news

This page keeps you updated with births, new arrivals, developments and other exciting activities. Our web site is being managed by Friends Of The Zoo and keepers, so you will have to bear with us while we find our way around the wonderful world of technology !

Please keep visiting us as we plan to regularly add to this page. If you are a visitor to the zoo you might like to email us articles or photos you have taken here, we can include them on this page in the future. lintonzoo@btinternet.com

BILLY THE SUPER BIG STOWAWAY BUG -JUNE 2008

Elephant beetle

Billy the stowaway elephant beetle

Over the years we have been asked to home various “stowaways” which have accidentally been imported into the country, including a Gecko in the nose cone of an aeroplane, a Praying mantis from someone's suitcase after a camping holiday, tree frogs from supermarkets and much more. On 22nd May 2008 we were asked to take a beetle which had been found in a box of bananas at a fruit importers in London. When the beetle arrived we were amazed to see this huge bug.

The Elephant beetle, Megasoma elephas, is originally from Costa Rica. This is one of the worlds largest beetle species, this individual weighs 35 grams and measures 12 cm. Elephant beetles may look aggressive, as the males have a magnificent set of horns, they use these horns to fight off competition from other males for food and mates, but they are vegetarian eating only fruit and rotting vegetation. The females are 2-3 times smaller and do not have the horns.

Kieran takes a look at this amazing beetle

looking for a mate

Billy and Betty

Elephant beetles are threatened in the wild, the ‘Slash and Burn’ destruction of their native forest home is causing their numbers to rapidly decline. Now that the beetle has settled in, zoo staff have affectionately named him "Billy". It is hoped that we will be able to find a girlfriend for him so that his long and arduous journey will not be completely fruitless! Giant beetles spend several years in the larval stage, once they emerge as adult beetles they live for only eight or so months.

NEWS UPDATE!!!

Following our appeal to find Billy a mate a female has been located in a private collection in Germany. "Betty" as she has been named, has settled in well and the pair have been observed mating. We now hope that Betty will produce eggs and so carry on the life cycle of this fantastic beetle species here.

SOME BEETLE FACTS

Beetles are very fascinating creatures, they come in all shapes and sizes. They range in size from 1-100mm. Most beetles require temperatures between 20- 23*C. One out of every four animals is a beetle. Beetles make up 40% of all the insect and beetle species. There are currently about 350,000 beetle species and new species are regularly discovered. There are over 40,000 known Leaf beetle species; about 1200 named species of Stag Beetle world-wide; approximately 600 bark beetle species.

WHITE COLLARED LEMUR BIRTHS

Hope's baby

Baby lemur pictured just days old

At the beginning of March 08 two White collared lemurs were born within just a few days of each other, which is fantastic news for this species as they are classified the second rarest primate in the world! Not only this, one of the babies marks the first of a second generation birth at Linton, which means we really have mastered the art of breeding this wonderful species from Madagascar, now ranked the second rarest primate in the World.

First time mum Harriet is doing very well the baby looks fit and healthy and from what we've seen is believed to be a little boy. Hope, many time mum and now grandmother too, is showing us all that she's an old hand at raising babies and is quite happy to do her bit to help save this critically endangered species.

AWARDS AND SUCCESS FOR LINTON ZOO

Over the last year the zoos hard work and dedication has been rewarded with a number of national awards. The British and Irish

Association of Zoos and Aquaria awarded Linton Zoo “Best new zoo enclosure” for the Rare Lemur Breeding Centre and "Best Education Project for Schools and Educational Institution" for “Fur, feathers, scales and dinosaurs”. 21st Century Tiger awarded Linton Zoo a “Gold” award for raising over £5,000 to help keep tigers in the wild. And finally it has just been announced that in an on-line pole organised by South Cambs Council, trying to find the locations and attractions across England that you are most proud of and would take a visitor if you had just one day, that Linton Zoo came top of the poll and is to receive the “Pride of Place” award for the region. What a great way to start the New Year!

