ZOO OFFICIAL GUIDEBOOK 1 1. Tree Shrews INTRODUCTION 2. Meerkats 2 3. Polecats 4. Mammal Room 2 4 5. Kitchen 3 6. Herptile Room 7. Classroom 5 8. Rabbits 9. Kinkajous 1 Marmosets I have always been obsessed by animals, and of cases it has done just that); women’s football 10. Kinkajou & Bird House by zoos. I believe, unequivocally, with absolute may not receive the attention which is given 2 Meerkats 6 11. African birds certainty, that we are improved as people if we to that played by men, but our girls team have 3 Polecats 8 12. Squirrel Monkeys have contact with, and appreciation of, animals. It shown that their sport is every bit as important as 13. Ring-tailed Lemurs I is, therefore, the culmination of a personal dream that played by our boys. And the investment and 4 Mammal Room 14. Primate House to see the development of a small zoo at Bede’s. attention we have given to the Legat School has 7 5 Kitchen 15. Dormice allowed many, many girls and boys to flourish in Having a zoo at Bede’s is, I think, the apotheosis 19 ways that would not have been possible at schools 6 Herptile Room 9 16. Chipmunks of what this school is all about. Bede’s is a school where there was no such commitment to dance. 17. Owls which thrives on doing things differently, on 7 Classroom 18. Aviary focusing on things that might not be obvious, and And our school zoo, in which a small but 8 Rabbits 19. Entrance/Exit allowing them to flourish. significant number of pupils study and a greater 10 number come in order to benefit from being able 15 It is important, of course, to get the mainstream 9 Kinkajous to spend time with animals, is the embodiment things right – we wouldn’t be much of a school if of our belief that all pupils should be given the 10 Kinkajou & Bird House our English Department was poor, or our cricket opportunity to find their niche, to find the areas 11 side didn’t take things seriously – but it is 11 African birds in which they can excel, and feel at home. As a 16 equally important to allow the possibly esoteric, school, we are enormously lucky to have such a 12 Squirrel Monkeys the apparently marginal, to flourish. Because, of facility in our midst. 13 Ring-tailed Lemurs course, what is marginal or esoteric to most will be central and fundamental to some. John Tuson 14 Primate House 17 12 For those who undertake Ceramics as a GCSE or A Academic Deputy Head 15 Dormice Level course, for example, their work with clay will 18 16 Chipmunks possibly shape their future lives (and in a number 17 Aviary 14 18 Owls 19 Entrance/Exit 13 19 3 MAMMALS We aim to keep a varied KINKAJOU Why do we keep Squirrel Monkeys? Busy, RING-TAILED LEMUR Why do we keep Tree Shrews? Tree Shrews are Potos flavus intelligent, active – Squirrel Monkeys are excellent fascinating animals, but, lacking showy appeal cross-section of mammal animals to be able to care for, and also to observe. Lemur catta and sometimes elusive, they are not maintained in species, providing pupils This South and Central American relative of the Our animals present constant challenge to those The Ring-tailed Lemur is possibly the best-known many zoos. We are proud to be able to keep such an Raccoon is well-adapted for a life in the trees: it is an who care for them, who must strive to make sure that of all the lemur species. However, despite its unusual species at Bede’s. excellent climber (thanks in large part to its prehensile the monkeys’ life is stimulating and ever-changing. success in captivity, it is struggling in its native with different husbandry Tree Shrews at Bede’s We inherited our original Tree tail) and eats a diet composed mainly of fruit (figs Squirrel Monkeys at Bede’s Our monkeys are an Madagascar, where as few as 2,000 remain in the Shrews – a mother and her daughter – from Drusillas challenges whilst also are a favourite). The Kinkajou is primarily active in all-male group; they came to us in the summer wild. Thus the need to manage a successful zoo Zoo, in 2011. Over the coming months, we intend to the evening, and, in the wild, its time is split between of 2018, from Bristol Zoo, where they had been population of this species is acute. presenting an attractive and eating, resting and moving from tree to tree. add some birds to the Tree Shrew enclosure. bred and where there was a need to reduce the Why do we keep Ring-tailed Lemurs? Gentle, interesting collection. Why do we keep Kinkajous? Because they are size of the group maintained. They have settled engaging, intelligent – it is no surprise that Ring- EUROPEAN POLECAT beautiful, interesting and charismatic animals, in