"Errr, Gareth, how do you fancy a couple of extra house guests for a couple of nights?" I asked my bestie. Gareth lives in Essex, an ideal halfway stop off point for me to use to break up my journeys when fulfilling my quest for different zoos around the country. Living on the South East coast means many zoos are too far to do in a day!!! But with my bestie.......
"They have lots of babies there at the moment! I'd really really love to try and see the young Red Panda cub especially! Not to mention the Otter cubs and baby Sealion", I continued! "
And so I set off on a 2 stage journey to Norfolk! Destination
Banham Zoo. Safe in the knowledge that my little Mr four paws, Benji my sheltie, would be well looked after too.
Setting off at around 7.30am on Monday morning, 19th November 2018, I made my way to Banham travelling through some beautiful country. As I passed Elveden Forest it bought back happy memories of times when I had taken my children there. Now almost adults, they lead independent lives!
Arriving just after opening time at 9.30am, I parked up and purchased my ticket. First stop had to be the Red Pandas! And quite conveniently the Asian Short-clawed Otters were positioned right next door! I had been to Banham once before and not so long ago when I visited for the first time with my mother back in August. We had been staying at Great Yarmouth at the time. I had a vague recollection of the layout of the zoo.
I didn't see any action by the Red Panda enclosure so went next door to the Otters. What a contrast! I had been told by one of the members of a facebook animal photography group I belong to that the Otters get fed first thing and there would be a good chance of seeing the baby cubs! And low and behold, as soon I approached, I could see, one, two, three, no four bundles of brown squeakiness coming towards me. "Sorry buddies, I'm not your keeper!" They were so excited, me being the only person there at that time. They thought I was going to feed them!
There were two otter cubs, both males, born to mum Tilly and dad Sam on 19th July 2018. This is their first litter. I could definitely make out the runt of the litter! Otters have always been my favourite animal and naturally, I spent quite some time watching them! This is the smallest of the litter here, above. It was great seeing the youngster playing with this ball! The Cubs haven't been named as yet but are both doing well!
The Asian Short-clawed Otter is one of three species of clawless otter and is the smallest of all Otter species. Cubs aren't born with the ability to swim and need to be taught this by their parents. By all accounts mum and dad had been doing a fine job of this as at 4 months of age now, they were just loving their time in the water! They were so hyper, they kept me on my toes trying to get photos of them!!!! Constantly on the move!!!
There was still some time to go until feeding time for the otters so I decided to take a little walk through the Flamingo enclosure. The enclosure is in a lovely location and serves as a kind of walkthrough. It's a nice size and able to accommodate quite a few of the Chilean Flamingoes in it housing about 40 birds. I learned during my time working as a volunteer at my local zoo that Flamingoes will only breed if they are kept as a large group. Failing that, the use of mirrors was brought in to give the flamingoes the idea of being within a large group! But thankfully at Banham, no mirrors were needed! One of the things that I really love about these birds is their colourful feathers.
Chilean Flamingoes give birth to just one egg which both parents will incubate. At birth the chick is grey or white in colour and takes one to two years to adopt the more traditional pink coat we tend to associate with flamingoes. The pink colouration comes from carotenoid pigments found in their food. This bird here, above, hasn't yet acquired its full adult coat. A fascinating piece of information I recently learned is that chicks are also born with a straight beak!!! This doesn't form a full curve until around 3 months of age. Their shaped beaks are specially adapted for their dietary lifestyle of filter feeding on microscopic plant life and small animals found on mud or in the water. Chilean Flamingoes can be identified by their grey legs with pink joints.
I went back to have a look to see if there was any sign of the Red Pandas, but nothing as yet. I positioned myself back with my beloved little squeaky critters and waited for the otter feed and talk. This had to be one of the quietest zoo days I have ever known! usually, despite the time of year I go or where I head to, there are often lots of school children about, but today with only about 3 or 4 of us around the Otters, the talk didn't last long. I caught a glimpse of one of the adults basking in the sun!
