Situated overlooking Belfast city and Lough, this modern, world class zoo has over 50 acres of space that acts as a safe haven for over 160 species of rare or highly endangered animal, all housed in award winning enclosures which replicate their natural enviroments.Come and see for yourself the varied species of animals we have.

Our large herd of Rothschild's giraffe is one of the best in Europe and all were born in zoos, most here in Belfast. Meet Finn, Chrissie, Dana, Erin, Aoife, Niamh, Kelly, Oisin, Fey and the two young boys Sentanta and Breck. They share a large paddock in the Zoo with a herd of zebra and ostriches.Also in the Zoo look out for other African hoofstock:  red river hog, Mhorr gazelle, Nile lechwe, sitatunga and bongo.

At the Gorilla's Boulas is the gentle giant, silver back male who arrived here in 2001 and immediately ruled the roost. There are two younger males, Kukuma and little Gugas who was an orphan discovered in a circus. There are two young females, Kamili and Bakira and the granny of the group is Delilah, whom some of you may remember form 'Animal Magic' with the late Johnny Morris.

Also in the Zoo we have chimpanzees and a very successful group of colobus monkeys.Jack and Jill, our tigers are very popular with visitors and help us to highlight the plight of tigers in the wild. From 100,000 tigers at the end of the 19th century; there may be no more than 7,500 tigers left in the wild. Three subspecies have, in fact, become extinct.  Jack is particularly noticeable because he is a white tiger. Look out for the lovely blue eyes.Our elephants are the more endangered Asian variety and not African elephants. We usually have a visiting bull, at the moment it is Jubilee from Chester Zoo.

The four females are Lulu, Tina, Johti and Vishesh. Vishesh was born here in Belfast in 1997, only the second baby elephant born in a zoo in the UK.Other Asian hoofstock to see in the Zoo are Malaysian tapir and camels.The Spider Monkeys are the acrobats of the Zoo and popular with visitors of all ages. Despite having no thumbs, their long fingers and prehensile tail provide the with remarkable agility. They are our only primate that can hang by its tail.

From South America we also have several different tamarins and marmosets, including the smallest primate, the pygmy marmoset.Our Penguin Pool is another popular attraction in the Zoo and two of our penguin groups live on the coasts of South America as far north as Peru. They lay their eggs in burrows to protect them from the sun. One favourite nesting place for our Humboldt’s is in the sandy soil under the tall pampas grass at the back of the enclosure.

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