The Squirrel Monkey of Timbavati Wildlife Park

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blog post. Winter has us in a cold chill and the Icy grasp of January is coming to a close this week. Good thing that we have indoor heated nurseries to keep our little critters warm. That brings me to the topic of this week’s blog, our resident squirrel monkeys are a great hang in nursery number two.

Our little troop of squirrel monkeys hail from the canopies of South America. They are an arboreal (spend most time in trees) species. They like both the tropical and rain forests of South America so a tree is a tree wet or dry lol.

Squirrel monkeys have tails but they’re not prehensile (used for grabbing items) like let’s say a spider monkey’s tail is. The squirrel monkey uses its tail for balance. Squirrel monkeys are considered very smart and have larger brains compared to the size of their bodies.

These little critters are omnivores they love flowers, leaves, insects, nuts, fruit reptiles and eggs, hungry little buggers eh? A spider monkey’s troop can be anywhere from 25 to 100 members comprised of both males and females.

Nursery number two is filled with little cute critters like these squirrel monkeys and you can visit them one of the the two encounter tours that we run daily at 11am and 1pm. We also have a VIP behind the Scenes Tour for an even more enhanced experience. Visit our website for more information. Now here’s a look at our squirrel monkeys on this week’s video talk with you all next week.

Red Footed Tortoises of Timbavati Wildlife

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blog post. Winter is in full swing and I must say, we have been able to dodge the brunt of the winter storms, I wont complain about that. We’re open year round so a mild winter is great for our guests. Ok, let’s move on to today’s animal, the red footed tortoise.

The red footed tortoise hails from South America. As you can see from this week’s video this tortoise is small enough to be held in one hand. Still it can grow to up to 16 inches in length and that’s pretty healthy sized shell back.

A Red Footed Tortoise Has To Grub

This tortoise is an omnivore. It enjoys a diet of plants, fruit, grasses and invertebrates. I’m sure at this vantage point there aren’t too many grubs that this little critter is likely to miss.

We have a great creep of red footed tortoises. They’re located in nursery 1 which you can visit daily on one of the two encounter tours that we run. Tour times kick off at 11am and 1pm 7 days a week. We also have a VIP luxury tour that gives you an even more expansive look at the park and its inhabitants. Visit our website for more information and for a great look at the red footed tortoise check out this week’s video. Thanks and we will talk with you all next week!

Timbavati Wildlife Park Baby Kangaroo

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blog post. Temperatures around the state have been really mild this week. We will take it, we’re open all year round and have two encounter tours that run daily at 11am and 1pm. It’s nice though, the warmer temperatures mean that we don’t have to succumb to cabin fever and can really enjoy the beauty of winter. Another thing you can almost always enjoy around Timbavati Wildlife Park is a baby kangaroo.

We have a pretty large mob of roos because of that there’s always a baby roo or two hopping around. When a baby is born they’re less than 2 cm in length and weighs less than a gram. Now most people know that when the baby is born is crawls up it’s mother’s belly and settles in her pouch. However, we rarely discuss how mom handles the Joey in the pouch. For instance, did you know that the mother has muscles in her pouch that allow her to tighten it up?

That’s right a mother kangaroo can tighten the muscles around her pouch up and create a secure environment for the joey while she is hopping around. It’s crazy because a joey can hop and jump in mom’s pouch head first at full speed. Then in a matter of second flip around and poke its head out of the pouch, that’s impressive for any animal.

What goes on with joeys become even more fascinating when you dig a little bit deeper. A mother kangaroo has different milk compositions based upon the age of the baby kangaroo. Small joeys get high protein immunity rich milk. Older joeys have higher protein and high carb milk with some fat and Joey’s at foot have high fat and protein milk.

At Timbavati Wildlife Park we have no shortage of animal facts. When you see our staff feel free to ask any questions you have. It’s a way of life for us and we love talking about the animals to visitors. The more people learn about them the better we can all respect and care for our animal friends. Check Ashley out in this week’s video as she talks to a guest on an Encounter Tour about more really cool baby kangaroo facts. We will talk with you all next week!