Bristol Zoo Project: A successful attraction that cares about their animals!

National World - LocalTV

Bristol Zoological Society is an international animal welfare and conservation charity that works around the world with the mission is “Saving Wildlife Together”. But what animals can locals expect to see when visiting the site?

Transcript

00:00Oh, so today we're at Bristol Zoo Project and behind me, hopefully you can perhaps see

00:04a giraffe and a zebra, definitely an eland, but you can also see the construction happening

00:09for the new zoo.

00:10So we're at Bristol Zoo Project, it's 136 acres.

00:14We have animals in very natural habitats, large spaces, lots of room to roam, but the

00:21amazing thing about this site is we're developing it, which is so just exciting for visitors.

00:25So we have recently opened a brand new play place just behind you that way, all designed

00:31around conservation, but we're also building a massive new habitat here, which is what

00:35you can see behind me.

00:37We're in the lemur walkthrough at Bristol Zoo Project.

00:40So we have four separate species that we look after here at Bristol Zoo Project, including

00:46the ring-tailed lemurs, which are the most famous species, as well as the blue-eyed black

00:50lemurs, which are a critically endangered species that we work with in the wild as well.

00:55And we've done a lot of work with local communities and with things like replanting trees and

01:05working in cocoa plantations and things like that to try and create a more sustainable

01:09environment for both the local people and the animals that live in that area as well.

01:13I think it's just so successful because it's a different kind of zoo.

01:17We're not trying to present animals in boxes for you to see.

01:20We want people to stumble upon animals in natural habitats.

01:23So there's lots of different types of habitats.

01:25There's woods here, there's fields, and you can sort of walk around and really enjoy seeing

01:30animals behaving as they would in the wild, which is just so wonderful to see.

01:35There's a couple of interesting facts about lemurs in general.

01:39So first of all, because they haven't got the same hands as monkeys, they don't use

01:42their hands for cleaning each other.

01:44They use their teeth instead.

01:45So they've got what's called a tooth comb, so teeth that point forwards at the front.

01:49And to help them clean that, they have got a second undertongue, which its entire purpose

01:54is to clean those teeth for them because they can't pick it out with their hands.

01:58Behind me, you can obviously see the giraffes.

02:00So we've got three giraffes here, they're all men, although we are hoping in the future

02:04to have a female and have a breeding recommendation.

02:07We've got eland and zebra outside.

02:09In bare woods, we've got bears, wolves, wolverine and lynx.

02:12We've got the red panda.

02:14We've got geladas, which are a type of baboon.

02:16We've got loads of different birds as well.

02:18Meerkats.

02:19Should you like to see some meerkats?

02:20And ostrich, obviously, as you come in, our favourite.

02:23So just loads of different types of animals for everyone to see.

02:26The other thing is that when they want to show off to each other, ring-tailed lemurs

02:31do a thing called stink fighting, where they rub a smell from glands onto their tails and

02:36then flick at each other, and whoever smells stronger wins.

02:39They also do what's called stink flirting, which is where the males show off to the females

02:42by just repeating the process.

02:44And how do you create enclosures in an environment that they can thrive in?

02:49So that is a really great question, and we spend so much time planning the houses and

02:54the homes and the habitats to really consider animal welfare.

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