Twycross Zoo is a large zoo near the village of
TwycrossTwycross is a small village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England on the A444 road. Parts of it are called Norton juxta — Latin for 'next to' — Twycross or Little Twycross...
in Leicestershire, close to the border of
WarwickshireWarwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton in the far north of the county. The shape of the administrative area Warwickshire differs considerably from that of the historic county...
(on the A444 about off the A42/M42). The zoo was founded in 1963 by
Molly BadhamMolly Winifred Badham MBE was a co-founder of Twycross Zoo. She trained the chimpanzees who appeared on the Brooke Bond PG Tips television advertisements in the 1960s to the 1980s....
and Nathalie Evans. In 1972 it became a charitable trust (The East Midland Zoological Society). The zoo attracts around 500,000 visitors a year. In 2000 Badham and Evans co-wrote
Molly's Zoo, a book telling the story of the zoo's history.
The zoo is open from 10:00 am all year round except Christmas Day, and closes at 5:30 pm in summer (4:00 pm in winter).
The zoo is notable for having the largest collection of primates in the world.
Twycross Zoo is a large zoo near the village of
TwycrossTwycross is a small village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England on the A444 road. Parts of it are called Norton juxta — Latin for 'next to' — Twycross or Little Twycross...
in Leicestershire, close to the border of
WarwickshireWarwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton in the far north of the county. The shape of the administrative area Warwickshire differs considerably from that of the historic county...
(on the A444 about off the A42/M42). The zoo was founded in 1963 by
Molly BadhamMolly Winifred Badham MBE was a co-founder of Twycross Zoo. She trained the chimpanzees who appeared on the Brooke Bond PG Tips television advertisements in the 1960s to the 1980s....
and Nathalie Evans. In 1972 it became a charitable trust (The East Midland Zoological Society). The zoo attracts around 500,000 visitors a year. In 2000 Badham and Evans co-wrote
Molly's Zoo, a book telling the story of the zoo's history.
The zoo is open from 10:00 am all year round except Christmas Day, and closes at 5:30 pm in summer (4:00 pm in winter).
Animal exhibits
The zoo is notable for having the largest collection of primates in the world. It is the only British zoo to exhibit all four species of great ape, including the UK's only group of breeding
bonoboThe Bonobo , Pan paniscus, until recently called the Pygmy Chimpanzee and less often, the Dwarf or Gracile Chimpanzee, is a great ape and one of the two species making up the genus Pan. The other species in genus Pan is Pan troglodytes, or the Common Chimpanzee...
s (which joined the zoo back in 1992). It is also known for its large collection of chimpanzees, some of whom famously featured in television commercials for
PG TipsPG tips is a brand of tea in the United Kingdom, manufactured by Unilever UK, which claims Britons drink 35 million cups of PG tips a day.-Brand name:...
tea.
Twycross Zoo also holds a diverse collection of other animals, many of them
threatened speciesThreatened species are any species which are vulnerable to extinction in the near future.World Conservation Union is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories: vulnerable, endangered, and critically...
. They include the
Amur leopardThe Amur Leopard is a wild feline predator native to the Russian Far East, and also the mountainous areas of the taiga as well as other temperate forests. It is one of the rarest felids in the world with an estimated 35 to 45 individuals remaining in the wild...
, the rarest big cat in the world with only 30–40 animals left in the wild. The leopards at Twycross are part of a European endangered species captive breeding programme. In December 2006, twin cubs were born, both male. Unfortunately their mother died shortly after the birth due to illness, so the cubs are being hand-reared.
A group of four female
Asian elephantThe Asian or Asiantic Elephant , sometimes known by the name of one of its subspecies – the Indian Elephant, is one of the three living species of elephant, and the only living species of the genus Elephas. It is the largest living land animal in Asia...
s occupy a sizeable enclosure on the west side of the zoo. The females are all of breeding age, but the current facilities are not adequate for keeping a bull elephant for breeding purposes. Rather than extend the facilities or lose their elephants completely, Twycross are looking into the possibility of
artificial inseminationArtificial insemination is the process by which sperm is placed into the reproductive tract of a female for the purpose of impregnating the female by using means other than sexual intercourse...
