Welcoming Finn
16th July 2008
I was overjoyed at the sight of Finn, our newborn giraffe calf, peering at me with big doe eyes. At the time i saw him he was only one week old and it was the first time the door of his house was opened and he could see the world outside.
He was born on the 4th of July and was the cause of much celebration here at Fota Wildlife Park! Roisin, his mother, had carried him for an incredible 14 months and now that he was out in the world, she wasn’t leaving his sight. Roisin like all giraffe mothers gave birth to Finn whilst standing and so, the first experience the little calf has is a 6ft drop to the ground!! Ouch!! But i guess this is necessary for the calf to get a small fright and take its first breath. Finn is now the fifth of our breeding male Tadgh’s offspring, there also exists 4 juveniles ranging between 1.5 and 3 years. So although Tadgh may look small and rather puney, he is indeed performing quite well and we are hoping to have more calves on the way in the coming months.
At the moment, Finn is too shy to venture beyond his house but curiously looks out at the big world which for him consists of a herd of giraffes, some zebras, an emu or two and definately a few maras, oh and a line of doe-eyed humans peering in at him in utter delight.
Weird and Wonderful Amphibians
20th July 2008
Ever hear of a mudpuppy? Or a siren? How about an olm, a hellbender , a waterdog or even a amphiuma? No? They are all wonderfully whimsical names for equally wonderful creatures: the amphibians. Amphibians are fascinating creatures, having been here on earth for more the 230 million years.
The mudpuppy and waterdog are North American aquatic salamanders. They are stout, elongated creatures that have retained some of their larval features, such as a completely aquatic life style, small underdeveloped limbs and external gills. These protrude out of the gill covers, like reddish feathered plumes. Their canine names stems from the folk legend that they can bark and growl when handled. The siren is not the alluring seamaiden of myth, but is in fact a beaked, eel like salamander that lives in shallow streams and ditches of Eastern America. Like the mudpuppies and water dogs, it too has kept larval features, it even lacks back legs!
The Hellbender, is a rather impressive salamander. Enormous and wrinkled, some have been recorded as being 2.5 feet long and can live up to 30 years! It is native only to the Appalachian Mountain range of the U.S.A. Even though it is large, this animal breathes entirely through its skin! Hence why its skin is so wrinkled, this aids in creating a larger surface for more oxygen to diffuse across. It also means it needs clear, swift flowing rivers to survive in. The amphiuma is a peculiar salamander, with its glossy eel like body and puny, useless limbs, it has been mistaken for a fish or an eel. It dwells totally in water though it has lungs like many other amphibians. Oddly the larva of this animal have large legs that it uses to walk across moist habitats, they then wither when the animal reaches a water way, where it develops into an adult amphiuma. Lastly is the wondrous olm.
Amphibian means ‘double life’, in reference to these animals duel life style, from water to land and back again. The amphibian family contains not only the well known frogs and toads (Anura), but also the Urodela (salamanders, newts) and the astounding Gymnophiona or Ceacillians. There is over 5,400 species found in all habitats (save the oceans and Antarctic). They swim in the darkest caves, leap high in the canopy of rainforests and burrow beneath the soils. And I have been captivated, by their movements, their colours, their modes of life cycle, even their singing! Everything about these animals is never ceasing to wonder me. Glass frogs, Paradox frogs and the rainbow hued Harlequin frogs, the very evolution of their bizarre array of colours is a delightful puzzle for me. I am infatuated. As I watch people follow our amphibian trail about the park, I notice their faces and reactions. There are gasps and exclaims, down turned mouths as they read the unsettling sad facts about what is happening to these amazing creatures.
Amphibians have been part of human culture since our history began; they have been revered as Goddesses of Fertility, the rains and of pregnancy. In Egyptian legend, the frog goddess, Heket helps form the infant in the womb. They are good-luck symbols, protectors and in some cases harbingers of plague and assistants to witches. I hope people become smitten with these amazing animals before it’s too late.
