As a zookeeper, it is an unwritten rule that you can’t have favourite animals and to be honest most days, if you asked me, I would have a different answer for you each time anyway. I absolutely love the chimps and their different personalities and group dynamics. I’m in love with the mischievous mini monkeys…
Next week, the happiest day of the year will be upon us, World Smile Day! I am often asked which my favourite species are to work with at the park. It must be said, the little guys never fail to put a smile on my face every day. With the famous saying “good things come in…
If you remember from a previous blog of mine that majority of the primate keepers’ least favourite job is cleaning the Mandrills. Since then, we have a new keeper, Holly, who has fallen hard for the cuteness of the mandrill troop. So, she has asked me to write a blog about them and here we…
A vital skill in looking after animals is being able to identity when they may be sick or injured and knowing how to treat this. One of the easiest ways to tell an unwell animal is knowing its behaviour. Animals are incredibly good at hiding pain. So, by knowing what’s “normal” for your animal and…
As I write this blog this week, you will have to excuse any spelling mistakes or parts where I drift off into waffle as I have entered the world of extreme tiredness. I am readjusting to life with a newborn in the house as I now have a new 5-week-old son to go alongside my…
One of my favourite pastimes as a zookeeper is eves dropping on the public’s conversations about the animals in front of them. I do enjoy a little chuckle to myself when passing folk stop at the binturong thinking they’re looking at the moon bears or when adults in particular mix up the orange and black…
Happy New Year to all! As the weather is getting colder, it’s easy to daydream of warmer climates and think about future holidays or past trips. I’ve spent a lot of time recently thinking about a trip I did in 2016 to South America. Here I explored the Pantanal region of Brazil, searched for sloths…
With Christmas fast approaching it’s time to take a look at our animals’ behaviour over the last 12 months so we can let the big man in red know how they’ve been getting on and he can get the elves working on any deserved presents. I’ll be sure to attach their letters to Santa at…
Happy Halloween everyone, the time of year when I would normally buy a big bag of chocolates, turn the lights off, hide and hope no one knocked on the door so I could eat the chocolates myself! This year however, my 3-year-old is adamant he wants to dress up as a “pumpkin ghost” and terrorise…
To celebrate Belayan’s 12th birthday this month, I thought I would take this opportunity to allow you to get to know our 3 orangutans a little bit better and what it’s like to work with the smartest of the smart. All of the orangs we have at WWP are Bornean Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), native to…
