Meet the animals living in our brand new Tropical House!

From a Linné’s two-toed sloth, to colourful free-flying birds, our animals are settling well into their new home the Tropical House.

Flying High

Under the exhibit’s spectacular curved roof in a lush habitat formed by more than 650 plants, guests can experience the sights and sounds of a rainforest with a range of animal species from charismatic mammals, free-flying birds, reptiles, amphibians, to invertebrates and 2,500 fish in a 70,000-litre aquarium.

Listen to the calls of the yellow-throated frogs below a cascading waterfall, admire two-year-old two-toed sloth Rica in the lush forest canopy and spot the group of pygmy marmosets exploring their own island above the exhibit’s impressive aquarium which is home to six species of fish. Tropical free-flying birds include crested wood partridge, Sclater’s crowned pigeon, white-naped pheasant pigeon, Nicobar pigeon, Eastern superb fruit dove, Brazilian tanager, Asian glossy starlings and Fischer’s turaco.

Don’t miss the forest floor

Meanwhile the bustling forest floor is home to Javan chevrotain (mouse deer), Burmese mountain tortoises and insects such as lesser goliath beetles. The exhibit also includes examples of nature’s environmental managers such as leaf cutter ants which grow fungi as a crop for their larvae and compost the waste, and termites, which engineer air conditioning systems in their nests.

‘Energy for Life’ Tropical House sets new standards of husbandry for our animals with its large space provision, innovative technology, near natural environment and rainforest climate.

Ross Brown, Animal Collection Manager, said: “We bespoke built each area of the Tropical House to suit every animal we have in here to satisfy what they need so they can act out as many natural behaviours as possible. The Tropical House is all about space, freedom and creating a natural environment for all our animals.”