Unfortunately this reverence has slowly disappeared and amphibians are now vanishing from many habitats, their throaty singing no longer heard and wriggling glossy forms no longer seen. Why is this happening? As of now, our earth is facing the rapid Holocene mass extinct, with animals from all corners of the earth disappearing at an unprecedented rate. Amphibians are being hit the worst. It is only us that can prevent these wonderful creatures from becoming extinct and fading in to folklore and myth forever.
New beginnings at Fota Wildlife Park
1st August 2008
It has been a remarkable time lately to visit Fota and as someone who has been working here for the last month the place still surprises me, constantly offering something new and interesting every week.
During my first few weeks here I had the pleasure of seeing first hand the pattering troops of goslings and ducklings march and swim in formation behind their mothers, while dad kept a protective eye fixed on his young and taught harsh lessons to anyone unfortunate enough to come too close to his downy offspring (Including yours truly!!).Any wildfowl family is a very close knit one, parents will furiously defend their young against any and all who might threaten them, even things many times their own size, particularly over curious visitors to the park. As my weeks here progressed these adorable creatures grew at an astounding pace, the phrase ‘they grow up so fast’ takes on a whole new level of meaning when considering wildfowl within what seemed like such a short time the little animals were gone only to be replaced by large just as fluffy versions of there parents and in another few weeks they will be completely indistinguishable having lost there warm protective downy coats, replaced by the sleek waterproof feathers of adulthood. Of course, ducks and geese are not the only proud parents or source of fascination we have here in the park.
Very recently I have been seeing a good number of baby wallaby’s also known as Joey’s tucked away safely in there mothers pouches with only a thin head sticking out to catch a glimpse of the world. I must say there are very few things more fascinating than seeing that first peek of a head from the mother’s pouch or a baby that scrambles back in for safety. Then of course there is always the big baby that tries to hide in mother’s pouch, only to find out that he can only get his head in but still feels safe nonetheless. As marsupials, wallabys give birth to live young that are severely underdeveloped, these young however are equipped with strong forearms that allow them to grope and climb there way into the protective pouch where it will remain for several months growing in size and being nourished by their mother’s milk.
The Bennett’s wallaby, which is the only resident wallaby at Fota, typically give birth around the month of July, so we are now entering the peak time to see these amazing animals and watch as they develop.
The Ostriches too have just come out of the breeding season and are in the process of laying eggs, at the moment there is a small batch of 4 oversized eggs laid out carefully in a ‘scrape’ nest, constructed by our male ostrich Ollie and his mate within the park. These 1500gram eggs which are the equivalent of two dozen domestic hen eggs will be incubated and cared for by both parents over a period of six weeks, after which we should have a small flock of ostrich chicks running around the park. Amongst wild ostriches the number of eggs in a single ostrich nest can exceed 30. A male ostrich will not just mate with single hen but multiple females; all the eggs produced afterwards are then laid out in a communal nest and cared for by the dominant male and female of the group. In many cases the dominant hen will actually be able to distinguish her own eggs from all the others and will move them into the centre if the nest while shoving others out of the nest completely, obviously these eggs that are not cared for do not hatch from lack of attention and are sub-sequentially predated upon by hyena and other predators.
Finally I will end with telling you all that while walking the park today I was pleased and surprised to see the first batch of the long awaited for peafowl chicks. For a number of weeks now our male peacocks have been strutting around displaying and screeching with vigour in an attempt to attract a mate and it now seem that the fruits of there labor are just emerging which is not only pleasant to see but also a relief as the peacocks will soon cease there incessant screeching and give both the parks animals and staff some much deserved peace.
Fota Wildlife Park is teeming with new life at the moment and while I may not be able to talk about every newborn I have given you a taster and below you can see some of our new additions but most importantly you can come down yourselves and be delighted in seeing them.
