Our latest arrivals and departures…

We gave a warm farewell to our Linne’s two-toed sloth, Rica and will be welcoming a new sloth from Banham Zoo in 2021.

Farewell Rica, hello Santos! 

Our Linne’s two-toed sloth departed Marwell on 2 December. Rica is part of the European Breeding Programme for her species and has moved overseas to ARTIS Amsterdam Royal Zoo to join a breeding male. This is great news for the species as the pair will hopefully contribute to maintaining a healthy captive population and preserving genetic diversity for the future.

Although we will miss Rica (and we know you will too!) we will be welcoming a new male sloth from Banham Zoo and we are expecting him to be settled into Energy for Life: Tropical House in 2021.

We welcomed two Przewalski’s horses

At the end of November, we welcomed two female Przewalski’s horses from Highland Wildlife Park, Kingussie. Named ‘Lena’ and ‘Tsetseg’, the pair are settling in well!

This species was extinct in the wild from 1969 until 2008. Since the 1990s there have been several successful reintroductions of these horses in Mongolia and China, and they are now classified as Endangered. The main threats to these reintroduced populations are the small size of the populations, their limited range and competition for food and water with domestic livestock. A number of measures are in place to help protect this species, such as being legally protected in Mongolia meaning it is illegal to hunt them. Most of the reintroduction sites are within protected areas and they are listed on CITES Appendix I, which means that it is illegal to trade in these animals or any of their body parts.

We said goodbye to our squirrel monkeys

Our squirrel monkey troop left their enclosure in Life Among the Trees earlier this month and have travelled abroad. Our male, Max, left for Texel Zoo in the Netherlands and the females travelled to Vienna, Austria. 

You may have also noticed that work is underway at the front of the zoo next to our flamingos. We’re busy landscaping this area to create a great habitat for our wetland species and we’re expecting to be finished by Easter 2021! Thank you for your support – it makes these developments possible.

Be sure to keep an eye on our website and social media for the latest animal updates!