Meet Newquay Zoo’s latest arrivals!

Whilst the doors to Newquay Zoo have remained closed since January 5th, they have welcomed a bunch of new arrivals.

On February 24th two Visayan warty pigs arrived – one male from Yorkshire Wildlife Park called Randy and one female from Bristol Zoo called Ada. The zoo was already home to two female warty pigs, Dilang and her offspring May, but has welcomed the new pair to create a breeding group. Visayan warty pigs are classified as Critically Endangered, with sadly what is thought to be fewer than 200 left in the wild. Newquay Zoo is part of the captive breeding programme for Visayan warty pigs to try and save this species from becoming extinct.

Deputy Curator John Meek, “We have begun to introduce our newest arrivals Randy and Ada to the rest of the group, this will take a little while before they are fully integrated, however once they are we are very hopeful that they will successfully breed so that we can contribute towards the captive breeding programme for this species.”

A slender loris was born on 23rd February to parents Ribke and Sheldon. They are both experienced parents having given birth to 5 youngsters over the years at the zoo. Slender loris are a nocturnal species and known for their distinct large eyes. Classified as a primate, they are native to southern and eastern India and Sri Lanka, however the wild population is on the decline due to 97% of their tropical rainforest habitat lost.

A Goeldi’s monkey was born on 1st March to parents Tao and Japura. This is their second youngster after their first was born just before the first lockdown in March 2020. The breeding of Goeldi’s monkey is very important for the captive breeding programme as they are classified as Vulnerable. Unlike other callithrichids, Goeldi’s monkeys will only have one offspring at a time and the parents will share rearing responsibilities.

Newquay Zoo has been closed since January 5th as a result of the third national lockdown to combat the spread of coronavirus. They will be reopening their gates and welcoming guests back from Monday 12th April, subject to the roadmap guidance at the time.