Escapes
7th August 2008
When visitors of Fota Wildlife Park enter the park, they are usually taken aback at the initial sight of the giraffes in the large paddock. This is more often than not continued by scanning all the other weird and wonderful creatures that share the giraffes’ space including the zebra, oryx, emu, ostrich and many little maras- or as one man coined them “little jack russell dogs”- bobbing about. While standing observing on the other side of the fence, these beautiful animals insight many an awestruck reaction in Fota’s visitors. However, the reaction that is to come next is markedly different and always makes me chuckle inwardly. Some are frozen in confused disbelief, some look with utter amazement and most of the younger folk react by frantically running to get closer to the animals that have somehow defied the rules and gotten the other side of the fence. It is of course our family of 3 free–roaming guanacos and not as people sometimes think, 3 escapees. The guanacos meet such intense interest with a mixture of curiosity, indifference and sometimes defensiveness. They may ward off those that venture too close with a harmless but highly effective spit which is usually loaded with saliva but has in fact the potential to be armed with the contents of their stomach but this to my knowledge has never been necessary from the guanaco’s point of view as us humans run frantically away from their saliva!
Onlookers mostly stand and admire these beautiful animals from a respectful distance and wonder at their incredibly soft looking skin all the while wishing they could just once, touch it! People do indeed have an almost instinctual fascination with its softness and urge to reach over and even for just a second, experience how it feels. Guanaco fiber is particularly prized for its soft warm feel and is found in luxury fabric. Like their domestic descendant, the llama, the guanaco is double coated with a coarse guard hair and soft undercoat, which is finer than the best cashmere. While it functions as a luxurious item for us, it is a vital survival tool for them. Their thick coat allows it to survive astonishingly high altitudes of up to 3,962 metres (13,000 feet) above sea level. Not only are they well adapted to the low temperatures but also, the low oxygen levels found high up in the mountains. They achieve this with high levels of hemoglobin carrying red blood cells-one teaspoon of guanaco’s blood contains approximately 68 million red blood clells-4 times that of a human!
They are native to the arid, mountainous regions of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina, being the largest mammal to be found in South America. They are members of the Camelidae family which originated in
North America some 45 million years ago. The populations that migrated north along the Bering Strait to Africa and Asia can now be recognised as the Bactrian (two-humped) and the Dromedary (one-humped) camel. Those that ventured south through the Panama Isthmus, evolved into the Lamini tribe which is now split into two wild species; the guanaco and vicuña and two domesticated species; the llama (descended from guanaco) and alpaca (descended from vicuña).
While wild Bactrian camels are classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List, both the vicuña and guanaco are at a lower risk status of vulnerable, the latter showing the most stable population of all wild camelids with current numbers at 500,000.
Fota Wildlife Park’s family consists of a 16 year old mother ‘Maya’ and her two off-spring, a son aged 2 years ‘Aztec’ and a newborn calf only 2 months old ‘Inca’!
Family Frog Day
16th August 2008
Fun, food, frogs and conservation! It’s all happening in Fota Wildlife Park on Saturday, 27th of September. This event, our Family Froggy Fun Day, is taking place at 12 o’clock in the park as part of Fota Wildlife Park’s conservation effort to save many of the world’s amphibians from the brink of extinction. During this family event, the main aim of the day is combining fun with raising awareness about the ‘Amphibian Alarm: The Year of the Frog’ campaign. There will be many activities organized, aimed at children and adults alike such as face painters, puppeteers, story telling, sing-a-longs, live music and other circus/amphibian themed events which include fantastic shows and walkabouts by Cork Circus!
Running throughout the day, Fota Wildlife Park’s Talks Presenters will be holding amphibian talks and displaying tadpoles, frogs and other creatures for the visitors to see and touch. Also included will be a barbeque, held from twelve to four in afternoon.
Awareness is the key to success with any conservation campaign. Currently over 50% of the worlds amphibians, from frogs to caecillans are facing certain extinction in the next 10 years due primarily to human actions. It is up to each and every one to help save these wonderful creatures. Through songs, stories, talks and games the plight of the amphibians will be highlighted, helping families and their children understand Fota Wildlife Park’s Amphibian Alarm campaign in an easy, fun and relaxed manner.
Notes:
Event date: 27th September.
Approximate duration 12.00 pm to 5.00pm.
Regular park entrance fees apply.
Event is free of charge, excluding food and face painters.
Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.
No pre-booking necessary.
