Merry Christmas!

Greetings friends and Merry Christmas! Eve that is, but we all know that the holiday season is filled with a weeks worth of festivities. Christmas as they say is the most wonderful time of the year. It’s also a really great time of the year to come to Timbavati Wildlife Park. You do know that we’re open all year round now! (We will be closed on Christmas Day)

That’s right, if you’re looking for a great adventure for your family, look no further than our park this Christmas. We have encounter tours that run twice daily at 11AM and 1PM. That would be a cool new tradition to kick off with the family. An annual winter trip to Timbavati would be a great way to spend a day. Our professional animal handling staff is here every day working with the animals and speaking with people like you.

The cycle of life doesn’t take a break off because old man winter has reared his icy head. As a result of this our nurseries are still buzzing with new bright eyed animals. Our acclaimed parakeet encounter is also teeming with little budgies eager to grab a bit of birdseed out of your hands.

For those of you who would like an even greater experience we have the VIP behind the scenes tours available as well. That is about a 2 hour tour with an expanded adventure given personally by one of our professional handlers with lot of opportunity to have personal guided interactions with a lot of animals. See our website for more details about either tour.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year for a reason. We all just want to see that gleam in our family member’s eyes this season. We want to create experiences for them that show them how much we love them. That’s what Timbavati Wildlife Park is here for. Take some time today to look around our website and see how much we have to offer. No matter how you spend this holiday season have a safe and happy week. We will talk with you next week! Merry Christmas!

The Timbavati Wildlife Park Porcupines

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blog post. If you’re looking something cool to do over the Christmas break remember we’re open most days. Check our website for Encounter Tour times and the days we’re open. This week I figured we could pop on over to the waterfalls area and take a look at our pals the porcupines.

Did you know that the porcupine is the 3rd largest rodent in the world? We know the capybara is number one and the distinction of number two goes to the beaver. Another fun fact is that porcupines have roughly 30,000 covering their bodies?

Here are some other interesting porcupine tidbits. Their backs aren’t all quills; the quills are mixed with hair. The quills will lay flat until the porcupine feels threatened and then they are extended to protect the little critters. Once the quills have come out they grow new ones.

Porcupines are herbivores, in the winter they munch on tree bark and evergreen needles. In summer they consume things like, grasses, leaves and dandelions. They have even been known to gnaw on canoe paddles at campsites. Porcupines are nocturnal and are good swimmers.

Porcupines live in dens, which can range from rock crevices to hollow logs to crawl spaces under your house. They seem to prefer grasslands but are equally at home in rocky terrains. The African Crested Porcupine is a native of Mount Kilimanjaro and has been spotted at elevations as high as 11,000 feet, that’s over 2 miles high.

A porcupine’s quills are large and of course dangerous. The slightest touch can dislodge them. The quills also have small barbs on them like the stinger on a bee or like the barb on a fishing hook. This means that if you’re unfortunate enough to have gotten hooked on a porcupine’s quills that you’re going to experience a significant amount of trauma removing them.

Don’t just take my word for it though, check out this week’s video with Becky as she talks to a couple of our visitors about how prickly these porcupines can actually be. Talk with you all next week!

Timbavati Wildlife Park Keeper Talk With A Skunk

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blog post. It’s shopping season, don’t forget that the Wisconsin Dells has great shopping at the Outlet Mall. This week we’re going to turn our attention, albeit carefully, to the skunk. The skunk has a bunch of interesting facts. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

Skunks have a scent gland at the bottom of their tails that shoot their spray. A skunk can spray up to 10 feet and the odor can be smelled up to a mile and a half away. Before they spin around and spray you, they will warn you that you're in trouble by stomping on the ground with their front feet. They hiss and growl a bit too. I think the warning would be enough for most of us to get the hint lol.

A group of skunks is referred to as a surfeit. In my time in Wisconsin I have seen packs of skunks with 6-8 adults and bucket of little baby skunks. Baby skunks can spray at the tender age of 8 days old. They cant even aim until they are about 24 days old because their eyes aren't opened yet.

Skunks are nocturnal an eat insects, birds, small rodents, fruits, vegetables and like the badger snakes. Skunks are immune to snake venom so they are known to eat poisonous snakes like rattlers. They have poor eyesight so in compensation they have excellent senses of smell and hearing.

Fortunately for you we have skunks that are safe for you to view and visit on our two daily Timbavati Encounters Tours. Those begin daily at 11AM and later at 1PM. Just come to the Gift Shop and you can purchase an admission. For those of you who want a more enhanced experience we also have a VIP Behind The Scenes Tour by appointment only that gives you a comprehensive tour of the park.

Here is Becky with the call in this week’s video with more facts about the skunk. Thanks for reading and we will talk with you all next week. Cheers!

Timbavati Wildlife Park Enter The Opossum

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blog post. December is in full swing and we are enjoying milder temperatures this week! Remember if you’re looking for a gift idea or a great way to entertain your children this holiday season that we’re now open daily for Animal Encounter tours which begin at 11AM and 1PM. Now on to our little fuzzy friend as pictured above, Ozzy the Opossum.

The opossum is a native of North America. They enjoy hanging out in trees, hollow logs, and whatnot. They also like wet areas like swamps, streams and marshes. An Opossum is a curious animal to me in that it has 50 teeth. I guess it always says a mouthful eh? Heh heh. The Opossum is nocturnal so it has really good sight. What you might see as big black eyes, science would call a largely dilated pupil. The better to see you with Red Riding Hood!

The Opossum is an omnivore. It enjoys rodents, insects, snails, fruit, dog food, I guess what I am saying here is that it will pretty much eat anything that it thinks might be tasty. It will dive in a dumpster without hesitation and while I won’t pretend to tell you I know why they do that I can tell you that they have very strong immune systems to toxins. The opossum has a very strong immunity to rabies. It is also almost completely immune to the snake venom produced by rattlesnakes, cottonmouths and other venomous snakes. So garbage food? Meh, no biggie mate!

The opossum has a trope of interesting facts that we can share with you. This week’s video features Ashley who has a few more fun facts to fuel your trivia database. Make sure you visit our website for more information about our two daily Animal Encounter Tours and we will see you all in the park.