Twycross Zoo

Twycross Zoo (visited in July)

Our closest relative in the ape world

Daddy Gorilla on Patrol

One of our first jaunts of the summer holidays was a trip to Twycross Zoo, it has been on our to do list for some time.  The first revelation was how easy it is to get to, for us just a trip straight up the A5 - just about an hour from MK.  The other bonus is that it is only a couple of miles from Bosworth Battlefiled Site so there is a full day of activities within a short distance.  We've been to Bosworth before and there is about an hour and a half of activity to do there.

Baby Meerkat

Sleeping Prarie Dogs

Twycross Zoo is a centre for primates, which made it very appealing as we were going to see everything from the biggest apes to the tiny tamarinds and primates are so very appealing.  Easy to find and lots of parking, we had also prepared a lovely picnic and so had our elevenses when we arrived and then packed our lunch to enjoy whilst we were walking around.  A quick visit to the loo on arrival presented an unusual treat which was leaf ants behind glass near the hand basins - watching them doing their work, whilst washing hands was amazing.

Giant tortoise - this picture in no way indicates its size

Emperor Tamarind

HUGE sea lion

We saw a variety of primates the Orang Utan, Chimps, Gibbons, Bonobo (our nearest relative!) and the magnificent Gorilla, Lemurs, monkeys, marmosets and tamarinds.

An unusual ape - the Jamie!!

The elephant area is worth a wander as it is a recreation of their natural home in Sri Lanka.  We saw a variety of other animals - Mike was blown away by the Giraffes, I liked the Dholes (similar to our fox but the Asian equivalent), the meerkats and prairie dogs were popular with us all too.  Sadly we didn't see the Snow Leopard as it was pretty warm and we think he didn't want to come out!!

Love the meerkats

Do the Funky Gibbon

These made Jamie jump as they jumped out of the undergrowth near him!!

Baby Gorilla

A sleeping Dhole

There were also one or two big surprises such as the giant tortoise and the male sea lion which was quite simply enormous and most certainly not to be messed with and the real treat of the day was the baby gorilla with its Mum whilst Dad was on patrol.  A brilliant day.

Ciao
Sue
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