BOUNCING BABY BOY

Robin, few days old

Just a few days old

1 month old

Robin, 3 months old

3 months old

On 7th December 2007 Scarlet, one of our Red-bellied lemurs, surprised us all by giving birth to a baby boy and in the run up to Christmas what else could we call him but Robin. This is Scarlet's first baby and both she and partner Teddy are proving to be excellent parents. At 3 months old Robin is now beginning to move around himself, although still enjoys the comfort and warmth of a piggy back from mum.

NEWLY HATCHED SOUTHERN GROUND HORNBILL 21.08.07

Just hatched - phew!

Just hatched

newly hatched hornbill

Just hatched

1 week old

This is not a pterodactyl! but a series of pictures showing the hatching and rapid development of our latest southern ground hornbill chick. Several of this threatened species have been bred at Linton Zoo over the last 12 years. This chick was incubator hatched and is being hand reared, its progress is being carefully monitored and recorded to help other zoos maintain and breed this very charismatic species. Southern ground hornbills grow at an alarming pace. Weighing just 65 grams at hatching at six weeks old, the chick is now nearly 4 kilos and almost fully feathered.

The hornbill has been transferred to Marwell Zoo where he is being paired with a female hatched there in 2006

2 weeks old

2 weeks old .

3 weeks old

4 weeks old

4 weeks old .

NEWLY HATCHED ELONGATED TORTOISES

Hatching elongated tortoises

Hatching Elongated Tortoises

Valentine babies! These two cute elongated tortoises hatched on 14th June from eggs laid on 14th February 2007.

A little Success story as their parents were part of a customs seizure a few years ago. They arrived at Heathrow airport in very poor condition and were brought to us for special care. Elongated Tortoises are originally from Vietnam and Cambodia, where they are threatened with extinction due to extensive collection for the local food markets and export to China

SALE OF TIGER HEAD PROCEEDS DONATED TO LINTON ZOO TIGER CONSERVATION FUND

William Wells Presents Kim Simmons with a cheque for the Tiger Conservation Fund

Over £1,000 raised from the sale of a 1930s tiger head in a Great Dunmow auction will help protect wild tigers in the Russian Far East.

The head of the Indian tiger, which had been shot in 1934, was preserved and mounted by taxidermist Van Ingen of Mysore. It recently went under the hammer at Mullucks Wells’ auction rooms for £1,150.

Both the owner of the item and the auctioneers Mullucks Wells have donated the proceeds of the sale to Linton Zoo’s Conservation Fund.

See 'conservation' to find out more about this and other projects the zoo is involved with

LION CUBS BORN 9.6.07


On 9th June Riziki and Karla became proud parents again. Karla gave birth to her third litter, three boys and a girl, pictured one week old. This litter are now all grown up and were transferred to their new homes in february 2008.

LINTON ZOO HONOURED FOR THEIR 'RARE LEMUR BREEDING CENTRE' IN 2006 BIAZA AWARDS

Kim Receives BIAZA award

On November 22nd 2006 Linton Zoo received one of the top commendation awards from the zoo world at a prestigious awards ceremony held at Dublin Zoo. A certificate was presented to Kim Simmons by Mr Simon Tonge the Chairman of BIAZA (British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums).

The award particularly highlights the Zoo’s efforts in maintaining high levels of animal welfare. This award-winning programme demonstrates how modern zoos can be a powerful force for conservation, tackling issues such as species extinction in the wild.

Read on in the 'Lemur Diary'

SNOW LEOPARDS

Centurio jumping

Centurio

Big cat fans will be pleased to know that on 18th April 2007 Snow Leopards returned to Linton after a short absence.

Centurio, born 27th August 2005, has been joined by Lhamo a female born at Dublin zoo on 4th May 2006. Centurio and Lhamo will be part of the International Breeding Programme and will, hopefully, have their own young, in the near future.

