Chief Executive’s Blog
January 16th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
This weekend was a big day for the Highland Wildlife Park as two very powerful, temperamental and bad tempered females arrived!
Excitingly we received two Musk Ox over the weekend. They are the only Musk Ox on display in the whole of the UK. Another incredible first for RZSS.
After a short settling in period of around a week, visitors will be able to see these powerhouses for themselves. I’m amazed to hear that they are even thought to have survived the last ice age and that their wool, which is given the Inuit name qiviut, is prized for being soft and 10 times as strong as sheep wool.
A male Musk ox is then due to arrive later in the year.
Never far away from the news, the story that our male panda, Yang Guang, was suffering from colic quickly spread around the globe. It has been wonderful to hear how concerned so many people have been about him.
I’m happy to say panda colic isn’t serious, but we’re going to keep him off show until later this week to help him recover quickly and fully in private. I’m told he’s had some good night sleeps though and is getting much brighter.
A new animal pairing last week brought a smile to my face. Argus, a Hamlyn’s monkey, arrived at Edinburgh Zoo to join our resident group. He’s settled in right away to his new home with female monkey Shaba. Both in their twilight years, it’s more of a retirement pairing for these two! Argus is apparently very shy, but Shaba was keen to start grooming him from the moment they were first introduced. Keepers are really pleased and think they will make a great pair.
At Edinburgh Zoo it was also time to sex our 13 Squirrel monkey youngsters that were born in Living Links across 2011. The babies were also weighed, measured and given identification necklaces. Now onto the task of naming the little ones – all 13 of them!
Best wishes until next week,
Hugh Roberts
