Woburn Animal Series - 7) Antelope
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This series of caches have been set as a dedication to the nearby Woburn Safari Park. The series consists of 15 caches on an approximately 3 1/2 mile circular walk. The terrain can be muddy, especially after rain, although a good pair of walking boots should not prevent you from completing the series. The caches range from a nano to an ammo can and all sizes in between.
We have tried to make these caches interesting for children. You may want to print out each cache page and read them out as you walk round!
There is no ivy although there might be prickles!
Woburn Safari Park is part of the Woburn Estate, which has belonged to the Dukes of Bedford for over 450 years. The Safari Park was created by the 13th Duke of Bedford in 1970 and covers 300 acres.
Being a Safari Park, visitors can drive round, allowing them to be just inches from rhinos, tigers and lions (not to mention monkeys!)
The Safari Park is also the home of some very rare species and is well known for it's breeding programmes. In 1985, the Duke sent 50 Pere David deer, descended from animals originally brought to the Park by the 11th Duke, to be introduced to the Imperial Park in Beijing. During the Boxer Rebellion all the Pere David Deer were killed. The species was saved from extinction and returned to its native homeland after it had been extinct in the wild for over 100 years.
In 1901, the 11th Duke also introduced the Przewalski Horse, which actually saved it from extinction. In 2007, two foals were born. Amongst others born in 2007 were endangered bongo antelopes, baby squirrel monkeys, 2 rare Rothschild giraffes and a Yellow Asian pond turtle, hatchling which is the first time this critically endangered turtle has bred in Europe.
As you are going around these caches, you are likely to bump into some Muntjac Deer. These deer are not indigenous to the UK, being from South East Asia and India. They escaped from the Woburn Estate not long after introduction. Originally, they only lived within a 20 mile radius of Woburn, however, today they appear all along the M4 corridor and have been seen as far away as Wales. These are very small deer, often less than 2 foot tall, and are frightened very easily. Unless the wind is strong, they will pick up your scent often before you spot them. They can often be mistaken for dogs or even hares (and do the same sort of damage as hares and rabbits). They are particularly prevalent around the beginning of the year and throughout spring.
Antelope is a cheeky 35mm film cannister.
Antelope is the name applied to a large number of hoofed, ruminant mammals of the cattle family (Bovidae), which also includes sheep and goats. The North American pronghorn is sometimes called an antelope, but belongs to a separate, related family (Antilocapridae). True antelopes are found only in Africa and Asia. They range in size from pygmy antelopes, 12 in. (30 cm) high at the shoulder, to the giant eland, with a shoulder height of over 6 ft (180 cm). Most types stand 3 to 4 ft (90–120 cm) high. The horns of antelopes, unlike the antlers of deer, are unbranched, consist of a chitinous shell with a bony core, and are not shed. Africa is the home of most antelopes. The spiral-horned antelopes are the bushbucks (including the nyala and the sitatunga), kudu , eland, and bongo. These oxlike animals have patterns of light and dark stripes on the body, and most have them on the face as well. The duikers are a group of small, straight-horned antelopes of forest and thick brush country. Marsh antelopes are deerlike animals of marshes and reedbeds; they include the waterbuck, kob, puka, lechwe, reedbuck, and rhebok. The gnu (or wildebeest) and the closely related hartebeest and damalisk are horselike antelopes of the grasslands. The name oryx is applied to smaller horselike animals of the desert and scrublands, including the gemsbok and the beisa; the addax is a related desert antelope. The sable antelope and the closely related roan antelope have enormous, backward-curved, scimitar-shaped horns. Gazelle is the name for a number of small, delicate antelopes with spreading horns, inhabiting deserts and grassy plains. The largest of these is the pale brown impala , the kind of antelope best known from motion pictures. The gazelle tribe also includes the gerenuk, dibatag, springbok, and blackbuck, as well as the so-called true gazelles (genus Gazella). The blackbuck, found in India, was the first antelope to be described by zoologists, and has the generic name Antilope. The delicate pygmy antelopes include the royal antelope, beira, klipspringer, oribi, grysbok, steinbok, dik-dik, and suni. Males have tiny, straight horns. The nilgai and the four-horned antelope are found in SE Asia. More closely related to the goats than to any of the above-named animals, but often called antelopes, are the saiga of central Asia and the chiru of Tibet.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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