Category: Safari Spotlight

Safari Spotlight: The Red Ruffed Lemur

The Latest Lemurs to Land at Safari West! Safari West has long been the proud home of two lemur species: the famous and easily identified ring-tailed lemur, and the more obscure...

June 18, 2017 by Jared Paddock

Safari Spotlight: Snakes in the Grass

Safari West is home to much more than the exotic animals in our collection. The preserve sits on 400-acres of pristine Mayacamas mountain habitat and our giraffes and cape buffalo...

May 10, 2017 by Jared Paddock

Safari Spotlight: Lesser Flamingo

Flamingos, in my opinion, are the most overlooked and under-appreciated of the exotic birds. Sure, they’re beautiful and flamboyantly colored, but we seem to have become accustomed to, and perhaps...

April 12, 2017 by Jared Paddock

Safari Spotlight: Bongo

Perhaps the most striking and unusual of the many antelope species on display at Safari West is the Bongo. These creatures are surprising in many ways, not the least of...

January 9, 2017 by Jared Paddock

Safari Spotlight: Hamerkop

This month we are spotlighting a very special and under-appreciated bird; the hamerkop. The hamerkop is an African bird slightly smaller than a raven and a uniform brown in color....

December 9, 2016 by Jared Paddock

Safari Spotlight: Ring-tailed Lemur

One of the first species spotted by visitors to Safari West is our ring-tailed lemurs. Just west of the front office several of them leap, scamper, and sunbathe on their...

November 9, 2016 by Jared Paddock

Safari Spotlight: Vultures!

There’s no better time than Halloween time to throw a bone to the unappreciated vulture. Few birds are less loved than vultures. We use songbirds to symbolize springtime and romance,...

October 6, 2016 by Aphrodite Caserta

Safari Spotlight: Turtle Fight!

Every safari truck that departs from our boarding area takes a different route as they go searching for our many flocks and herds. Some head up the road into wildebeest...

August 21, 2016 by Jared Paddock

Safari Spotlight: Aoudad

The aoudad, or barbary sheep, is one of the more unusual hoofed animals found at Safari West. Their latin name, Ammotragus lervia roughly translates as sand-goat and that pretty accurately...

July 13, 2016 by Jared Paddock