Fota Wildlife Park

What time can you catch the Cheetah Run at Fota Wildlife Park?

Daily in the Park at 12 noon.

This special enrichment feeding keeps the Cheetahs active, while maintaining their wild instincts.

Our director, Sean McKeown, spoke to Ralph Riegel about Ireland's biodiversity, saving native species, and our new Education, Conservation and Research Centre. Read the piece in today's Irish Independent -

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/from-curlew-to-natterjack-toad-and-red-squirrel-expert-warns-ireland-is-on-the-brink-of-biodiversity-tragedy/a740648527.html

Image: Red Squirrel at Fota Wildlife Park, photo by Darragh Kane

Today is World Giraffe Day

Fota Wildlife Park is home to a herd of Rothschild Giraffe, these animals face many challenges, and the tallest land animal world is already extinct in at least seven African countries, with giraffe numbers having declined significantly throughout their range in the last century, and almost 90% of their habitat lost in the past three centuries.

This year Fota Wildlife Park has pledged to donate €15,000 to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, who take active steps to help these iconic animals, through combined efforts with governments, NGOs, conservationists, zoos, and other stakeholders, inspiring successful conservation actions throughout the African continent. The foundation supports giraffe conservation efforts in over 100 million acres of giraffe habitat throughout Africa and have been involved in re-introduction programmes of giraffe and augmented populations in over 10 million acres of quality habitat.

This pledge will include monies that are raised from this year's annual Eagle Athletic Club's Cheetah Run 5K fundraising road race in the Park. In 2023 this event raised €5,500 that was also used to support giraffe conservation efforts in the wild, through the Giraffe Conservation Foundation.

Image Details: Six Nubian giraffe (1 close up) in Murchison Falls NP, Uganda © Giraffe Conservation Foundation

A ranger's view of the Lar Gibbon here at Fota Wildlife Park from our Ranger Cat.

We often get asked if their colouring indicates which Lar Gibbons are male, and which are female, but this gibbon ranges in colour from black, dark brown and a lighter sandy brown – regardless of s*x.

Happy father's day to all the dads, das, and father figures!

Pictured are two of the seahorses, Hippocampus abdominalis in the Tropical House here at the Park. Did you know that male seahorses have a reversed pregnancy? The female transfers her eggs to the male which he self-fertilises in his pouch.

A Rangers View of some of the Borneo tree eared frogs in the Tropical House from Michael. Just one of the frog species in the Tropical House open daily 10 am to 5 pm.

The Borneo tree frog is endemic to Borneo, the species gets it's names from prominent sharp ridges behind the eyes and ears.

It's another Friday!

Thanks to Ruth Kelleher for sharing these shots from a recent visit to the Wildlife Park.

Thanks to Rachael Donovan, who visited the Wildlife Park recently, for this lovely set of shots from their trip.

Our June image is this lovely shot from Sophie Canniffe, winner of our 'Best photograph using a smartphone or device' category in our 2023 photography competition.

The Rothschild giraffe is the tallest of the giraffe subspecies, with males growing up to six metres in height.

We are open as normal throughout the Bank Holiday weekend. Be sure to bring the sun cream with you!

Opening daily at 9.30am, closed at 6pm and last entry 90 minutes before closing, 4.30pm.

Be sure to visit, the newly named Black and White Colobus Monkey, Cillian in the Park this weekend! A great named for the Cork-born Colobus.

Although listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, the Black and white colobus is popular for its unique pelt and coat and has been hunted for centuries because of this. It is also threatened by agricultural developments and timber production within its native African habitats.

https://www.fotawildlife.ie/news/twelve-curlew-chicks-hatch-at-fota-wildlife-park-as-part-of-partnership-with-the-breeding-waders-eip/

Fota Wildlife Park also revealed the names of the recently born primates.

The five Ring-tailed Lemur babies have been named Bosoa, with the twins named Malbec and Shiraz, and the remaining two named Kirby and Winston. Merlot, a four-year-old lemur who joined Fota Wildlife Park from Parc Zoo du Reynou, France, in 2022, is the father of the baby Ring-tailed Lemurs.

Ring-tailed lemurs are currently classified as endangered with recent reports suggesting that there has been a 95% reduction in the wild population of Ring-tailed lemurs since 1990, with 3000 Ring-tailed lemurs remaining in the wild.

https://www.fotawildlife.ie/news/twelve-curlew-chicks-hatch-at-fota-wildlife-park-as-part-of-partnership-with-the-breeding-waders-eip/

Photos by Darragh Kane Photography

We have selected the names for the recently born primates!

The Black and White Colobus monkey, born on January 8th to mother Kimani and father Tom, has been named Cillian.
The young agile gibbon, born on January 10th to parents Chloe and Conor, has been named Murphy.

Congratulations to our winners, Hilary Coughlan from Carrigaline, and Lloyd Hogan from Cork.

