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Longleat
Longleat House is widely regarded as one of the best examples of high Elizabethan architecture in Britain and one of the most beautiful stately homes open to the public.
In 1966, Longleat caused a revolution in the world of zoological collections by becoming the first location outside Africa to open a drive-through Safari Park.
Despite the understandable initial concerns of locals with regard to the introduction of lions to Wiltshire, the Safari Park concept has been a great success and Longleat's ground-breaking innovation has been repeated at wildlife collections all over the world.
Some 40 years later this unique way of showing animals in their natural surroundings still delights and amazes hundreds of thousands of visitors to Longleat each year.
The Longleat estate also hosts one of the largest quality holiday villages in Britain. Center Parcs boast a year-round resort nestling in a pine forest. Walks through the forest pass nearby Shear Water lake and a viewpoint at Heaven's Gate overlooks Longleat's Deer Park.
>>Further information on visiting Longleat
What's new at Longleat
NEW ANIMAL ATTRACTION OPENS AT LONGLEAT!
Longleat is delighted to announce that the new £1.3 million attraction, Animal Adventure, is now open.
Longleat's philosophy is that children and adults alike should all have the opportunity not just to meet the small, furry and feathery inhabitants at Longleat but also, where possible, to really get involved. This is where Animal Adventure steps in.
As Darren Beasley, Head of Animal Adventure explains "Longleat is all about interactive experiences be it lions rubbing against your car or sea lions splashing you on the safari boats. These once-in-a-lifetime experiences are what our visitors thrive on; they are the highlights of peoples' days and create life-long memories.
"Animal Adventure is allowing us to take this interaction one step further as we actively involve our visitors in keeper-led tasks. Visitors will now be able to assist us in many exciting health and welfare tasks from grooming guinea pigs to weighing and measuring tortoises to monitoring and recording animal behaviours.
"We are truly excited and passionate about the opening of this new attraction as it is our chance to really get visitors involved. However well we educate visitors verbally and visually on conservation and animal welfare, nothing can beat that really hands-on experience that Animal Adventure will provide.
Animal Adventure includes a variety of themed planted areas. The Butterfly Garden, which has been open for a few weeks, has already allowed visitors to really got up close and personal as the hundreds of butterflies flutter by often landing on clothing, footwear and heads!
Other animals have been moving across in the last few weeks as enclosures are completed and planting finalised. Rabbit World, Guinea Pig Village and the new themed ferret enclosure are now all open whilst other animals including the iguana and the 'new to Longleat' porcupines, Brussel and Sprout, have also moved into their new areas.
As Darren concluded: "Animal Adventure is a superb addition to the already award winning attractions at Longleat. The build has been complicated and we unreservedly apologise that the attraction is opening later than intended. We felt however that it was imperative to get the build absolutely right not just for the welfare of the animals involved but also for the visitors. We will be opening the attraction for free for the last few weeks of the Longleat visitor season to really test the attraction, the visitor flow and the visitor perception. It was officially open for the start of season, 2010".
CBBC "ROAR" Filming at Longleat this Summer
Longleat is delighted to announce that the popular CBBC television series, Roar, will be filming from its new home in the Safari Park this summer.
Johny Pitts and Rani Price will once again be hosting the series which takes children behind the scenes to meet some of the world's most endangered animals and the keepers who care for them.
With over 100 different species across Longleat, plus Animal Adventure, the Safari Boats and Old Joe's Mine, there will be plenty of stories for Johny and Rani to get their teeth into.
Do you know Fruit Bats from your Ferrets and Tigers from your Tarantulas? Well this is your chance to once get up close to all the animals and make sure that you don't miss any of the safari park action.
For more information on CBBC's Roar please check out www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/roar
Keepers are celebrating the birth of Kaiser, a male Rothschild Giraffe and the first to be born to dad, Doto, who was only introduced to the Longleat giraffe ladies in early summer 2009. Born just two weeks ago, this young chap measured in at a whopping six foot at birth and is already dwarfing many of his fellow residents in this popular Wiltshire attraction. Head of Section Andy Hayton confirmed "We are really delighted with the safe arrival of young Kaiser. He is already proving popular with our visitors and has become a bit of a star in the East Africa Reserve as he scampers around in the early morning full of the joys of spring!" Despite his young age, Kaiser is already one of the more famous of Longleat's residents as it was his mum, Imogen, who captivated millions of viewers on the BBC series 'Animal Park' when she underwent an emergency caesarean following severe complications in her first pregnancy. Five years on and two successful pregnancies later, Imogen seems to have put her initial complications aside. Andy confirmed "We believe that Imogen was the first giraffe to have ever survived an emergency caesarean operation. To be standing here just a few years later with Kaiser, her second successful youngster, is nothing short of a miracle and one that we're truly delighted with. Imogen is a fabulous mum and just seems to get on with it. She's one of Longleat's real characters and can easily be spotted as she generally wanders around with her tongue hanging out!" Longleat has one of the most successful breeding programmes for the Rothschild Giraffe in the UK. It is one of the most endangered of the giraffe species with only 300-400 still remaining in the wild. The Rothschild Giraffe can easily be identified from its fellow giraffe species as it has no markings on its lower legs. The pattern of a giraffe's coat is as unique as the human fingerprint.
The latest species to be added to the "red list" of endangered animals has received a major boost after a baby Rothschild giraffe was born at Longleat Safari Park.
A selection of images from Longleat
Six Foot Tall Baby Boy Born at Longleat
© VisitWiltshire.co.uk
VisitWiltshire provides tourism services on behalf of Wiltshire Council.
