breeding

Dartmoor Zoo successfully breeds endangered Madagascan lizard

Conservationists at family attraction, Dartmoor Zoo, have revealed that they have successfully bred the endangered yellow-headed day gecko in captivity following the hatching of a juvenile gecko on 25 June. The tiny baby is the first to hatch from a clutch of eggs produced by a carefully planned breeding programme which identified the valuable genetics of Dartmoor Zoo's three adult yellow...

Zoo’s UK tortoise first

The spider tortoise is one of the world’s smallest tortoises – and one of the rarest. Now, Paignton Zoo has become the first in the UK to breed the species.

Paignton Zoo has become the first zoo in the country to breed a tiny tortoise on the edge of extinction. The secret? A fine blend of driving passion and cool-headed science.

The spider tortoise (Pyxis arachnoides) is one of...

Fish soup five times a day…

Are there any tricks to rearing a penguin? Clare: “Patience, dedication – and not being put off by the smell of fish…!”

A sickly African penguin chick has been nursed back to health with fish soup by dedicated zoo keepers.

Staff at Living Coasts, Torquay’s coastal zoo and aquarium, have been feeding the chick every 3 hours from 7.30 in the morning to 7.30 at night. The only...

Zoo breeds lizard of many names

Paignton Zoo has just bred a rare and unusual lizard for the very first time.

The Solomon Islands skink is also known as the prehensile-tailed skink, or the monkey-tailed skink… or the giant skink… or the monkey skink… or even the zebra skink Whatever you call it, this is one extraordinary creature.

For a start, it’s the world’s largest skink. A skink is a type of lizard – the...

Ruff play at Living Coasts

Unassuming in the winter, male ruffs transform in the Spring with eye-catching plumage - and it's all for the benefit of the females...

Keepers at Torquay’s coastal zoo are preparing the ground for some fierce competition. They are cutting the grass and clearing undergrowth so that one species of bird can indulge in its extraordinary mating ritual.

The ruff (Calidris...

The girl with the frog tattoos

Zoo keepers are dedicated, passionate – even obsessed. They are devoted to the animals with which they work...

For one keeper at Paignton Zoo Environmental Park in Devon, each conservation success means so much to her that she gets a permanent reminder.

Dr Katy Upton marks her team’s first successful breeding of each rare frog species with an anatomically correct frog tattoo....

Blue is (still) the colour…

Paignton Zoo keepers have bred a species of blue frog for the first time. And it’s a success that the charity’s founder would have approved of whole-heartedly.

The blue poison dart frog (Dendrobates tinctorius azureus) is usually found in the forests of southern Suriname and northern Brazil, but can now be seen in Paignton Zoo’s Reptile Nursery.

The man who founded Paignton Zoo...

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