Fall at the Wilds, Part 2

This post is the second of two parts, covering our visit to the Wilds on October 1st and 2nd. The first part is here.

Joan and I stepped out of our yurt to yet another beautiful day.

We paused at the fire pit to take in the view as we waited for the breakfast hour to arrive.

After filling our stomachs at the Overlook, Joan and I joined the folks waiting for a Wildside Tour, one of the specialty tours. Yesterday we rode in an open-air bus, but for the Wildside we sat in the back of a pickup truck that roams off-road as well as on; it carries up to eight people.

There were two or three pickups out today.

Our first encounter was with a pair of bactrian camels.

That's our driver/guide.

The greater one-horned rhino mother and baby were snoozing nearby.

The older sibling, no longer fed by his mother, approached.

We gave him some treats.

The other crew got a visit from mama.

Baby continued to nap.

Further on, we encountered przewalksi's wild horses, originally native to the steppes of Central Asia. The reintroduction of przewalksi's, once extinct in the wild, began in the 1990s.

At the carnivore center,

the vultures were still warming in the morning sun.

This dhole, an Asian wild dog (canid), was basking as well.

The gorgeousness of this cheetah was on full display as she walked by.

The impulse to mark one's territory still rules.

The time came to pile into our pickup and drive on. This unconcerned bactrian deer, a species native to Central Asia, was happy in his mud wallow and ignored us.

Soon we encountered a group of grévy's zebra, the largest living wild equid and most threatened of three species of zebra. I focused on these two.

Nearby, some banteng. This is a species of cattle, both wild and domesticated, from Southeast Asia.

At the Wilds there is plenty of pasture to share; here's a fringe-eared oryx. This muscular antelope is limited to areas of Kenya and Tanzania.

Here is an older gentleman takin, Albert. He lost part of one horn in contests with other males, and is in retirement now, away from the rest of the herd for his own well-being.

Who is this?

The biggest bird in the world, the ostrich.

Next, another highlight of the tour -- the giraffe barn. Giraffes are the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on Earth. Of all the creatures at the Wilds, it is the most sensitive to cold temperatures. There are two subspecies of giraffe here, the Masai, which is endangered, and the Reticulated, the one most often seen in zoos. We climbed to the second story of the barn, in order to be at eye level.

Everyone had an opportunity to hold out a lettuce leaf for this Reticulated giraffe, whose long, thick tongue wrapped around the treat.

He hoped for more.

Today was warm enough for the giraffes to enjoy the courtyard adjacent to the barn. This photo shows a new baby, born on September 8th.

Here's a look at a young, shy Masai giraffe, sporting darker and more jagged patches than the Reticulated.

Back out in the pastures, we encountered scimitar-horned oryx. A species of antelope once widespread in North Africa, it is now extinct in the wild, but reintroduction efforts are underway. The backwards-pointing horns deter or damage predators who leap upon an oryx.

We continued on until we encountered a group of southern white rhinos. Being grazers, they have evolved pendulous heads that they cannot lift high enough to browse on the leaves of trees or tall bushes.

The grass is yummy out here!

The bactrian deer and the rhinos easily share a pasture.

After 2½ hours in the back of the pickup, we were deposited back at the Overlook. It was time to freshen up and then drive home. What a trip it was!

Fall at The Wilds, Part 1

My apologies for the delayed publication of this post.

On October 1st Joan and I participated in the "Fall Safari" at The Wilds, a private, non-profit conservation center associated with the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. It's located on nearly 10,000 acres of reclaimed strip mine land in rural southeastern Ohio. This was a progressive tour with multiple stops and dinner.

All the participants gathered in the early afternoon at the Overlook Cafe for registration, and then we set out in open-air buses. The first stop was at the Outpost, a viewing facility in the middle of the pastures. (You can even spend the night there.) Southern white rhinos, an African species, visited us here, lured by food and curiosity. They are grazers, with pendulous heads and poor eyesight, but a great sense of smell.

This is a large one!

Youngsters were here too. The Wilds has developed an immensely successful breeding program, having the space to allow the rhinos to feed naturally and form social groups.

Click on any image to enlarge.

Even with their thick hides, the rhinos enjoy a good scratch.

Females weigh up to 3750 lbs., and males up to 5070 lbs. Their feet must support the load.

Only a few rhinos are allowed into the viewing area at a time, but they can still meet with their friends over the fence.

Then we reboarded our buses. Joan and I were lucky to be on the one hosted by Dan Beetem, Director of Animal Management at the Wilds. He was both knowledgeable and had a bagful of stories to tell.

The takins are one of our favorites here, a unique, rambunctious creature of the Himalayas. Our photo opportunities were not well positioned, but I felt obligated to shoot anyway.

Hi there!

This bison (the Wilds has an entire herd) was sporting a headdress of greenery.

Our next stop was at the Carnivore Center, where our first encounter was with African wild dogs. The meal for these pack hunters was being thrown into their compound.

Cheetahs are among the most beautiful of mammals, lithe and capable of running at up to 60 miles per hour. Beginning a decade ago, they were another breeding success story for the Wilds. These cats also received a snack.

