Newquay Zoo: One of a kind

So I went Newquay Zoo yesterday to talk to the Head of Animal Collections and meet the keepers, as I will be starting a week of “Work Experience” on Tuesday to get some experience with their macaques and small carnivores before I head out to Tasikoki. I also got to talk to the Director again which is always good.

I always love visiting Newquay Zoo, it is truly a one-of-a-kind place. It may be small, only covering 13 acres, but it certainly breaks the mould for a traditional zoological collection. Zoos are almost becoming identical, to quote the film Fierce Creatures “…Zoos popping up everywhere, all exactly the same. Leopards on the left, rhinos on the right, monkeys in the middle, sea lions in the centre, ferrets in the front”. Newquay Zoo does have the animals which draw in the crowds like the big cats, the primates, the carnivores. But there are subtle differences, for example; Their big cat collection consists of Lions (Panthera leo) and Carpathian Lynx (Lynx lynx carpathica)… wait a minute Carpathian Lynx, who keeps these? Newquay Zoo, that’s who! They keep the rare and obscure species. Why? Because they are interesting, they need our help, and because they can. One of the better examples of this are their Owston’s Palm Civets (Chrotogale owstoni), ever heard of them? Probably not. There are 18 of these amazing creatures worldwide; Newquay Zoo has 7 of them and none have been seen in the wild in the past 3 years! Newquay saw that they needed our help, and have successfully bred them regularly since they got them. The Director even helped set up a Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Program in Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam, to help these animals.

Newquay Zoo has many of these species not usually seen in Zoological Collections such as; Fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox), Six-banded Armadillos (Euphractus sexcinctus), Kinkajou (Potos flavus), Black Wildebeest (Connochaetes gnou), and Hoffman’s Sloths (Leopus hoffmanni). On top of this, they are very successful with their husbandry and their breeding.

More Zoos around the world should take a page out of Newquay Zoo’s book and take in more of the animals that need our help more urgently than many of the “people pleasers”. And if you haven’t managed to visit Newquay Zoo, it is definitely worth a trip.

Ta Ta!