Wang Wang and Fu Ni have not conceived during more than a decade at Adelaide Zoo, sparking speculation they may be replaced
Australia’s giant pandas – having failed to breed – could be swapped for a new pair.
Chinese premier Li Qiang is expected to make an announcement about the future of the rare bears when he visits South Australia on the weekend.
Continue reading...Seven Przewalski’s horses, the only truly wild species of the animal in the world, flown to central Asian country from zoos in Europe
A group of the world’s last wild horses have returned to their native Kazakhstan after an absence of about 200 years. The seven horses, four mares from Berlin and a stallion and two other mares from Prague, were flown to the central Asian country on a Czech air force transport plane.
The wild horses, known as Przewalski’s horses, once roamed the vast steppe grasslands of central Asia, where horses are believed to have been first domesticated about 5,500 years ago.
Continue reading...Five years after her last companion died and the aquarium’s owner pledged to free her, Bella still languishes in a tiny tank amid shops
In the heart of Seoul, amid the luxury shops at the foot of the world’s sixth-tallest skyscraper, a lone beluga whale named Bella swims aimlessly in a tiny, lifeless tank, where she has been trapped for a decade.
Her plight is urgent, with campaigners racing to rescue her from the bare tank in a glitzy shopping centre in South Korea’s capital before it is too late.
Continue reading...Froglets from species classed as near-threatened arrive for the second time at Cotswolds wildlife park
A frog species that is in a “perilous state” due to an infectious disease has been successfully bred at a wildlife park in Oxfordshire.
Keepers at the Cotswold wildlife park in Burford have again bred the near-threatened cinnamon frog, four years after it became only the second zoological collection in Europe to breed the species.
Continue reading...Sanctuary sets up heaters to take chill off rescue animals that have lost habit of entering full hibernation
Workers at a bear sanctuary in Pristina are working hard to look after a lion that wants to play in the snow and bears who were removed from their natural habitat when they were cubs and also enjoy the snowy conditions because they do not hibernate any more.
As the winter’s first snowfall covered Bear Sanctuary Prishtina in the Kosovan capital, visitors enjoyed the sight of a lion playing before quickly taking shelter indoors where a heater was installed to fend off temperatures which fell below freezing.
Continue reading...Willow and Maple, whose mother was hit by car on highway, were dehydrated and underweight when they were found in backyard
The two sisters are tiny – only five and a half pounds, and about two months old. They have giant eyes and mottled patches on their fur. Found in a backyard five days after their mother was hit on Highway 280 in northern California, the mountain lions headed to a new home at the Oakland zoo last week.
The sisters, now named Willow and Maple, were hungry and tired after not eating for five days. The cubs were visibly dehydrated, and underweight, and were checked for parasites and viruses by veterinarians, zoo officials said.
Continue reading...Researchers explore whether the animals adapt their behaviour in response to people’s happiness, sadness or anger
They are known for living in packs and being sociable animals. Now meerkats are being investigated to see if they can also pick up on human emotions.
Researchers and psychologists from Nottingham Trent University are studying meerkats in zoos to see if they can detect emotions such as happiness, sadness or anger from people, and whether they then adapt their behaviour accordingly.
Continue reading...Visitor numbers rise by 30% as footage sparks claims animal could be a staff member in a bear suit
Visitors have flocked to a zoo in eastern China’s Zhejiang province after a video of one of its bears went viral with some suggesting she looked so human she could be a staff member in a bear suit.
Attendance numbers at Hangzhou zoo have risen by 30% to about 20,000 a day, with some people travelling overnight, since a video of the Malayan sun bear, named Angela, became a trending topic on Chinese social media over the weekend, Zhejiang-based Chao News reported.
Continue reading...Case of Noor Jehan in Karachi draws criticism of conditions and renewed accusations of neglect at country’s facilities
Pakistan’s zoos have faced criticism and calls for their closure after the death of a 17-year-old elephant in Karachi.
Noor Jehan, an African elephant, which have an average lifespan of 60 to 70 years, was already in poor health when she fell into a pond last month and was unable to get up. She later died.
Continue reading...Woman who did not have a permit to keep alligator as a pet confessed to taking an egg from zoo near Austin 20 years ago
A Texas zoo said it had taken back an 8ft alligator which was stolen as an egg more than 20 years ago, then kept as a backyard pet.
In an Instagram post accompanying footage of three agents gingerly lifting the alligator into a truck and releasing it into a zoo enclosure, the state parks and wildlife department said: “Alligators don’t make good pets, y’all.”
Continue reading...Authorities claim animals in the zoo in city of Chilpancingo were sold, traded or eaten under orders of former director
The former director of a zoo in southern Mexico killed four of the zoo’s pygmy goats and served them up at a Christmas-season party, authorities have alleged.
“These four animals [were] slaughtered and cooked on the zoo’s premises, and were served as food at the year-end party,” said Fernando Ruiz Gutierrez, the state environment department’s director of wildlife, blaming the zoo’s director at the time, José Rubén Nava. “This put the health of the people who ate them at risk, because these animals were not fit for human consumption.”
Continue reading...Monkeys were reported missing Monday after a vulture died, a clouded leopard escaped and a monkey cage was damaged
A mystery is unfolding at the Dallas zoo as two emperor tamarin monkeys were reported missing on Monday in what is now the fourth recent incident involving animals at the popular attraction in Texas.
Previously a vulture was apparently killed and a clouded leopard escaped after its cage was cut open. Before that another monkey cage was deliberately damaged.
Continue reading...Nathan Daniels, 21, and Bradley Green, 24, damaged enclosures and allegedly threw bottle at giraffe’s head
Two men have admitted breaking into a zoo and damaging the penguin and giraffe enclosures during an incident in which a bottle was allegedly thrown at a giraffe’s head.
Nathan Daniels, 21, admitted damaging the penguin enclosure at Marwell zoo, near Southampton, while Bradley Green, 24, admitted damaging an enclosure containing giraffes.
Continue reading...Female calf named Nessa will help efforts to protect species, of which fewer than 2,500 remain in the wild
An endangered Malayan tapir has been born at a UK zoo, in what the zoo said was an “important moment” for conservation.
The female calf, which zookeepers have named Nessa, was born weighing 9kg on Wednesday at Chester zoo, one of only two places in the country to keep tapirs, a species related to the horse and the rhinoceros.
Continue reading...Father of two staying overnight on ‘roar and snore’ experience says family told to flee tents and ‘it was pretty shocking – imagine facing a lion’
Five lions broke out of their enclosure at Sydney’s Taronga zoo, forcing staff and visitors to hide in “safe zones” and triggering a review of zoo safety.
The lions – four cubs and one adult – were seen outside their enclosure about 6.30am on Wednesday. A “code one” alert soon after sent the zoo into lockdown. Police were called at 7.10am and the lions returned to their enclosure just before 9am.
Continue reading...Four days after a ‘suspicious’ break-in, one pup is found safe and another appears to have been hit by a car
Emotions are bittersweet at a Canadian zoo after a runaway wolf pup was safely located after four days on the loose, but another was found dead along a road.
Conservation officers and zoo staff in Canada have spent the last four days searching for a runaway wolf after mysterious break-in freed a pack of the predators from the popular zoo.
Continue reading...Transferring critically endangered species within Europe to broaden the gene pool is more difficult with Britain outside the EU
Breeding programmes designed to save critically endangered species are being jeopardised by Brexit, with zoos warning they are being prevented from transferring animals such as rhinos and giraffes by red tape created by the UK’s departure from the EU.
The animal health regulation was passed in 2016 before the EU referendum, but came into force in April 2021. There have been no reports that the UK dissented from the regulation.
Continue reading...Thousands send condolences after zoo staff euthanise panda, who was in poor health and had stopped eating
The world’s oldest male giant panda in captivity has died in a Hong Kong zoo on Thursday.
The panda, named An An, was euthanised at the age of 35, the equivalent of 105 years for humans. He was born in the wild in the south-western Chinese province of Sichuan in 1986.
Continue reading...The birds’ wings are clipped to keep them from escaping their enclosure – leaving them unable to escape a predator
A wild fox in Washington DC, has chewed through a fence at the National zoo and killed 25 flamingos in the worst animal attack there in two decades.
On Tuesday, zoo officials announced that in addition to the 25 American flamingos that were killed early on Monday in their outdoor habitat, three more were injured. A northern pintail duck was also killed by the fox.
Continue reading...Sheriff’s deputies destroyed the animal after finding ‘two unconscious victims’ and ‘a camel still on the loose
A camel killed two men after escaping a petting zoo in Tennessee, a county sheriff said.
Officials from the Obion county sheriff’s office said the fatal incident unfolded around 5.44pm on Thursday, when they “received a call of a loose camel near Shirley Farms on South Bluff Road in Obion … attacking people”.
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