The first photo on my phone is of me looking at a Linnaeus's two-toed sloth (Choloepus didactylus) at Twycross Zoo. It was 2014, my birthday, and the first visit to Twycross which I can still remember. The sloth was a particular highlight of the visit as I had recently watched the Animal Planet documentary "Meet the Sloths" and become somewhat obsessed with them. I've since visited the zoo countless times over the past ten years, and it would be fair to say I'm quite attached. Certainly it has been instrumental in my love for zoos and animals. That's why I've settled on it as my first zoo review for Devilled Toads, and though I'll try my best to give an impartial overview, I will admit I'm slightly biased in its favour.

Twycross Zoo (website here) is a 100-acre site on the Leicestershire/Warwickshire border, currently home to over 100 animals. It was first opened on Sunday 26th May 1963 and was the first female-founded zoo in the UK. Those founders were Molly Badham MBE and Natalie Evans, who before joining forces had previously been rival pet shop owners. If you're interested in their story, I can recommend the book Molly's Zoo, which was written by Molly and Natalie, along with Maureen Lawless. It is worth acknowledging that Twycross has a controversial past as it provided trained chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) for the infamous Brooke Bond (PG Tips) tea commericals. The zoo's association with PG Tips ended in 1977 and today the zoo's management are very clear that Twycross no longer supports the use of chimpanzees in entertainment.

Modern Twycross is best known for its extensive primate collection. Bonobos (Pan paniscus) arrived at the zoo in 1992, a first for the UK at the time. At the time of writing, Twycross remains the only UK zoo with all four great apes. Many of the zoo's conservation partners also have a primate focus, including Ape Action Africa, Wildtracks, and Borneo Nature Foundation.

Upon arrival at Twycross, you'll be headed straight to the Himalaya Centre. While walking over you might notice a strange structure outside, and if you find yourself thing 'that looks a bit like an aviary', you'd be right. It used to be an aviary housing wading birds which was viewable from the toilets in the Himalaya Centre. This brings to mind the famous Expedition Peru women's restrooms at Nashville Zoo, which has a floor to ceiling glass window onto a cotton top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus) enclosure. I would welcome Twycross bringing back the aviary, but even if they did, the highlight of the Himalaya Centre will always be the snow leopard (Panthera uncia) enclosure.

I think there's a strong argument for this being the best snow leopard enclosure in the UK. You can see into their enclosure via the window which takes up the entire back wall of the building, and there's plenty of seating so you can take it all in. The View Restaurant serves mostly pizza and pasta, but I've not eaten from it in years, and in my experience it never seems especially popular. I prefer to return here halfway through the day, grab a hot chocolate from the Costa kiosk and drink it watching the snow leopards. 

My main criticism of this building is that it contains a children's soft play area which means it is always noisy. I also think this might be why The View Restaurant does not seem very successful, when it could have been possible for Twycross to turn it into a very expensive high-end restaurant. Nevertheless, I do like that the Himalaya Centre can be enjoyed by all visitors - in fact, it is located before the zoo's ticket gates and so can be accessed for free. I also understand that for people with children, the large soft play area (for an extra charge) will be a positive.

The Himalaya Centre also contains the zoo's main gift shop. I like that there's always different stock whenever I visit, and though it's primarily geared towards children, I've found things to buy for myself on multiple occasions.

Once you're through the ticket barriers, I can recommend heading straight for Gibbon Forest. If you're there early enough, you might be lucky to hear the gibbons dueting. Last time I visited, a pair of silvery gibbons (Hylobates moloch) had just moved into to one of the enclosures, the first new primate species at Twycross in over ten years. Their singing was causing quite a stir among the other species in Gibbon Forest, particularly the agile gibbons (Hylobates agilis). Mated gibbons will sing a duet song in the morning which is thought to be a way to communicate the boundaries of their territory to neighbouring individuals. A study by Clarke et al. (2006) on lar gibbons (Hylobates lar) suggested that they also sing to protect themselves from predation.

Gibbon Forest is my favourite part of the zoo. It was built in 2016 and can house four species of gibbon - currently the aforementioned silvery and agile gibbons, along with northern white-cheeked (Nomascus leucogenys) and pileated gibbons (Hylobates pileatus). The silvery gibbon enclosure used to be home to siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus) but they have now been moved back to their old enclosure near the Amur leopards (Panthera pardus orientalis). The enclosures here are outstanding, with each speices given a large indoor and outdoor space full of structures for climbing and swinging. The female pileated gibbon, Valentina, is my favourite individual animal at any zoo. She can be recognised by her slight overbite, for which I nickname her 'Snaggle Tooth'. She recently had a baby girl who is just as charismatic as her mother.

Twycross doesn't have much in the way of reptiles and amphibians, but you can find a couple here, including Chapa bug-eyed frogs (Theloderma bicolor) and Chinese crocodile lizards (Shinisaurus crocodilurus). You can also find another of the zoo's recent arrivals here, the golden-eyed stick insect (Peruphasma schultei). Gibbon Forest is themed as a research station, with signage teaching visitors about how scientists study and conserve gibbons. Twycross also supports Flora and Fauna, which in 2002 discovered a population of the Cao vit gibbon (Nomascus nasutus), which was thought to have gone extinct. It now works to protect this Critically Endangered species.

In the area around Gibbon Forest are several more primate enclosures. Here and across the zoo the primate enclosures are often generic: the same design rotated to fit the space. Species in this area include François langur (Trachypithecus francoisi), Columbian black spider monkey (Ateles fusciceps rufiventris), and De Brazza's monkey (Ceropithecus neglectus).