.
Also here are
Asiatic lionThe Asiatic Lion or Persian lion or the Indian Lion is a subspecies of the lion which survives today only in the Gir Forest of Gujarat, India...
s,
giraffeThe giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant. It is covered in large, irregular patches of yellow to black fur separated by white, off-white, or dark yellowish brown background. The average mass for an adult male...
s,
Bactrian camelThe Bactrian Camel is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of north eastern Asia. It is one of the two surviving species of camel...
s,
Patagonian sea lionsThe South American Sea Lion , also called the Southern Sea Lion and the Patagonian Sea Lion, is a sea lion found on the Chilean, Peruvian, Uruguayan and Argentine coasts...
, penguins and many other mammals, birds and reptiles.
Recent developments
The Tropical House, opened in 2005, houses a variety of
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
n species in a
naturalNature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
walk-through
rainforestRainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750–2000 mm . The monsoon trough, alternately known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating Earth's tropical rain forests.From 40 to 75%...
. Groups entering the house are accompanied by zoo staff and are limited in size. Displays outside the house explain how people live in the rainforest, including a selection of plants and trees that can be harvested for food. Inside the house, a "ranger's hut" includes a specimen tank that houses endangered
blue poison dart frogsDendrobates azureus is a type of poison dart frog found in the forests surrounded by the Sipaliwini savannah, which is located in southern Suriname and Brazil. Dendrobates azureus is widely known as the Blue Poison Dart Frog or by its Tirio Indian name, Okopipi. It takes its species name from the...
. The main rainforest exhibit houses free-roaming species which include
common marmosetCommon Marmoset is a New World monkey. It originally lived on the Northeastern coast of Brazil, in the states of Piaui, Paraiba, Ceará, Pernambuco, Alagoas and Bahia...
s,
green iguanaThe green iguana or common iguana is a large, arboreal herbivorous species of lizard of the genus Iguana native to Central and South America...
,
Linne's two-toed slothsLinnaeus's Two-toed Sloth or Linné's two-toed sloth , also known as the Southern Two-toed Sloth or unau, is a species of sloth from South America, found in Venezuela, the Guyanas and Brazil north of the Amazon River....
and many varieties of tropical birds. There are also
turtleTurtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
s,
fruit batsFruit Bats is an American folk rock band originally from Chicago, but now based in Seattle.Fruit Bats were formed in 1999 by guitarist, pianist and singer Eric Johnson, the band's main songwriter and only constant member...
,
spiderSpiders are air-breathing chelicerate arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae modified into fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
s and a
boa constrictorThe Boa constrictor is a large, heavy-bodied species of snake. It is a member of the Boinae family found in Central America, South America and some islands in the Caribbean. A staple of private collections and public displays, its color pattern is highly variable yet distinctive. Ten subspecies...
tank. The Tropical House formerly housed the zoo's reptile collection.
Improvements to the elephant paddock were completed in spring 2007. The new-look exhibit features a sand paddock with standing dead trees, a mud paddock, three outdoor sleeping pens and the UK's largest elephant pool. Other work continues around the elephant enclosure which is due for completion around summer 2008.
In July 2007, Twycross Zoo dedicated a new exhibit to Miss Mary Brancker CBE - a Founding Trustee of the Zoo, President of the Twycross Zoo Association for 15 years, the original vet for over thirty years and the first female President of the British Veterinary Association - in recognition of her lifetime commitment to both Twycross and animal welfare. The Mary Brancker Waterways and Bornean Longhouse features a walk-through exhibit with waterfowl and Bornean birds and turtles. Educational material explains how people live in the traditional longhouses in
BorneoBorneo is the third largest island in the world and is located at the centre of Maritime Southeast Asia. Administratively, this island is divided among Indonesia , Malaysia and Brunei . Indonesians refer to the island as Kalimantan...
. An enclosure for Scottish wild cats is also featured.
Future developments
In September 2007, Twycross Zoo announced that it had received a grant of £3 million from the East Midlands Development Agency which has helped it to achieve its fundraising target for a new £11 million visitor centre.
