Celia’s 3rd visit to WWP

Hi, it’s Celia again and I’m here with my third blog for Wingham Wildlife Park!

I visited on Saturday 6^th April and had another fantastic time looking around the park. It seems that every time I visit there is a new area to explore or experience to be had.

The Tropical House – Lorikeet Feeding

The Tropical House is now only open during specific times of the day and there are limited pots of nectar to feed the Lorikeets with. This is to maintain a safe environment for the birds and to ensure that they are not overfed.

As we entered through the plastic curtains crowds of Lorikeets swarmed around us squawking loudly. They were landing on people’s head’s, arms, backpacks, handbags, some people had more than five birds land on them at once!

We were given instructions when purchasing the nectar to cup it between the thumb and first finger (as you can see above).

Within about five minutes of being in the Tropical House I unfortunately got pooped on. Why is it when people have a bird poo on them, they get told its good luck?  I had to find out….

Having originated in Russia, it is thought to be good luck and bring you good health as the chances of it happening are surprisingly low.

The odds, however, are significantly increased being in the Tropical House!

My Lego Tropical House

As a Lego enthusiast I tried to make a scene of the Tropical House, what do you think?

Tropical House Birds

Did you know…

• Despite the Rainbow Lorikeets brightly coloured feathers, they are surprisingly well camouflaged among the leaves and shifting patterns of light and shade in their Australian forest home.
• The Victoria crowned pigeon is the largest in the pigeon family.
• The Vietnam pheasant is classed as critically endangered, and this species hasn’t been spotted in the wild since 2000 when it was confiscated from a hunter.

Becky, Head of Birds wrote a great blog on the same day I visited “Have you fed our Rainbow Lorikeets yet?” There are also many links within it including a link to her previous blog about them.  If you want to find out more, click here.

The Tiger Feed

I went to the Tiger enclosure at 2.30pm to hear Sarah talk about them and to watch them being fed.

Sarah has been working at Wingham for 8 years; incredibly she started as a volunteer and is now head of Carnivores.

The two brothers, Troy and Blade came to Wingham when they were just 14 days old (imagine how tiny they would have been…). They had been rejected by their mother which is quite common in the animal kingdom. Blade and Troy are hybrids – part Bengal, part another tiger, so unfortunately they can’t be bred [this would dilute the bloodline from both tigers which you wouldn’t want to do for conservation purposes].

All species of Tiger are classed as endangered (shocking). The three main reasons for this are:

1. Habitat loss and deforestation.
2. Fashion wear and decoration.
3. Traditional Chinese medicine.

The reason she get’s them to stand is so they are nicely exposed to enable her to perform a health check.

How to tell them apart?

Troy

• He stands completely upright (the YMCA pose).
• He has three patches on his head.
• He is more orange in colour.

Blade

• He is the tallest of the two brothers.
• He stands poshly (the Egyptian pose).
• He has one big blob his head.
• He is more blond in colour.

Did you know…

• The Bengal Tiger features in Steve Backshall’s “Deadly 60”. When his book was published in 2009 there were around 1,500 Bengal Tigers left in the wild in India! Today there are over 3,100 – an astonishing conservation success.
• Bengal Tiger stripes are unique to each individual and act just like human fingerprints do.
• The Bengal Tiger has the largest canine teeth of any living cat at approximately 4 inches long – about the width of an adult hand!

Sarah wrote a lovely blog called ‘Princes among Tigers’ black in March last year when the boys turned 12. If you want to find our more, click here.

Royalty amongst Chimpanzees

We now know she’s a girl! On the 15th February she was named Margaret.

Mum, Tara, picked the name herself from ten blankets with popular suggestions on.

With a sister called Elizabeth (Liz) it is quite fitting don’t you think?

I had another fantastic trip to Wingham and have loved writing this blog so I hope you enjoy reading it.

Source: winghamwildlifepark.co.uk