Do not attempt to outrun one.

The dholes, sometimes called Asian wild dogs, are actually a separate species of canid.

Feeding time here, too.

A closer look.

As the sun fell even lower, we encountered a greater one-horned rhino, a species found in Indian and Nepal, and her baby.

She did not appreciate anyone else drawing too close.

On our way back to the Overlook, two bactrian camels presented their backs to us. These two-humped creatures are native to central Asia.

Persian onagers moseyed alongside the road. They are an endangered subspecies of the Asiatic wild ass, and the Wilds is proud to have achieved the first successful artificial insemination of any wild equid, resulting in two Persian onagar foals.

We returned to the Overlook as the sun began to flirt with the horizon. Dinner was served, and an auction was held to raise funds. Every item was sold, from OSU football tickets to art created by the animals, usually by snout, paw, or hoof. A jolly time was had by all.

Joan and I were not finished when the group dispersed; we had booked an overnight stay in one of the yurts at the Wilds. This photo is from four years earlier, but it will give you an idea. They are very comfortable.

As we unloaded our luggage we were struck by the dark, cloudless sky that night. The moon would not rise until the wee hours of the morning. We walked from our yurt to the end of the gravel drive and gawked, identifying a few constellations -- the Dippers big and little, for instance, and I thought I might be seeing Sagittarius. A red object was low in the west. At first we thought it might be Mars, but with later research we realized it was Antares, the brightest star in Scorpio, which was setting into the hazy glow of Zanesville, 15 miles to the northwest.

It was a wonderful afternoon and evening. The next morning we took a "Wildside" tour, the subject of the next post.

At The Wilds With Mom

In the first week of October 2011 (Monday and Tuesday) we returned to The Wilds, this time with Ben's mother, Jean. We hoped this expedition would be a highlight of her visit, as it was back in early May, 2010 for our visitors Serge and Jeanne, even if the weather was cooler this time.

The Wilds is located near Cambridge, Ohio. It is one of the largest conservation centers in the world, nearly 10,000 acres, situated on land strip mined in the 1960s and 1970s and reclaimed in the early 1980s.

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We stayed overnight in the yurts of Nomad Ridge, on-site lodging offered by The Wilds.

The view from Nomad Ridge had some changes since our last visit: there is a zipline down the ridge and across the lake. You might be able to discern a pair of towers alongside the road on the far side of the lake.

Here's a zoom-in on those towers. (There was mist in the air that evening.)

After a restful night at the yurts, then breakfast, we met our guide and climbed into the back of the Wildside Tour pickup truck, which has padded benches. My 87-year-old mother was welcome to sit inside the cab with the guide, but she chose to dress warmly and sit in the open with Joan and me. The lesson is that if you can climb up a few steps -- there is a deployable "gangway" for the pickup -- and hold onto a handrail, then sitting in the back, where the view is better, is an option to consider.

Our first stop was to visit the persian onagers and, nearby, the camels, who enjoy the grasslands but prefer the roads to travel from point A to point B. The onagers had youngsters to guard.

The camels (Bactrian) knew we had treats, and they weren't bashful. Our guide sat on top of the cab to dispense the goodies.

This fellow smiled knowingly at us.

One of his lady friends was also curious, approaching the other side of the truck.

Both of them enjoyed using their mouths to explore the truck, which turned out to be inedible.

The next area, separated by a gate, hosted a herd of Przewalski's horses. They are known to be irritable, and we carefully kept our hands inside the truck.

From there it wasn't far to the Mid-Sized Carnivore Center, where we disembarked from the pickup and explored the elevated boardwalks. The cheetahs were very relaxed.

We also stopped at the cheetah housing, but this time I have no pictures to share. For more on the cheetahs, see this earlier post.

The dholes, or Asiatic Wild Dogs, were less skittish than we had seen them before, possibly because we were the only people in sight, possibly because they have now been at the Wilds for a while, possibly both. Their countenance reminded us of red foxes.

Sadly, I have no pictures of the extremely intelligent African wild dogs.

Upon leaving the carnivore center we came across a Grevy's zebra. This animal occupies a middle ground between asses and zebras; some consider it a striped ass. It inhabits a small area: northern Kenya and southern and eastern Ethiopia. This one had something protruding from his flank (click to enlarge).

He had been darted. Contrary to what you might see in the movies, it takes a while for the drug to take effect. This Grevy's looks doleful; perhaps he realizes he must soon suffer through an exam.

We drove slowly by these fringe-eared oryx.

Before driving to the giraffe barn (many warm-climate animals cannot overwinter outdoors in Ohio), we saw this mother southern white rhinoceros and her nursing baby.

Then there was this older child and adult.

Our final stop on the tour was the giraffe barn; it was cool enough in October for several species to have come indoors for the winter. We were each offered the chance to feed one of the giraffes, and in this picture the giraffe has just used its long, prehensile tongue to pull the lettuce out of Mom's grasp.

Despite the chilly weather Mom enjoyed her visit, and we were pleased.

This entry has been posted on March 23, 2012, in honor of what would have been Jean's 88th birthday.