Rare peccaries find new home at Dartmoor Zoo
The seven animals are the only ones of their kind in the UK
Dartmoor Zoo is now the only place in the UK to have a rare endangered animal - the white-lipped peccary.
Seven of the animals, which are a bit like pigs, have arrived from Dudley Zoo and Castle,
With an estimated population of 5000, White-Lipped Peccaries are considered vulnerable by the IUCN Red List, but with populations in Mesoamerica in critical danger and decline.
Found across Central and South America, Peccaries reside in a wide range of habitats such as tropical rainforests, wet and dry grasslands and mangroves.
Agricultural expansion, deforestation and hunting has hugely contributed to the decline in numbers and habitat loss with the latest IUCN assessment showing a decrease in numbers of almost 30% in the last 3 generations alone.
Dartmoor Zoo’s CEO David Gibson commented, “It is the first time in the long history of the Zoo that we have included Peccaries, or indeed any pig like species, in the collection.
"This symbolises our desire to focus on conservation dependent species and their arrival will be the first of many such developments over the coming years.”
With a mixed group of three males and four females arriving, they’ll house a newly refurbished enclosure at the top of the drive, next to Dartmoor Zoo’s Turkey Oak, allowing the Pygmy Goats a chance to retire into an on-show only enclosure of the zoo.
Senior Keeper Ashley Matthews says, “We’re all incredibly excited to welcome a new species we’ve never accommodated before here at Dartmoor Zoo.
"We’ll be monitoring their welfare upon their arrival to ensure they are settling into their new habitat nicely and can’t wait to start working with and learning more about these interesting animals!”