The project will transform the main entrance to the zoo, and will feature an eco-friendly building containing a gift shop, cafeteria and information about the zoo's conservation work. The development will also feature a new enclosure for
snow leopardThe snow leopard , sometimes known as ounce, is a moderately large cat native to the mountain ranges of Central Asia...
s and a large aviary. Construction is due to start towards the end of 2008 and is expected to take 18 months.
Twycross Zoo recently parted company with its deputy director, Mr John Ray after 22 years loyal and dedicated service to the zoo. Mr Ray was a stalwart of Mr Ivan Ellis' and Suzi Boardman's vision of the Zoo's future.
Allowing re-introduction of hybrid tiger controversy
Tara, a hand-reared supposedly
Bengal tigressThe Bengal tiger, or Royal Bengal tiger , is a subspecies of tiger primarily found in India and Bangladesh. They are also found in parts of Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and southern Tibet. The Bengal tiger is the most numerous of the tiger sub-species...
acquired from Twycross Zoo in July 1976 was trained by
Billy Arjan SinghLieutenant Kunwar "Billy" Arjan Singh is a former hunter turned avid conservationist and author.Kunwar "Billy" Arjan Singh was born in Gorakhpur on 15 August 1917 as the second son of Kunwar Jasbir Singh, CIE , a member of the royal Ahluwalia dynasty of Kapurthala...
and
reintroducedReintroduction is the deliberate release of species into the wild, from captivity or relocated from other areas where the species survives. It usually involves species that are endangered or extinct in the wild...
to the wild in
Dudhwa National Park-General information:Area: 490 km² core, 124 km² bufferEstablished: 1958 as a wildlife sanctuary, 1977 as a national park, 1988 as a tiger reserve....
,
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
with the permission of India’s then Prime Minister
Indira GandhiIndira Priyadarshini Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi ( Indirā Priyadarśinī Gāndhī; née: Nehru; (19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was the Prime Minister of the Republic of India for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977...
in an attempt to prove the experts wrong that zoo bred hand reared Tigers can ever be released in the wild with success. In the 1990s, some tigers from Dhudhwa were observed which had the typical appearance of Siberian tigers: white complexion, pale fur, large head and wide stripes. With recent advances in science it was subsequently found that Siberian Tigers
geneA gene is the basic unit of heredity in a living organism. All living things depend on genes. Genes hold the information to build and maintain their cells and pass genetic traits to offspring...
s have polluted the otherwise pure
Bengal TigerThe Bengal tiger, or Royal Bengal tiger , is a subspecies of tiger primarily found in India and Bangladesh. They are also found in parts of Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and southern Tibet. The Bengal tiger is the most numerous of the tiger sub-species...
gene pool of Dudhwa National Park. It was proved later that Twycross Zoo had been irresponsible and maintained no breeding records and had given India a hybrid Siberian-Bengal Tigress instead, although at the time, and taking into account information received regarding all of the tigers kept at Twycross Zoo, it was believed that Tara was a pure Bengal tiger at that time. Dudhwa tigers constitute about 1% of India's total wild population, but the possibility exists of this
genetic pollutionGenetic pollution is undesirable gene flow into wild populations. The term is usually associated with the gene flow from a genetically engineered organism to a non GE organism; however, conservation biologists and conservationists are using it to describe gene flow from a domestic, feral,...
spreading to other tiger groups, at its worst, this could jeopardize the Bengal tiger as a distinct
subspeciesSubspecies in biological classification, is 1) a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, or 2) a taxonomic unit, a taxon in that rank...
.
With the advent of co-ordinated breeding programmes for numerous species help in captivity and standardised electronic animal record keeping systems (ARKS)it is now possible to track the different
subspecies that are managed and ensure that these are managed as pure
subspecies. Twycross Zoo is now recognised as having a database of the animals in its care, both current and historically, that is comparable to any major zoological garden worldwide. Additionally several breeding programmes are managed at Twycross Zoo, including Asiatic lion (
Panthera leo persicus), Patagonian sealion (
Otaria byronia), siamang (
Symphalangus syndactylus) and saddle-billed stork (
Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis).