Callum Florit Animal Blog & Photography

This week I am currently car camping across Dartmoor national park. This past weekend, I went to Axe valley wildlife park and wildwood Escot, where I saw a lot of amazing animals many of which I haven’t seen before. There were Arctic foxes at both parks and is safe to say they stole my heart and I spent at least 30 mins at each of them. However, another animal that I saw at Axe Valley Wildlife Park that I absolutely adored was the Serval Cat.

Taken at Axe Valley Wildlife Park by Callum Florit

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At Axe Valley Wildlife Park there are two Serval Cats 1 male and 1 female, who share a nicely sized and shaped enclosure with plenty of different levels for climbing and crawling.

Whilst I was there a keeper was scatter feeding them chicks, chucking them on various different levels of the enclosure and in all directions. This is a key feeding method as its a form of enrichment, letting the animals search for their food and exercise. When there’s more than one animal in the enclosure is also helps make sure they both get fed, as while one cat is feeding one side of the enclosure the other cat is feeding the other side and helps avoid fighting over food.

Along with chicks, in captivity, they will eat rats and quail. However, in the wild, they would eat mainly rodents but also hares, hyraxes, birds, reptiles, frogs, and fish.

https://youtu.be/9nzTCXYCE2w here's a short clip from my day there.

Taken at Axe Valley Wildlife Park by Callum Florit

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Serval cats are naturally African and can be found in most parts of Africa apart from arid regions like deserts.

They are normally found in open grasslands, Savanna and wooded Savanna, and the outskirts of rainforests. The presence of water within these environments is key for the Serval Cat.

Many of the Serval’s habitat consists of long grasses, because of this they have adapted long legs, the longest if any cats relative to body size, this helps them see over the grasses and see long distances. They also have large sensitive ears to help detect rodents and will sometimes sit with eyes closed, listening for up to 10 minutes.

It is estimated that about 50% of their hunts are successful.

Taken at Axe Valley Wildlife Park by Callum Florit

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Servals are mostly crepuscular (dawn or dusk) or nocturnal but will come out during the day in the wet seasons.

Servals are mostly solitary (not social), and unlike the other animals I have written about, they aren’t monogamous, when the female comes into heat, she will attract any nearby males and mate with any of them. Females generally maintain a 2-9meters Kilometers squared territory whilst males have territories twice the size and will overlap with 2 or more females.

When they breed the female can have 2-3 kits but sometimes up to 5, the kittens will stay with their mum for up to a year, after that, they will leave.

They generally live till 10 but in captivity can live up to 20.

Servals are listed as least concern by the IUCN red list, mainly because they have a healthy reproduction rate and a large distribution range.

However they due face some threats, mainly by humans. They are hunted in Africa for their fur and much of their habitat is being damaged or intruded on for farmland.

Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed and learned something. And enjoyed my pictures.

Taken at Axe Valley Wildlife Park by Callum Florit

#The Common Kestrel, sometimes known as the Eurasian or European Kestrel or to us English where its the only Kestrel Species, simply The Kestrel.

If I were to be asked I would probably say Kestrels are my favourite Bird of Prey. I use to volunteer at a Bird of Prey Centre and I used to love holding (have the Kestrel sit on my glove) the Kestrels and just admire them. They have such a simply beautiful feather pattern and their curiosity is amazing to observe.

Unlike most Raptors Kestrels display sexual colour dimorphism, which means genders have a different colour pattern. Other Species display physical sexual dimorphism, such as the Peacock the male has the big colourful tail feathers whereas the female lack these colourful feathers and the tail is much more stubby.

For Kestrels the Male has fewer spots and streaks and have a slate coloured cap, as shown in the photo below. Whereas the females lack this slate cap.

Taken by Callum Florit at Royal Victoria Country Park (Male Kestrel)

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Kestrels can be found over a large range, including Europe, Asia, and Africa.

In England you'll often see these birds hovering over motorways, this is because they prefer open habitats such as the fields that are common along motorways, as well as heaths, shrublands, and marshlands. Kestrels are however known to be very adaptable and can be found in other habitats like cities, wetlands, and savannas. Kestrels like open lands as this is where you'll most commonly find rodents, which is their main food source, particularly voles.

