Zoo news – August 2024

Macaque baby surprise!

This month our zookeepers were delighted to find that one of our Macaques, Drusilla, had given birth! Drusilla is the oldest primate that we have here in the park. At the old age, of 24, Drusilla has taken to raising her 4^th baby effortlessly, with lots of interest and help from the other individuals in the group. Drusilla’s daughters, Indah, Eka and Kirana, have all been seen caring for their new baby sibling, with lots of love and care.

Sad loss of Gold’s monkey Rico

This month we unfortunately lost one of our young Goeldis monkeys, Rico. Rico, a male, was born here in Emerald Park Zoo in 2022. Rico will be sadly missed by all our education and zoo team here at the park.

Big Bug Bonanza

The Zoo team were delighted to host our annual Big Bug Bonanza in mid-August. This event is carried out to raise awareness of the world of bugs. Bugs, also knows as invertebrates, are animals that don’t posses a backbone, for example beetles, worms, snails and spiders. Bugs play incredibly important roles in our environment, carrying out lots of amazing ecosystem services that we humans don’t even realise!

Did you know that there are around 1.4 billon insects for every human on earth!

Unfortunate death of the Macaque Patriarch

This month saw the unfortunate passing of our Alpha male Sulawesi Crested Macaque, Dougie. Dougie was found unmoving during the early morning rounds by senior zookeeper Anthony. Dougie has been a well loved character in our zoo and will be terribly missed by all our keepers and education staff here at the park.

New bug hotels in Tír na nÓg

We are delighted to announce the installation of two new bug hotels in Tir Na Nog, the newest land at Emerald park. The shelter provided by these important installations will encourage native invertebrates, contributing to increased biodiversity in the local area and will add to our ongoing conservation projects in conjunction with the National Biodiversity Data Centre and The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan.

Thanks for reading. Check back next month for more zoo updates!

The Emerald Park Zoo Team