to their home in Sussex quite brilliantly and are tailed Lemurs are such popular animals in zoos. Our which provide us with various challenges – how constantly active and busy. two sisters no longer got on with the rest of their family Mustela putorius best to keep an animal which is asleep for much of group at The Wild Place Zoo, near Bristol; we were This widespread animal is found through most of the day? How to stimulate such intelligent animals, COMMON MARMOSET delighted to be able to offer them a home in Sussex. Europe, and as far as south as Morocco. In the keeping them active and engaged? Callithrix jacchus Ring-tailed Lemurs at Bede’s Our lemurs came wild, its favourite foods are frogs and toads – so, Kinkajous at Bede’s Our three Kinkajous – one These small South American primates are vocal, to us in the summer of 2018. Now that they are not surprisingly, it usually lives close to water. male, two females – came to us from a private active, social creatures. In the UK, they are still established at Bede’s, we hope to bring in further The Polecat is the ancestor of the domestic collection, in 2014. They are quite old animals, and widely held as ‘pets’, often in woefully inadequate animals – either more Ring-tailed Lemurs, or Ferret, although these wild animals would so it is unlikely they will breed; however, plentiful conditions. possibly another Madagascan species. certainly not take kindly to be being put down a Yorkshireman’s trousers. environmental enrichment means that they are kept Why do we keep Marmosets? For a number of constantly busy. reasons! Our pair were being kept by an incompetent BELANGER’S TREE SHREW Why do we keep Polecats? Our Polecats are part owner: living in an old-fashioned bird cage, and highly Tupaia belangeri of reintroduction programme, with young animals COMMON SQUIRREL MONKEY obese, they were not in good shape when we received Found throughout south-east Asia, as far north as bred at Bede’s helping to boost the wild population them from a primate sanctuary. Not only did they Saimiri sciureus southern China, the Belanger’s Tree Shrew is part of of these attractive carnivores. need a home, but we needed experience of keeping The large head of this small monkey is indicative a once-misunderstood family. They are not shrews, Polecats at Bede’s We first received a pair of Marmosets, in the hope that in the future we will be of its intelligence: squirrel monkeys are inquisitive, Polecats from Shepreth Wildlife Park in 2014; since able to maintain a rarer species. nor are they squirrels (the name of their family, adaptable animals, which has enabled them to Tupaiidae, comes from the Malay word for squirrel), then, we have bred 10 kits. Our current pair consists of flourish in a variety of environments. Small groups Marmosets at Bede’s Since arriving at Bede’s in nor are they the “primitive primates” they were once a male who was born in 2016, and a female who was have established themselves in Florida – a long 2019, our pair of Marmosets have lost weight, become considered to be. And they don’t really live in trees. caught in a farmer’s trap, before being rescued. way from their natural home, in the Amazon Basin. a great deal more active and look to be enjoying life. 4 5 MAMMALS We are also able to SIBERIAN CHIPMUNK insurance adverts, have cemented their place in the HAZEL DORMOUSE DOMESTIC RABBIT Eutamias sibiricus public’s affection. participate in several Why do we keep Meerkats? Despite their near- Muscardinus avellanarius Oryctolagus cuniculus domesticus breeding programmes for There are about 25 different species of Chipmunk; ubiquity in British zoos, Meerkats are hugely The Hazel Dormouse is found throughout much this is the only one found outside North America. popular. However, they do provide husbandry of Europe, but its British population has fallen DOMESTIC GUINEA PIG endangered species, as Since the 1960s, released populations of these challenges – not least because of their complex markedly in recent years. Hibernating through Cavia porcellus attractive ground squirrels have established social structures, which mean that some zoos are the winter, the Dormouse earns it reputation for Two of the most popular domesticated species to well as providing a home themselves in mainland Europe – to the possible compelled to maintain several different groups. laziness – although, come the spring, it is active detriment of native species. be found in homes in the UK – kept mainly, now, for for animals that have been By taking on these animals, we are helping zoos and busy, albeit largely nocturnal.