Help name the new lynx kittens at Wild Place Project

Two lynx kittens at Wild Place Project are in need of names, and keepers are calling on the public to help choose them.

New video footage of the European lynx kittens shows the pair becoming more playful and inquisitive, and venturing out of their den in the woodland undergrowth more frequently.

Despite now being more adventurous, the pair are still under the watchful eye of first-time-mother Loka who is never too far away.

The new arrivals are delighting visitors and are the perfect gift for the park as Wild Place Project recently celebrated the first anniversary of opening Bear Wood.

Now keepers at Wild Place are deciding what to call the playful pair, and have come up with a shortlist for the public to vote on.

The choices are:

• Rune (Norse for secret)
• Ragnar (Norse for Warrior and legendary Viking, husband of Lagertha)
• Lars (from the new Eurovision film)
• Holt (Old English for Woodland)
• Lagertha (legendary Viking shieldmaiden, wife of Ragnar)
• Lox (old English for lynx)
• Sigrid (from the new Eurovision film)
• Kinsey (Caves where some of the most numerous lynx bones have been discovered in UK

To vote for your favourite names, visit the Wild Place Project Facebook page www.facebook.com/wildplacebristol/

The lynx kittens are believed to be the first born in a UK Zoo this year – a great boost for the conservation breeding programme for this amazing species, which once roamed wild in the UK.

Loka has proved to be a very attentive mother and it will be 10 months before the kittens are independent and up to three years before they are fully mature.

Loka arrived at Wild Place Project from Skånes Djurpark in Sweden and the kittens’ father, Zone, was brought from Highland Wildlife Park in Kincraig, Scotland almost a year ago.

It is around 1,000 years since lynx were last found in the wild in Britain but visitors to Bear Wood can see them in British woodland as they would have once lived. They live alongside European brown bears, wolverines and wolves.

Today, in the wild, European lynx are found in deciduous and mixed forests in Europe and Russia, Central Asia and as far as the Arctic tundra.

Bear Wood, which is sponsored by Natracare, tells the story of the UK’s ancient woodland and the charismatic species that once inhabited it, such as bears, wolves, lynxes and wolverines.

But Bear Wood isn’t just about what we’ve lost. It’s also about protecting what we have left. It inspires visitors to value and protect native woodland habitats and species – a sentiment that staff at Wild Place Project hope visitors will value now more than ever before.

Today only two per cent of Britain’s ancient woodland has survived being cut down, and offers a vital habitat for threatened species such as lesser-spotted woodpeckers, tawny owls and hedgehogs.

Bristol Zoological Society has a dedicated UK Conservation team that run a variety of UK-based conservation programmes including monitoring and protecting native species including bats, badgers, birds, invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians.

Visitors to Bear Wood can discover some of its smaller residents with the help of expert rangers, and leave inspired about how we can care for our native wildlife for generations to come.

Wild Place Project is also home to species from across the world, including giraffes, cheetahs, lemurs, meerkats, geladas, okapis, red-river hogs and elands. It is also home to three zebras, including Vera the attraction’s new zebra foal.

Last month Wild Place reopened to the public with a host of additional health and safety measures in place including a timed ticketing system, one-way routes and extra hand washing facilities, to ensure the safety of visitors, staff and volunteers.

Visitors to Wild Place are now asked to pre-purchase tickets, and members are asked to pre-book tickets in advance, online, here wildplace.org.uk/plan-your-visit/online-tickets

Bristol Zoological Society, which operates Bristol Zoo Gardens and Wild Place Project, is a conservation and education charity and relies on the generous support of the public not only to fund its important work at Wild Place Project and Bristol Zoo, but also its vital conservation and research projects spanning five continents.

The Society recently launched an appeal to ensure the future of its work ‘saving wildlife together’. The Society, which is a registered charity, launched the BZS Appeal following the temporary closure of both its sites in Bristol in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

To find out more, or to make a donation, visit https://bristolzoo.org.uk/bzsappeal.