When you see a Kestrel hovering, they are most likely hunting, looking for rodents on their floor with their incredible eyesight. Their eyesight is so amazing that they can see their prey from up to 50 meters away, see in dim light and even see in ultraviolet, which allows them to see urine left by rodents on the ground.

Taken by Callum Florit at Richmond Park London (Female, Hovering)

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Even though they can hunt during the evenings when the light is dim, Kestrels are diurnal (meaning they're awake during the day). In fact, depending on the time of year, Kestrels need to eat 4-8 rodents a day, they often catch multiple in succession and cache them to eat later. Their main food source are Voles, however, they will eat most rodents as well as, small birds, insects, worms, frogs and even lizards.

Kestrels are solitary (meaning, live alone) but will come together during the breeding season. They are monogamous (meaning, having the same mate for life) and the male will often show the female potential best sites, commonly in areas where they have nested before.

In the wild Kestrels typically only live until 4-5 but there are records of up 16+, in falconry and captivity, it is more likely to see older Kestrels.

Taken by Callum Florit at Richmond Park (Female)

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Due to its large distribution Kestrels are listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, however, their population is declining and in the UK the RSPB have listed them as Amber, the RSPB has a 3 tier conservation category system, with Red being the highest priority, Amber being the 2nd most and Green least.

In the 1960-70s the population of Kestrels declined due to organochlorine pesticides, the population recovered slightly in the late 780s but started to decline again in the 80s and have been on a moderate decline ever since. Their population tends to fluctuate with the population of voles, as they are their main food source.

Only about 20% survive past 3 years, and even less past 5. Starvation is their biggest threat as juveniles can find it difficult during their first autumn and winter, with collisions, shooting, poisoning and disease being other causes.

It is estimated that there are 46,000 breeding pairs currently in England.

Taken by Callum Florit at Royal Victoria Country Park (Male)

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Thank you for stopping by, hopefully, you can share this knowledge with others.

This week shows another species native to South East Asia, the Binturong, also known as the Bearcat, sharing much of its distribution with last week's species, the Asian Short-Clawed Otter. Including, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Yunnan Sumatra, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

However, unlike the Asian Short-Clawed Otter, the Binturong is Arboreal, meaning they can climb, travel, and live in trees, other examples of arboreal animals include, Orangutans, Trees Kangaroos, and Flying Lemurs. Binturongs are excellent climbers, with their prehensile tail being an excellent tool acting like a third hand, gripping around branches. However, they're not very acrobatic, meaning they usually climb back down to get from tree to tree. Being arboreal animals they are found in tall forests and hill forests.

Taken by Callum Florit at Longleat Zoo

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Despite its other name, the Bearcat, it's not actually related to either Bears or Cats. Binturongs are in the Viverridae family, which includes species such as, Civets, Genets, and Oyans.

Much like other Viverrids, they are omnivorous and in the wild will naturally eat; birds, fish, worms, insects, and fruits, and in the wild they actually play an important role in seed dispersal from the fruit they eat, helping to replant the forests.

Taken by Callum Florit at Longleat Zoo

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Binturongs have been seen to be active both during the day and night, but generally speaking, they normally sleep during the day, high in the forest canopy, and enjoy basking in the sun.

Binturongs are considered to be solitary, meaning living alone, but will stay together during the raising of their young, of which they can normally have 1 or 2 but can be up to 6 per litter, with Binturongs thought to be monogamous like our previously talked about species.

They have a lot of different ways to communicate, like vocal calls and a distinct odor which can be used to identify each other and also mark territories, this odor apparently smells like popcorn.

Binturongs have been known to live up to 25 years in captivity.

Taken by Callum Florit at Longleat Zoo

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Much like the Short-Clawed Otter from last week's post, the Binturong is also classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List which means the species is likely to become endangered unless the circumstances that are threatening its survival and reproduction improve.

The Binturong face many reasons for their vulnerability, the main cause is habitat loss and destruction of habitat, much like the Short-Clawed Otter. The reason for the destruction and loss of habitat is for residential and commercial development such as housing and urban areas as well as agriculture and aquaculture developments for wood and pulp plantations.

These wood and pulp plantations are for commercial timber, fiber, and paper and these types of plantations are becoming an increasing problem.

