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Noah's Ark has been awarded the 'Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge' following an important assessment by officials from the LOTC Council on 30th June.
To achieve this national Quality Badge first time round is a real success; Noah's Ark has been praised for its excellent schools programme of national curriculum based workshops and learning resources, which cater for KS1 up to A Level.
Noah's Ark is now one of only 3 zoos in the South West with this national Quality Badge status, showing our excellent education credentials.
 Noah's Ark is celebrating the birthday of Sultana the Siamang gibbon, who reached a year of age on Saturday 3rd July 2010.
The only offspring of protective parents Samson and Salome and after several unsuccessful attempts to breed; Sultana the Gibbon has grown in strength and character over the past 12 months and is a firm favourite with visitors, who love watching the little lad monkeying around the Gibbon Gallery.
Siamang Gibbons are classified as 'endangered' in the wild and are an important species to conserve in captivity through managed breeding programmes. Noah's Ark is pleased to be able to contribute to a global effort by enabling breeding here.
 Elephants are set to be the next big animal project for Noah's Ark Zoo Farm, with the building of the UK's largest zoo elephant enclosure set to begin within the next 2 years, for completion by 2012/2013.
The zoos owners and senior management have visited all UK zoos currently holding elephants including recent trips across England and also to Dublin, where advice on elephant keeping was sought from staff at the impressive Dublin Zoo, home to five Asian elephants with modern facilities.
With a maximum size of 12 acres, Noah's Ark's elephant enclosure will be situated at the back of the zoo in beautiful, open farmland where up to four elephants will have lots of room to roam between feeding stations and can choose to be away from the public viewing areas should they wish to.
 Noah's Ark is celebrating the birth of many baby this weeks thanks to an unexpected Summer baby boom.
Over the last two weeks the new editions have included baby llama, capybara, marmosets, deer and prarie dogs! Noah's Ark has always had a successful breeding from the species here and hope to get many more babies born this year. Look out for the new additions on your next visit.
 Adventurous African lion cub siblings Zulu, Masai and Louisa are celebrated their 1st birthday at Noah’s Ark on Thursday 3rd June by ripping into some unusual, meaty gift boxes given by their keeper.
Big Cat Keeper, Emma Godsell tells us more “It’s fair to say our striking trio of African lions are no longer the fluffy little cubs that we first met in February when they arrived at Noah’s Ark from Linton Zoo in Cambridgeshire. Returning visitors are now surprised to see three big boisterous young lions in the den after lots of growing this year! As a treat we made a variety of wrapped birthday presents each with something different inside, to give them some extra mental and physical stimulation through enrichment on their special day.”
Emma and the keepers will be wrapping some presents with a difference for the lions: birthday boxes with a variety of contents, some having edible treats and others which will get the cats interested for different reasons!
Click here to watch the lions get their birthday presents.
 Recently elected North Somerset Council Chairwoman Ann Harley opened a brand new Vulture enclosure and a huge adventure play section at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm on Tuesday 18th May in one of her first public engagements.
Students from a primary school were invited to be the first to brave a new, daring 60 foot spiralling tube slide which now stands tall in the Wallaby High play area, the zoos biggest and most popular outdoor adventure play zone.
A pair of rare African White Headed Vultures are the latest residents to join the zoo and now live in the large, netted enclosure, landscaped to mimic the kinds of environment they would be used to in the wild. Cllr Harley also opened the new bigger diggers where visitors will get the chance to roll their sleeves up and get dirty, digging holes with two huge bright yellow electric diggers which can be controlled to scoop up sand with a fully moving arm and bucket.
Six months of improvement works have seen many public facilities extended and developed in the second largest project in the zoos 10 year history.
Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm is delighted to announce that plans for a huge, modern elephant house and enclosure have been approved by North Somerset Council.
At over 12 acres which is the size of eleven football pitches; the detailed design proposal includes a purpose-built, state-of-the-art elephant house with appropriate facilities, sand pits and water pools and a spacious fenced enclosure away from the main public site, for up to four female elephants to roam. This will be one of the largest open elephant enclosures in the UK and larger in area than some entire zoos.
The Zoo Farm plans to use a range of inventive enrichment techniques to provide the best care for elephants, building on the success of the design of the recently constructed ‘Big Cat Sanctuary’ and rhino and giraffe enclosures. During a recent visit to Noah’s Ark, a leading UK authority on Animal Welfare, Prof. John Webster of Bristol University, praised the Zoo’s efforts in enriching the lives of their animals.
The Zoo will help educate the thousands of annual visiting students about elephants and the threats to wild populations whilst promoting conservation. The elephant enclosure will be built within the next couple of years.
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