News
ENLARGE
Two new additions to Wildlife Safari were sauntering comfortably around their $6,000 exhibit area complete with warming dens, a pond and a lush, grassy area during their introduction to the public Friday.
The animals, called maned wolves for the tuft of hair on their necks that rises when they are upset or excited, looked more than happy in their cushy environment. Their strong, skunky scent enveloped the audience as people were oohing and aahing at their physiques.
The 4-year-old sisters, Salina and Sabara, hail from a zoo in Florida. They were transported to Oregon through the Species Survival Plan, a program that scientifically manages breeding of zoo animals already in captivity, rather than taking more animals from the wild. The wolves have been in quarantine for the last two years in the Winston area and were relocated to Wildlife Safari last week. According to curator Dan Brands, quarantine is a necessary precaution to ensure the wolves are healthy and parasite-free so as not to affect the rest of the animals at the park.
Against the screeching of the ring tail and red ruffed lemurs, who will be the new, rather loud neighbors to the sisters, and the African drum beats playing on the Safari speakers, Crista Campbell, village supervisor, discussed her thoughts about the wolves, their demeanors and how she tells them apart since they have arrived.
The animals, called maned wolves for the tuft of hair on their necks that rises when they are upset or excited, looked more than happy in their cushy environment. Their strong, skunky scent enveloped the audience as people were oohing and aahing at their physiques.
The 4-year-old sisters, Salina and Sabara, hail from a zoo in Florida. They were transported to Oregon through the Species Survival Plan, a program that scientifically manages breeding of zoo animals already in captivity, rather than taking more animals from the wild. The wolves have been in quarantine for the last two years in the Winston area and were relocated to Wildlife Safari last week. According to curator Dan Brands, quarantine is a necessary precaution to ensure the wolves are healthy and parasite-free so as not to affect the rest of the animals at the park.
Against the screeching of the ring tail and red ruffed lemurs, who will be the new, rather loud neighbors to the sisters, and the African drum beats playing on the Safari speakers, Crista Campbell, village supervisor, discussed her thoughts about the wolves, their demeanors and how she tells them apart since they have arrived.
“They’re a very standoffish and docile species in general, not like in stories where people describe them as these fierce animals,” she said. “Salina is more dominant when it comes to the two of them, but she’s shy around staff. Sabara comes right up to us.”
The maned wolf is native to Brazil and Argentina and is of the dog family Canidae. It is not a true wolf but a distinct species in itself.
Maned wolves are nocturnal animals that look like a cross between a wolf and a fox. Their size is comparable to a wolf’s, but they are rust-red in color with long, thin, black legs, a white tail and pointed ears, similar to a fox. An educational article on the species given out at the Safari exhibit premiere described the animal as “a fox on stilts.”
The sisters seemed to get along for the most part, only disagreeing once or twice throughout the event with soft growls and bared teeth.
“They squabble over dominance every once in awhile like most sisters, but they love each other,” said Campbell.
Ducks flew into the exhibit’s pond throughout the afternoon, then promptly flew out when they saw the sisters slinking over to them. The ducks were relatively safe since the 50-pound wolves had full bellies, though they may have been living on the edge any other day.
Christmas came early for Salina and Sabara as Wildlife Safari employees continuously tossed “enrichment” into their exhibit to demonstrate hunting abilities and natural behavior for the benefit of the small audience leaning along the stone bridge and high fences.
Enrichment, according to Campbell, helps stimulate the wolves’ sight and other senses, as well as their foraging abilities, by making them work for food. Frozen mice and rats, along with slabs of horse meat and beef, are put into bags or boxes so the wolves have to claw and nose around to get the food. The cost to feed the wolves is estimated at about $50 to $100 a week.
The new exhibit comes to Wildlife Safari through private donations. Most of the infrastructure was there already, minus the renovating, landscaping and fencing that needed to be added, said Brands.
“They’re doing really well. They’ve settled into their new environment quickly and have been hunting squirrels,” he said.
Brands also added that if the wolves were males, visitors would be able to smell their distinct skunky odor from the parking lot, which is why, he said laughing, “We’d like to breed the sisters, but as long as they’re in Safari Village, that’s not going to be possible.”
• You can reach reporter Cara Pallone at 957-4208 or by e-mail at cpallone@newsreview.info.
The maned wolf is native to Brazil and Argentina and is of the dog family Canidae. It is not a true wolf but a distinct species in itself.
Maned wolves are nocturnal animals that look like a cross between a wolf and a fox. Their size is comparable to a wolf’s, but they are rust-red in color with long, thin, black legs, a white tail and pointed ears, similar to a fox. An educational article on the species given out at the Safari exhibit premiere described the animal as “a fox on stilts.”
The sisters seemed to get along for the most part, only disagreeing once or twice throughout the event with soft growls and bared teeth.
“They squabble over dominance every once in awhile like most sisters, but they love each other,” said Campbell.
Ducks flew into the exhibit’s pond throughout the afternoon, then promptly flew out when they saw the sisters slinking over to them. The ducks were relatively safe since the 50-pound wolves had full bellies, though they may have been living on the edge any other day.
Christmas came early for Salina and Sabara as Wildlife Safari employees continuously tossed “enrichment” into their exhibit to demonstrate hunting abilities and natural behavior for the benefit of the small audience leaning along the stone bridge and high fences.
Enrichment, according to Campbell, helps stimulate the wolves’ sight and other senses, as well as their foraging abilities, by making them work for food. Frozen mice and rats, along with slabs of horse meat and beef, are put into bags or boxes so the wolves have to claw and nose around to get the food. The cost to feed the wolves is estimated at about $50 to $100 a week.
The new exhibit comes to Wildlife Safari through private donations. Most of the infrastructure was there already, minus the renovating, landscaping and fencing that needed to be added, said Brands.
“They’re doing really well. They’ve settled into their new environment quickly and have been hunting squirrels,” he said.
Brands also added that if the wolves were males, visitors would be able to smell their distinct skunky odor from the parking lot, which is why, he said laughing, “We’d like to breed the sisters, but as long as they’re in Safari Village, that’s not going to be possible.”
• You can reach reporter Cara Pallone at 957-4208 or by e-mail at cpallone@newsreview.info.
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