Visitors to Exeter can watch artists creating life-size model rhinos this Easter.
Paignton Zoo’s Great Big Rhino Project is launching a public painting space in Harlequins Shopping Centre in the heart of Exeter, just round the corner from the Royal Albert Memorial Museum.
Following on from the successful Great Gorillas Project in 2013, The Great Big Rhino Project will put a free trail of painted life-size rhinos around the streets, parks and open spaces of Exeter and the English Riviera this summer.
The auction of the artworks in November will raise money for rhino...
A Devon photographer has won a national zoo photography award.
Ray Wiltshire, from Paignton, took the award with his picture, Forty Winks, showing Bornean orang utan mother Mali and baby Tatau asleep on their island at Paignton Zoo.
The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) announced the winners of its annual photography competition sponsored by Wildlife Vets International at an award ceremony hosted by Woburn Safari Park. There were 63 entries, with shots conveying life in a BIAZA collection, work behind the scenes and zoo conservation work around the...
Just look at her now! One year ago she was a tiny, helpless seal pup being bottle fed every few hours - she even had to be taught how to swim.
Now, Living Coasts’ South American fur seal pup Gemini moves effortlessly in her sunlit pool. Although she is not fully-grown, she’s a healthy 20 kilos, is fully independent and can stand up for herself among the other seals.
Spokesperson for Torquay's coastal zoo, Phil Knowling, said: “She is fully weaned and is hand fed sprats by the keepers. She has been mixed with the other seals but she’s now away from them in the small...
Living Coasts is highlighting the issue of climate change with a parade of petite painted polar bears.
Torquay’s coastal zoo and aquarium is running the free trail between 25th May and 31st August. Businesses around Torquay harbour will have the mini polar bears on display throughout the summer.
The trail, which is sponsored by the English Riviera Wheel, follows on from the successful mini penguin trail the charity ran last year. Free trail sheets will be available from Living Coasts from Monday 25th May.
Living Coasts spokesperson Phil Knowling said: “We have some...
A bird expert has travelled from South Devon to South Africa to help save an endangered African seabird. And within days of arriving, Living Coasts Senior Head Keeper Lois Rowell has found herself hand-rearing precious chicks.
Lois, an experienced bird keeper practiced in the delicate art of hand-rearing, is spending six weeks working with bank cormorants. She is helping SANCCOB, a leading marine conservation charity specialising in threatened seabirds such as the bank cormorant and African penguin. They are Living Coasts’ long-term partner in the country.
A hand-crafted chocolate ostrich egg is the prize on offer at Paignton Zoo this Easter.
Everyone who completes the Easter egg trail around the Zoo over the weekend of Good Friday 3rd April to Easter Monday 6th April will be entered into a draw to win a cuddly toy bunny and a chocolate egg the size of an ostrich egg!
The egg has been made by chocolatier Tony Fagan of the Cockington Chocolate Company. It is around 24 centimetres tall with a 49 centimetre circumference. Tony used over a kilo of top quality chocolate, layering white over milk to give the shell depth, with...
At Living Coasts, the theme for 2015 is Dive & Flight. Torquay’s coastal zoo and aquarium is celebrating everything that flies in the air or dives in the water. Staff will use the theme in talks, quizzes, craft workshops and trails.
At Easter there will be an Easter Egg trail, live chicks and a crazy Easter Bunny Dive Show. The cute chicks will be in Front of House between Good Friday and Easter Monday (3rd to 6th April). Children will be able to follow a fun trail around the zoo and receive a chocolaty treat when they finish.
How do you transport large, exotic and venomous fish from the English Riviera to zoos on the Continent? The answer is – with great care…
Staff at Living Coasts, Torquay’s coastal zoo, recently had the unenviable task of moving two stingrays to Antwerp Zoo and another to Pairi Daiza, a zoo and botanical garden in Brugelette, in south western Belgium.
The blue spotted ribbon tail ray, Taeniura lymma, is capable of injuring humans with its venomous tail spines, which is why keepers wear special venom defender gloves for the operation. Although in fact the biggest issue is...
Sky field engineers from across Devon converged on Paignton Zoo to make some hefty treats for the larger animals.
The team of 18 engineers from Plymouth, Tavistock and Torbay made environmental enrichment devices for different species, including big balls for the rhinos and big cats.
As you can imagine, any toy that a rhino is going to play with needs to be tough. A rhino ball is made out of car and tractor tyres bolted together. In this instance, they have metal brackets inside so they make a noise when rolled, making them even more interesting.
These love birds at Paignton Zoo Environmental Park are doing what comes naturally, but there can be a lot of hard work behind the scenes to make sure rare species continue to breed.
Paignton Zoo curator of birds Jo Gregson holds the European Studbook for the wrinkled hornbill. “It’s my job to collect and collate information from other zoos on hatchings, matchings and dispatchings for the species and to make recommendations for pairings.” Which means that Jo gets to play cupid.
There are 140 European Studbooks; the system is run by the European Association of Zoo &...
