Latest Zoo Stories

A study in the U.S.-based journal Science suggests female elephants living in in Africa and Asia live longer than those in European zoos. Researchers, led by Georgia Mason of the University of Guelph in Ontario, said a study of data on more than 4,500 Asian and African elephants from Amboseli National Park in Kenya, the Myanma Timber Enterprise in Burma and European zoos shows being born into a zoo, being moved between zoos and the possible loss of their mothers puts animals at particular...

Elephants living in zoos have shorter lives than their wild counterparts, according to a new study that will most certainly stir debate about their captive situations. Researchers compared the life spans of elephants in European zoos with those living in Amboseli National Park in Kenya and others working on a timber enterprise in Myanmar. Animals in the wild or in natural working conditions had life spans twice that or more of their relatives in zoos.The new findings were published in the...

The Christmas ornaments handcrafted out of reindeer dung come with a certificate of authenticity from the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington, Ill., the zoo says. The ornaments sold at the zoo gift shop for $5 are made of dried chunks collected by zoo employees and then clear-coated or rolled in glitter. Each one is unique. They are each a work of art, Marketing Director Susie Ohley told the Bloomington (Ill.) Pantagraph. The newspaper said Friday that while reindeer are not small animals, their...

In a zoo in northern Japan, handlers of a popular polar bear were in for a surprise when they brought him in to mate with a female and found that he, was in fact, a she.Masako Inoue, a zookeeper at the Kushiro Municipal Zoo, said that four year old Tsuyoshi, a 441 lb. polar bear, had been living in harmony with a female polar bear since June."We thought he was a male, so we never had any doubts as we took care of him," she said."But one day we realized that the two bears...

A 32-year-old man, who jumped into a moat setting off three white tigers at a zoo in Singapore, died Thursday after being attacked by the animals, police said. The victim was identified as a Malaysian contract worker, Channel NewsAsia reported. Police said zoo keepers, who heard the commotion, entered the area to distract the tigers to rescue the man, the report said. The man, who sustained neck injuries, was later pronounced dead. Police are investigating the incident and zoo authorities...

Georgia's Zoo Atlanta has announced the death of a pregnant 26-year-old African elephant. The zoo said the elephant, Dottie, died Monday during the third trimester of her first pregnancy, WSB-TV in Atlanta reported Tuesday. Zoo officials said veterinarians first noticed irregularities with the protein levels in the elephant's blood Oct. 10 and she then lost nearly 800 pounds in only 11 days. The officials said zookeepers tried to treat the unknown infection with antibiotics but Dottie died...

Big changes are nothing new for the world-famous Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. First came the creation of a brand new water park, Zoombezi Bay. Then a new ride area, Jungle Jack's landing. And most recently, the groundbreaking for Polar Frontier, a 13-acre exhibit that will bring polar bears back to Columbus. But perhaps the most surprising change of all is this: After 81 years, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is changing its name. For two weekends in October, anyway. Columbus Mayor...

Tourism at a zoo in Attleboro, Mass., has increased substantially since a rare white lion was imported to the site from South Africa, a zoo official says. Capron Park Zoo director Jean Benchimol said the presence of Ramses the lion has been a boon for the tourist site since the endangered animal was delivered from a South African zoo last December, The Boston Globe said Wednesday. Benchimol said since she first arrived at the zoo in 2005 from Victoria, Texas, she and the rest of the zoo's...

By Jerome Taylor A Pounds 70m plan to create one of the world's most radical zoos on the outskirts of Bristol is set to do for wildlife what the Eden Project did for plantlife. Jerome Taylor reports Walking through the thick jungle canopy of the Aceh rainforests, a troop of jealously territorial gibbons calls out from the tree tops with shouts that can be heard more than a kilometre away. Down past a row of traditional stilted long houses and beyond a seismic chasm, a family of critically...

By Kathy Marks Rare Australian animals perish after seven-year-old goes on killing spree STAFF AT a popular zoo in central Australia were in shock after a seven-year-old boy broke in overnight, bludgeoned a range of animals to death, and fed them to the resident crocodile, Terry. The boy also hurled a number of live creatures into the crocodile's enclosure, where they too, were consumed. The 30-minute killing spree was captured by security cameras, which showed the boy smiling during...