After the talk, I asked the keeper about the baby Red Panda cub and the best time of day to try to see it. I was in for some disappointing news! sadly the cub had fallen out of the tree the day before and sustained an injury so was currently off-show with mum. Dad Jasper was still in the enclosure but there was no sign of his whereabouts! Having travelled all that way primarily to see the baby Red Panda cub, it wasn't going to be happening today! my main concern though at this point was for the well being of the little cub!
I followed the keeper round to the Meerkats as she gave them their munchies. If I thought the Otter cubs had been hyper, that was nothing in comparison to the baby Meerkats! The mob was continually on the move scurrying under muddied twigs and leaves for the yummiest of things to eat, dad keeping a watchful lookout high up on a promontory within the enclosure.
I decided to try and take in some more of the keeper talks and shows etc.
Walking past the Camels in the central part of the zoo, I thought it made for a nice photo seeing two of the Camels standing next to one another. In March this year, Banham celebrated the birth of a male camel, later to be named Sopwith, after an RAF World War biplane, The Sopwith Camel! This name had been chosen by a young 3-year old granddaughter of an ex-serviceman. Whilst I did see the youngster, offspring to mum Lucy, and dad Genghis (Now residing at another zoo), I didn't get any photos of him.
I made my way over to the Californian Sealions in preparation for the talk and show. As I stood there waiting, I noticed one of the mammals in the water playing with what looked like a black plastic pot or tub of sorts. Flicking it up in the air, making a lot of splashes as it did so! "Wow, now wouldn't that be awesome to try and capture on camera", I thought to myself! This Sealion continued to play for some time with this object, later to be joined by other members of the group. This had to be one of the highlights of the day for me! I was transfixed to the spot!!!!
I was so engrossed by watching the Sealions playing with their toys that I hadn't really been taking in much of what was being said at the talk when it did start, though I did see the keepers ask the animals to perform porpoising, a streamlined motion performed by the animals in which they will rise above the water and then submerge below it. I also heard the keepers explaining why they asked the animals to do certain things like raising their flippers etc, checking their mouths and fur etc. By incorporating checks like this into their normal daily routine, the keepers are easily able to check on the health and wellbeing of their animals. Also, if a vet is needed, the animal won't be under any undue stress being asked to perform these routine tasks and medication etc can be administered without upsetting the animal too much. The one thing I wish I had listened more about though was what their names were! Thankfully, I've since been able to look this up on getting back home!
Sealion Bay is a fairly new exhibit and caters for 6 resident Californian Sealions: 2 males (Emmett and Elmo) and 4 females (Gala, Filippa, Ineke, and Dora). With the exception of newest arrival Dora, born to mum Filipa in June this year, all the other Sealions arrived at the zoo in either February or March this year having come from either Blackpool Zoo or other European Zoos. The adults comprise of Filipa, Gala, and Elmo, Gala being Filippa's offspring from a previous season. The juveniles are Emmet, Inneke and young Dora.
How could I not have noticed young Dora sitting on her favourite rock as I first approached the poolside arena? It wasn't until the keepers pointed her out during the talk that I became aware she was there! and what a cute little Sealion she is! She didn't take part in the show as such as the keepers explained that she was too young. However, after the talk, what was wonderful was seeing one of the keepers doing some touch nose training with her. I had seen this done before now with the Otters at Wingham Wildlife Park so I was a little familiar with it. The keeper will use a long pole with a rounded ball on the end of it and try to encourage the animal to touch the ball with their nose using cue words and rewarding the behaviour with a treat of sorts, food orientated. I had to chuckle when I saw who was next to the pole! Looked like Christmas had come early at Banham! Dora decided to be like a kiddies famous cartoon character, "Dora the Explorer", and do some exploring of her own!
My next stop was South Africa, or rather, a visit to one of the native small feathered animals that come from there, The Black-Footed Penguins. If it had been South Africa, the temperatures would have been somewhat warmer than the 6 degrees or so it was over here in East Anglia! Entering the enclosure, I saw some Spoonbills nesting in a tree. Such strange looking birds but beautiful all the same! This was one of the smaller Penguin enclosures I have seen on my zoo visits however the penguins seemed perfectly happy! There were a few penguins in nest boxes which was a nice sight to see!
