If animal training makes you think of tricks and shows, think again. Top zoos use training to improve animal welfare, reduce the need for risky general anaesthetics and to keep both animals and people safe.
For example, bird keeper Sam Gray has trained Alfie Junior the Southern cassowary – as tall as a person and part bird, part dinosaur – to follow a target, which means she can get him in his house easily and safely. For reptile keeper Tom Wilkinson, training Pierre the mangrove monitor lizard to walk calmly into his crate means you don’t need to catch him up – a procedure that...
This tiger snail at Paignton Zoo weighs around 500 grams – equivalent to 50 garden snails. Individuals can live for ten years.
You may not want to see this specimen in your garden, but Paignton Zoo keeper Lauren Lane is besotted with these amazing creatures – and has nick-named this individual Sausage…
Paignton Zoo bird keeper Lisa Jones freely admits that she has an interest that borders on obsession. She’s fascinated by feathers.
“During the summer months, lots of birds at Paignton Zoo start to moult… I think feathers are among the natural world’s most incredible adaptations. While I was cleaning out the Ural owls, who are moulting heavily now, I wondered if anyone else would be as interested in feathers as me!”
It turns out, yes. Feathers are the often overlooked wonders of nature. We might admire a bird, but do we stop to ask what feathers are, why they are like they...
Two vets from Indonesia are the first to benefit from a unique new scholarship programme run by a Cornish vet charity. OVAID – Orang utan Veterinary Aid – is run by Nigel and Sara Hicks, based in Launceston. They help hard-pressed orang utan rescue centres and sanctuaries with veterinary support and donations of equipment.
The new OVAID Bronwyn Scholarship meant that two South East Asian vets were able to make the 12,000 kilometre (7,500 mile) journey to the UK to exchange techniques and information on the care and welfare of orang utans.
A major South West conservation charity has announced its patrons. Both are star names regionally and nationally.
Naturalist Nick Baker and broadcaster Judi Spiers have been unveiled as patrons of Wild Planet Trust, the charity that runs Paignton Zoo, Living Coasts in Torquay and Newquay Zoo in Cornwall.
These are the first patrons that the Trust, previously known as Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust, has ever had. Executive Director Simon Tonge said: “We are very proud to announce Nick and Judi as patrons of Wild Planet Trust. We’re extremely grateful for their support...
Money spent by guests having a great day out in South Devon is directly helping to protect some of Southern Africa’s most iconic animals.
Wild Planet Trust is the charity that runs Paignton Zoo, Living Coasts in Torquay and Newquay Zoo in Cornwall. It helps fund conservation on the ground in one of the hardest countries in the world to work in - Zimbabwe.
The Matobo Hills area, in South West Zimbabwe, is a unique landscape, recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2003 and incorporating Zimbabwe’s oldest National Park. The Matobo Hills are known for balancing rock...
Naomi the grey gibbon, one of the oldest residents of Paignton Zoo, has died.
Animal staff and in-house vets took the difficult decision to put her to sleep after she became seriously ill. Zoo spokesperson Phil Knowling: “She went downhill quickly. Clinical signs suggested she might have had a urinary tract problem, which can lead to complications such as kidney failure in older animals. With an animal of that age, you have to be realistic about their quality of life, their ability to recover and their resilience.
“Animal staff spent days patiently trying to tempt her with...
Living Coasts has announced a new conservation project linking Torquay with a group of islands half a world away.
Torquay’s coastal zoo’s latest project is based on the Falkland Islands – an archipelago of over 750 islands, home to roughly 3,000 people, 500,000 sheep - and one million penguins. Yes, this is a UK territory with penguins.
The islands are home to some of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet, sensitive to change and to the introduction of native species. In the Falklands, historic human activities such as livestock grazing, burning (to drive out sea...
A key regional conservation charity has signed up to a campaign highlighting an environmental issue that has been described as the world’s most important yet least discussed – population growth.
Wild Planet Trust, the charity that runs Paignton Zoo, Living Coasts in Torquay and Newquay Zoo in Cornwall, has joined the Thriving Together campaign, which recognises that family planning is critically important not only for women and girls but also for the environment.
The zoo charity joins 150 other leading environmental and reproductive health organisations pledging support for...
The TB restrictions at Paignton Zoo have been lifted. The conservation charity has been constrained since August 2017, when a single case of TB was discovered.
A crucial final test has come back all clear. Head of Veterinary Services Ghislaine Sayers said: “We’ve been through a lot. Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to care for animals during this difficult time and to help get us clear!”
Paignton Zoo’s Executive Director Simon Tonge: “We are looking to the future with a renewed sense of certainty. Paignton Zoo plays such an important role in many European...