On top of these threats, which are a big enough of a problem by themselves, the Binturong also face hunting. Binturong are hunted for their meat (as it is considered a delicacy in these parts of the world), for their skin, and for the illegal pet trade. As discussed within last week's post about the Asian Short-Clawed Otter the illegal pet trade is a huge issue for many species within Asia, and the Binturong is among the most frequently displayed live species in cages.

Their wild population is unknown but we know and it's obvious that they have a decreasing population trend.

There are survival programs among zoos to help keep these beautiful animals alive.

All the photos within this post were taken by myself at Longleat Zoo, where they have a lovely enclosure with many different levels fulfilling their arboreal needs.

I am a firm believer that education can be a beneficial tool in the conservation of animals, the more people that are educated on the threats to these animals, the more that can be done about them, and if you can educate the people at the very center of these threats then possibly we can stop the threat at the very center. Many of these threats if not all that these Binturong face are just purely unnecessary and avoidable, and I personally think education can be a helpful tool for these problems.

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Thank you for stopping by, hopefully, you can share this knowledge with others.

This week shows another animal that I saw at The New Forest Wildlife Park; the Asian Short-Clawed Otter, also known as Small Clawed Otter or Oriental Small Clawed Otter.

Taken by Callum Florit at The New Forest Wildlife Park

The New Forest Wildlife Park has a beautiful family in their collection. They have a breeding pair, Daley and Dotty. Daley was born at Chester Zoo in 2012 and Dotty was born at Drusillas Park also in 2012, and they were introduced together at New Forest Wildlife Park in 2018 and have gone on to have 3 litters, in 2019, 2020, and 2021 and are now a family of 10.

They have a large outdoor enclosure as seen in my video below and a lovely indoor area with an array of waterfalls and pools. Seen in my photos.

https://youtu.be/LhOJfkgxjF8

Taken by Callum Florit at The New Forest Wildlife Park

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Otters are part of the Mustelidae Family, this family consists of 56 different species and is one of the Families that have the most different amount of species within it, these include: Weasels, Badgers, Ferrets, Martens, and Minks.

Given away by its name the Asian Short-Clawed Otter is native to Asia, but more specifically South and South East Asia, including: parts of India, Nepal, Bhutan, South China, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia. These parts of the world are abundant in freshwater wetlands, swamps, and rivers, and this is where these Otters can be found.

Due to their habitat, they are a Semi-Aquatic species and have several body parts that have adapted for their environment, like their webbed feet, their strong rudder-like tail, and two layers of fur, a waterproof one, and a thermal layer.

Most of their diet is also animals you'd expect to find in these water-based habitats, such as Crabs and Fish, but can also eat Snakes, Frogs, Insects, and Rodents.

Taken by Callum Florit at The New Forest Wildlife Park

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These Otters are incredibly social animals, believed to be monogamous (mate in the same pair for life), and live in families of up to 15, and have developed a unique language to communicate with each other with 12 or more different calls.

As mentioned about the Otters at the New Forest Wildlife and their successful breeding programme, these Otters can actually have 2 litters a year and can have between 1 - 7 pups within a litter, and at the age of 5 months, the pups become independent.

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The exact wild population is unknown but it is decreasing and the species is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List.

They face many threats, most of which are man-made threats, these include;

Deforestation and destruction of habitat for residential and commercial development such as human housing, farms and aquaculture projects, overfishing and use of pesticides are more examples of the destruction of habitat. And of course, hunting/poaching for the fur trade will kill hundreds, as well as the illegal pet trade, which is becoming a serious issue for many different species in Asia. Between 2016-2017 around 700 Otters were advertised on websites to be sold as pets by 280 different traders.

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Thanks to Zoo's and Wildlife Parks there are many Breeding Programmes across the world that aim to keep a steady population for this beautiful species.

I am a firm believer that education can be a beneficial tool in the conservation of animals, the more people that are educated on the threats to these animals, the more that can be done about them, and if you can educate the people at the very centre of these threats then possibly we can stop the threat at the very centre.

Taken by Callum Florit at The New Forest Wildlife Park

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Thank you for stopping by, hopefully, you can share this knowledge with others.

The Red Fox - Vulpes vulpes

To start my blog I am going to start with my favourite animal, the Red Fox. I'm not quite sure why the Red Fox is my favourite animal, it might be due to its similarities to a cat, or it's similarities to a dog, or both. Or it may simply be because they are beautiful animals.

