Keepers at Longleat Safari Park are delighted to confirm that at long last, their trio of Amur tigers have turned their attention to their new outdoor pool!

The new pool, which was completed back in June, has sadly not really inspired the tigers to any serious water play to date. Turn on the hot weather though and it’s a completely different story.

“Tigers are great water lovers,” explained head warden Keith Harris. “And, it’s been part of our plans since they arrived last year to put in a new pool for them to generally mess around in. We’ve been disappointed up to now however to find that they’ve pretty much ignored it!

“The hot weather in July seems to have really changed their attitude however and they are now having a ball diving in and generally getting as wet as possible.”

“Of the three Soundari is definitely the most confident and she’s usually the first to take the plunge. We’ve been throwing the odd bit of meat into the pool though and all three are now leaping in and out having a whale of a time” he added.

The Amur Tiger is the largest of all the big cats and is named after a river which flows through their native territory in the far east of Russia.

In the 1940s they had nearly died out, with only around 40 tigers left in the wild. Although they are still listed as critically endangered, wildlife experts believe the current population of around 500 individuals is the highest for a century.

Exclusive Early Bird Entry, Monday 18 August to Friday 22 August 2008 ONLY

Longleat Safari Park is launching a new and exclusive Early Bird Entry from Monday 18 August to Friday 22 August 2008!

• Arrive at the Safari Park entrance for 9am
• Collect your Passport or Safari Park Tickets upon arrival
• 1 x Safari Park Guide Book per transaction
• Watch our giraffes from The Viewing Area
• Take an early morning walk around Wallaby Wood
• Say good morning to our herd of Pygmy goats
• Chat to our keepers in an informal relaxed environment
• Be amongst the first 100 people to travel around the Safari Park at 10am

Click here for costs, booking arrangements and terms and conditions

Lord Bath will be taking centre stage at Longleat this summer as his new audio visual presentation entitled ‘Meet My Ancestors’ is launched.

This insider’s guide will cover the whole family tree which includes links to Tacitus, Old King Cole, Alfred the Great and the Royal Family.

As Tim Bentley, Longleat Attractions Manager said “This new audio visual film has given us a great opportunity to go into the history of Lord Bath’s family.

“It was his great, great, great… (x11) grandfather, Sir John Thynne, who purchased the site where Longleat House now stands back in 1541 for the princely sum of £53. And it was Sir John Thynne who commenced the building of the existing Longleat House from 1568.

“This personal presentation by Lord Bath of his family however goes way past the 16th century with links back to Old King Cole himself”.

Lord Bath will give his own insight into the colourful lives of his ancestors with tales of treason and murder! Find out about Tom ‘o’ Ten Thousand who inherited the Estate in 1670 but was ambushed and murdered on the orders of a jealous Swedish Count who wanted to marry his wife! Or how about Sir John Thynne, the Builder of Longleat House who was twice imprisoned in the Tower of London for alleged embezzlement!

As Lord Bath sums up “It is great fun to be given the opportunity to talk about my ancestors. I am extremely fortunate to have a fantastic library of information and archives that spans the centuries which has given me that insight into my own family. There is growing interest in genealogy and family history so I hope that this will encourage everyone to delve into the past and find out more about their heritage.”

To celebrate the launch of Lord Bath’s ‘Meet My Ancestors’, Longleat is offering 3 lucky people the chance to win 2 adult plus 2 child Passport Tickets valid for the 2008 season!

Click here to visit the competition section of the Longleat website

Click here for details.