Evolution and Extinction
27th August 2008
Isn’t evolution a marvellous process? When ever I walk through the park, I never cease to wonder at animals and how they came to be. Take for example the giraffe. Through intense competition for grasses and other ground plants, the giraffe evolved to eat the inaccessible areas: high tree tops! I always ask the question when I give my Giraffe Talk, how did the giraffe get it’s long neck? New bones added?. Or just elongation of exisiting neck bones? People always ponder it. Here’s the answer: elongation. A giraffe, amazingly enough has the same amount of neck vertebrate as we do( 7) in our necks, they’re just grossly elongated! Remember, evolution doesn’t create new bits of anatomy, it just simply re-modifies old ‘designs’. It took a long, long time for the giraffe to evolve its long neck, about 30 to 50 million years in fact!Now look at the frog: a sleek, hopping creature, superbly adapted to life in to extreme environments. It has taken this family, the Anura or “tailless ones’’, over 360 million years to reach this level of adaptation, which to me, is simply mind boggling. The frogs skeleton has been shaped by the environmental pressures they faced in their long history. It became a marvellous hopping, swimming specialised creature. Its back legs became longer and stronger. The pelvis enlargened, the ilium bone lengthened, the tail shrank and was lost. All to aid in the motion of leaping. The back limbs moved underneath the animals body and closer together. Consequenly, the fore limbs shortened and became thick and stocky, in order to brace and support the animal as it fell forward during leaping. Cool, eh? Slowly, but surely, the Anura became what they are today.
But the modern world seemingly is moving too fast for these creatures to cope. We are facing a frightening new stage in the Holocene extinction era. Animals are become extinct in a geographical ‘blink of an eye” having only become extinct due to us. And that’s only the recorded ones.. It has been estimated that over 20,000 species have gone extinct since 10,000 B.C. Now the pace has qickened .504 have been disappeared for every, seen now only in museum exhibits, in the late 19th to early 21st centuary. New animals are added to the list every day, just last week, the Carribean Monk Seal was declared officaly extinct as was the beautiful
Yunnan white-handed gibbon. Evolution is a marvellous yet painstakingly slow process. It is environmental pressures that select certain animals traits to survive, therefore slowly creating new species. But when these pressures become too intense( rapid habitat loss, pollution etc.), the special adaptations of certain animals may not evolve quick enough for them to survive.
Irelands Amphibians
13th September 2008
Ireland has only three representatives of the amphibian family: the common frog, the natterjack toad and the smooth newt.
The common frog or Loscán has a very widely spread distribution, found in most parts of Ireland. They thrive in areas such as damp forests, peat and farm land. When they begin breeding, they seek out ponds in which to lay their eggs.
The natterjack toad or Cnádán is endangered animal here in Ireland. It can only be found in patches in Wexford and Kerry. Unusual for a toad, they spend their adult lives on coastal, sandy areas, whilst breeding in warm, shallow ponds.
The smooth newt (Earc Sléibhe) is a common creature in Ireland, having a very wide distribution similar to the common frog. When it breeds it uses either ponds that are stagnant or ones that are surrounded thickly with water plants. As an adult, common newts prefer areas like wood lands, dry scrub and long grass.
How can you tell the difference between a common frog and a natter-jack toad?
A frog spends most of its time in the water and in moist areas. Its skin is smooth, moist and shiny. It has very long back legs with a slim body. It leaps and crawls. A toad spends most of its time on land, in drier areas. A toad’s skin is rough, warty looking and dry. It has a plump body, with the back legs being short and thick. It therefore crawls and ‘runs’ on land. So keep your eyes open for our native amphibians!
Ol’ Blue Eyes
28th September 2008
It is truly amazing, the amount of intriguing stories to be told of Fota Wildlife Park’s animals. Each individual really does have a unique past and an even more unique personality to match. Our oldest spider monkey ‘Ol’ Blue Eyes’ is however somewhat special amongst Fota’s animals. This is due to the place in which her story began-The Wild! Unlike all the other animals in the park which were born in captivity, she was born in the tropical rainforest of South America! Although she came to us in 1993 from Chester Zoo, she was in fact wild-caught!! Nowadays, capturing wild animals for Zoos and Wildlife Parks is absolutely not allowed. It really is mind-blowing to think that as little as 39 years ago, in Ol’ Blue Eyes’ day, it was deemed acceptable. Back then, expeditions would have been sent out into the wild to capture animals and plants for captive collections. In those days, many animals would have died during capture and transport but the interest laid in attracting the paying public through the gates to look at the new weird and wonderful ‘specimens’. Thank God those days are gone.
