Fota Wildlife Park is a wildlife park located on
Fota Island
Fota (statutory spelling Foaty; ga, Fóite) is an island in Cork Harbour, Ireland, just north of the larger island of Great Island. Fota Island is host to Ireland's only wildlife park – as well as the historical Fota House and gardens and go ...
, near
Carrigtwohill
Carrigtwohill, officially Carrigtohill (), is a town in County Cork, Ireland with a population of 5,080 (2016). It is 12 kilometres east of Cork city. It is connected to Cork Suburban Rail and is bypassed by the N25 road. Carrigtwohill is on ...
, County Cork, Ireland. Opened in 1983, it is an independently funded, not-for-profit charity that is one of the leading tourism, wildlife and conservation attractions in Ireland. The park had an attendance of 455,559 visitors in 2017, making it the eleventh most popular paid attraction in Ireland for that year.
The park is home to nearly 30 mammal and 50 bird species. Some of the animals roam freely with the visitors, such as the ring-tailed lemurs and wallabies, while larger animals, including the giraffe and bison, live in paddocks with barriers that are intended to be unobtrusive for visitors to view the animals in a more natural environment. Fota Wildlife Park also has red pandas, tapirs, siamang gibbons and other types of animals.
History and development
Foundation
Fota Island
Fota (statutory spelling Foaty; ga, Fóite) is an island in Cork Harbour, Ireland, just north of the larger island of Great Island. Fota Island is host to Ireland's only wildlife park – as well as the historical Fota House and gardens and go ...
was the former home of the Smith-Barry family, descendants of Normans who came to Ireland in the 12th century. While the family's lands were originally more extensive, they dwindled over time until they were restricted to Fota Island. The estate was sold to
University College Cork
University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork.
The university was founded in 1845 as one of ...
in 1975.
In the meantime,
Dublin Zoo
Dublin Zoo ( ga, Zú Bhaile Átha Cliath), in Phoenix Park, Dublin, is a zoo in Ireland, and one of Dublin's most popular attractions. Established and designed in 1830 by Decimus Burton, it opened the following year. Today it focuses on conserv ...
had reached maximum development with the space available. So in 1979, the director of Dublin Zoo proposed to the
Zoological Society of Ireland
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
Council that a wildlife park should be established,
and the site at Fota Island was proposed. The same year it was formally agreed that the society would establish a wildlife park at Fota. University College Cork offered the land free of charge under a licence agreement. Fota Wildlife Park became a joint project of the Zoological Society of Ireland and University College Cork. Fundraising committees were set up in both Dublin and Cork. All the funds for the development were raised from public subscriptions, apart from a grant from Bord Fáilte for the perimeter fence.
The first animals started to arrive to Fota Wildlife Park in late 1982, and Fota Wildlife Park was opened in the summer of 1983 by the then President of Ireland, Dr.
Patrick Hillery
Patrick John Hillery ( ga, Pádraig J. Ó hIrghile; 2 May 1923 – 12 April 2008) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as the sixth president of Ireland from December 1976 to December 1990. He also served as vice-president of the Euro ...
.
Further development
Cheetah run
![Cheetah Race Fota](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Cheetah_Race_Fota.JPG)
Cheetahs, by their nature, will not work for food if they do not have to, and to exercise the animals and for
behavioural enrichment
Behavioral enrichment is an animal husbandry principle that seeks to enhance the quality of captive animal care by identifying and providing the environmental stimuli necessary for optimal psychological and physiological Quality of life, well-bein ...
reasons, the park installed a "Cheetah Run" in 2006. This device suspends food items on a wire that travels off the ground, at approximately .
Education centre
As part of the park's conservation and education mandate, an education centre was opened, and runs courses on a range of topics including ecology and conservation. These are aimed at students at primary school and secondary school level, and the centre also runs
summer camps
Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, with ...
during school holidays. Every year, an average of 15,000 students participate in Fota's education programmes.
Big cats and tropical house
Fota Wildlife Park celebrated its 30th anniversary on 22 June 2013, and following this anniversary, announced the addition of a "Tropical House" and 27 acre "Asian Sanctuary". As of 2017, habitats for
Sumatran tigers
The Sumatran tiger is a population of ''Panthera tigris sondaica'' on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is the only surviving tiger population in the Sunda Islands, where the Bali and Javan tigers are extinct.
Sequences from complete mitochon ...
,
Indian rhinos,
lion-tailed macaques
The lion-tailed macaque (''Macaca silenus''), also known as the wanderoo, is an Old World monkey endemic to the Western Ghats of South India.
Characteristics
Lion-tailed macaques are covered in black fur, and have a striking gray or silver ...
and
Asian lions have been opened in the "Asian Sanctuary".
Awards
Fota Wildlife Park has been awarded 'Best Family Day Out' for both Munster and Cork on several occasions. In November 2016, it was awarded 'Experience Destination of the Year' by Customer Experience Insights (CXi). It is also in the Top 25 Zoos/Animal Parks in Europe in the 2015 Tripadvisor Travellers Choice Awards.
Television Show
As of early 2020, Fota Wildlife Park was featured in a documentary on
Virgin Media Television. The series, called ''Fota: Into the Wild'', was filmed at the park over two years as well as covering some of the broader conservation work the park's employees are involved in (with some filming involving projects in Madagascar and Romania).
