bit of a building site between our tropical house and bird of prey aviaries. This area is being developed in to a long primate enclosure which is going to house our pair of Agile x Muellers Gibbons, which are currently to be seen in our quarantine station. These two (brother and sister) came to us a couple of weeks ago from a zoo in Germany, and "Vera" & "Oli" seem to have settled in quite well now!
If you come down to the reptile house you will see a lot of changes and new additions. Firstly you will notice that our new outdoor American Alligator pen is now open and waiting for you to have a look at it. At the moment you can almost guarantee that you will be greeted round there by Georges new girlfriend who has spent almost all her time back there enjoying the beautiful weather. The indoor enclosure is currently still separated in to two sections while the two Alligators continue to get to know each other slowly, however hopefully we will be able to take down the divide and introduce them to one another properly within the next few weeks.
We have also recently received another little crocodilian for our collection, in the form of a baby Morelets Crocodile which comes int he form of a little 2 year old male. He is currently still waiting for his permanent home on display in the reptile house but does make 2 daily appearances when he comes out in our hands on animal encounter. His mouth is kept shut during this encounter with a band but he has taken to the handling very well... So if you've always wondered what a crocodile feels like or have wanted to be able to say "I've held a crocodile", now's your chance.
We have just said good bye to our Boids at the park (which is our Boas and Pythons), which have been moved to a private zoo which specialises in reptiles, where they will all become parts of breeding programs, however their old enclosure will not be kept empty and you can see our new lizard arrivals. The enclosure now houses a pair of Rough Neck Monitors, allowing us to try and breed this now endangered monitor species.
Finally the reptile house has now welcomed the arrival of our Leaf Cutter Ant colony. When you come down to see them you will not yet see them using the ropes and moving from their nest to the feeding platforms, as we still have a fairly small colony at somewhere between the 1,000 and 1,500 individuals size. However the nest has been designed to allow you to look in to the heart of the colony where you can often even see the queen. They do work away at the moment using leaves left on their nest box but the colony just needs to grow that little bit more before they will forage further.
The ant exhibit doesn't however just house our ant colony but also has a number of fish species in the water tanks which surround the nest and feeding platforms. These fish include, Gouramis (Gold, Pearl & Kissing), White Cloud Mountain Minnows, Pearl Danios and Sailfin Plecos. Alongside these we also have a pair of albino African Clawed Frogs and some critically endangered Axolotls.
That is all the new additions for this past month, and hopefully it has wetted your appetite for what is forecast as a beautiful bank holiday weekend!
Many Thanks
From all the staff at Wingham Wildlife Park
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