Paignton Zoo is sad to announce that senior male lion Lucifer has had to be put to sleep.
Zoo spokesperson Phil Knowling: “Lucifer was 17 years old, so he was a good age for an Asiatic lion. He was, like a lot of us, showing signs of wear and tear on his body. He had some weakness and ataxia – that’s wobbliness in his hind limbs – he would stagger occasionally, especially when going up and down steps, and often stumble.”
Senior mammal keeper Helen Neighbour worked closely with Lucifer: “He was a lovely male lion – in that he was grumpy and bad tempered, but not too much. He...
Animals at Paignton Zoo will be getting their own festive dinners this Christmas – but you may not find them quite as appetising as your own…
So what’s on the menu? Well, the big cats could get a whole turkey, complete with feathers and entrails. Curator of Mammals Lisa Britton said: “It’s all good roughage, the bones, everything. It’s the sort of carcass they’d be eating in the wild.”
Ferocious carnivores tearing into meat may or may not remind you of your own Christmas lunch.
Meanwhile, Alfie Junior the Southern cassowary has a Christmas dinner, too – including...
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...
Paignton Zoo has welcomed a new species – the wonderfully-named gentle lemur. There’s more than a little of the teddy bear about them, with their thick, grey-brown fur and beady amber eyes. The babies are said to be especially cute – and the zoo certainly hopes to see babies in due course.
The gentle lemur – more correctly, the Alaotran gentle lemur - is the only primate that lives entirely in marshy habitat. In the wild it can be found in reed beds around Lake Alaotra, in north east Madagascar.
But why the name? Are they really gentle? It depends who you ask. Gentle lemurs...
Staff at a top regional conservation charity have shared their successes and frustrations as they try to reduce, reuse and recycle consumables in their cafes and restaurants.
Wild Planet Trust is the charity that runs Paignton Zoo, Living Coasts in Torquay and Newquay Zoo in Cornwall. Staff and volunteers work to reduce the zoos’ impact on the planet in as many ways as they can – but it’s not always an easy or a simple process.
Trust Environmental Officer Pete Morgan: “There’s a lot of misinformation and half-truths about sustainability and the recycling of consumables....
A Devon charity is inspiring young people to change the world – and they’re doing it for free.
Wild Planet Trust is launching new sustainability workshops for schools. The six free workshops – called All Our Futures – aim to empower children and young people to make good choices for the future. Group Education Manager Steve Nash explained:
“As educators, we understand that the most important role for a teacher is to prepare pupils for the world beyond the classroom. It’s becoming ever clearer, however, that our world is changing. Our wildlife and wild places are in trouble...
It sounds like the latest police drama – the Zoo Evidence Officer is on the case, searching for clues, combing through paperwork and tracking down the truth.
In fact, the new post, based at Paignton Zoo in Devon, is about detecting science-based evidence for the best ways to care for, manage and breed animals in zoological collections for conservation purposes.
Wild Planet Trust, the charity that runs Paignton Zoo, Living Coasts in Torquay and Newquay Zoo in Cornwall, has been awarded a grant to recruit a post-doctoral researcher for a year. The Trust’s Field Conservation...
Jammy has just moved into her new home and is a little unsure of her surroundings. Right now she’s doing what she always does when she lacks confidence - she’s covering her face and hoping it will all go away. It’s an endearing trait – and not one you’d expect to find in a red-kneed tarantula spider…
Just in time for Halloween, the small but fascinating invertebrate house at Paignton Zoo has been reimagined around the simple idea of home. You might not think you have anything in common with a tarantula – but everyone needs a home.
We often reach for a heat pack to ease aches and pains, with maybe a bit of a massage if we’re lucky. This is exactly the treatment 35-year-old Sophie is getting right now. The only difference is – she’s a giant tortoise.
Paignton Zoo’s Aldabra giant tortoise Sophie weighs 106 kilos, 233 pounds or 16 stones. She’s one of six confiscated by Customs from an illegal importation and handed to Paignton Zoo for safe keeping in 1986. Individuals can live for 200 years. She could be the first giant tortoise ever to receive this sort of treatment.
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…