I Joked with them and asked them to move over and make way for me in there with them! I have a tendency to be quite susceptible to the colder weather and while 6 degrees may not be cold to some, I was just starting to get a bit chilly!!!! Time for a warm up in the Pavillion Cafe with a nice mug of hot chocolate I thought to myself!
Well, I didn't quite the big mug as such as it was a self-service machine with a polystyrene cup so I decided to drink and go so to speak. This proved rather interesting as I approached the Zebra! Typically I just didn't have enough hands!!!! I could see some exciting action going on as one of the Zebras was doing that classically funny lip snarling motion of raising its lips. I searched for somewhere to place my cup while trying not to miss the moment! Too late! The Zebra then went on to roll around on the ground!!!! .... oh well, I may have missed those shots but it sure was a good cup of hot chocolate! lol, I'm sure the Zebra enjoyed a good laugh though "ha, missed us!" I took the opportunity though to take a few shots when I had finally found somewhere to position my hot cup!
From Africa to Australia, I made my way to the Kangaroo paddock. This is always an exciting moment for me at zoos where they keep Kangaroos as so few British Zoos seem to keep them, tending to opt for the smaller Wallabies. "mmmm, that's a lot of noise coming from the paddock but no signs of the Roos!" i thought to myself. The kerfuffle became apparent as I soon saw a relentless male Emu chasing a female around the paddock. These males and their raging hormones! lol, I would have to try to find the Roos later on in the day and hope they would be out!!!
Another animal at Banham that I don't often see in Zoos is the Maned Wolf. This canine is such a beautiful animal! With their very long legs and slim body, it reminded me very much of my sheltie Benji as a 7-month-old pup. At that stage of his development, he was just a bundle of legs and not much else! Banham has two Maned Wolves. The name is a bit of a misnomer though as they aren't actually Wolves! and whilst they may look like foxes, they're not members of the fox family either!
Foxes have very distinctive Elliptical eyes which the Maned Wolf does not have. They are in fact placed within their own genus,
Chrysocyon meaning "Golden Dog". They are the only species within this genus. These animals are the largest of the canids and are native to South America. On first arriving at the enclosure, I thought that one of the animals was almost being paid to pose for me! I got some really lovely captures! and then as every hobbyist photographer will no doubt have experienced, animals can be unpredictable! It was a case of the animal being photobombed by a sprig of Oak leaves! The action was happening way too fast for me to reposition myself and despite trying to will the animal to move slightly to one side, it wasn't going to listen to me!!!! So, whilst I could attempt to clone out the oak leaves, later on with some post-shoot editing, I have left it in as I think it's quite quirky and helps tell a story, which is after all what photography is all about!!! Just check out those toothypegs!!!!
I continued on up the pathway and said hello to some of the birds of prey. Sam the Bald Eagle had been sitting out in the sunshine but I had been distracted by the noisy cacophony being made by the Blue and Gold Macaws whom I ventured over to see first. When I returned, Sam had gone back inside!!!! As for the Owls, the majority of them just slept!!!!
"mm, this is odd, I thought to myself!" I had made my way to the Giraffe walkway for the talk at 1.15pm and had arrived early as well! But there was no one there! ..... "I'm sure the keeper talk was here last time I visited!" I could see though that the platform that had been used last time was being dismantled and a worker was on site. I asked where the talk was taking place and made my way through the house which I hadn't been in before, down the stairs and round the back of the Giraffe house. I'm so glad I didn't miss the talk as this proved to be such a comical moment and another real highlight of my day!!!
Banham have 3 Giraffes: 2 females who are sisters called Aileen and Fiona (Yes, I have a giraffe sharing my name!!!!) and a male called Max. I think this is Max here enjoying licking the fence post. During the talk, he wasn't interested in receiving food from the bucket being handed out by the keeper. He carried on licking the post!
