Early morning workouts

30th April 2011

This morning the wrath of Casper was unleashed on this helpless tyre. Casper loves playing with objects like this and you can see from this image how this can be a good workout for him and an opportunity to exert his strength and energy on something - check out those leg muscles. Objects like this are especially effective on Casper if we have previously given it to Diamond and Aysha in the enclosure opposite Casper as after watching the two tigers play with it, he loves the thought that it is now in his possession. We don't know the exact weight of the tyres but from a keepers point of vierw in terms of moving it, the one Casper has here could be in excess of 100kg! It is always amusing to see where the tyre ends up as we will put it in one spot and find that Casper will have moved it, who knows how, to the other side by day's end.

Being a young lion in his prime, Casper really enjoys things like this that he can beat up in a sense.

To try and further replicate bringing down a large mammal, we have even in the past dressed up the tyre with a covering of animal skin to simulate a large grazing herbivore out on the plain. These sorts of enrichments are conducted at the 2.30 and 4.30 big cat feeds, so make sure you don't miss these at your visit to the zoo!

Royal Wedding Celebrated

29th April 2011

Baby Black Lemur Born This Past Week!! + Enrichment for Spider Monkeys

25th April 2011

We are very pleased to announce that a new baby Black Lemur has been born this past week at the Isle of Wight Zoo! Born on the 20th of April, this past Wednesday, the little baby has been clinging onto the underbelly of mother 'Adala' since then. She is very difficult to see but you might be able to catch a glimpse of a tiny head or tail protruding from Adala's underside, probably with father 'Mitsio' (affectionately known as 'Scrappy') making noise near-by. Black Lemur babies cling to their mother's underside for 3 weeks when they will then move onto their mother's backs until they are fully weaned at 5-6 months.

Those of you that have been to the zoo will know that the Black Lemurs are quite small, so one can appreciate the little one's current size in this photo of it's head set against the backdrop of mother Adala's fur. It's head is about the size of a fifty pence piece!

We shall be holding a naming competition for the new Black Lemur once the sex of the young one has been deduced.

The Spider Monkeys got a new object to play with today in the form of a hanging tyre for them to swing on. It is always good to change around the environment the animals live and give them new things to explore, especially adding into the equation the dynamic of a swinging tyre! Here Zoo Curator Paul Bailie tests the fun potential of the swinging tyre before letting out the Spider Monkeys to have a go:



Photo of the Day:

The Spider Monkeys Ike and Jackson also got a few generous spreads of strawberry jam hidden in the climbing wall holds that were put up for them a couple of months back. They hadn't really used the new climbing wall groves since they were installed so what better way to get them to explore their ability and use for climbing that to hide jam inside of them!

Here one of the Spider Monkeys looks at his jam covered fingers before eating the tasty treat whilst showing off his ability to use his prehensile tail as a 5th limb. The shadows make an interesting addition to the image.



Mad Hatter's Tea Party + Tiger's take their first dip in the water this season.

24th April 2011

The Isle of Wight Zoo hosted their Mad Hatter's Tea Party today complete with a full ensemble of characters from Alice in Wonderland represented by the Zoo Staff. Of course the host of the party and honourable Mad Hatter was Mr. Chris Packham. Here he is bringing the festivities to life running commentary in the egg and spoon race segment of the tea party!

Photos of the Day:

As the Ranthambore pond had recently been cleared of pond weed and our resident photographer Karen also had a photography group on today as well as the continuing heat wave, the cat keepers decided it was time to try and get our Tigers Diamond and Aysha to take a dip in the water! With the new giant yres we had delivered we decided to recreate a grazing aquatic deer species, a common prey item for tigers, in the form of a large tyre with a piece of meat tied to the top of it. We placed the tyre in about 2 foot of water so the tigers would have to get their feet wet to get their reward. Indeed, when we let Diamond and Aysha out they were very intrigued with the new presence in their pond and both went over to investigate, ignoring the other piece of meat laying on the bank. Once they were in they had a great time smelling, kocking over and dragging the tyre around in the water. Of course it made for some great shots of the tigers splashing and playing in the water. Unfortunately, I was only able to get to the scene with my camera once most of the fun had ceased but luckily Diamond had decided he really enjoyed being in the water once he had gotten his feet wet and actually found himself another smaller tyre that had been laying at the bottom for God knows how long and decided to carry it out for us! He he is with the small tyre in his mouth:

 Diamond coming out of the water in slow motion trying to recreate the 'Baywatch look' for himself:



Chris Packham visits for Bank Holiday Weekend

23rd April 2011

We had wildlife enthusiast, photographer and tv personality, Chris Packham, visit the zoo yesterday to talk to the public about some of his favourite animals at the zoo. He will be here Sunday as well for the zoo's Alice in Wonderland themed 'Tea Party'.

Photo of the Day:

Here we have a shot of the Ranthambore enclosure in the light of the setting sun. Aysha is at the front resting in the shade while her twin brother Diamond (a 'tabby' tiger, a particularl colour morph of tiger) walks down from his perch in the recreated Ranthambore temple.

Everyones likes an Ice Cream + New Toys for the cats + Roof on Jaguar enclosure

21st April 2011

With the heat wave continuing we noticed the cats eyeing up all the ice creams that were going past their enclosures. A special treat came their way today as they got the luxury of being fed an ice cream. It was most enjoyed once it had warmed up a little and wasn't so cold on their noses. With their very abrasive tongues it left some very interesting marks on the ice cream as it was licked away.

In the meantime, the cat keepers have been scouting out new and exciting things for the cats to do. Keeper Ben visited a farm recently to see if we could increase and diversify our tyre collection for the cats to pull, push and basically destroy all in the name of fun. We got the tyres delivered recently and included were 2 very large tyres. We're not too sure what we're going to do with these yet but I personally am really looking forward to seeing Casper go one on one with one of these! Pictured below is keeper Ben who is approximately 6'3" to give an idea of size:



We also have a new special toy coming in all the way from America for Diamond and Aysha that should be great to see in action. Watch this space to stay updated.

Over the past couple of days the roof has been fitted onto the top of the jaguar enclosure and things are starting to look like their coming together to give a idea of what the new enclosure will fundamentally look like:



Calm Cats

18th April 2011

The cat keepers have been enjoying enriching the cats at the daily big cat feeds. The idea of these feeds is to give the cats a stimulating and challenging experience that exercises their minds and bodies. It may be due to a number of different factors, but we have seen Casper, our young testosterone filled Lion, act a lot more calm towards the keepers as of late. We like to think this is because he is getting a good chance to exert his energy and strength with the 'workouts' we have been giving him. These include having to 'catch' his food as it dangle on a fishing rod or having a tug of war with keepers or a heavy tyre. Today he was so chilled out that he even let us grab this close up portrait shot of him, the photographer being only 10 foot or so away from him.



Photo of the Day:

I have to give a shout out to Diamond this morning for showing his appreciation to the Ranthambore pond being cleared yesterday by coming out and having a drink from it when we first let him out this morning. Diamond's markings and coat pattern are always striking as he has a form of leucism, which basically means he can't produce the black pigment usually seen in tigers in their stripes and facial markings. This is comparable to the white tigers who can't produce the orange pigment. I particularly like this photo as it gives evidence to the large meal we gave him the night before...