Plumpton Park Zoo

12/12/2024

🎄Hello from way up here! It’s Plum! 🎄
We are getting the zoo Christmas ready! While our guest enjoy the lights so do the animals! They also enjoy the enrichment their keepers make them. They get a variety of toys, foods, sensory items, and so much more! This means we often go through a lot of things such as bird toys, paper bags, painting supplies, etc. because of this PPZ has their own Amazon wishlist! This makes it easy for our guest to help our staff and animals directly! 🎁 This list of items was specifically made with each animal in mind! These are new items we need, items we may need replaced, or treat we want to try! This is the perfect way to make sure the animals get a perfect Christmas! 🎅🏼
If you are interested in purchasing anything to help PPZ please follow this link: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/24P2MEKXH5R3X/ref=hz_ls_biz_ex

12/12/2024

🎄Hello from way up here! It’s Plum! 🎄
We are getting the zoo Christmas ready! While our guest enjoy the lights so do the animals! They also enjoy the enrichment their keepers make them. They get a variety of toys, foods, sensory items, and so much more! This means we often go through a lot of things such as bird toys, paper bags, painting supplies, etc. because of this PPZ has their own Amazon wishlist! This makes it easy for our guest to help our staff and animals directly! 🎁 This is of items was specifically made with each animal in mind! These are new items we need, items we may need replaced, or treat we want to try! This is the perfect way to make sure the animals get a perfect Christmas! 🎅🏼
If you are interested in purchasing anything to help PPZ please follow this link: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/24P2MEKXH5R3X/ref=hz_ls_biz_ex

12/10/2024

🎄It’s me Plum! Just winging it today! 🎄

Meet my new friend Millie, she’s a Harris Hawk. Millie is about 31 years old- the typical lifespan for a Harris Hawk is 15-20 years old! How cool is that?? Millie was a donation to the zoo about 13 years ago and she definitely is a guest (and keeper) favorite! Millie told me she was glove trained which means her keepers wear a special glove that she flys onto and that’s how she gets her diet. This is also the perfect time for her keepers to look her over and make sure she’s in a healthy shape. Did you know that female hawks are typically bigger than males? What’s really interesting about Harris Hawks is that unlike most birds of prey they can be social animals. They can form complex social hierarchies, this consists of a breeding (also know as an alpha) female. She would be dominant to all other hawks in the group and If there are other females in the group,they would be subordinate to the alpha female but still dominant to all males in the group ( ). One of their only predators is a great horned owl. She also mentioned to me people often call them “wolves of the sky” since they can be found hunting in groups and how quick and lethal they can be with their prey. She eats zero candy or syrup but instead enjoys small to medium mammals, birds, or reptiles. Millie can be found in between her two friends Jasira the serval and Quillbert the North American porcupine. She spends most of her days going from perch to perch and playing with enrichment that her keeper provide her! She also loves people watching and will occasionally call out to individuals in the zoo! 🧡

12/09/2024

🎄 Plum here with today’s news! 🎄

The zoo will be closing today at 2pm so staff can enjoy their Christmas party!! They said it’s an ugly sweater party but I think my outfit is too cute to participate! They’re going to have games, food, and lots of laughs! Bonus, all my favorite foods will be there! Candy, candy and more candy! 🍬 🍭🍫 I also heard a rumor there will be s’mores??! Can’t wait to try that! This is a perfect time for the PPZ staff to get together and relax after the hustle and bustle through the year. They all work very hard, long days in all types of weather to make sure the animals are taken care of and the guest enjoy their time here 🧡 They are an essential part of the business that sometime people forget about! There is a lot that goes on behind the scene to make sure everything and everyone is enjoying their time here! Hope they all have a great time and don’t worry I’ll be here to make sure they all behave and stay on the nice list! ✅

12/08/2024

Wanna play hide and seek with me and my new friend? 🙈
This is Nikolai our male cougar. He loves to hide in his enclosure and while you can’t see him he always sees the guest! 👀 One of his favorite things to do is to hide and when his keepers are walking by he jumps out to play with them! Fun fact: cougars at the largest species of cat that can meow and purr but they cannot roar like other large cats! You may know these guys by many different names such as mountain lions, pumas, or panthers. They actually hold the Guinness book of world record for the animals with the highest number of names! Now if you guys saw Nikolai when he first arrived at the zoo you would know he looks much different! Cougar cubs are born with blue eyes and spotted coats that fade as they grow and are fully dissipated at around 2 years of age. Cougars are technically considered adults at 2/3 years old and Nikolai is just over 4 years old we will always think of him as a kitten due to his mischievous attitude that may have him on the border of the naughty list but he promised he’ll work hard these next few weeks! 🎄 Cougars are very athletic and can jump up to 25ft in the air and love to climb! If you ever come to the zoo see if you can find Nikolai! Some of his favorite spots are in his tunnel, hiding in the bamboo, or lounging on top of his playground in his enclosure!