In case you're wondering why I chose the name of "Goofy Giraffes" for part of the title, well that would be down to Fiona! had to be! of course! lol So with the usual feeding platform being rebuilt, the keeper talk meant that the giraffes weren't being fed up high like they usually are. So, whereas Aileen has very efficiently mastered the art of popping her head "Over" the fence to reach the keeper's hand and get lots of yummy food, "Goofy" Fiona just couldn't quite fathom this out! "But I want to stick my tongue out THROUGH the bars she kept saying to herself!" Time after time I could hear the keeper trying to encourage her to place her head over the top as Aileen was doing. The keeper went on to explain that Fiona was being discouraged from putting her tongue through the fence (i.e. not being given food) as the fence had the potential to be a bit rough in places so they are trying to promote going up and over as her sister was doing.
That said, the tongue of a giraffe is very well equipped to cope with the toughest of things! They have the ability to extend their tongue out up to 45cm, easily stripping a tree of it's juiciest of leaves. Their favourite food source being Acacia! And one of my favourite anecdotes of the classic "Red Queen hypothesis" can be demonstrated using the Giraffe and the Acacia tree as a prime example.
So what does the Red Queen hypothesis mean? It's an evolutionary term that means that organisms must continually evolve, adapt and proliferate to gain the upper hand when it's come to not only reproductive advantage but also the capability to survive in an ever-changing environment in which organisms are ever-evolving mechanisms to counteract this.
In the wilds of Africa, Giraffes can eat as much as 29kg of Acacia leaves and twigs per day!!! The Acacia trees, therefore, evolved over time a mechanism to try to counteract this, spiky thorns up to 8 - 10cm long! But the giraffes with their super long prehensile tongues, tough lips and palates can navigate their way through this barrage of spikes and thorns, so it seems the giraffes have won!!!! or have they? and so in the great arms race for survival, the plants had to evolve their counter-attack!
They did this by means of production of a chemical substance called a Tannin. This substance not only tastes foul to a Giraffe but also inhibits digestion. And the really clever thing about this Tannin production is that once the tree deems its perimeter breached, it can send out signals to trees within a 50m radius. This keeps the giraffes constantly on the move for trees that haven't yet started to release the tannin. So maybe the Giraffe hasn't won after all? Did you know that a Giraffe also has a very dark tongue? This is thought to protect it from the sun out in it's native Africa.
I was very pleased when Fiona finally realized the error of her ways and that she needed to lean "over" the fence. This is one of my favourite moments seeing the two girls being fed by the keeper, however, it didn't last long! It appears that Aileen is something of a greedy guts! She is the Giraffe on the left here, Fiona being the Giraffe on the right. Before long, Aileen started to use her neck in that ever so typical way giraffe's use their head for combat and tried to scurry her out the way!!!! I really did feel for Fiona, having finally found out how to get the food, to then be bossed about by Aileen!!!!
As the Keeper gave the last of the food in the buckets to the girls, I started to make my way out of the Giraffe area. Walking towards the Llamas, my eye caught a flickering streak of Green with red, white, yellow and black. I knew instantly that it had been a Green Woodpecker I had just disturbed. It had been positioned on a tree not far from me when it abruptly flew off. I was sooooo excited and messaged my friend Gareth straight away to tell him! He's very into his birds so I knew he would be somewhat jealous!
The llama seemed to greet me with a mouthful of teeth and very big teeth at that!!!! I decided to leave them to their hay!
"Yay, they're out now!" I thought to myself as I approached the Kangaroos again. The relentless male Emu was still being very vocal and hadn't given up on chasing the female but at least it seemed that the sun had brought the Roos out of their indoor house!
Walking past the Snow Leopards, I noticed that the female was now out in the enclosure. Enif was enjoying lying outside perched on a rock. She and handsome male Rocky have been at Banham since 2008 and have had a couple of litters together. They had 3 cubs back in 2010, one of the litter, Ziva having gone to Howlett's Zoo in 2011. Ziva is now paired up with a male called Nuri and it is hoped that they will have cubs of their own before too long. Another from the litter, Margaash, went to Dudley Zoo where he fathered a male cub, Makalu. Rocky and Enif's second litter was born a couple of years later. Enif gave birth to 2 cubs but sadly only one survived. With numbers as low as between 4,000 - 6,500 animals left in the wild, zoos are playing a vital role in helping to conserve this, as well as many other endangered species. It is very much hoped that Makalu will produce offspring which will themselves be returned to the Himalayas. He now resides in a zoo in Darjeeling.
