Chester Zoo – Good news for animal conservation

For the first time in its nearly 90-year history, Chester Zoo has recorded the highest number of animals! This is amazing news for the charity's conservation efforts, as it continues to protect the future of threatened species. 

Welcome little one; photo courtesy of Chester Zoo

The annual headcount revealed that the wildlife conservation charity is home to a grand total of 35,139 animals from more than 500 of the world's rarest species. The site is home to:

• 1571 mammals
• 1759 birds
• 339 reptiles
• 677 amphibians
• 6739 fish
• 24,054 insects

Last year saw many breeding successes, which resulted in thousands of births and hatchings at the zoo, including a critically endangered West African chimpanzee, an Eastern bongo calf, a Sumatran orang-utan, and thousands of rare Bermudian snails.

Mother and baby; photo courtesy of Chester Zoo

"The huge new figure is an absolute credit to our teams, who are working incredibly hard to prevent the extinction of a multitude of species. The data gathered will help to form future plans of international breeding programmes for the world's most endangered species."  

Mike Jordan, Chester Zoo's Director of Animals and Plant Collections 

The site also welcomed a host of new species to its state-of-the-art habitats, including three new lemur species, fossa (Madagascar's cat-like carnivore), and the world's most threatened small carnivore, the Grandidier's Vontsira.

A Grandidier's Vontsira; photo courtesy of Chester Zoo

This news comes as 2019 saw a record two million visitors pass through the zoo's gates: especially encouraging after the devastating fire at the end of 2018. The income generated enables the zoo to make a hugely positive impact on wildlife through its carefully-managed breeding programmes and it's field project in more than 30 countries worldwide. Some of the projects undertaken last year include: helping return five critically endangered Eastern black rhinos to an area of Rwanda where they were previously extinct; carrying out the world's first radio tagging of a giant pangolin, one of the world's most trafficked animals, to gather data of their movements in Uganda; bred hundreds of endangered large heath butterflies ready to release this year in Manchester's mosslands.

Here's hoping that 2020 is just as successful for Chester Zoo and conservation efforts.

A world where every whale and dolphin is safe and free

In today's post, we take a look at Whale & Dolphin Conservation, an organisation undertaking some amazing work, helping some amazing animals.

Minke can sometimes be seen off Dorset's Jurassic Coast.

Being situated along Dorset's Jurassic Coast, many H&H staffers are used to seeing dolphins and porpoises … you may even be lucky enough to see Minke and Long-finned pilot whales, around the Lyme Bay area. In the last few years, some of our local harbours have had 'summer residencies,' with a dolphin or two deciding to stay and enjoy the warm seas and watch our antics.

So, in a change to spotlighting a land-based charity, we thought we'd focus on a charity that deals with marine mammals. Dedicated to the protection of cetaceans throughout the world's oceans, Whale & Dolphin Conservation (WDC) has become a true authority on these animals.

The critically endangered Vaquita.

WDC aims to make the world a place where every dolphin, whale, and porpoise is safe and free. Established in 1987, it has grown to become a leading NGO in this field, operating globally from offices in the UK, North America, Latin America, Australia and Germany.

As with all charities, its work is pretty varied, and, aside from the usual campaigns to engage the public and raise awareness, it carries out vital field work and research, as well as education and outreach programmes to ensure that people are aware of the threats faced by these animals. Public awareness is vital, of course, but so is communicating the science behind its work, and a large part of WDC's work involves advising governments on the latest scientific findings, and fighting attempts to restart commercial whaling, stopping the practice of keeping cetaceans in captivity, banning the trade in whale meat, and managing marine environments to create protected areas … enough to keep them pretty busy, as you can imagine.

A Blue Whale – Balaenoptera musculus. Looks pretty musculus to me.

WDC Kidzone. Not just for kids.

Unsurprisingly, WDC's work covers many areas, so there's no better place to explore its work, and see its latest projects in action, than on the WDC website. You can also learn about the 80-plus species of whale, dolphin, and porpoise that make up the cetacean 'family' – from the highly endangered, 1.4m Vaquita, to the mind-blowingly enormous 29m Blue Whale. If you've children, checkout the WDC Kidzone … not only is it a great introduction to the issues confronting our seas and cetaceans, but there are also plenty of fun facts and activities. In fact, it's a pretty good place for adults to learn stuff, too.

Download your own 
colour-and-keep mobile!

For all you teachers out there, you can download resources and activities for your students, too – from the award-winning Dolphin Diploma initiative, to colouring sheets, cutout-and-keep mobiles, and education packs.

Of course, all charities need supporters, and there are plenty of ways you can help the WDC to help these animals. From whale or dolphin adoptions, to sponsored walks, swims (of course), and even an Icelandic trek, to name a few. Or, of course, if you're more of an 'armchair participant,' you can make a donation to help WDC. And no charity would be complete without an online shop.

If you're more of a 'days out' person, then the WDC Scottish Dolphin Centre at Spey Bay should most definitely be on your bucket list. From land-based dolphin watching, wildlife walks, and other events and activities, to an interactive exhibition that lets you control dolphin and river cams … all without getting your feet wet! There's plenty of gifts, too, and a café so you can refuel … or why not check out the recommended places to stay, and make an adventure of it! You can even volunteer and help with the Centre's vital work. In the words of Simon King OBE;

"Scotland is one of the best land-based dolphin-watching hot spots in the world"

… and there's nowhere better placed for a spot of cetacean spotting than the Scottish Dolphin Centre.

Keep up-to-date with the latest news and goings-on at Whale & Dolphin Conservation on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube …