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| Twycross Zoo | |
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 Twycross Zoo Logo | |
 The zoo entrance, on theA444 | |
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| Date opened | 1963 |
| Location | Norton Grange,Norton Juxta Twycross,Leicestershire, England |
| Land area | 80 acres (32 ha) |
| No. of animals | 900+[1] |
| No. of species | 150+[1] |
| Memberships | BIAZA,EAZA,WAZA |
| Major exhibits | Home of the 4 Great Apes, Chimpanzee Eden, Gibbon Forest, Primates, Birds, Mammals, Lorikeet Landing, Monkeys, Amur Leopards, Snow Leopards, Sumatran Tigers, Eastern Black Rhino, Giraffe Savannah |
| Website | www |
Twycross Zoo is a medium to largezoo nearNorton Juxta Twycross,Leicestershire. The zoo has the largest collection of monkeys andapes in the Western World, and in 2006 re-launched itself as "Twycross Zoo – The World Primate Centre".
Twycross Zoo was established byMolly Badham andNathalie Evans in 1963. The pair had been looking for a suitable site to expand their zoological collection, having outgrown their original site atHints, Staffordshire where they had set up Hints Zoological Gardens in 1954.[2] The zoo was initially based at the formerrectory in the village ofNorton Juxta Twycross. Having long since ceased functioning as a rectory, the house became a private residence known as Norton Grange. Badham and Evans converted the 12 acres of gardens, outbuildings, stables and farm buildings into a zoo.
The zoo first opened to the public on 26 May 1963. The opening ceremony was performed byJean Morton, a local television personality, accompanied by her popular children's TV puppet show charactersTingha and Tucker.[3]
In 1972 the zoo became a charitable trust and is renowned as a specialist primate centre with a wide variety of primates including all four types of great ape, boasting the UK's only group ofbonobo. Twycross Zoo has become known for breeding primates and has recorded first UK births for thirteen species including thebonobo,siamang,agile gibbon andwoolly monkey, contributing to numerous conservation breeding programmes.
In 2000, Badham and Evans co-wroteMolly's Zoo, a book telling the story of the zoo's history.[4]
Molly Badham was an expert in primates in captivity and highly regarded for her work with chimpanzees. Molly achieved many world firsts during her leadership, from breeding animals successfully through to being a founder member of the National Federation of Zoological Gardens of Great Britain and Ireland.
Badham provided chimpanzees forPG Tipstea commercials (notably Mr Shifter), and one of the zoo's chimpanzees appeared in aHammer Horror film withPeter Cushing. Chimpanzees were dressed up in clothes and trained to act likehumans, even ride a bike. More recent management believed that theapes should not have been used in this way.[5]
Twycross Zoo has around 500 animals of almost 150 species, including many endangered species. Renowned as a specialist primate zoo, it is the only zoo in the UK to exhibit all four types ofgreat ape:gorilla,orangutan,chimpanzee andbonobo, the latter being the only bonobos in the country. The zoo currently houses 4orangutans, 6gorillas, 14chimpanzees and 14 bonobos.
Twycross Zoo has one of the largest collections ofgibbons in Europe, and 37% of their animal collection is classed as near threatened, vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered by theIUCN. Many of the animals at Twycross Zoo are part of conservation breeding programmes which help ensure a future for species threatened with extinction.
The animal exhibits at Twycross Zoo are split into eight zones:
Conservation Way is home to a family of critically endangeredAmur leopards, the world's rarest big cats. In June 2014, female Kristen gave birth to cubs Arina and Alexei after joining Twycross-born male Davidoff in 2013 as part of aEuropean Association of Zoos and Aquariums breeding programme.
Endangeredsiamangs can also be found in Conservation Way, along with an enclosure forChapman's zebras and the world's largest tortoise, the aldabra giant tortoise
In 2013, the zoo'smeerkat enclosure was renovated to give them almost double the space that they had previously. Their new enclosure boasts a tall artificial termite mound upon which the meerkats like to do 'sentry duty'. Ground level windows also enable young children better views of the meerkats.
The area is also home to enclosures for several species of birds. These include silvery-cheeked hornbills and vasa parrots.
Next to this is Lorikeet landing, a large walkthrough enclosure where visitors are able to feed the Lorikeets
This zone is home toHumboldt penguins andChilean flamingos. The area also used to house the Borneo longhouse aviary. The Borneo Longhouse walkthrough exhibit was opened in 2007 by actorBrian Blessed and the Malaysian High Commissioner, His Excellency Datuk Abd Aziz Mohammed.[6] The exhibit, built to replicate a traditional longhouse, provides a naturalistic environment for the birds which live there, and enables visitors to walk inside the aviary and see first-hand the importance of wetland habitats throughout the world. There are also a number of non-avian species to be found in the Wet and Wild zone includinglowland tapirs, Diana Monkeys, and the miniature monkey house, housing several breeds of Tamarins. This zone is also home to michies tufted deer, tortoises,giraffes,nyala,black rhinoceros andSumatran tigers.
Twycross Zoo is the only zoo in the UK that is home to all four types ofgreat ape. Kingdom of the Apes exhibits three of these, bonobos,chimpanzees andwestern lowland gorillas.
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Life in the Trees exhibits a number of species of both Old and New World monkeys, includingblack-headed spider monkeys,brown spider monkeys andDe Brazza's monkeys to name just a few.
Twycross Zoo has one of the largest range of gibbons in Europe and these small apes can be seen in Gibbon Forest. There are currently four species of gibbon living here, includingnorthern white-cheeked gibbons,pileated gibbons,siamangs andagile gibbons. Gibbon Forest is also home to several smaller vivariums which house differentreptiles,amphibians andinvertebrates.
Life in the Trees housesBornean orangutans. In 2014, a termite mound was built in theorangutan enclosure which is used as enrichment, as the holes in the mound can be filled with various items for the orangutans to extract using tools that they prepare from branches and twigs.
In 2021, theGruffalo Discovery Land was opened. The area tells the tale of theGruffalo and houses some of the animals mentioned in the story, such asowls andsnakes. The area is also home to Butterfly Paradise.
Butterfly Paradise is a 600 m2 walk-through exhibit and was designed by Twycross Zoo staff. Visitors follow a winding path through a heavily planted setting where they can see different butterflies and witness the life cycle, from chrysalis to butterfly in the dedicated hatching cabinets.Victoria crowned pigeons and other tropical birds can also be found inside.
The free to enter Himalaya Visitor Centre was opened in 2010 and is the entrance to the zoo. The zoo's main gift shop and 300-seat restaurant is located here. The restaurant overlooks a Himalayan mountain scene which is the enclosure for a family of endangeredsnow leopards.
Twycross Zoo's conference facilities are also found here, with the 100-capacity windows on the Wild Conference room. Windows on the Wild is used regularly for both corporate and social functions.
Twycross Zoo has its very own Nature Reserve which is free to enter. This large reserve provides a safe and secure home for native bats, birds, insects and small mammals.
Twycross Zoo is home to an award-winning education department.[2] Amongst others, the zoo holds the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge, all sessions are curriculum linked and all are designed to best engage all age groups.
The zoo teaches over 15,000 school children per year in their Study Centre.[2]
In 2006 Twycross Zoo established the Conservation Welfare Fund to make a positive contribution to animal conservation and improve animal welfare worldwide.
Since its creation it has contributed to over 55 conservation and welfare projects from 27 countries around the world. As well as financial support Twycross Zoo provides expertise in animal and veterinary care, enclosure construction and design and behavioural welfare.
Twycross Zoo currently supports the following conservation projects:
In February 2014 Twycross Zoo partnered with the United Nations Great Ape Survival Partnership to assist them in their goal to ensure the long-term survival of great apes and their habitat in Africa and Asia.
Twycross Zoo is a member ofBIAZA (British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums),EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquariums) andWAZA (World Association of Zoos and Aquariums) and members of staff chair, advise and are members of a number of specialist committees within the international zoo framework.
In June 2014, two critically endangeredAmur leopard cubs were born. The father, Davidoff, was one of two Amur cubs born at the zoo in 2006.[7]
In October 2014, a babyvicuña (a member of the camel family) was born at the zoo.[8]
In July 2024, a pair of critically endangeredred-fronted macaws were moved to the zoo with the hope that they will breed.[9]
Tara, a hand-reared supposedly Bengal tigress acquired from Twycross Zoo in July 1976, was trained by Billy Arjan Singh and reintroduced to the wild inDudhwa National Park, India with the permission of India's then Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi, in an attempt to prove the experts wrong that zoo-bred hand-reared tigers could never 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' genes had polluted the otherwise pure Bengal tiger 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 thisgenetic pollution spreading to other tiger groups; at its worst, this could jeopardize the Bengal tiger as a distinct subspecies.
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.
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