I am going to post in this topic information about the two zoos that i visit the most than any other.
I know my way around Port Lympne because i have been to it so many times, lol, it my favorite one.
A bit of information:
Howletts and Port Lympne are part of the John Aspinall Foundation, they were both set up by John Aspinall, but is now lead by his son, and his half brother.
Who owns the parks now Mr Aspinall has passed away?
The parks are owned by The Aspinall Foundation a registered charity. Mr Aspinall’s son, Damian, now runs the park with Mr Aspinall’s half brother, Mr James Osborne.
How did the parks start?
Mr Aspinall founded both parks. He purchased Howletts in 1958 and opened the doors to the public in 1975. He then purchased Port Lympne in 1973 to house the ever increasing population of animals at Howletts and opened to the public in 1976.
hat do Howletts & Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks do?
Howletts and Port Lympne are extensively involved in exchange and breeding programmes throughout the world and have had many breeding successes for e.g. 24 black rhinos and over 100 gorillas bred between the two parks. Howletts was the first to breed African elephants in the UK.
The parks are not only involved in conservation at home but across the world with two protected areas in the Congo and Gabon in Africa of around a million acres of forest for the rehabilitation and reintroduction of gorillas into the wild.
The Aspinall Foundation in conjunction with Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks are devoted to saving rare and endangered animals and returning them to protected areas in the wild.
Some news:How many animals/species do you have at the parks?
Howletts – 400 animals, 44 species
Port Lympne – 500 animals, 50 species (approximately)
http://www.totallywild.net/howletts/ind ... tem&id=265BABY GORILLA HAND REARED AT HOWLETTS
A baby gorilla born at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park is being hand reared by keepers after her mother, Tamki, aged 19, showed no sign of maternal instincts and keepers realised that the baby was not getting the normal care that you would expect.
Phil Ridges, Head of the Gorilla section, Port Lympne commented:
“She was dehydrated and in need of some love and attention just like human babies. Between us we have been surrogate mothers, spending 24 hours a day with her and she is progressing well, putting on weight and taking in her new surroundings.”
Father to the baby, named Tiya, is 26 year old Djala, who was rescued from the Congo has sired 24 babies to date. Tamki was also hand reared as her mother; Killa-Killa rejected her. Some of her offspring have been transferred to the Gabon as part of the Aspinall Foundation’s reintroduction programme.
In nappies and dependent on powdered milk, Tia has now been transferred to Howletts and although, still with a keeper 24 hours a day, is spending some time with two other youngsters, Kouki and Oudiki, until they are re-introduced to a safe natural habitat in Gabon.
With no more than 100,000 Western lowland gorillas left in the world, they will be extinct by 2020 if the number continues to decline at its present rate. This is mainly due to deforestation, the ebola virus and the bushmeat trade as they continue to be widely eaten in Central Africa. Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks play an important role in the successful breeding of captive gorillas with the two parks housing 74 Western lowland gorillas between them, the largest collection in human care. The Aspinall Foundation continues to expand its colony at the Kent parks as well as returning captive-bred gorillas to Africa via its rescue and rehabilitation programme in the Congo and Gabon.
http://www.totallywild.net/howletts/ind ... tem&id=190FIRST EVER BIRTH TO REINTRODUCED GORILLAS IN GABON
AGAINST ALL ODDS THE ASPINALL FOUNDATION CELEBRATES FIRST EVER WESTERN LOWLAND GORILLA BIRTH IN THE GABON
The Aspinall Foundation is delighted to bring you this photo of the first ever birth from a reintroduced western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) in the Central African Republic of Gabon. The ICUN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) classifies western lowland gorillas as ‘Critically Endangered’ on their Red List of species threatened with extinction (IUCN 2007).
The baby has been named Okeli, meaning Stream That Leads To Bigger Things in the Bateke language.
The parents of the healthy baby (born 5th October) are wild born orphans Lekedi and Marco, ten and twelve years old respectively. Marco’s group consists of fourteen individuals aged between eight and twelve years and have been reintroduced since 2002. Mother and new born infant both appear well.
The IUCN and the Great Apes Survival Project (GRASP) have identified the use of reintroduction projects as part of a global strategy for the survival of great apes. To date, the only programme trying to rehabilitate and reintroduce gorillas is that of the UK-based charity The Aspinall Foundation - who run two western lowland gorilla rehabilitation and reintroduction projects.
These projects are located in the southwest Lefini Reserve of Congo-Brazzaville and in the Bateke Plateau National Park (BPNP) in Gabon, and their underlying objective is the conservation of endangered species in the wild. The reintroduction projects, with the specific aim of re-establishing viable, self-sustaining populations within the former range of the species, have been surprisingly successful in terms of survival (more than eighty percent) adaptation to forest life, and reproduction (five births so far, all in the longer-running Congo project).
Damian Aspinall, Trustee of The Aspinall Foundation commented:
“We are very proud and excited at this news. In 2003 we introduced a younger group of seven gorillas, six of whom were captive born at Howletts Wild Animal Park in Kent in 2003 and have high expectation that this group will soon have offspring of its own.”
The anticipated achievements and outcomes of the project are the successful reintroduction of gorillas to their natural habitat and raising awareness of the project through national and international media, ensuring that the reintroduced gorillas fulfil a role as ambassadors for their species and for the conservation of the Congo Basin forest ecosystem. The overall goal of the project is to re-establish a viable, self-sustaining population in the area, as part of a national and international effort to save the western lowland gorilla from extinction in the wild.
Some useful links:
- Howletts Website http://www.totallywild.net/howletts/index.php
- Port Lympne Website http://www.totallywild.net/portlympne/index.php
- John Aspinall Foundation Website http://www.totallywild.net/jaf/index.php
- FAQ http://www.totallywild.net/portlympne/index.php?p=faq
- Webcams http://www.totallywild.net/howletts/ind ... he_Animals
I will post more news when i see some on the website.
they have been trying for a while but with no success, but now they have had success:
