Category Archives: Zoos

‘It’s Tiger King meets Ace Ventura’: the wild true story of the world’s biggest insect heist

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From snails the size of dogs to the most venomous arachnids on the planet, the true-crime series Bug Out profiles the bizarre investigation into a robbery at the US’s first bug zoo

A room swarming with thousands of giant, exotic creepy-crawlies may sound like your worst nightmare (or one of Ant and Dec’s Bushtucker Trials on I’m a Celebrity). It is also the starting point for Bug Out, the latest bizarre true-crime documentary series, which is set in the US’s first bug zoo, the Philadelphia Insectarium & Butterfly Pavilion. Prepare for a mystery with more twists than a worm colony.

The show focuses on the moment in August 2018 when the museum’s boss, Dr John Cambridge, arrived at work and did a double take when he realised his room, that ought to have been full of critters, was suddenly empty. Glass tanks were upended, shelves bare, displays cleared out. Thousands of live bugs, worth an estimated $50,000 (£38,000), had been stolen. It was the biggest insect heist in history.

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The 90-year-old Australian fish who likes belly rubs is likely oldest aquarium fish – video

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A primitive Australian fish living in a San Francisco museum is believed to be the oldest living aquarium fish in the world. Methuselah is a four-foot-long (1.2-meter) Australian lungfish, weighing around 40lb (18.1kg). The species has both lungs and gills and is believed to be the evolutionary link between fish and amphibians. The lungfish was brought to the San Francisco museum in 1938 from Australia and now lives at the California Academy of Sciences. The species is threatened and can no longer be exported from Australian waters so biologists at the academy say it's unlikely they'll get a replacement once Methuselah passes away

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Two hippos test positive for Covid at Antwerp zoo

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Staff at zoo in Belgium investigating cause of infections, which could be first reported cases in species

Two hippos at Antwerp zoo in Belgium have tested positive for Covid-19 in what could be the first reported cases in the species, staff said.

Imani, aged 14, and Hermien, 41, have no symptoms apart from runny noses, but the zoo said they had been put in quarantine as a precaution.

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Three snow leopards die of Covid-19 at children’s zoo in Nebraska

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Lincoln Children’s Zoo says deaths of Ranney, Everest and Makalu are ‘truly heartbreaking’, as two tigers recover

Three snow leopards have died at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo in Nebraska of complications from Covid-19.

The zoo made the announcement in a Facebook post on Friday, describing the deaths of the three leopards – named Ranney, Everest, and Makalu – as “truly heartbreaking”.

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Panda ‘twerks’ around pen to prepare for rare mating event at Adelaide zoo – video

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Australia’s only two giant pandas are getting ready to rumble. Once a year, a tiny mating window opens. The notoriously sex-shy animals will have about 36 hours to try for a cub. Thanks to the pandemic, which kept a Chinese reproduction expert out of the country, and a better understanding of the panda (research shows it’s best to just 'let them be pandas'), Adelaide zoo now sees natural breeding as the best option for Wang Wang and Fu Ni. Giant pandas are no longer endangered, but with just over 1,800 in the wild, they’re still vulnerable. Around the world, panda keepers have met the goal of having 600 in breeding programs.

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Lyrebird in Australia perfectly mimics crying baby – video

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Not many birds can compare to the vocal range of the Australian lyrebird, and Taronga Zoo's lyrebird, Echo, is no exception. The zoo says Echo has the ability to replicate a variety of calls, but its perfect impersonation of a crying baby is perhaps not the pleasant day at the zoo parents would be hoping for 

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Born to be wild: India’s first captive-bred endangered vultures are set free

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Numbers of the country’s carrion-loving birds dropped by over 97% in the 1990s. Now, a successful breeding scheme is giving them a boost

In February, the doors of an aviary in West Bengal’s Buxa tiger reserve were flung open. Eight critically endangered captive-bred white-rumped vultures cautiously emerged and within minutes were mingling with wild vultures, devouring the meat of carcasses left out by a team of researchers from the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).

The birds were raised in a nearby breeding centre by BNHS, led by assistant director Sachin Ranade, as part of efforts to save India’s Gyps vultures. Gradually, some of the released vultures perched on trees with their wild cousins, while others returned to the wire-mesh aviary where they had spent the previous few months getting acclimatised to their surroundings.

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Mammoth journey ahead as elephants leave Kent zoo for the Kenyan savannah

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All but one of the herd of 13 were born in captivity, but conservationists hope they can be ‘rewilded’


A herd of elephants born and raised in a Kent zoo are about to get on a plane to travel almost 4,500 miles (7,000km) to Kenya, in order to reintroduce them to the wild in a first-of-its kind operation.

The herd of 13, which includes three calves, were all but one born at Howletts Wild Animal Park, a private zoo near Canterbury. The mammoth mission to “rewild” the elephants is being carried out by the Aspinall Foundation, the Kenya Wildlife Service and Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

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Big cats seized by US authorities from Tiger King zoo in Oklahoma

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Animal park that featured in 2020 Netflix series investigated in possible violation of Endangered Species Act

US authorities have seized 68 big cats from an Oklahoma animal park that featured in the 2020 Netflix series Tiger King, the Department of Justice has said.

In an affidavit of more than 50 pages, prosecutors said they believed a jaguar, seven lions, 46 tigers and 15 lion-tiger hybrids owned by Jeffrey Lowe and his wife, Lauren Lowe, had been sold, purchased or transported, which would be a violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

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Anger as Chinese safari park kept leopard breakout from the public for nearly a week

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Three leopards from Hangzhou Safari Park were spotted by villagers on 1 May, but the park only reported the missing leopards on Saturday

A search for the last of three leopards that escaped from a safari park in eastern China was ongoing, authorities said Monday, as the park came under fire for concealing the breakout for nearly a week.

The three leopards from the Hangzhou Safari Park were spotted by villagers as early as 1 May, according to the state-owned Global Times newspaper. However, the safari park only reported the missing leopards and alerted the public on Saturday.

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Sharon Matola obituary

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The founder of Belize Zoo and a champion of native species including the tapir and the scarlet macaw

In 1983, after a wildlife film-making project she was working on fell apart, Sharon Matola found herself in Belize, Central America, with a menagerie of homeless native creatures. She scrounged some land, wrote a sign on a piece of wood, and the Belize Zoo was open for business. Suddenly, she became “the zoo lady”, responsible for housing, feeding, cleaning and maintaining the health of the 20 animals.

The “office cat” was a jaguar, and there was a baby tapir in the bedroom on several occasions. It looked chaotic, but Matola, who has died aged 66 of a heart attack, was scrupulous about animal husbandry and determined that Belizeans would have a chance to learn about their tiny nation’s biodiversity.

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‘Cooperative and rather active’: joy as pandas mate in French zoo

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Huan Huan, a female on loan from China at the Beauval zoo in France, was ‘put in contact’ eight times on Saturday with partner Yuan Zi

A couple of giant pandas in captivity engaged in a rare weekend of mating, although the hoped-for result, an even rarer panda offspring, is still too early to call, a French zoo has said.

Huan Huan, a female panda on loan from China at the Beauval zoo in central France, was “put in contact” eight times on Saturday with partner Yuan Zi, the zoo said on Sunday.

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ChimpanZoom? Primates at Czech zoo go wild for video calls

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To make up for lack of interaction under Covid-19 restrictions, apes at zoos 150km apart can now watch each others’ daily lives on big screens

Humans might be tiring of video calls, Zoom birthdays and streamed performances, but the chimps at two Czech zoos are just starting to enjoy their new live online link-up.

To make up for the lack of interaction with visitors since the attractions closed in December under Covid-19 restrictions, the chimpanzees at Safari Park Dvur Kralove and the troop at a zoo 150km away in in Brno, can now watch one another’s daily lives on giant screens.

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Elephant kills Spanish zookeeper with one hit from trunk

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Man was cleaning stables when he was hit by female, knocking his head against bars of enclosure

A zoo worker in Spain has died after he was struck by an elephant’s trunk, knocking his head against the bars of an enclosure, the zoo and local officials said.

The female elephant weighing around 4,000kg (8,800lb) hit the 44-year-old with her trunk on Wednesday morning at the Cabarceno Natural Park near the northern city of Santander, the zoo said. The man was rushed to hospital where he died from his injuries some three hours later.

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New owners of Tiger King zoo ordered to turn over lion and tiger cubs

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Judge orders Oklahoma zoo featured in hit Netflix series to surrender cats and their mothers for violating animal welfare laws

A federal judge in Oklahoma has ordered the new owners of an Oklahoma zoo featured in Netflix’s Tiger King documentary to turn over all the lion and tiger cubs in their possession, along with the animals’ mothers, to the federal government.

Related: 'It's pretty messed up': Americans’ deadly love for tigers

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Gorillas at San Diego zoo test positive for Covid-19 – video

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Several gorillas at the San Diego zoo have tested positive for Covid-19, with the cases believed to be the first outbreak among primates in captivity. 

After showing mild symptoms of the virus including coughing, the presence of Covid-19 was confirmed through faecal testing. 

The animals will remain in their habitat in the park and have been quarantined together, with the zoo hopeful of a full recovery

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Gorillas at San Diego Zoo test positive for Covid in apparent first

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Gorillas are thought to have been infected by wildlife worker in what is believed to be first outbreak among captive primates

Several gorillas at the San Diego zoo safari park have tested positive for coronavirus, with some experiencing symptoms, in what is believed to be the first outbreak among such primates in captivity.

The park’s executive director, Lisa Peterson, told the Associated Press on Monday that eight gorillas who live together at the park are believed to have the virus and several have been coughing. Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, confirmed at his Monday news briefing that at least two gorillas had tested positive while three were symptomatic.

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Swearing parrots separated after telling folk where to go

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Five African grey parrots at a Lincolnshire zoo believed to be a bad influence on each other

Five foul-mouthed parrots have been separated after learning to swear at a Lincolnshire zoo.

The parrots – named Billy, Elsie, Eric, Jade and Tyson – joined Lincolnshire Wildlife Park’s colony of 200 grey parrots in August. But soon after, they started encouraging each other to swear.

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Coronavirus closures threaten future of Papua New Guinea’s only animal rescue centre

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Port Moresby nature park may not survive the impact of pandemic shutdowns

From the heat and dust of the city’s noisy, crowded streets, the Port Moresby Nature Park is an oasis, for the city’s residents as well as the animals it keeps.

Home to more than 500 creatures and spread over 30 verdant acres, the park has spent years rescuing injured, orphaned or trafficked animals from across the country, and protected and nurtured native species, including the endangered pig-nosed turtle, and the magnificent riflebird.

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