ZSL and Exodus team up to launch wildlife holidays

Whales and bears of British Columbia

Wildlife holidays are a popular choice, whether it's whale watching or a tiger safari, but it can be hard to know which trips are ethically sound, and which actually cause harm to the animals you're seeing, or their environment.

Now, ZSL (the conservation charity behind London Zoo and Whipsnade Zoo) have teamed up with travel company Exodus to offer wildlife holidays. With a name like ZSL behind them, travellers can rest assured that their holiday will be as environmentally responsible as possible -- groups sizes are kept small to ensure minimum disruption while still benefiting local communities.

The trips take in all seven continents, ranging from four to 23 days, and offer a chance to see species in their native habitats while helping to fund ZSL’s global work for wildlife. Expert knowledgable guides will offer an insight into the flora and fauna, as well as local cultures,

Kathryn England, ZSL’s Head of Commercial, commented:
“By combining our wildlife knowledge with Exodus’ responsible travel expertise and 40 years of pedigree, we have created a collection of truly memorable wildlife adventures, rooted in conservation.”

Prices start from £1,209, with 27 trips to choose from, and you don't have to travel too far to enjoy the wildlife on offer -  European options include bear watching in Romania or whale and dolphin watching in the Azores. It's a tough call, but these are our top five of the trips on offer:

• In search of brown bears in Romania
• Volunteering on a game reserve on the Zambezi River
• In search of snow leopards in the Himalayas
• Tigers in focus in India
• Whales and bears of British Columbia

Take a look at the website to see the full range of trips on offer.

Two male, one female tiger cub at London Zoo

A few weeks back, ZSL London Zoo announced that their breeding Sumatran tiger pair, Jae Jae and Melati, had welcomed three cubs.

They've now announced that the cubs are one female and two males, and all seem to be in good health. Check out the video below of them being health checked and sexed by the zoo's keepers. They weren't happy about it!

London Zoo's new tiger exhibit, Tiger Territory, opened last March. A cub was born last summer, but sadly died on its first trip into the outside world.

Sumatran tigers are critically endangered, with estimates of just 300 left in the wild. Several subspecies of tiger have already been wiped out.

Okapi listed as "endangered"

Another species was today considered to be in increased danger of extinction, as the okapi was reclassified from "near threatened" to the more critical "endangered".

Also known as the "forest giraffe" -although many people think it is more closely related to the zebra-, the okapi is only found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and was only rediscovered in 2006 after not having been sighted since 1959. It is the national symbol of the DRC, even featuring on their banknotes. Poaching and habitat loss are the main causes for the decline in okapi numbers.

In 2010, ZSL launched a project to assess the okapi situation and plan an okapi conservation strategy. Data on okapi numbers is difficult to ascertain due to the remote and dangerous forests that they live in, the political instability of the area, and their shy nature. Find out more about ZSL's okapi conservation here: https://www.zsl.org/conservation/regions/africa/okapi/protecting-okapi,1806,AR.html

Large parts of their habitat are in the Virunga National Park, which is currently at risk of being destroyed by oil exploration drills. Please consider signing the WWF's petition to stop oil exploration in Virunga.

It's not all bad news. ZSL London Zoo welcomed Daphne the baby okapi in April this year. Furthermore, two species of albatross and the island fox are now considered less endangered than previously.

ZSL wins BIAZA awards

Congratulations to ZSL London Zoo, who have won an award for one of their breeding programmes.

The white-naped mangabey breeding programme won the BIAZA (the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums) Best Breeding Programme award, as the zoo is home to the most successful mangabey breeding group in Europe.

ZSL also won awards for Best Education project, Best PR project (Tiger Territory) and shared the award for Significant Advances in Zoo and Wildlife Medicine with Whipsnade and Chester Zoos for their work on the International Primate Heart Project.

Unfortunately the full list of winners hasn’t appeared on the BIAZA website yet, but for further information about ZSL’s successes, click here.