Pictures (left) of a young Centurio courtesy of Basel Zoo

LEMURS

Akisa baby white -collared lemur pictured a few days old

Rumble the baby red-ruffed lemur pictured a few weeks old

Catch up with other lemur news by looking at the 'lemur diary'.

HARTMANN'S MOUNTAIN ZEBRA

Goya

Harkim

On 6th April 2007 Goya and Hakim, a pair of Hartmann's Mountain Zebra arrived from Overloon Zoo in Holland.

They settled very quickly and have now been joined by another mare, Heidi, from Marwell zoo. The group will be part of an international breeding programme aimed at saving them from extinction

Hartmann's mountain zebra prefer to live in small groups of up to 12 individuals made up of mares, foals and a dominant stallion. They are agile climbers and are able to live in arid conditions and steep mountainous country.

There are two sub-species of mountain zebra, the Hartmann's mountain zebra and the Cape mountain zebra. The Hartmann's are the largest of the two, they look whiter than the Cape mountain zebras because their black stripes are narrower and more widely spaced, the black stripes on the animals' sides do not meet on the belly.

TORTOISES

The tortoises have done quite well this year. The Sulcata giant tortoises breed every year usually producing between two to twenty babies, this year over forty have hatched from five clutches of eggs. Two pancake tortoises hatched after a ten month incubation and the elongated tortoises also have two babies.

We were very excited when the Aldabra giant tortoises laid an egg, we keep our fingers crossed for a baby later this year. The Indian Starred tortoises surprised us when three of the females laid eggs a few weeks ago. These animals arrived here two years ago as part of a large customs confiscation, the tortoises were in such poor condition due to the traumatic time they had experienced that we really didn't think they would survive, so to get them to egg laying stage is very pleasing indeed.

Baby Sulcata giant tortoises hatch after a 16 week incubation.

A baby Pancake tortoise emerges from its egg after a ten month incubation. Pancake tortoises are so called because they are quite flat and have a soft underside. This enables them to jam themselves into rocky crevices and small holes by crawling and breathing out, protecting themselves from predators. See our hatchlings in the animals house.

AFRICAN LION CUB ZURI

Zuri (Swahili for Handsome) was born at West Midland Safari Park on 3rd July 06. He has been hand reared in the family home and joined Safina born here on 30th November 2005, on 4th March 07. The pair are housed in a fantastic new enclosure. Safina and Zuri produced their first cub Zara on May 13th 2008, making Riziki and Karla grandparents!

AFRICAN LION CUBS

Karla relaxes with her four cubs born on 7th May 2006. Pictured August 2006. This is her second litter and as you can see she has done very well , proving to be the perfect mum this time, these four cubs were placed in a new home and another litter of three girls and a boy were born on 9th June 2007. These have also now gone to their new home at Coomb Martin Wildlife Park and the Wildlife Heritage Foundation in Kent.

For more information about the lions at Linton Zoo see the 'Lion diary'

AMUR TIGER CUBS

The tiger cubs are growing fast This is the third litter of cubs for our pair of tigers Deja and Mirko. These cute and mischievous pair were born on 19th April 2006 and have been named Katinka and Makari. They are part of an International breeding programme aimed at saving them from extinction. On 31st October 2007 Makari moved on to his new home where he will be paired with a female for further breeding. Katinka, Deja and Mirko can still be see at the zoo. You can find out more about our tiger family at the tiger talk.

Learn more about these and previous tigers at Linton Zoo in the 'Tiger diary'

BRAZILIAN TAPIRS - Tela born 3rd March 2005 and Bella born 6th August 2007

On March 3rd 2005 Tanya and Shannon became parents for the eighth time. The new calf, a female was called Tela. All grown up, Tela has now left for a new home and Shannon and Tanya gave birth to yet another healthy baby girl "Bella" on August 6th 2007. You can find out more about our Tapir family at the Tapir talk and feed.


Tela a few hours old	Tela now up on her feet, pictured with mum Tanya	Tanya and Tela ten days old