So what is the role of the modern Zoo/Wildlife Park today? Their primary aim is conservation. This is achieved through education, research, breeding and reintroductions. Today, the majority of Zoos and Wildlife parks allow free exchange of animals for breeding purposes, insuring the genetic diversity of the captive population. In fact, past practices seem to have flipped with many Zoos and Wildlife parks now sending animals to be set free in the wild as part of vital reintroduction programmes. Fota Wildlife Park has itself been part of the reintroduction of the European Bison in Poland and the Scimitar Horned Oryx in Tunisia, both projects helping to save species from the brink of extinction. With current extinction rates above those that occurred during the last mass extinction of the dinosaurs, maintaining healthy, genetically diverse ‘reserve’ populations is an invaluable safety net for conservation.
If the estimation about Ol’ Blue Eyes’ age is true, she is for her species, exceptionally old- the Colombian spider monkey’s lifespan is only to the early 30s! She indeed stands apart in the group with her striking blue eyes- all the others have brown eyes. Her behavior is also markedly different, showing wild characteristics and vocalizations that stand her apart from the rest of the group. It does seem at times that she stares at you with more intensity and a different expression than the others, and her stares can often stop you in your tracks as you're passing their enclosure.
Spider monkeys are rather exceptional amongst New World monkeys being second only to gibbons in their agility up in the tree tops and a brain twice the size of a Howler monkey of equivalent body size. Their long spindly limbs and incredibly prehensile tail- which gave them their name- allow for such awesome acrobatics in the canopy. Their large brain is thought to be the result of their complex social structure entitled ‘fission-fusion’ which only occurs in one other primate, the chimpanzee, and their frugivorous diet which requires them to remember the locations of ripe fruit in the forest.
Fota Wildlife Park’s group consists of another adult female (28 years), two adult males (24 and 7 years) and a very cute 1 year old female infant. The female’s enlarged labia makes it quite easy to differentiate between the sexes.
The Cheetah Run - 4 mile road race
26th April 2009
The Cheetah Run, May 21st, Fota Wildlife Park, Cork
The Cheetah is a most graceful cat, whose long legs and semi-retractile claws are adaptations to coursing swift antelope prey. Cheetahs stalk their prey to about 30m, then sprint at up to 110kph. Fota Wildlife Park in Cork has been exceptionally successful in breeding Cheetahs in captivity. Over 180 cubs have been born in the park since 1985.
The Cheetah formerly occupied all the grasslands, savannas and semi-deserts of Africa. The activities of Man have so reduced it that it is now limited to a much smaller area and its population continues to decline. Its present stronghold is in Namibia and donations to our collection box go to help conserve Namibian cheetahs.
How you can help?
Fota Wildlife Park in association with Eagle Athletic are organising the inaugural Cheetah Run on May 21st. This run is set to be the wildest 4 mile road race in Ireland and will take in views never seen at a race in Ireland before with spectators taking the shape of Giraffes, Bison, Lemurs, Kangaroos, Penguins and of course Cheetahs to name but a few. The race will start at 8pm with registration on the night between 6.30 and 7.45pm and the race also take in some of Fota House and Gardens. Some of the proceeds of this race will go towards the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia. For more details on the race visit www.eagleac.net or www.fotawildlife.ie
Schola Cantorum Voci del Nestore (Italy) performing at Fota Wildlife Park on Saturday May 2nd at 1pm
26th April 2009
The Schola Cantorum Voci del Nestore choir is made up of students from the first, second and third classes of Piegaro Middle School. The group currently consists of 25 students, and came into being in 2003 through the formation of an extracurricular school choir activity. Since 2006 the choir has become part of the school’s curriculum, with rehearsals of about three hours a week now partly taking place during the school day.
