Banham Zoo is a zoo in Banham, Norfolk, England. The zoo, which is home to over 2,000 animals, opened to the public in 1968, became a charity in 2013, and has since been often awarded the prize of Norfolk's Top Attraction, by numerous different organisations, with an annual visitor attendance of in excess of 200,000 people. It is part of the Zoological Society of East Anglia, a registered charity which also owns Africa Alive! near Lowestoft, Suffolk.
History
The Banham Zoo started as a collection of pheasants and parrots, and opened to the public in 1968. In 1971, it acquired a colony of woolly monkeys and became the "Banham Zoo and Woolly Monkey Sanctuary". Today, it has acquired a much larger collection of animals, but still retains one of the best collections of smaller monkeys in Europe
Animals
Birds housed at the zoo include emus, Chilean flamingos, sun conures, black-footed penguins, black-necked swans, blue-and-yellow macaws, black kites, red-crested turacos, laughing kookaburras, Von der Decken's hornbills, Temminck's tragopans, snowy owls, spectacled owls, Australian wood ducks, Moluccan cockatoos, Swainson's lorikeets, scarlet ibises, African spoonbills, and red-legged seriemas. Primates kept at the zoo include siamang, Colombian black spider monkeys, black-and-white ruffed lemurs, Goeldi's monkeys, Geoffroy's marmosets, ring-tailed lemurs, golden lion tamarins, golden-headed lion tamarins, Sclater's lemurs, Sambirano bamboo lemurs, red ruffed lemurs, pygmy marmosets, black-and-white colobus monkeys, red-bellied lemurs, white-faced saki monkeys, cotton-top tamarins, and emperor tamarins. Other mammals at the zoo include red kangaroos, giraffes, Sri Lankan leopards, Geoffroy's cats, Bactrian camels, black-tailed prairie dogs, Oriental small-clawed otters, red pandas, slender-tailed meerkats, pygmy donkeys, Grevy's zebras, maned wolves, Mongolian sheep, Cameroon sheep, Formosan sika deer, Siberian tigers, cheetahs, snow leopards, South African fur seals, kunekune pigs, and llamas. Reptiles and invertebrates at the zoo include Madagascan hissing cockroaches, royal pythons, two-spot assassin bugs, giant African land snails, bearded dragons, rainbow boas, Mexican redknee tarantulas, leopard geckos, Honduran milk snakes, Chilean rose tarantulas, curly-haired tarantulas, and Tanzanian red-legged millipedes.
Exhibits
The Province of the Snow Cat is an exhibit that opened in 2009 for the zoo's breeding pair of snow leopards. It features rock-faces and a meandering stream. Three cubs were born here in 2010. The Giraffe House was built and opened as a celebration of the zoo's 40th anniversary. Since its opening in 2008, there have been several successful giraffe births. The Bird Garden is a short walk on a meandering path. It features several aviaries with other enclosures opposite. These feature different birds and smaller monkeys respectively. Such species include Von der Decken's hornbills, Swainson's lorikeets, Bali starlings, Geoffroy's marmosets, cotton-top tamarins, and golden-headed lion tamarins. Lemur Encounters was opened in late 2011 and features two lemur species in a large enclosure. The public can walk around this exhibit and expect to see red ruffed and ring-tailed lemurs making use of their large open space.
