Timbavati Wildlife Park Welcomes Jake And Elwood

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blogpost. Before we get started with our topic on penguins, I want to remind you all that we still have a name the baby owl monkey contest running. You can click the pinned post on our Facebook page for details. Now onto our next topic, Jake and Elwood.

Timbavati Wildlife Park is now home to two new South African Blackfoot penguins. We all know and love Mama and Papa our long time penguin pair. This summer they were joined by Jake and Elwood. Now why the names Jake and Elwood? Our owner Alice Schoebel explained to me that juvenile penguins are referred to as “blues” because their feathers have a blue tint and they aren’t black and white in color yet.

Apparently she shared this bit of useful knowledge with one our guests and this prompted him to ask “Are both of them boys?” When Alice told them “yes” this guy immediately called them the “Blues Brothers” without hesitation. Boom from that moment on they were called Jake and Elwood.

A lot of animals around Timbavati Wildlife Park have cute stories about their names. Some are attributed to personality, some are attributed to color and some of them are even named by you. Make sure you like our pages for interesting tidbits about our animals and notifications about specials that we are running. Thanks and we’ll see you in the park.

Last Pig Races and Camel Rides of the season

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blog post. Summer has been awesome and the milder temperatures are nice and comfortable. Whilst we bask in the glow of the August son I have to give everyone an advanced warning that summer is coming to a close. Now we’re open all year round but after Labor Day 2019 we will no longer offer Camel Rides or Swine Time Pig Racing for the remainder of the year.

Fret not good people as you still have two full weeks of riding and racing. Some of you reading this have never seen a pig race. Did you know that pigs can run at speeds of up to 11 Miles Per hour. Now humans can run at speeds of up to 28 miles per hour, but we can’t take a corner at 11 mph much less top speed. Trust me on this I have the bruises to prove it LOL. 

The Swine Time Pig Races are a family favorite that takes place at our very own Porker Park. These swift swine are set on an oval of agility in a race to recover the vaunted Oreo Cookie! These races come packed with a ton of funny pig puns presented by our professional animal handling staff. Bring the whole family and watch them squeal around the oval while you still have time this year.

Camel Rides will also be coming to an end for the year this Labor Day. If you haven’t visited our Camel Rides in the woodlands area yet, what are you waiting for? Did you know that camels are the oldest form of transportation? You can also find camels living comfortably all over the world. In some remote locations it's still the only way to move people and goods. Those are just a few of the cool camel facts that you can learn when you take a ride on a ship of the desert. Our staff love asking questions about the camels.

We only get to take a few precious moments in time and make them memories. These shared experiences last a lifetime in the minds of both the young and the young at heart. Stop in to Timbavati Wildlife Park today, we have an adventure waiting for you. Take a look at this week’s video for more on camel rides and pig racing. Make sure you follow our pages to receive info on specials and contests. We will announce the winners of the “Name The Baby Spider Monkey Contest” this week. Thanks and we’ll see you in the park.

Alice And Attica

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blog post. Summer has been absolutely beautiful in the Wisconsin Dells and if you haven’t made your way up here to visit us there’s still plenty of time. Also, if you haven’t entered our “Spider Monkey Naming Contest” don’t hesitate to do so. This week we are talking about the straw coloured fruit bat.

This bat hails from the continent of Africa and is common across much of the continent and in Madagascar. The adult straw coloured fruit bat weighs around 9 ounces. It has about a seven inch body with a more than 2 foot wingspan. It’s pretty big, it falls under the category of megabat.

The straw coloured fruit bat is nocturnal. You probably guessed that by its oversized eyes right? These social creatures will roost in groups from 100k to 1 million bats. That’s a lot of guano aye? They find food by site and by smell. They eat fruit and plants so they do a lot to disperse seeds and pollen for the flora that helps support them.

There are a lot of really cool straw coloured fruit bat facts. For more facts and a close up look at Atticus take a look at this week’s video. This week Alice Schoebel gives us an up close look and education about our furry little flying friends. That’s all I have for this week. Make sure you follow our pages to stay informed about everything from fun facts to free giveaways. Thanks ad We’ll see you all in the park.

Bonding With A Rhinoceros

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blog post. This week we have a very unique topic and video, “Bonding with a Rhinoceros.” For those of you who don’t follow our social feeds (which you should stop reading right this minute, go and like/follow/subscribe/share/favorite retweet us right now, then continue reading) the rhino pictured here is a young male named Naasaha. The gentleman in the picture is our very own Matt Schoebel. Today we’re talking about the bond between Matt and Naasaha.

Hopefully at some point in everyone’s life one will have had the opportunity to bond with an animal. Those of us lucky enough to experience this kind of relationship know the joys of coming home to your favorite pet. A rhinoceros is not a pet, but it is most certainly filled with personality. Matt is a professional animal handler who was raised in the business and has a lifetime of experience with animal care. They both create a unique opportunity for an educational and entertaining experience for us to watch. 

I have set out to film Naasaha on many occasions. By and large when he sees me coming he goes the other way. I have to film him ambush style like TMZ lol. Matt here? Not a problem. Matter of fact, he can call the rhino over with just a whistle. Seeing the bond between Matt and Naasaha shows us all that the level of affection and care that they have for each other is extremely high.

This week’s video gives you a great look at Matt and Naasaha. But why just watch here when you can come up to the Wisconsin Dells and see Naasaha in our Grasslands Area from our Safari Train Ride. Follow our profiles and visit our website for more information. Here’s this week’s video thanks for reading and we’ll see you all in the park.

Timbavati Wildlife Park's Bobcat Kitten

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blog post. It’s July and it feels like it! The heat has been on around the Wisconsin Dells and so has our season. This week we’re taking a look at a new little resident of Timbavati Wildlife Park, a baby bobcat. This little kitten can be seen in the Waterfalls Area of our park. While we’re here, let’s take a look at a few bobcat facts. 

Bobcats get their name from the shortness of their tail. Apparently someone thought the tail crop looked like a fashion statement and the name stuck. They are also referred to as bobtail cats and sometimes wildcats. A real wildcat though is a different thing.

Bobcats hunt in low light conditions. They will typically hunt at dawn and dusk. That seems to be a thing with a lot of large cats, life is a lot of sleeping and hunting. In the winter months they will hunt more during the day hours simply because their prey is far and fewer during those months. They are carnivores and will typically prey on small mammals and birds.

A full grown bobcat can weigh up to 33 pounds. They are a foot and a half to two feet in length and can also run at speeds of up to 30 miles an hour. They live all over North America from Southern Canada to Mexico. 

If a bobcat kills something that big it can’t eat it all and it’s too large to carry off. When this happens they will bury their kill and come back to it later. Mountain lions do this as well. This is referred to as caching.

Bobcats mate primarily in the winter. The gestation period of the female bobcat is 60 to 70 days. Fortunately for us, we happen to have a new little baby bobcat in the waterfalls area. Check out this week’s video for a first look at one of the little new residents in Timbavati Wildlife Park. Thanks and we will talk with you all next week.

Timbavati Wildlife Park - Keeper Talk With A Two Toed Sloth

Greetings friends and welcome to the month of July! That’s right the middle of the summer is upon us and family vacations are in full swing! You want to know what else is in full swing? Our Sloths! A sloth hangs around all day long with its curved claws. Let’s take a deeper look at one of the most requested animals in Timbavati Wildlife Park.

There are two types of sloths in the world, the three-toed and two-toed sloth. Sid, one of our park’s more recognizable residents is a two-toed sloth. Sloths are found in Central and South America. While their feet have three claws their hands only have two. 

While sloths are categorized as herbivores they have been known to eat small insects and lizards in the wild. Typically they love leaves, shoots, fruits and vegetables. A sloth’s temperature can range from 74 to 92 degrees Fahrenheit. If their body temperature gets too cold the bacteria in its stomach that helps it digest food can actually stop working. A sloth can starve to death with a stomach full of food if it can’t stay warm enough to digest its food.

Now a human can eat digest and remove bodily waste from a meal in 12 to 48 hours. A sloth by comparison can take up to 30 days to digest a leaf. This is interesting when you think about that in tandem with the speed of a sloth. A sloth moves quite slowly and deliberately to conserve energy. It even sleeps for up to 15 hours a day to save energy. This is a common theme in the animal world. A lot of animals sleep for a long time through the course of the day for energy conservation.

A sloth eats, mates and even gives birth while hanging from the trees. This is the safest place for it because it is a very slow mover on the ground. What about in water though, how do they move in water? Watch this weeks video for more great fun facts about the two-toed sloth. Visit our website for more information about visiting our park today! This 4th of July Veterans will receive a free admission when you show your military ID. Thank you for your service and we’ll talk with you all next week. Cheers!

Feeding The Camels At Timbavati Wildlife Park

Greetings friends and welcome to this week’s blog post. Summer is kickin’ I can feel the air thicken. Things are heating up in Timbavati Wildlife Park this summer. From presentations to pigs-a-racin there’s always something to do. For instance, one really fun thing that almost all of our guests experience when they visit us is feeding camels. 

I’ve fed a lot of animals in my time, one of the most fun animals to feed is absolutely a camel. They love to eat and can really put it away. Camels require 22-44 pounds of fresh food daily. If they are working daily that can be as high as 100 pounds of food per day. When you step up to feed the camels they will definitely display their appetites. 

A camel will walk almost 2 miles a day to find food. Camels also belong to an animal group called ruminants. Like a cow camels eat their food, regurgitate it chew it and swallow it again. With four stomachs there are things that have to happen.

Camels Have A Pretty Robust Diet

Camels like vegetation and aren’t very picky about food. They like twigs, stems and green shoots. They also like willows and poplar leaves. Camels have a pretty robust diet and as a person who loves food I can appreciate their appetites.

There’s always a lot of fun to have and facts to learn when you visit Timbavati Wildlife Park. We have Season Passes, VIP Behind The Scenes Tours and Group Rates for larger events. Visit our website and follow us online to receive more great animal fun facts. Cheers and we will see you all in the park.