The constant commitment of the choir, despite an annual change in the number of voices, has given them strong vocal and musical preparation. The choir excels when performing live, and has proven their excellence not only during the several shows the school has organized, but also through the essential steps of meeting with other school choirs in national and international festivals, such as:
2005: Spring Festival organized by FENIARCO in Riva del Garda2007. National Festival in Vittorio Veneto - Regional School Choirs Festival organized by S. Anna Foundation in Perugia - Provincial School Choirs Contest organized by S. Anna Foundation in Perugia (In which The Piegaro Choir won First Prize) - Choir lab activity for choir teachers and directors - Christmas Concert for USR Umbria at Morlacchi Theatre along with other ten regional schools.
2008: Lab activity for choir teachers and directors - Regional School Choirs Festival organized by S. Anna Foundation in Perugia - 70th A. Gramsci’s anniversary show organized by Perugia Provincial Administration -Regional ‘In Coro-Incontro Polifonico Umbro’ show - Spring Festival Follonica.
The choir’s repertoire ranges from ancient to modern classical music, pop music and musical comedy.
You can catch the choir perform in the park on Saturday May 2nd at 1pm as part of the Cork International Choral Festival. Fota Wildlife Park has also lined up Unity Drummers for a free workshop on sunday for people of all ages to learn how to play african drums. They will be in the park from 12pm until 4pm and are sure to make the animals from Africa feel right at home.
Have a Wild and Wonderful Summer at Fota Wildlife Park
3rd June 2009
Kids are you interested in nature? Have you ever wondered why a giraffe sleeps standing up or why the cheetah is the fastest land animal. Come to Fota Wildlife Park’s Summer Camps and have all of your questions answered!!
Fota Wildlife Park’s Summer Camps promise to provide a unique and unforgettable time to all! Camps are taking place over a six week period during the months of July and August.
Fota Wildlife Park’s education department has been providing summer camps since 1995. Since their establishment, attendance figures have grown to over 450 participants over a six week period, making it one of the most popular summer camps in the Munster area! Our Summer Camps have been developed with the aim of engendering a respect for the natural world in children of all ages, this is achieved by taking a “play” approach to learning with the aim of enthusing and encouraging an interest in nature and its many wonders. Through years of valuable experience and programme revision, we have carefully put together a selection of activities which address each participants’ requirements and interests. Activities range from arts and crafts to sports and environmental activities. All of the activities on offer are based around the theme of the natural world. Participants are segregated based on age groups and the activities on offer are age specific.Part of the Summer Camp’s goal includes collaborating with local organisations and companies to promote and encourage environmental awareness. The environmental Unit of Cork County Council has kindly sponsored a series of events including “Friday is environmental funday”.
A supervised train service is available from Kent station in Cork City as well as a number of additional stops along the Cork to Cobh line. Summer camps details are as follows:
Week 1: Jul 6 – 10
Week 2: July 13 - 17
Week 3: July 20 - 24
Week 4: July 27 - 31
Week 5: August 10 – 14
Week 6: Aug 17 -21
Cost: €95 per child
More details are available from the education Dept: education@fotawildlife.ie or 021 4812678 ext 206
EAZA Teddy Bears Picnic with Tropicana Pure Premium
3rd June 2009
Have you teddy bears at home who would like to visit a wildlife park? Well now they can. This Sunday June 21st (Father’s Day) Fota Wildlife Park will be hosting the EAZA Teddy Bears Picnic in association with Tropicana Pure Premium to raise awareness of the EAZA European Carnivore Campaign.
The European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA) run an annual international fundraising campaign. Previous campaigns have focussed on tigers, rhinos and amphibians. The EAZA European Carnivore Campaign 2009 aims to raise awareness for large carnivores in Europe.
Called Living Together, it highlights the need for human populations to live alongside native predators. The campaign has identified twelve carnivores – dubbed the Dirty Dozen - the Arctic fox, brown bear, Eurasian otter, Eurasian lynx, Eurasian wildcat, European mink, golden jackal, grey wolf, Iberian lynx, marbled polecat, polar bear and wolverine. Two of these, the otter and the wild cat, are native to the UK.
Fota Wildlife Parks Head of Marketing Stephen Ryan spoke to Fota Blog on the event: “Conservation is not just about exotic species in faraway places. a prime example of this is the red squirrel that many people see on their visit to Fota Wildlife Park. Therefore it is very important for the park to support this initiative and creative awareness of the European carnivores that have become endangered species. Even though Fota Wildlife Park does not have any of the so called dirty dozen we are still committed to this event and hope to have a great family day out to celebrate this on the day with a wide range of activities with our brand new animal antics team including face painting, storytelling, talks and African drumming. We are also giving each person with a teddy bear some snacks for the picnic and fresh orange juice thanks to our sponsors Tropicana Pure Premium.”
The EAZA Teddy Bears’ Picnic takes place on 21st June (Fathers’ Day), when zoos, wildlife park’s and aquariums across Europe will be holding lunch-time picnics with the aim of breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest teddy bears’ picnic. Dublin Zoo currently holds the record for the event at 34,000 bears. To break this record Fota Wildlife Park will require people in the park by 12pm so that everyone has their drinks and snacks with their teddy’s ready to be counted.
Fota Wildlife Park is giving free entry to all children with a teddy bear to the park before 12pm. All you have to do is print off the voucher on www.fotawildlife.ie
Each person is allowed bring up to 20 teddy bears with them on the day and each one will be counted as part of the record attempt.
For more details on the campaign and the dirty dozen visit http://www.carnivorecampaign.eu/
Happy Birthday Finn
3rd July 2009
On Saturday 4th of July Fota Wildlife Park are going to be holding a very special birthday party. Yes Finn the youngest Giraffe in the park will be one years old.
Finn was born on the 4th of July 2008 and was the cause of much celebration at Fota Wildlife Park! Roisin, his mother, had carried him for an incredible 14 month. Roisin like all giraffe mothers gave birth to Finn whilst standing and so, the first experience the little calf had was a 6ft drop to the ground!! However the park have no plans to give him any birthday bumps to remind him of the fall instead they are hosting a week of activities including storytelling, arts and crafts and talks leading up to the big birthday celebrations on Saturday afternoon. The staff in the park will be helped in the celebrations by the staff of Cork's 96fm street fleet and the VIP winners of the generation game on the Nick Richards breakfast show.
Commenting on the event the park's Marketing Manager Stephen Ryan added that "this is going to be a great day at Fota, we are all used to going to birthday parties but how many people have attended a giraffe's 1st birthday party?? The staff here are very fond of Finn so we are trying to make a big day out of it especially for him. We are getting a special birthday cake for him and getting everyone to sing happy birthday outside the giraffe house at 3.30pm. We will also be displaying all the birthday cards that the children made in the park for Finn on the day."
Notes:
Finn is the youngest of a herd of Rothschild giraffe at Fota Wildlife Park, which are one of nine races of giraffe found in Africa. Exterminated from much of their former habitat, they can now be seen in western Kenya and eastern Uganda. Giraffes are the tallest land mammal. They are often called the watchtowers of the Serengeti, helping to keep track of predators. The Rothschild giraffe is taller than any other sub species. The males can grow up to 5.9m in height and are capable of attaining weights in excess of 2000kg. The giraffe is a strict herbivore eating leaves and buds from trees. It digests its food in a chambered stomach. Females give birth to a single calf after a gestation period of 15 months. A mother giraffe often gives birth while standing so that the newborn's first experience outside the womb is a 1.8 m (6 ft.) drop!
Did you know?
Giraffes can sleep standing up and only sleep for about five minutes at a time so they can remain alert for predators!! Would you believe the giraffe has the longest tail of any land mammal? A giraffe's tail can be 8 feet (2.4 meters) long, including the tuft on the end!
May the blogging begin…
27th July 2009
Hello everybody! After a long absence the blog is back in action again.