Taken by Callum Florit at New Forest Wildlife Park.

Many people look at a Fox and wonder if they’re related to Cats or Dogs. Technically if you go far enough back it would be both, but somewhen along the line, the evolution tree divided out.  When we're talking about the classification of animals we use a group of ranks, they are: Kingdom > Phylum > Class > Order > Family > Genus > Species. The Red Foxes Classification is: Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Canidae Genus: Vulpes Species: Vulpes vulpes

  Both Cats and Dogs belong to the Mammalia Class and the Carnivora Order, but the Family Rank is when they separate. Dogs belong to the Canidae Family, whereas Cats belong to the Felidae Family. So the Red Fox are more closely related to Dogs. A reason to why foxes act like cats though is because of Convergent Evolution, this is where 2 unrelated species develop similar characteristics because they both perform similar tasks. With Cats and Foxes this task is their diet.   A foxes diet can range from Rodents, Rabbits, Birds, fruit, veg, Fish, Frogs and Worms. Very similar to wild cats.

   Taken by Callum Florit at New Forest Wildlife Park. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Red Fox are one of the most widely distributed animals, within the Carnivora Order, in the world, being found in the entire northern hemisphere. That means, North America, Canada, all of Europe, Asia and parts of North Africa, and due to human intervention is also found in Australia, and because of this large distribution the Red Fox is listed as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, however this doesn't mean that foxes don't face threats. In fact in several papers conducted by Bristol University Biologists, suggest that an estimated number of 400,000 foxes die in the UK, each year and an estimated 100,000 are killed by vehicles. Road Traffic Accidents are thought to be leading cause of fox deaths. Because of their wide distribution Foxes can be found in most terrestrial habitats, however are generally found in areas of scrub, woodland and farmland. Foxes do however as many know thrive in urban areas, with many calling them the most urbanized canid. With the abundance of food within urban areas, it makes it an ideal habitat for them, and they have been documented within urban areas since the 1930's. Although the plethora of food makes it an ideal habitat, urban areas do come with one major threat, cars, and as mentioned earlier road traffic accidents are thought to be leading cause of fox deaths.

  Taken by Callum Florit at New Forest Wildlife Park.   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Red Foxes can be considered crepuscular, meaning active during dawn and dusk, or nocturnal, however they can be seen during the day. People often say they can hear awful or terrifying screams at night and these noises are most likely fox calls, check them out here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6NuhlibHsM . Most of the year Foxes are solitary meaning they generally live and hunt alone, but will come together during mating season. Red Foxes are monogamous meaning they only mate with the same partner for life. Their litter can vary from 1-11, but on average is 3-6. A mating pair will normally meet up every year to breed, and they're able to find each other by their unique scent markings, produced by their eccrine sweat glands in their feet, this is also used to help their young, Kits, follow them.

  Taken by Callum Florit at New Forest Wildlife Park. 

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Despite being my favourite animal I haven't seen the Red Fox many times in the wild, and have only managed to get one photo, and unfortunately it wasn't very good, but here it is.

Taken by Callum Florit at Netley.

The other photos dotted around this post where taken by myself at New Forest Wildlife Park. The Foxes at The New Forest Wildlife Park are Autumn the female or 'vixen' who was rescued in 2016 from a local rescue centre, as a young cub and was deemed unfit for release and needed a permanent home. And Copper the Male, known as Reynards Dogs or Tods, joined her in 2017 also as a wild rescue. Copper has seemed to make a positive impact on Autumn who has previously seemed timid. They are now living together as a non-breeding pair, in a lovely and spacious enclosure. If you are in the area I highly recommend a visit to the New Forest Wildlife Park, not only is it a lovely day out with a variety of beautiful animals, that are often over-looked, but they also partake in incredibly important conservation breeding programme They are as follows: Scottish wildcat captive breeding programme Harvest mouse captive breeding programme Pine marten captive breeding programme European polecat captive breeding programme Water vole captive breeding programme Giant Otter rehabilitation programme European bison captive breeding programme Eurasian otter captive breeding programme https://newforestwildlifepark.co.uk/

Taken by Callum Florit at New Forest Wildlife Park. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------