This week my blog to you will be about some of the spikier members we have on the Mammal section. If you hadn’t already guessed, it will be about our three African Crested Porcupines, Hystrix cristata. In the last few years we’ve successfully bred from them and some of you may have been fortunate enough…
In this weeks blog I’ll be informing you all about our Northern Luzon Giant Cloud Rat Phloeomys pallidus, not a common species within animal collections (we are 1 of only 4 collections in the UK to have them). They are also known as the ‘Cloudrunner’ as they mainly live high up in the canopy of trees, which is…
In this weeks blog it gives me great pleasure to talk to you about the colony of Egyptian Fruitbats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) here at the park and compare them to the ones we might find in our own back gardens. For me bats are such an underrated species but are so important to have in the…
As an animal lover you probably already know about the unique black and white Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), it has captured the hearts of many worldwide, but what about an equally adorable and closely named species the Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens)? The better known Giant Panda gets a lot of media attention and is the…
Peppa Pig? Pumba the warthog? Babe the sheep pig? No, its Maximus and Achilles our Visayan Warty Pigs (Sus cebifrons). On the mammals section we can boast having two of these magnificent creatures and they aren’t just any old porkers, they are an extremely rare species of warty pig with rock-star hair. Critically Endangered Pigs?…
So What Is A Tapir? I often get asked “What is it? A pig? An anteater?” to which I always reply with “No its a Tapir, they’re related to horses and rhinos” and the confused look on peoples faces is quite amusing. On the Mammals section we’re very lucky to boast having two Brazilian/Lowland Tapirs…
