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Living Coasts – Devon’s coastal zoo – recently announced details of a new conservation project which has been set up on the Falkland Islands to help restore the native landscape. The Falklands – an archipelago of over 750 islands in the South Atlantic – is home to some of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet. … Read more
Living Coasts has welcomed some new arrivals as four bearded reedlings move from Newquay Zoo in Cornwall to the tranquil estuary habitat of its sister zoo in Devon. This small orange-brown bird with a long tail and yellowy-orange bill is found only in small pockets in the UK, mainly in the south and east. The … Read more
Living Coasts, the all-weather attraction located on Torquay seafront in South Devon, is now home to native seahorses. These beautiful, serene and exotic creatures, also known by the Latin hippocampus – meaning “horse caterpillar” – live in the seagrass meadows just offshore in the Bay. Seahorses use their long, thin snouts to probe into nooks and … Read more
A beach at Torquay’s coastal zoo, Living Coasts, is proving to be the perfect location for a very special wading bird. With black and white plumage, long legs and long, thin, curving bills, the pied avocet is an elegant wading bird, thought to be named because of the black patch on its head which resembles … Read more
A seal at Living Coasts in Devon has received crucial medical treatment from South Devon veterinary experts. South American fur seal Grace was first given slow-release implants in 2011 to control her immune system, which causes problems with her eyes. These implants were replaced in September 2014 – and now she has had the procedure again. … Read more
Conservationists in Nigeria supported by a Devon charity have taken the first photographs of chimpanzees in a region not widely recognised for its wildlife. The Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust, which runs Paignton Zoo, Living Coasts and Newquay Zoo, supports conservation work in the forests of South West Nigeria as a partner in the Omo-Shasha-Oluwa (OSO) Forest Initiative. The Initiative … Read more
Living Coasts is moving some precious specimens – but keepers have to make sure they get the box the right way up! The cassiopea, or upside-down jellyfish, lives – as the name suggests – upside down, with its tentacles pointing upwards. Living Coasts Operations Manager Clare Rugg said: “They are found in aquariums but they … Read more
A key local charity has been celebrating the achievements of its volunteers. The dedicated band clocked up the equivalent of 3,000 working days during 2015. The Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust is the charity that runs Paignton Zoo Environmental Park, Living Coasts in Torquay and Newquay Zoo in Cornwall. The charity recently took time to thank … Read more
An injured wading bird has been rescued and given safe haven at Living Coasts in Devon. Torquay’s coastal zoo and aquarium can provide the ideal estuary habitat for the whimbrel, now thought to be the only one in a public zoological collection in the UK. The adult female bird was found on a roadside in … Read more
Attractions across the UK are marking 50 years of the IUCN’s Red List. Many are involved in conserving endangered species such as the Sumatran tiger pictured. Why not explore the conservation efforts in the UK on a visit? One of the attractions in the UK marking the milestone is Paignton Zoo, part of the international breeding … Read more
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