12/08/2024

Hi again! It’s Plum!
This is Maybell she’s a highland cattle! This means she is just like me and LOOOVES this cold weather! ❄️ She has long, thick fur that keeps her nice and toasty. Maybell told me that highland cattle are an ancient cattle species of Celtic origin which means her species has been recorded for a really long time! They will spend about 8 hours a day grazing and can eat up to 150lbs of grass. When she’s not eating she enjoys being brushed, laying out enjoying the weather, and “mooooing” at her keepers! She sure does love attention! 🥰 Some people often think that they cannot see where they are going due to their long bangs- also known as dossan- but they manage very well! Sometimes in captivity people will trim their bangs to help them! Maybell loves enrichment such as novel foods but especially hay feeders! They have to be strong to hold up to her strength which can make them pricey but she mentioned to me that guest are given the option to “round up for enrichment” at our admissions building and that helps staff buy super fun toys for her! Be sure to keep that in mind next time you’re at the zoo! 🎄

12/07/2024

My friend and I here went to a turtle pun class yesterday. It tortoise nothing! Da-da-dun 🥁 it’s Plum taking over your timeline again!
This is my friend Homer, he’s an Aldabra Tortoise. He lives with 3 other Aldabras: Marge, Ally, and Groot! Fun fact: Ally is currently our heaviest tortoise at the zoo weighing almost 200lbs! While this may seem like a lot to most people to these guys it’s nothing- they can weigh between 350lbs to 550lbs depending on gender! Imagine how many Christmas cookies that is??? While the ones who reside here at Plumpton Park Zoo are relatively young they are still very wise and taught me a lot. Like did you know Aldabra tortoises can live up to 150 years? Or that the main difference between a tortoise and a turtle is their shell shape? Turtles have a thinner more water dynamic shell! They unlike elves really value their sleep and sleep for up to 18 hours a day. They are also very social, Ally told me her favorite thing in the world is scratches from her keepers! It makes her do a little happy dance and shake her butt back and forth! How funny is that! While I couldn’t hang out with them long because they needed to take a nap I hope to visit again soon, tune in tomorrow to see who I visit next!

12/06/2024

Yeeeehawwww! I reckon yall know who it is by now, the one and only Plum! 🤠Last night I hung out with a lot of new friends and tried lots of new things. I’ve always heard of bullriding but never tried it… I think this is the closest I’m gonna get! Tia and Bud took me for a couple laps around the enclosure to introduce me to everyone. They’re the G.O.A.T for letting me tag along 😉 Currently PPZ has a couple sets of “kids”, did you know that’s what baby goats are called? This years baby’s were named after pastas! 🍝 How fun is that? All the goats eat grain, lots of hay, and love to graze- their favorite treat is the petting zoo feed our guest can purchase to feed them! Goats are the smallest of the ruminants weighing as little as 20lbs up to 250lbs! Also some breeds of goats can jump up to 5 feet tall! All goats here are very friendly because of how social we keep them and how much they love our guest! All these guys are definitely going to go on the nice list! 😇

12/04/2024

📣 We have our winners! 📣
If you didn’t hear, yesterday Sid and Brooke announced they would be doing encounters to the top 2 highest donators to help keep our new female giraffes at Plumpton Park! Sid will be meeting with Timothy Vince and Brooke will be meeting with Lisa Ewing! Thank you both for your very generous donations!

Thank you to every person who donated, slowly but surely we are getting there! It’s not too late to donate just follow this link: https://givebutter.com/giraffefamily

12/04/2024

Good afternoon Muggles! It’s me, Plum! Im coming to you from the enclosure of my new 8 legged friend, Aragog! She is a Chilean rose-hair tarantula 🕷️she is named after the spider that stars in Harry Potter! While spending the evening chatting with her I learned a lot of new things! While they like to stay up at night to hunt just like elves like to stay up at night to make toys, their diet is much different from ours. In the wild they can eat things such as small mice, lizards, and other invertebrates (where’s the candy?!🍭 ) Newly found studies are saying the tarantulas can live up to 15-20 years! Due to their docile nature they are very common in pet trades. She said she sometimes gets sad because many people are afraid of her and others like her but they can be very friendly and are great for the environment! Spiders of all kinds are great pest control often eating insects that are annoying or harmful such as mosquitoes and roaches, they can also eat bugs that carry diseases such as Zika and malaria with no effect to them. They are a key part in the food web and indicate a healthy ecosystem- they make great pollinators as well! 🌻 Some types of spiders can be used by farmers to protect their crops from other harmful pest.

