Blackpool Zoo

Anteater Enrichment

Happy World Anteater Day! 🐾 Our giant anteaters are diving snout-first into their new enrichment device! 😋 Designed by a student at Edge Hill University, this enrichment device is part of a research project that explores the impact of enrichment on anteater behaviour. For more information regarding research opportunities at the zoo, please contact [email protected]

Orangutan Frame

The orangutans’ new climbing frames seem to be a hit with the group! 🦧 Thanks again to @Team Building with BITE for building these fantastic structures, designed to encourage the orangutans to stay active and strong by promoting movement and muscle use. It also gives them a chance to engage their natural foraging instincts by hiding food in pouches scattered throughout the frames. 📹 Keeper Darren

Did you know that a lion's roar can be heard up to five miles away and hit an impressive 114 decibels? 🦁 Apologies to our surrounding neighbours for any early morning wake-up roars 😅 📹 Alison Allen

Happy Halloween 👻 We're skipping the tricks and getting straight to the fang-tastic pumpkin treats! 🎃

Lion Training

The keeper team uses positive reinforcement training to encourage behaviours that allow the animals to actively participate in their own health checks. This training reduces stress and helps the keepers and veterinary team conduct routine health checks safely, even with large predators like lions! 🦁 In this session, keeper Adam is working with Narla, one of the female lions, motivating her to cooperate by offering meaty treats as rewards 😋 This training gives the team access to conduct essential medical checks, such as blood draws, general body inspections and more, while creating a calm and positive experience for the animals. Narla, like all the animals, has full control over the session and can decide to stop or walk away whenever she chooses. These are the initial stages of training that enable keepers to build a strong foundation on which to build a greater behavioural repertoire for health monitoring of the big cats, and help to build a strong sense of trust between them and the keepers.

If you visited the zoo yesterday, you may have heard reports of an escaped animal. We can confirm that the rumors are true, but don't worry, it was all part of a drill. The escaped kangaroo was actually our Animal Registrar dressed in a costume! This exercise, organised by our Health and Safety Manager, was part of a routine animal escape drill. Just like schools and businesses run regular fire drills, we conduct these drills to make sure all staff are fully prepared in the rare event that an animal escapes its habitat. We’re happy to report the "escapee" was safely returned to its "habitat," and no staff, visitors, animals, or costumed kangaroos were harmed in the process!

Lemurs

Summer may be over, but our lemurs are still striking their 'yoga' poses to soak up the autumn sun! 🌞 They use the warmth to heat their bellies and regulate their body temperature, especially on cooler mornings.

Gen z writes marketing script

Our Ops manager, Ian, understood the assignment... slay 💅

Today we're celebrating National Wildlife Day 🐧🦁🐾 With over 1,000 incredible animals in our care, our focus on education, conservation, and research is at the very heart of all we do. We're dedicated to conserving the natural world, and we hope it inspires you to join us in making a difference.

Our lilac-breasted roller is very demure, very mindful ✨