We have 5 camels at Laurel - Wood from 6 months - 35 years of age.
Our Antelope and Gazelle here at Laurel - Wood are in the same large enclosure as our camels and giraffes and we allow our visitors to drive through and stop off at certain places in the enclosure to help feed the animals.
Antelopes can grow up to about 70 inches in height and 7 -8 pounds in weight. The antelope have hooves with a split down the middle to create 'toes' which allow them to run faster through thick grassland in the wild, to help our antelope feel at home we let our grass grow naturally and do not cut it, we have also only planted a few trees for the antelope to relax under in extreme heats, although in thier natural environment they would not rest underneath many trees, or shade.
Gazelles are known for running extremely fast although the gazelles at Laurel Wood are Thomson's Gazelles who actually leap most places, although they do run away from predators. They can grow up to 43 inches in height and 165 pounds in weight. They are used to desert areas as well as grasslands so we let them mix with our antelopes in their grassland enclosure.
Antelopes and Gazelles are herbivores and so they eat fruit, grass and berries. We hide their food in different parts of their encolsure but we also grow a lot of their food on trees in the enclosure so the antelope and gazelles can eat when they want and they can eat how they would in their natural environment. We have put 5 small lakes in our enclosure for our animals to drink from at any time.