Animals and their habitats
![Ringed Tailed Lemur](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Ringed_Tailed_Lemur.jpg)
The animals and birds at Fota Wildlife Park originate from a variety of
habitats
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
, a number of which are threatened with degradation through human activity. Fota runs the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) for the
Sudan cheetah
The Northeast African cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii'') is a cheetah subspecies occurring in Northeast Africa. Contemporary records are known in South Sudan and Ethiopia, but population status in Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan ...
and the European Studbook (ESB) for Lechwe (
Kafue lechwe and
Red lechwe
The lechwe, red lechwe, or southern lechwe (''Kobus leche'') is an antelope found in wetlands of south-central Africa.
Range
The lechwe is native to Botswana, Zambia, southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, northeastern Namibia, and eas ...
).
A number of sections of the park are arranged by habitat and region. These areas include the 'Asian Sanctuary' section, which houses the park's
Sumatran tiger
The Sumatran tiger is a population of ''Panthera tigris sondaica'' on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is the only surviving tiger population in the Sunda Islands, where the Bali and Javan tigers are extinct.
Sequences from complete mitochon ...
,
Visayan spotted deer
The Visayan spotted deer (''Rusa alfredi''), also known as the Visayan deer, the Philippine spotted deer or Prince Alfred's deer, is a nocturnal and endangered species of deer located primarily in the rainforests of the Visayan islands of Panay ...
,
Visayan warty pig
The Visayan warty pig (''Sus cebifrons'') is a critically endangered species in the pig genus ('' Sus''). It is endemic to six of the Visayan Islands (Cebu, Negros, Panay, Masbate, Guimaras, and Siquijor) in the central Philippines. It is known ...
,
lion-tailed macaque
The lion-tailed macaque (''Macaca silenus''), also known as the wanderoo, is an Old World monkey endemic to the Western Ghats of South India.
Characteristics
Lion-tailed macaques are covered in black fur, and have a striking gray or silver ...
,
Indian rhino
}
The Indian rhinoceros (''Rhinoceros unicornis''), also called the Indian rhino, greater one-horned rhinoceros or great Indian rhinoceros, is a rhinoceros species native to the Indian subcontinent. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red Li ...
, and
Asiatic lion
The Asiatic lion is a population of ''Panthera leo leo'' that today survives in the wild only in India. Since the turn of the 20th century, its range has been restricted to Gir National Park and the surrounding areas in the Indian state of Gujarat ...
. The 'African Savannah' paddock is home to
ostrich
Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There are ...
,
Grant's zebra
Grant's zebra (''Equus quagga boehmi'') is the smallest of the seven subspecies of the plains zebra. This subspecies represents the zebra form of the Serengeti- Mara ecosystem and others across central Africa.
Distribution
This subspecies is di ...
,
scimitar-horned oryx
The scimitar oryx (''Oryx dammah''), also known as the scimitar-horned oryx and the Sahara oryx, is a ''Oryx'' species that was once widespread across North Africa. In 2000, it was declared extinct in the wild on the IUCN Red List.
A captive bre ...
and
Rothschild's giraffe
Rothschild's giraffe (''Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi'') is a subspecies of the Northern giraffe. It is one of the most endangered distinct populations of giraffe, with 1,399 mature individuals estimated in the wild in 2018.
Taxonomy and ...
breeds. When opened in 2014, the 'Tropical House' housed three reptile, nine amphibian, 28 fish and 14 butterfly species among 340 tropical plants. A number of aquatic bird species (including penguins,
Chilean flamingo
The Chilean flamingo (''Phoenicopterus chilensis'') is a species of large flamingo at closely related to the American flamingo and the greater flamingo, with which it was sometimes considered conspecific. The species is listed as near threatened ...
s, and
great white pelican
The great white pelican (''Pelecanus onocrotalus'') also known as the eastern white pelican, rosy pelican or white pelican is a bird in the pelican family. It breeds from southeastern Europe through Asia and Africa, in swamps and shallow lakes. ...
s) are found in wetlands around the park's 'Monkey Island' section, which itself houses
black howler
The black howler (''Alouatta caraya'') or black-and-gold howler, is among the largest New World monkeys and a member of the ''Alouatta'' genus. The black howler is distributed in areas of South America such as Paraguay, southern Brazil, eastern ...
,
Colombian spider monkey
The Colombian spider monkey (''Ateles fusciceps rufiventris'') is a subspecies of the Black-headed spider monkey, a type of New World monkey, found in Colombia and Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic o ...
s, and
Siamang gibbon
The siamang (, ; ''Symphalangus syndactylus'') is an arboreal, black-furred gibbon native to the forests of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The largest of the gibbons, the siamang can be twice the size of other gibbons, reaching in height, a ...
and lemur species. Some mammals and marsupials, like
kangaroo
Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
,
wallaby
A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized Macropodidae, macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same Taxonomy (biology), taxon ...
and
mara species, roam somewhat freely within sections of the park.
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Tourist attractions in County Cork
Zoos in the Republic of Ireland
Zoos established in 1983
1983 establishments in Ireland