Animal experts at Paignton Zoo have been battling around the clock to save a sick primate.
Keepers, vets and vet nurses responded swiftly when female orang utan Gambira was taken ill suddenly and sat with her long into the night after emergency surgery.
They found she had an infection of her air sac (a large pouch in the throat, thought to be used for vocalisation and connected to the respiratory system). The condition is known as air saccultis, and can be fatal. The team gave her a general anaesthetic and operated, making holes in the wall of her throat sac to drain off...
The Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust, the charity that runs Paignton Zoo, Living Coasts in Torquay and Newquay Zoo in Cornwall, will become Wild Planet Trust.
The name will be officially launched in June, with signage, branding and uniforms changing over the following months.
Director of Marketing and Development Pippa Craddock explained: “We’ve been moving towards this moment since 2012 - we have definitely not rushed into it! We’ve been a name in conservation for over 60 years. While we are proud of our history, and of Herbert Whitley, the man who founded Paignton Zoo...
Staff from a South West conservation charity have been on a 12,000-mile round trip to help secure the future of a strange nocturnal mammal.
Animal experts John Meek (Newquay Zoo Curator) and Owen Taylor (Paignton Zoo Head Keeper of Mammals) and scientist Dr Andrew Bowkett (Wild Planet Trust Field Conservation & Research Programmes Manager) travelled to Vietnam recently on behalf of the Owston’s civet.
The three attended a workshop about this curious carnivore, held meetings with partner organisations and visited wildlife rescue centres. The species is a special focus of...
The Devon branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England is seeking Devon’s Best Churchyard of 2019 and is inviting churches of all denominations to enter the competition, now in its 2nd year.
Devon’s churchyards form part of the county’s rich and varied landscape. They are much more than burial grounds. They are unique and special places. Green havens of sanctuary for people and wildlife. Some little changed over the centuries.
“Devon has hundreds of churchyards and they are beautiful places,” says Penny Mills, Director of CPRE Devon. “That’s why we thought it would be a...
Local schoolchildren recently teamed up with coastal conservationists to help tackle the theory and the reality of waste plastic in Torbay.
Pupils from Roselands Primary in Paignton learned about marine pollution with education staff from Living Coasts, Torquay’s coastal zoo and aquarium, then helped clean Goodrington beach with the Torbay Cleaner Coasts Initiative and staff from Torbay Council. In addition, the school raised money by making gifts from items normally thrown in the bin - such as glass jars, paper and odd socks - and selling them to families in their very own pop-up...
Frogs come in all shapes and sizes – as these two demonstrate. Paignton Zoo photographer Eleanor Stobbart took this stunning image of a young Thao whipping frog on top of an adult of the same species to mark World Frog Day, on Wednesday 20th March. The species has just bred at Paignton Zoo for the very first time.
Like so many species of exotic frog, this one goes by different names. It’s the Thao whipping frog, Fea’s tree frog, or Fea's flying frog… The one thing we can agree on is the scientific designation, Rhacophorus feae.
Bays Brewery are brewing a special orangutan-themed beer for Paignton Zoo. The guest beer, simply called Orangutan Amber Ale, is a new recipe with a handsome tawny colour to match its name and the species.
Orangutan Ale is being launched on Monday 4th March and will be available as a draught beer in selected local pubs until the end of May. The Paignton microbrewery is donating 10p for every pint sold.
Pete Salmon from Bays said: “We are delighted to continue our relationship with Paignton Zoo. Since 2013, our partnership has raised nearly £20,000, with beers themed around...
This is a vampire crab. With its purple body, orange pincers and piercing pale eyes, it’s a nightmarish vision. And a crab that’s also a vampire? Days out at the beach will never be the same…
You may not have heard of a vampire crab, though it’s a species popular with aquarists – in fact, illegal over-collection for the pet trade is a real threat to the species.
As alarming as it looks, this amazing photo, taken by Paignton Zoo photographer Eleanor Stobbart, betrays the true size of this tiny crab. It’s found in India, South East Asia and the islands of the Pacific. The...
Paignton Zoo has bred a species of venomous lizard for the first time. Two Mexican beaded lizards have hatched at the Devon zoo. Incredibly, the moment one egg hatched was captured by Zoo photographer Elliye Stobbart.
This CITES protected lizard (Heloderma horridum) is a venomous species found principally in Mexico and southern Guatemala. Heloderma means "studded skin", and with its dramatic black and yellow beaded body, this predator is quite a sight from the moment it hatches. Animal experts are unsure why it has venom at all, but scientists have found that it contains enzymes...
A tiger at Paignton Zoo in Devon has had a root canal – performed by one very brave veterinary dentist…
The patient is Paignton Zoo’s 11-year-old male Sumatran tiger Fabi, who is over 2 metres long and weighs over 100 kilograms. A Sumatran tiger has 30 teeth, including four very long canines. Canine teeth are important for biting, tearing and eating meat, for jaw architecture and display. As the adult breeding male tiger, animal staff want to make sure he’s in the very best of health for the future.
The man going into the tiger’s den is veterinary dentist Matthew Oxford....