I think of Twycross as having three outstanding spaces which have been built in the last decade. The first of these developments was Gibbon Forest; the second is Chimpanzee Eden. This opened in 2018 and is an excellent space for chimpanzees, again I'd make the argument for it being one of the best in the UK, though I might be biased as some of my lecturers were involved in its design. I will admit that in terms of visitor experience, a lot of the space is narrow and can quickly become congested, especially in front of the viewing windows. However, in terms of providing a space to encourage chimpanzees to engage in natural behaviours, Chimpanzee Eden is outstanding.

The zoo prides itself on being home to all four great apes, but I think it could do more to showcase them. The western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) enclosure is adequate, but the viewing area becomes very crowded, even on quiet days. The outdoor space is also very much lacking in shaded cover for this forest species. The bonobos were moved into the old chimpanzee house, but sadly feel tucked away and easy to miss. This is a shame given that many visitors will never have seen, or possibly even heard of, bonobos before. The Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) will be getting a much-needed new enclosure when the National Science and Conservation Centre is built. This new development should hopefully be opening next year and is intended to become a centre for academic research on animal welfare and conservation, with lecture theatres, classrooms, and laboratories. Currently, however, I feel the orangutans lack climbing space, something essential for a species that naturally spends so much time in the trees,

Despite these criticisms, I do acknowledge that Twycross is limited in terms of its funding, and I believe it is taking good steps in the right direction.

On a more positive note, the final outstanding space is the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) enclosure, which opened in 2019. It's a great space for the tigers, large and full of enrichment and places to hide, though I do think it has been somewhat overshadowed by other recently built tiger enclosures, like Tiger Tropics at West Midlands Safari Park. I personally have rarely seen the tigers outside, but I've seen plenty of footage of them walking over the glass tunnel that forms the centrepiece of their enclosure, so it must happen.

This area of the zoo is also worth noting for The Catch Fish and Chips, which is where I always eat if I'm not bringing a picnic. It's very expensive, but that's not surprising for zoo food, and it's some of the best fish and chips I've had away from the coast. The curry sauce is suprisingly excellent, with a slight satay taste. I recommend getting here early as Twycross is somewhat lacking in good food outlets, so The Catch quickly fills up.

The rest of the zoo doesn't merit writing about in quite the same level of detail. It generally has a traditional 'British zoo' feeling to it. The Eastern black rhino (Diceros bicornis michaeli) are kept in the former Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) enclosure. The elephants were moved to Blackpool Zoo in 2018, something I very strongly believe was the right decision as the enclosure was not suitable for the elephants. I'm not especially keen on the rhino enclosure, I think the indoor space is too exposed to visitors, and the rhinos don't always seem particularly happy when people enter their building, though that could be me anthropomorphising. That said, I've seen the rhinos outside more this summer and they seem to be doing well. 

The nearby giraffe enclosure is much better; this was another semi-recent development by the zoo. Likewise, the 'Minature Monkey House' was also recently updated. Despite having a good callitrichid collection, including emperor tamarins (Saguinus imperator), silvery marmosets (Mico argentatus), and pygmy marmosets (Cebuella pygmaea), the white walls give the building a clinical, sterile feel. Both the indoor and outdoor enclosures are very good, with lots of foliage and climbing space. The emperor tamarins will occasionally scamper across a rope right about your head as they cross over into an area of trees which they have access to. . 

Also worth noting is the Amur leopards, which I feel very lucky to get to see as often as I do. Their enclosure seems large and has good enrichment but would benefit from additional height to allow them even more climbing space.

I review from an adult perspective, but I will mention that the zoo also has a children's water splash play area, called Wet n' Wild, which is open during the summer season and located next to a picnic area and The Grillshack BBQ. I can't comment much on the Gruffalo Discovery Land but I feel sure I would have loved this area when I was younger, and it's a significant improvement on the petting zoo which was formerly there. This area is also home to a few animal species, a café, and a shop.

If you live close enough to visit more than once in a year, I can really recommend the 'Pay for a Day, Return for a Year' scheme that they currently run. It costs £24.26 for an adult, and is essentially an affordable annual pass.

You might remember my photo with the sloth from the start of this article. The sloth left the zoo years ago, and the area in which it was kept has had to be closed off, mainly due to issues with drainage. I know this has attracted some negativity, but I feel it was the right decision for the zoo, and this area was never my favourite part of Twycross. I have found that the zoo seems to have attracted some criticism online in recent years for its direction, but as a zoo which was clearly badly affect by Covid, I believe its heart is in the right place as it tries to move forward. 

Sources

BIAZA (2019) Chimpanzee Eden – Twycross Zoo’s exhibit vision. Available at: https://biaza.org.uk/projects/detail/chimpanzee-eden-twycross-zoos-exhibit-vision (Accessed: 22 September 2024).

Clarke, E., Reichard, U. H. and Zuberbühler, K. (2006) ‘The syntax and meaning of wild gibbon songs’, PLoS ONE, 1(1): e73.

Flora & Fauna (no date) Cao vit gibbon. Available at: https://www.fauna-flora.org/species/cao-vit-gibbons/ (Accessed: 22 September 2024).

Twycross Zoo (2023) About us. Available at: https://twycrosszoo.org/our-charity/about-us/ (Accessed: 22 September 2024).

Twycross Zoo (no date) National Science and Conservation Centre. Available at: https://twycrosszoo.org/our-charity/our-future/ (Accessed: 22 September 2024).

Nashville Zoo (2019) Nashville Zoo awarded best restrooms in country by cintas. Available at: https://www.nashvillezoo.org/our-blog/posts/nashville-zoo-awarded-best-restroom-in-country-by-cintas (Accessed: 22 September 2024).