Sammy's Natural World: Wild Whipsnade

Endangered red panda (no relation to the giant panda) on the munch

ZSL Whipsnade

Home to endangered species

Northern cheetah, a Critically Endangered subspecies
of cheetah

The summer evening sun shone on the coat of the northern cheetah, which, with fewer than 300 left in the wild, is a Critically Endangered subspecies of the cheetah (the cheetah, including all of its subspecies, is classed as Vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN). The beautiful cat's mouth opened slightly, and he pulled a face as he tasted the air and the gentle breeze ruffled the fur on his perfect shoulders. He then looked straight ahead of him, and realised that two people were watching him, taking photos, and he hadn't even seen us. For a moment, he stared at my father and I, before turning on us, swaggering across his enormous enclosure, out of sight to bed.

Yesterday (9th August 2015), my family and I visited Whipsnade Zoo, and what a fantastic day it was, too. This huge place (so big that they offer you the chance to take your car into the park or to use their free bus service) has always been a family favourite. Run by the world famous and excellent Zoological Society of London, which works to protect and save a variety of endangered species and their habitats around the world, this place is packed full of wonderful exotic creatures in excellent facilities. It's not only the northern cheetah in their care that is so perilously close to extinction in the wild. In fact, a couple of the animals here are already extinct in the wild, due to human activity.

Megafauna

Elephants, rhinos, bears and more

One of the things I love so much about Whipsnade is how much room they give their animals. They vast amounts of space in interesting enclosures designed to enrich the animals. This is particularly important if you look after the second largest land animal, and have ten of them, too.

Whipsnade gives its Asian elephants about six or seven acres of land to live in, divided into sand and grass paddocks. To give them additional exercise, the keepers walk them around the zoo (and at 600 acres, that is a lot of walking!). We didn't see the walk itself this time (although last year, we saw the elephants holding each others' tails as the keepers led the way); however, we did see the keepers driving around in the evening, shoveling up the poop that they'd left on the roads. And what beautiful creatures the elephants are, too.

The matriarch decides to wear her dinner,
not eat it!

Two of the calves. The smallest was
born in September last year.

We all know about the African elephant and how they're hunted for their tusks. However, the Asian elephant is much, much rarer, listed as Endangered rather than Vulnerable. They're also threatened by habitat loss as well as the ivory trade. Unlike the African elephants (which I'm very familiar with- the wildlife park I volunteer for has thirteen in its care and I often spend my lunch breaks watching the calves play), where both genders have the tusks, only male Asian elephants have them. In females, tusks seldom erupt; if they do, they are barely visible and are adorably called 'tushes'. This species also has significantly smaller ears, and only one 'finger' on its trunk (compared to two on the Africans).

There are also two species of rhino in their care. You have the white rhino and the Indian rhino here.

White rhino

If you've ever seen a white rhino, you'll notice that it's not really white (and nor is a black rhino black). I love the story of how the white rhino got its name. When Europeans first arrived in South Africa, they heard the Africans call the rhinos "wye", which actually means "wide" in Afrikaans, referring to the wide lips of the rhino (which are evident in the photo above). However, it was mistranslated as "white"! The black rhino, the other African species of rhino, is different from the white rhino in the way that it has a hook-shaped lip. White rhinos will eat nothing but grass, and their lips are designed for grazing. Black rhinos go for branches. And now you know the difference between the two.

Indian rhino

The Indian rhino is quite a fascinating animal. These are probably my favourite rhino species. It looks like something out of Jurassic Park with its armour plating, singular short, stubby horn and huge hooked lip. There are fewer than 3,000 of these gorgeous animals left in the wild, and like all rhinos, are threatened for hunting for their horns for traditional Oriental medicine (the horns are made of keratin, the same protein as our hair and nails). As jungle and wetland dwellers, they are also threatened by habitat loss. The other two Asian rhino species, the Javan and the Sumatran, are even rarer, with populations numbering 40 (no I didn't miss a zero there) and around 200 respectively. The rhinos here all have separate paddocks, being solitary animals in the wild, and have heated pools as well. This species of rhino is definitely the most aquatic of the rhinos- I have a photo somewhere from last year of one of them just relaxing in the pool as it poured with rain, and all you can see is the back, ears, nose and horn! They'll even sometimes dive for food in the water.

18-month-old common hippo

The zoo is also home to both species of hippo, the pygmy (which is highly endangered) and the so-called common (which is actually classed as Vulnerable to extinction). I adore hippos, in a way I can't explain. Sadly, I didn't get a decent one of the two pygmies, as they were both fast asleep in their shed. However, the common hippos were very photogenic, and we had the pleasure of seeing Holly the 18-month-old hippo (who'd grown up considerably since we saw her a year ago!).

Wallowing common hippo (don't worry, the algae in the water
is good for the animal's skin and the water is not dirty!)

The park is also home to a few cats (Eurasian lynx, the northern cheetah I've already talked about as well as the usual African lions and Amur tigers). There are a couple of delightful sloth bears (which I've never been able to photograph- they move way too quickly!), and three European brown bears.

A European brown bear

Rare ungulates

Hoofstock in danger

Extinct in the wild- a Scimitar horned
oryx

I mentioned at the beginning of the blog post that the zoo houses several critically endangered species, and that a couple are already extinct in the wild. You may or may not have heard about the scimitar horned oryx, which is extinct in the wild. These beautiful antelopes used to be found all over North Africa, until factors including hunting for their wonderful horns drove them to extinction in the region. Thankfully, a fair few were still living in zoos. Now there is an international breeding program, and there are protected, highly maintained reserves in North Africa where captive individuals have been sent with the ultimate goal of re-population. Imagine our delight when we saw a very young calf in the herd here.

Another species here that is extinct in the wild is the Pere David's deer. If I remember what I read in a book by Jane Goodall correctly, they used to found in China, and, again were driven to extinction by human activity. I don't have a decent photo as they were so far away, but they are beautiful animals. Again, it's only because there were some in zoos that there are any left in the world at all.

Young Bactrian camel

The Bactrian camel, a Critically Endangered species, can also be found here, including youngsters. These wonderful camels are found in China and Mongolia, and are threatened by habitat loss, and are sometimes shot for sport. Hybridization with domestic camels also puts their survival into question, and are already extinct in Kazakhstan.

Again, I have no photos of these guys, but the Przewalski's wild horse also resides here. Found in Central Asia, they were once extinct in the wild, but due to breeding programs and release projects in zoos around the world, a few have been reintroduced to Mongolia in protected reserves. They are an ancient species of wild horse, and truly beautiful.