Maybe not 100% Scottish wildlife, but I can't resist posting a few snaps from our visit to Wildlife Park near Aviemore. It seems to be a baby boom time! Monkeys, lynx, wildcats, wolves, markhors, bison... all of them just had offspring. Some new parents are hiding their babies well from public eyes, but we managed to take some decent photos
Little bison calves are well protected by parents...
A watchful dad:
Przewalski's horses: this one must have been only a couple of days old when we took this photo - it struggled to walk... Wee cutie:
Snow monkeys also had their share of parental duties, no less than 4 new arrivals this summer!
There has been a fallout in the wildcat family! Mummy and daddy cats had to be separated as they kept fighting. So he is now in a separate enclosure (and not happy at all!) while she is nursing the new litter of kittens. Sadly, mum and kittens were not very eager to move from their favourite place up near the roof of the cage.
Moody dad:
Mummy:
For the first time, we managed to catch a glimpse of the illusive wolverine... They are nocturnal and very seldom venture out in daylight. It looks like a small, cuddly brown bear, but I wouldn't cuddle it, might end with a nasty bait as these are very feisty animals
Genetically, they are close relatives of weasels and badgers.
Walker the bear was bored to death. His buddy Arctos is currently enjoying time out with his girlfriend in another enclosure and Walker has nobody to play with... But hopefully, the bear date will bring another baby to the zoo. It would be the first ever polar bear cub born in this wildlife park, so good luck!
Summer 2016 - Walker and Arctos enjoying a splash in the pool:
Baby markhors were happy to pose...
Chan the snow leopard hungry to taste the spectators
Marty the lion enjoying his afternoon siesta:
Happy days in the wolf family! On the 21st of May, new puppies were born. They are closely watched by mum, Ruby. We saw them running around and playing for a few minutes, before they retired to the den with mum. So all good photos we took were of their older siblings (last year's litter), mostly sleeping
Nap time:
"Proper" wildlife - a curious lapwing:
Bob the Elk:
A gentle reindeer:
Sadly, the day was a bit cool and windy and the red pandas were nowhere to be seen
so here is a snap taken last year:
It's a lovely small zoo, maybe quite pricey for the size but we spent the whole day wandering around/driving through. Worth a visit if you are an animal lover
