The very first animals you’ll encounter at the zoo will be our giant tortoises and one of them, Darwin, an Aldabran tortoise, is much bigger than the rest. At the first talk of the day, you’ll find out just how old he is and what these prehistoric-looking animals love to eat.

The largest sealion arena in the UK, Active Oceans, is the setting for daily displays at Blackpool Zoo. Three hundred visitors can be seated by the pool with its "beach" surrounds, cliffs and waterfall to enjoy crowd favourites, Gina and Anya, with help from the other sea lions, educating them about natural behaviours and their swimming skills.

The sealions are trained by positive reinforcement, a request and reward scheme, to harness their intelligence and enthusiasm whilst showing off their prowess in, under and out of the water. This very popular display must NOT be missed.

If you’ve seen the “Madagascar” films, you’ll no doubt love lemurs as much as we do! Attend this talk to find out how many species of lemur there are and why they are originate from just one small island off the coast of Africa. Are lemurs really as cute as they look and why do they do yoga when it’s sunny?

We have an amazing family of gorillas here at Blackpool Zoo, the only ones in the North of England. Do you know how the silverback gets his name? We have youngsters too – you can learn how they develop in comparison to human children. These, too, are under very serious threat as their habitats are destroyed and we can tell you how you can help prevent that, even if only in a small way.

Everybody loves a comical penguins, but just watch them chasing their fish under the water at feed time! They’re like streamlined torpedoes! Did you know that they don’t all live in the cold regions on Earth? You’ll find out lots more fun facts at feeding time!

The largest sealion arena in the UK, Active Oceans, is the setting for daily displays at Blackpool Zoo. Three hundred visitors can be seated by the pool with its "beach" surrounds, cliffs and waterfall to enjoy crowd favourites, Gina and Anya, with help from the other sea lions, educating them about natural behaviours and their swimming skills.

The sealions are trained by positive reinforcement, a request and reward scheme, to harness their intelligence and enthusiasm whilst showing off their prowess in, under and out of the water. This very popular display must NOT be missed.

Our new concept in animal care, Project Elephant, will open your eyes to the future of zoos and in-situ conservation programmes working together to preserve our most iconic species. Learn all about our elephant house, Project Elephant Base Camp and it's residents - Kate, Tara, Minbu, Noorjahan and Esha at this fascinating talk.

“Bird brains” – never! Our birds are really intelligent and very happy to prove that to you at our Close Encounter in the Display Arena.

Wolves are often portrayed as the wicked cousins of our domestic dogs. Nothing could be further from the truth. Wolves are quite shy animals and live in family groups left by the alpha male and female.

Blackpool Zoo has Iberian wolves which originate from parts of Europe but has become endangered by the activities of humans who can’t live in harmony with them and are frightened by their dubious reputation.

Iberian wolves have a scientific name which reflects their markings. They are canis lupus signatus which means "signed" or "marked" in Latin. Listen to the talk and learn much more.

The largest sealion arena in the UK, Active Oceans, is the setting for daily displays at Blackpool Zoo. Three hundred visitors can be seated by the pool with its "beach" surrounds, cliffs and waterfall to enjoy crowd favourites, Gina and Anya, with help from the other sea lions, educating them about natural behaviours and their swimming skills.

The sealions are trained by positive reinforcement, a request and reward scheme, to harness their intelligence and enthusiasm whilst showing off their prowess in, under and out of the water. This very popular display must NOT be missed.

Do orangutans live in trees or on the ground and why? Will there be orangutans in the wild in 20 years’ time?  Visit Orangutan Outlook to find out the answers to these and many more questions about one of our closest relatives. You can even get within inches of our huge male, Ramon, and females, Cherie, Summer and Jingga.

Introducing our new aviary!

How would you describe big cats? Cute, awesome, cuddly, scary – there are so many descriptions, but many of them are very apt. Tigers live alone, lions in prides – why such a difference when they’re all cats? We'll also shed light on some of the problems they're facing in the wild.

Stick your tongue out. Now look in the mirror. What colour is your tongue? A giraffe’s is black (and they can stick it up their nose!). Want to know why? Come along and find out. There’s a great similarity between giraffes and humans in their necks, too, believe it or not. 

“Bird brains” – never! Our birds are really intelligent and very happy to prove that to you at our Close Encounter in the Display Arena.

Our new concept in animal care, Project Elephant, will open your eyes to the future of zoos and in-situ conservation programmes working together to preserve our most iconic species. Learn all about our elephant house, Project Elephant Base Camp and it's residents - Kate, Tara, Minbu, Noorjahan and Esha at this fascinating talk.

Our sea lions are lucky enough to live in the largest sea lion pool in the UK and it gives them plenty of room to help their trainers show you their natural behaviours in the wild. They will show you the differences between sea lions and seals and which predators hunt them in the ocean.

Everybody loves a comical penguins, but just watch them chasing their fish under the water at feed time! They’re like streamlined torpedoes! Did you know that they don’t all live in the cold regions on Earth? You’ll find out lots more fun facts at feeding time!