While I used to be afraid of spiders after learning so much about them I’m not! 🧡 Aragog told me spiders are also very funny! She told me a great joke from the spider community. Let me share with all the good boys and girls: what do you call a spider that’s good at dancing? … a jitterbug 💃🏻

12/04/2024

Sooo…, I think Plum may have to go on the naughty list. He sneaked over to Brooke to tell her Sid’s plan. Now she wants to get into the action. Maybe a little jealous too?? That’s ok. It will be good practice to do encounters. We will now offer the top two winners to have a sloth encounter. Winners will be announced tomorrow. It’s all for a good cause right? The link is below: Let’s keep this going.
https://givebutter.com/giraffefamily

12/03/2024

That’s Sid pretending to sleep. Don’t let him fool you. He just came up with a brilliant idea.
He loves his new neighbors. Maybe even a bit jealous of Kazar right now because there are two girls, Jill and Asha. Oh Sid…
Sid wants to help the girls stay. Here is his idea. Whomever donates the most $$ today will get an encounter with Sid for two people. If we have a tie on the amounts, names will go in a bucket and we will draw one. We will announce the winner tomorrow. If you are looking for the unique Christmas gift….
Here is the link:
https://givebutter.com/giraffefamily

12/03/2024

Our fundraising platform, Givebutter, is giving a $5,000k match to the top 5 Giving Tuesday Campaigns. Plumpton Park Zoo has just submitted our Giraffe Family Campaign. Let’s make this happen! Every $1 counts. Link is below:

Giraffe conservation

12/03/2024

It’s Giving Tuesday!!!!
We have an update to share that will make Kazar’s Christmas the best ever. 🧡
Due to circumstances at the facilities where the girls were living, they had to be moved out of the herd. Which is exciting for us. The girls are HERE!
As you can see Kazar is already in love 😍
They will be off exhibit in quarantine as they adjust to their new home and create a new herd.
But we need to make this the best Giving Tuesday Ever!!
We need your help so they can stay. The giraffe are on loan. They will go back if we are not able to pay. We need our community‘s support so they can stay. Please help at the following link.🦒🦒🦒

https://givebutter.com/giraffefamily

12/03/2024

It’s Giving Tuesday!!!!
We have an update to share that will make Kazar’s Christmas the best ever.
Due to circumstances at the facilities where the girls were living, they had to be moved out of the herd. Which is exciting for us. The girls are HERE!
As you can see Kazar is already in love.
They will be off exhibit in quarantine as they adjust to their new home and create a new herd.
But we need to make this the best Giving Tuesday Ever!!
We need your help so they can stay. The giraffe are on loan. They will go back if we are not able to pay. We need our community‘s support so they can stay. Please help at the following link.

https://givebutter.com/giraffefamily

12/02/2024

What’s cooking? Plum again! 🥘
Today I got a head start for our assistants by helping prep diets. When I was talking to the animals they told me PPZ has some pretty great people that spend their days making sure everything is prepped for our zookeepers to go on their runs! They’re basically the elves of Plumpton Park Zoo! 🎄
Our zookeeper assistants spend their day doing a wide variety of things. This includes: chopping fruits and veggies to make all the produce diets for animals like quillbert the porcupine and Ally the Aldabra Tortoise, prepping meat diets for the carnivores like Miracle and Alexis, as well as prepping grain diets for Chloe the camel and Little Bear the bison! But their job doesn’t stop at making diets- they help with enrichment, general chores, and they’re also the ones that assistant guest during our giraffe feeding! Even our admissions staff helps during off season! While you guys may not see them often because they do a lot behind the scenes I’ve been watching them and they still work tirelessly to make sure the animals are being cared for! Our zookeepers would be lost without them! 🧡These guys are always willing to jump in and help with anything whether that be cleaning up poo, doing dishes, or even catching animals for health checks. They are down for any challenge! These lady’s are definitely going in Santa’s nice list! Good job Hannah, Dawn, and Melody! 🎅🏼

12/01/2024

Plum here with my newest ELFIE (that’s what we call selfies in the North Pole)! 📸 This is Kazar he is a reticulated giraffe! Another nickname for giraffes are “gentle giants” due to their calm demeanor and friendly nature. Did you know that as of 2018 this species of giraffe were added to The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list and listed as endangered? Most people are considering giraffe to be suffering from silent extinction, that means that the decline is so gradual that it has gone largely unnoticed.
When I was hanging out with Kazar last night he mentioned that he has the chance to get not one but two girlfriends to come and live with him!! 😍He said this is an amazing opportunity because as his kind are on the decline, Plumpton Park wants to do their part to help conserve the future of giraffes. Though this is a big undertaking for a small non-profit between transport and care he said he’s seen some pretty amazing people come through the zoo to support the animals and our mission and he knows the community can make it happen! He’s really hoping to have little Kazars ones day! 🦒🦒🦒

He gave me a link to donate for me to take to my friends back in the North Pole but I thought I would share it with everyone here also! Let’s help make Kazars Christmas wish come true! 🧡

https://givebutter.com/giraffefamily

P.S anyone who donates automatically goes on the nice list! 😇

11/30/2024

🍽️ Anyone hungry?? I know I am….

Plum here reporting live as zoo staff prepares feast with a beast! I got my meal all prepped and ready- think you can find me in the zoo? 👀

Hint #1: I am near the mammal that has the highest percentage of muscle that makes up their body 💪🏼

Hint #2: The male in this enclosure is named after a TV cartoon that aired from 1965-1967

Hint #3: When living in groups it is called a “Pride”, my friends even have a pride rock in their enclosure!!

Feast with a beast starts at 11am with our wolves, hope to see everyone! 🍴