southern Sudan and southern Ethiopia, south along eastern Africa, as far as Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi, before spreading into most southern African countries.
Status:
Near Threatened
Quick Fact:
Each zebra has a unique stripe pattern that can be recognised by other family members!
L'hoest monkeys have a white ruff that frames the face with distinctive deep set orange eyes. Their bodies are black and have long legs which are grizzled with grey. They have a chestnut coloured “saddle” at the base of their back.
Hunting dogs, also known as painted dogs each have their own unique coat pattern, with big round ears. Unlike other dogs hunting dogs only have only four toes per foot.
Hunting dogs are threatened by shrinking space to roam in their African home. They are also quite susceptible to diseases spread by domestic animals.
A fully grown fennec fox only weighs around 1kg and they are the smallest of all the foxes.
The fennec fox's unusually large ears, which can be up to 15cm long, are an adaptation to help them lose heat in the hot desert and to help locate their prey.
Mammals
Black and White Ruffed Lemur ( Varecia verigata variegata)
The blue duiker gets its name from the bluish hairs on its back. Duiker is a Dutch Afrikaans word, meaning to dive, referring to the duiker’s tendency to dive into dense cover when startled.
These lemurs get their names from the ‘crown’ marking above their eye line. The male lemur is a brown colour with grey underparts and a black crown, while the female is grey with cream underparts and an orange crown.
With their 45-centimetre prehensile, black tongue the giraffe can eat up to 134 kilograms of leaves a day! We have a group of pure-bred reticulated giraffes, all females.
Don't miss the daily feed times where you can get the unique opportunity to hand feed the giraffes yourself!
Mammals
Southern White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum)
Near Threatened and listed on Apppendix I of CITES
Quick Fact:
The white rhinoceros is the largest of the five rhinoceros’ species and one of the world’s biggest land animals. We have a group of five White Rhinos; three females and two males. Our group of Rhinos are part of the ESB breeding programme
Colchester Zoo's charity, Action for the Wild supports rhino conservation in South Africa raising funds for the equipment need to protect both white and black rhinos.
Vulnerable and listed on Appendix II on the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS or Bonn Convention). Listed in Appendix I of CITES in 1989, but the populations of the following Range States have since been transferred back to Appendix II: Botswana (1997), Namibia (1997), South Africa (2000) and Zimbabwe (1997)
Quick Fact:
The largest recorded African elephant weighed an impressive ten tonnes. The African elephant’s brain is bigger than that of any other animal with the skull making up 25% of its body weight.
The lion has been characterised as fearsome, courageous and majestic, the lion’s strength and ferocity has earned it the title of ‘King of the Beasts’ in many cultures.
The mandrill is not only the largest monkey in the world, but it is also one of the most distinctive, with their extremely striking face, with a red stripe down the nose and blue flanges framing it.
Our mandrill troop at Colchester Zoo have a very successful breeding record, with offspring born yearly.
West and central sub Saharan Africa to northern South Africa and Madagascar.
Status:
Least concern
Quick Fact:
Instantly recognisable for its bright rufous fur, the red river hog is undoubtedly the most strikingly coloured of all wild pigs
We have a group of red river hogs here at Colchester Zoo. These wild species of pig are also known as bushpigs. They have a bristly coat, which can vary from reddish to greyish-brown, and they have a white mane running down their backs. They also have 2 overgrown teeth which protrude out of their mouths as tusks.
Southern Africa including Angola, Namibia and South Africa
Status:
Least concern
Quick Fact:
Meerkats communicate by using a variety of calls to signal certain situations such as being lost, alarm calls, pup feeding calls, guarding calls and foraging calls.
Found throughout sub-Saharan Africa with the exception of the Congo rainforests and the far south
Status:
Least concern
Encounter:
15:00
Quick Fact:
We have had previous successful births with our spotted hyena and hope to be able to help maintain the population of this species within the captive environment.
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