Lanterns

Spending time with the Gruffalo and his pals

Posted on by Platypus Man

A few days ago we took an evening trip to Twycross Zoo to spend a bit of time with the Gruffalo and his pals. The Zoo is highly regarded for its work on the protection and breeding of endangered species, particularly primates, but the Gruffalo is a recent addition to their collection! He will be staying at Twycross for just a few weeks, and so was attracting a lot of interest.

The Gruffalo eyes up the mouse, probably thinking “mmm, looks tasty!”

If you’re not familiar with it, The Gruffalo is a world famous children’s picture book written by English author Julia Donaldson and illustrated by German artist Axel Scheffler. First published in 1999, the book has been translated into over 100 languages and has sold over 13.5 million copies worldwide. The story was later made into a 30-minute animated film and has been adapted into several stage productions. A follow-up book, The Gruffalo’s Child, was published in 2004 and has also proved to be hugely popular. This much-admired youngster also made a guest appearance at Twycross, alongside his even more famous father.

The mouse fights for his life by telling the owl about his fierce protector, the Gruffalo.

The plot of The Gruffalo is simple: a mouse takes a walk through the woods in search of food, where he meets three animals – an owl, a fox and a snake – each of whom would like to eat him for dinner. In order to escape the mouse invents a scary story, telling each predator that he is on his way to meet the fierce and fearsome Gruffalo, who will be very very displeased if anything bad happens to him. And so the mouse is released unharmed, but is then shocked to meet a real, live Gruffalo who also fancies snacking on mouse.

Left: The Gruffalo’s child encounters the fox. Top Right: The Gruffalo and his child in earnest conversation. Bottom Right: The Gruffalo snuggles up to his child – maybe he’s not so fierce after all?

Can the little mouse survive the terrible tusks, claws, teeth, and jaws of the horrid Gruffalo? To find out what happens next, you’ll just have to track down a copy of the book! Maybe your local library will have one?

North American Wilds zone: salmon leap, while a beaver watches

It’s no surprise that the Gruffalo has become an iconic character in children’s literature, and so it is also no surprise that Twycross Zoo chose him to lead their special Lanterns of the Wild Christmas event. The mile (1.6km) long trail was lit by more than 2,000 vibrantly coloured lanterns, all carefully designed and deployed to dazzle the eyes and stimulate the imagination. But it wasn’t all about the Gruffalo. The trail also featured lantern dioramas of 10 environmental eco-zones, including lush rainforests, icy tundra and deep oceans.

North American Wilds zone: the carved presidents of Mount Rushmore watch over wildlife typical of the American Plains, including bison and elk, while a wolf howls from the mountain top.

Each eco-zone starred some of the wonderful wildlife found in that part of the world, making a clear link with the zoo’s primary mission. As well as being bright and cheerful, some of the dioramas were highly imaginative, such as the beaver dam in the North American Wilds zone, a dam over which salmon were attempting to leap while baffled beavers looked on. A second diorama of the North American Wilds featured the iconic carved heads of former US presidents at Mount Rushmore, complete with local wildlife including elk, bison and a wolf.

Tigers are the stars of the Asian Jungle zone

A third diorama that particularly caught my eye was the Asian Jungle eco-zone, in which majestic tigers were the stars of the show. Many years ago Mrs P and I were fortunate to visit India to watch wild tigers, and when I saw the lanterns at Twycross the memories came flooding back.

The Polar Realms zone

We were not alone as we walked the lantern trail. Visitors were there in huge numbers, all them seeking a bit of colourful pre-Christmas entertainment. Hopefully the event raised lots of additional, much needed income for Twycross, and maybe also raised its profile amongst people who previously knew little about the Zoo’s efforts to support wildlife conservation across the globe.

The lanterns featured colourful flowers as well as impressive wildlife.

Bodies like Twycross Zoo play a vital role in species conservation, and in educating the public on conservation issues. Well done to the management for coming up with this seasonal initiative to help get their message across; if the numbers and reaction of people on the night is any guide, Lanterns of the Wild was a big success. The word on the streets is that there will be another lantern trail next Christmas, although probably without the Gruffalo. If there is, Mrs P and I will be keen to support it, Gruffalo or no Gruffalo.

What energy crisis? Dinosaurs light up Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Posted on by Platypus Man

While Brits will know it only too well, overseas readers may be unaware that – due to the knock-on effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – the UK is in the middle of an energy crisis. Prices have gone through the roof, and we are warned that energy rationing, through a rolling programme of power cuts, is a real possibility if there is a prolonged cold snap later this winter.

Everyone is being urged to be energy aware, and to cut down on power consumption if at all possible. But you’d never know that there was any problem at all, if you were basing your opinion on the Festival of Lights and Lanterns at Yorkshire Wildlife Park (YWP).

As I’ve written before, I have some reservations about keeping wild creatures in captivity (don’t we all?), but YWP seems OK. The animals are plainly well cared for, with plenty of space to roam. Importantly, the Park supports a number of conservation initiatives to breed highly endangered species in captivity, and seeks to educate visitors about their plight. But conservation costs money, so managers are happy to embrace initiatives that will attract paying members of the public through the gates. And what better way, at this festive time of year, than to flood the place with countless coloured lights?

We went to last year’s Festival of Lights and Lanterns, and had a great evening. It’s not the most obvious way to celebrate Christmas, but it worked for me and countless others too. Giant, glowing coloured lanterns were distributed throughout the Park, representing some of the critters living there, including polar bears, tigers, giraffes and okapi, and a few others that just wouldn’t feel quite at home, such as whales! There were even a few dinosaurs, poignant reminders of the world we have lost.

The regular critters – tigers, giraffes and the like – were back in force for this winter’s Festival. It was good to see these old friends, and also pleasing to note that last year’s favourites had been recycled and not simply trashed. But the big change, for the 2022/23 season, was in the population of dinosaurs, which seems to have exploded over the last few months!

And don’t the visitors love them, T-Rex and Triceratops, and all their brutish buddies? Children looked on in awe, and adults lapped it up too, a welcome opportunity to escape – if only for an hour or two – the stresses and strains of life in the UK at the end of 2022. Just for a short while it was possible to forget the energy crisis, and bathe irresponsibly in the light of a thousand colourful lanterns. But spare a thought, if you will, for YWP’s Director of Finance…he may be in for a few sleepless night when the Park’s next electricity bill arrives!

A colourful evening at Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Posted on by Platypus Man

We first visited Yorkshire Wildlife Park (YWP) a few months after I retired, and have returned several times since I have some reservations about keeping wild creatures in captivity (don’t we all?), but the place seems OK. The animals are plainly well cared for, with plenty of space to roam. Importantly, the Park supports a number of conservation initiatives to breed highly endangered species in captivity, and seeks to educate visitors about their plight. I’ll write more about some of these conservation projects later in the year.

To help raise the money needed to care for its animals YWP is always looking for new ways to encourage visitors. Last year we’d planned to visit the Park’s Light and Lantern Festival held around Christmas, but Covid restrictions got in the way. This year the restrictions have been, well, less restrictive…but the weather was miserable throughout December, so we gave it a miss.

Finally, last week, conditions improved and we made the decision to hot-foot it 45 miles (72km) up the M1 to the outskirts of Doncaster to catch the Festival before it ends in mid-January. It was definitely worth the trip, as Mrs P’s photos show. With the exception of one hyena, which was racing madly around its spacious enclosure like Usain Bolt in his prime, living animals were notable by their absence. I suspect they were all sleeping peacefully in their dens and nests, blissfully unaware of the numerous visitors trekking round the Park, ooh-ing and aah-ing at the spectacular illuminations.

The lanterns celebrate many of the animals living at the Park – including lions, leopards and okapi – and some that don’t. A T-Rex and sundry other dinosaurs paid homage to animals that none of us will ever see in the flesh. Let’s hope that the conservation initiatives supported by YWP, and similar bodies throughout the UK and beyond, mean that the species currently living there won’t suffer a similar fate to that of the dearly departed dinos.