I had been on my way to see the Cheetah talk when I noticed Enif sitting outside and I was mesmerized by her beauty! I couldn't steal myself away! I headed to the Cheetah's and caught a glimpse of this gorgeous cat glancing over her shoulder, but I missed the talk itself. I tend to use them as a rough guide and often will do my own thing anyway. I grabbed a yummy Pulled Pork and coleslaw sarnie from the pavilion cafe and this time I decided to sit down and eat rather than munch on the hoof!
Refuelled, I anticipated my next animals to go in search of. I decided not to see the birds of prey display this time, though I had seen it on my previous visit and have to say it was absolutely fantastic. The chap that did the show was so knowledgeable and clearly passionate about what he does! I went in search of Tigers! and I was not disappointed!!!!! They were certainly very active!!!
Amur Tigers are one of 9 subspecies of Tigers, sadly 3 of which are now extinct. They are the largest of all the Big Cats. Residing primarily in Russia, these Felines face persecution from hunters seeking to use their fur coats or other body parts in oriental medicines, as well as habitat loss. Numbers are thought to be as critically low as only 250 adults left in the wild! This is heart-breaking!!!
Banham Zoo has two Siberian or Amur Tigers as they are often known as. Male tiger Kuzma and female Sveta. They are a breeding pair, both aged 10 years of age. Kuzma was born at Banham in 2008 whereas his mate Sveta came from Lisbon. Kuzma is ranked as an incredibly important breeding male as his genes are very under-represented within the captive population.
In 2013 Sveta gave birth to two cubs. Both cubs were female, named Xenia and Yeva and have now become part of the European Zoos breeding programme.
Watching Kuzma and Sveta tussling one another was incredible! I started watching from one viewing point as they started to interact together. I then relocated to one of the other viewing windows to try and get a closer look. Typically there was foliage and other obstructions shielding my view but it was wonderful to be so close to these magnificent big cats! Until this day, I had only ever seen the two boys at Wingham play fighting, Blade and Troy. I stood watching for some time as male and female raised paws, growled at one another and gave chase! Yes, without doubt, this was to be another real highlight of my day!
AS I left the Tiger's, I realized I had been so enthralled watching them that I hadn't been into to see the Linhe's Two-toed Sloth or the Lemur walkthrough. Sadly these parts of the zoo had now closed! I had also run out of time to go and revisit the baby Spider Monkey just a few days old. I did get a brief glimpse of it earlier in the day but it was nestled right under mum's arms, just tiny little eyes and a nose peering out! Photographing this gorgeous scene before me was nigh impossible!!
However, having eluded me all day, by positioning up against the fence, I finally got my opportunity to get some nice photos of the Sri Lankan Leopard.
I couldn't tell if there if there were one or two Leopards in there as I only got to see one but I suspect there are two. Banham was very successful in announcing the birth of 2 cubs last year. Yala and Nimala were born to mum Sariska and dad Mias. I was happy to see this beautiful cat basking in the sunshine! Such stunning markings!!!
As 4pm approached and the zoo was starting to shut down, I felt the pitter patter of raindrops. I'd had a wonderful day here at Banham and learned so much! It looks like I'll need to gatecrash my friend's for another night though sometime in the future as Banham will be beckoning to me again before too long! Besides which, I still haven't seen the Red Panda cub!!!!
If you're anything like me, you'll also have a full appreciation for colourful birds. I just find the vast array of different species of them fascinating! Axe Valley proved to a wonderful place as they house a variety of birds, both large and small. One of my favourite birds there was the White-Cheeked Turaco. First bred in the UK in 1964, they are the most popular of the Turaco species within zoos as they breed so well. Members of the family Musophagidae, this translates literally to "Banana eaters".
