Blackpool Zoo
Blackpool Zoo logo
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| Date opened | 1972 |
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| Location | Blackpool, Lancashire, England |
| Coordinates | 53°48′56″N 3°0′46″W / 53.81556°N 3.01278°WCoordinates: 53°48′56″N 3°0′46″W / 53.81556°N 3.01278°W |
| Land area | 32 acres (13 ha) |
| Number of animals | 1500 |
| Website | www |
Blackpool Zoo is a 32-acre (13 ha) zoo, owned by Parques Reunidos and located in the sea-side resort of Blackpool, Lancashire, England. It provides a home to over 1,500 animals from all over the world. The zoo has recently changed ownership twice – once in 2003, and again in 2007, resulting in continued investment each year.
The zoo opened in 1972. The site had previously been Stanley Park Aerodrome.
2005 saw the opening of the 'Dinosaur Safari', a walkthrough exhibition featuring models of 32 life-size dinosaurs around a trail. "Amazonia" opened in 2006. This is a walk-through enclosure of South American animals and birds including squirrel monkeys.
Giraffes were re-introduced to the zoo in 2008, after an absence of fourteen years, and over £0.5m was invested in the new giraffe house and pens.
In summer 2009, penguins were to be added to the list of animals at the zoo, with the arrival of twenty Magellanic penguins from two Spanish conservation centres. A£1m sealion pool was opened in May 2010 along with the addition of a male sealion from Spain. 2011 saw the opening of a new Children's Farm and the expansion and refurbishment of the main restaurant.
Reopened in 2014, following a £1 million transformation, Orangutan Outlook is home to four Bornean orangutans - a male named Ramon and three females; Vicky, Cherie and Summer.
Blackpool Zoo has kept Asian elephants since the late 1970s, the first of which being two young females named Kate and Crumple, who originally came from Sri Lanka. Initially, the elephants shared their enclosure with giraffes and rhinoceros, but these species were removed to make room for two more elephants, Marcella and Indra, who were rescued from a bankrupt European circus. The zoo is currently home to one elephant, Kate, and are working on plans for a new elephant facility, to eventually house a breeding herd. The indoor area of the Elephant House contains the majority of the zoo's reptile, amphibian, invertebrate and fish collections. These include yacare caimans, poison dart frogs, green anacondas and red-bellied piranhas, among several others.
Opened in 2000, Gorilla Mountain is home to five western lowland gorillas: a silverback male named Bukavu, three females named Miliki, Njema and Meisie (the daughter of Bukavu and Miliki, who was born in 2010) and a young male named Moanda (who is the son of Bukavu and Njema and was born in 2012).
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