It seems like Folly Farm is always welcoming new members to its family, so we’re taking a look at all of the new faces at the farm in 2024, and there have certainly been quite a few. Some have been born in Folly, and some have been rehomed there over the last few months. So let’s say hello to all the newbies.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Arguably the most exciting announcement from Folly Farm has been the birth of a number
00:04 of Humboldt penguin chicks. They're at risk in the wild so being able to home such a big
00:09 flock at the zoo is amazing for the staff.
00:11 We've had five Humboldt penguin chicks hatch here at Penguin Coast. So they are vulnerable
00:18 in the wild, Humboldt penguins, so it's really exciting for the breeding programme as well.
00:23 Each breeding season we go for a different naming theme and that way we can keep track
00:26 of the chicks that we have on different years. So this year we've gone for the theme of cheese.
00:33 So our five penguin chicks are named Mozzarella, Camembert, Cheddar, Halloumi and Gorgonzola.
00:40 So we don't know the genders just yet. They are still with the parents at the moment because
00:44 the parents are looking after them inside their nests but they're a month old so in
00:47 a few more weeks they'll be out and about, they'll be fledging so you can see them learning
00:52 how to swim and be with the rest of the colony.
00:55 Earlier on in 2024 we met Nova the sloth. He came to Folly Farm as a partner for the
00:59 sloth that's already there to hopefully get a breeding pair out of those two.
01:04 Moving to a new zoo can be daunting for animals but Nova certainly got straight into it and
01:08 was right at home straight away. It's always great to see new animals arrive at Folly Farm
01:13 because there's usually an exciting reason that they're there. The new pair of tamarins,
01:18 Raquel and Ray, are at Folly Farm to hopefully become a new mating pair to help their struggling
01:22 species.
01:23 So we have a lovely breeding pair of cotton-top tamarins. Now they are sadly critically endangered
01:29 in the wild with only 2,000 individuals left and only about 5% of their natural habitat
01:35 is still existing today. So we're really excited to have these guys as part of the European
01:41 breeding programme. So hopefully in the future we will be introducing some babies in the
01:46 group as well and help boost their numbers in captivity to help their wild cousins and
01:53 Yeah, we're very, very excited to have them here at Folly Farm.