Photos by Darragh Kane Photography

Fota Wildlife Park is thrilled to announce its partnership with the Breeding Waders EIP Project, so far twelve Eurasian curlew chicks have hatched at Fota Wildlife Park from 31 viable eggs. The eggs have been collected from the wild across various counties in Ireland in collaboration with project partners and Nest Protection Officers, with more chicks expected to hatch in the coming weeks.

https://www.fotawildlife.ie/news/twelve-curlew-chicks-hatch-at-fota-wildlife-park-as-part-of-partnership-with-the-breeding-waders-eip/

Fota Wildlife Park has successfully implemented headstarting programmes for other endangered native species, such as the Natterjack toad. The incubation and rearing of critically endangered species for the headstarter programmes occurs in specially designed facilities and designated areas within Fota Wildlife Park, which are not accessible or visible to the public.

The project was launched last week by Charlie McConalogue, Malcolm Noonan T.D. and Minister Pippa Hackett Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) with partners Irish Rural Link, Hen Harrier Project, Atlantic Technological University University College Dublin Dublin Zoo CAP Network Ireland


Photos by Darragh Kane Photography

Tomorrow is

Fota Wildlife Park were thrilled to fund Cork Nature Network's otterly amazing education packs for children of primary school age, a fantastic resource for any educator.

Available on the Cork Nature Network website - https://www.education.corknaturenetwork.ie/elementor-14791

Are you who we're looking for? We have an exciting opportunity for a highly motivated individual as Gates & Retail Supervisor to lead the Gates & Retail team. This is a full-time permanent role.

For full details on this role, or to apply visit our website - http://bit.ly/FWPJobs

It's the last day to get your name suggestions in for all the Ring-tailed Lemur babies at Fota Wildlife Park!

The recent arrival of five endangered lemur babies to the free-range troop was a significant milestone for Fota Wildlife Park, with four females, Quinta, Aqua, Brida, and Dolly (known as DC), giving birth to the five youngsters. Merlot, a four-year-old lemur who joined Fota Wildlife Park from Parc Zoo du Reynou, France, in 2022, is the father of all the newborns, expanding the free-range group of Ring-tailed Lemurs to a total of fourteen members.

We're looking for name suggestions on our website - check the link in bio for details

Fota Wildlife Park were delighted to attend as partners, the launch of the new Breeding Waders EIP Project at Shannon Harbour!
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D, Minister for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan, and Minister for Land Use and Biodiversity Pippa Hackett launched the new landmark project for Ireland’s most vulnerable group of birds, breeding waders this morning.

Find out more about the project - https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/93f0f-ministers-mcconalogue-noonan-and-hackett-launch-25-million-breeding

Another lovely set from one of our visitors! Thank you to Mike Delabaviere for these lovely shots taken in Fota Wildlife Park recently.

A Ranger's view of Ring-tail Lemur, Brida's baby from Cat!

There are five baby lemurs recently born in Fota Wildlife Park still looking for names, you can suggest on on our blog - https://www.fotawildlife.ie/news/fota-wildlife-park-celebrates-birth-of-five-endangered-ring-tailed-lemurs/

Today is and this year - the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria's Vietnamazing campaign aims to highlight the biodiversity hotspot, Vietnam!

Fota Wildlife Park has been sponsoring two ongoing Fauna and Flora International (FFI) primate population conservation projects in Vietnam since 2012. The Western black crested gibbon and Tonkin snub-nosed monkey conservation programmes by financially supporting the Community Conservation Team’s incomes (CCT) who carry out patrols and biological monitoring in Mu Cang Chai, Muong La and Ha Giang.

The Community Conservation Teams carry out smart patrols, biological monitoring and reporting on any threats to the habitats such as illegal logging which helps remove the threats and continue the protection of these critically endangered primates.

Images:
1. Western black crested gibbon - Credit: Zhao Chao_FFI
2. Tonkin snub-nosed monkey - Credit: Nguyen Van Truong
3. CCT conduct gibbon survey - Credit: Nguyen Van Truong
4. Local community on patrol to protect Tonkin snub-nosed monkey - Credit: Nguyen Van Truong

What a night!

Thanks to all the runners in the Eagle Athletic Club Cheetah Run 5km road race sponsored by John Buckley Sports and Brooks Running , a fantastic sold-out event.

Thanks to M&P O’Sullivan Ltd. water sponsors for the night

The monies raised from this annual event help us to support animal conservation efforts both at home in Ireland and some of the most endangered animals around the world.

During the Cork Rose Tour we were delighted to welcome the Cork Rose entrants to Fota Wildlife Park. Our Ranger Liam introduced the gang to our Rothschild Giraffe herd and talked about the work we do here at the Park.

Thanks to the Cork Rose Of Tralee team, we wish the class of 2024 the best of luck!

The new season of RTÉjr show Let's Find Out: Protecting Planet Earth! starts today with episode also available on the RTÉ Player.

We were thrilled to have the Stopwatch team back in Fota Wildlife Park to meet some of our animals, and we're certain that lots of our visitors would joined us for Mark the Science Guy last summer will want to check this show out!

Enjoying a lazy Sunday morning?

Fota Wildlife Park is open until 6pm, with last entry 90 mins before closing, 4.30pm. Perfect for afternoon strolls!