Firstly we'd like to introduce you to ourselves, the Head Talks Presenters, and all the other Talks Presenters. For those of you who have visited the Park in the last few months you may have met us, either out and about in the Park, whilst on a school tour, through the ecology courses or most recently at the summer camps. Our names are Mark and Caitríona. Since we began in March we have been run off our feet, but until the end of October we will be here to update you regularly on the events and happenings around Fota Wildlife Park. In addition to this we hope to be able to answer any queries that you may have, through our comment section.
Mark and Caitríona
As many of the regular members might have noticed, we also have many more staff running around the park eager to give you talks and information on the animals. These are the Summer Talks Presenters - Niamh, Orla, Tara, John, Paraic, Noreta and Lorna. These additional Presenters can be found wandering around the park, giving animal talks or at our new Information Hut.
Back (left to right) - John, Paraic and Orla; Front (left to right) - Lorna, Noreta, Tara and Niamh
Please feel free to leave us a comment, or ask us any animal related questions and we'll both do our very best to reply. We are looking forward to hearing from you!
Mark and Caitríona
Birds of Prey Experience
27th July 2009
What do you think is the fastest animal here at Fota Wildlife Park?
I bet you reckon it's the Cheetah............
Sorry, but I'm afraid you're wrong! Well maybe half right. It all depends on what time you visit us here at the park you see. Throughout the summer the park has organised a very special visitor - the Peregrine Falcon.
Our Cheetahs turn green with envy when this amazing bird drops by as it easily takes the crown as the speediest animal in the park. In fact, the Peregrine is actually the fastest animal in the world. While the Cheetah holds the record as the fastest animal on land, reaching speeds of up to 110 kph, the peregrine pulverises this by travelling at up to 320 kph! For those of you still clutching to the imperial system that's around 200 mph! Let me repeat that again.....200mph!
Peregrine Falcon (copyright birdwatchersdigest.com)
The reason why our feathered friend is dropping by is that the Peregrine Falcon is part of a new event running here at the park, the Birds of Prey Experience.
As you can guess from the name, this event offers visitors to the park an up-close encounter with birds of prey. Birds of prey, or raptors, as you know, are those birds that have evolved to be magnificent hunters, equipped with amazing vision, razor-sharp talons and a powerful break to rip through its prey. As well as seeing the Peregrine Falcon, visitors will be treated to a variety of other special raptors.
Also on display will be the Saker Falcon, an endangered bird whose population stands at only 8000 and unfortunately continues to decrease. This is joined by another type of Falcon called the Lanner which originates mainly from Africa and Southern Europe. We will also have a Harris Hawk. The unusual thing about this raptor is that while most birds of prey hunt on their own, the Harris Hawk forms a group of up to 6 individuals to track down and take down their prey. Last but not least is the truly beautiful Barn Owl.
In fact, the Barn Owl is my personal highlight of the day. While it's great to see the various birds of prey so closely, I think it's fantastic for everyone to get to see an animal that is both stunning and native to Ireland. It's very easy to be captivated by the unusual wildlife of exotic countries, and rightly so, but it's also brilliant to get back in touch with our native wildlife. Not many of us here in Ireland have seen a Barn Owl, even though you are probably living not too far from one. The reason for their elusiveness is that they are mainly nocturnal or crepuscular (active in the early morning and late evening). Additionally, their numbers have been severely declining across the island due to habitat loss. In fact their population has halved over the last 25 years.
During the Birds of Prey Experience visitors will be treated to a flight show featuring a number of the birds. This demonstrates the speed and agility of the raptors, made all the more amazing when it's happening just over your head. Following the flight show our talks presenters will be on hand to provide information and bring the magnificent birds out to the audience for a truly up-close encounter.
The Birds of Prey Experience is a new event and has taken place only a few times at the park. It has proved extremely popular with visitors and for that reason has been extended to run over the next few months. Stay tuned to the blog for any updates on this!
The Birds of Prey Experience will next take place on July 25th and 26th and August 15th and 16th at 1pm and 3pm each day. Of course, the event itself is free, with the price included in the entrance fee of the park. Please also bear in mind that the Birds of Prey Experience is subject to weather conditions.
We look forward to seeing you!
