I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas 2022. We sure did at the zoo, giving out pressies to our animals and having a keeper Christmas feast in the morning.
I’d like to go over some of the highlights and achievements of this year and have ended with a lovely collage of pics for you to enjoy.
Noco
Our gorgeous girl Noco the Linnaeus two-toed sloth joined us recently as George mentioned in her previous blog. She’s settled in well and has taken to her training routine very nicely. Noco is not shy and is always keen to interact as soon as you open the door to her enclosure.
Sloths are nocturnal so we would normally be looking at a ball of fluff in the corner of the enclosure. Giving Noco this routine of coming down to eat at set times enables her keepers to get a good close look at her, see her moving, check her skin and teeth and make sure she is eating well. Sloths have a very slow metabolism so it is essential to spot any abnormal feeding issues as soon as possible.
Noco has her very own target stick that she has been trained to touch with her nose in order to receive a reward (aubergine and sweetcorn are her favourites!). Moving the target along the branch will encourage her to do some climbing and we can check her mobility.
I have very much enjoyed getting to know her.
Penguins
Our colony have grown in confidence and are now all (bar one- Mr. Mumble) happily going onto the scales for regular weighing. Even during the maintenance work on their pool which we were very impressed by!
Pavlov’s Guinea Fowl
The guinea fowl have been trained to recall to the sound of a bell, and through the consistent training by the bird team were successfully led from their free range into their winter accommodation all without any capture or restraint! Pretty cool!
Giraffes
I couldn’t end the year without mentioning the long boys!
Robin and Ruedi have both used their new hoof block and took to it with great ease. Even though they had never seen this block before, they were already trained to lift and curl their hoof and so it was a seamless transition!
Well done lads!
The mixed flight aviary
I’ve had great fun bonding with the birds during crate training and most of them are very happy to wander into my crate now. This is such a great feeling to know they trust me enough to feel comfortable going into what was once a very scary crate! I even struggle to get Jojo to leave the crate now.
Retics and Burmese
The python training has been a great success and one of the projects I am very proud of. It’s amazing to watch a 13ft retic focus on a target and completely ignore the keepers and the food.
These are just a small few achievements of so many in 2022.
I’d like to use this opportunity as the last blog of 2022 to say thank you WWP for so many great experiences, exciting challenges, support and wonderful moments. I love my zoo!
We have seen many changes in the park this year, said some sad goodbyes to old friends and made new ones. The park is growing with new and exciting enclosures and projects to come. I’m very thankful to be a part of such a great team and cannot wait to see what 2023 brings!
