Banham Zoo Banham Zoo News

TNT said:
It's never been great for pinnipeds. Hopefully it's able to be renovated for another species.

Otherwise, very sad news and thoughts to the keepers.
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Just wondering if there’s a viable stock of any Pinniped in UK zoos, apart from maybe Californian Sealion (kept by a shrinking number of collections) and the two native species which I suspect are mainly non-breeding rescues?
 
Nice to see news on Red Panda cubs born at Banham on 22nd June via email

Banham Zoo is delighted to announce the birth of twin red panda cubs - an exciting achievement for the zoo and a significant step forward in conservation efforts for this endangered species.

The adorable cubs were born on 22nd June 2025 to proud parents Jasper and Lushan (affectionately known as Lu).
 
 
Mahiri a 16 year old Giraffe which has been suffering from a Chronic nasal congestion has been trained to accept inhalers which are triggered by staff in a specially designed food box. Her breathing is now much improved.
A BBC news item.
 
Was anyone else aware Jasper (Banhams male red panda) had passed away? We've been this evening for the Go Go Safari event and one of the volunteers told us he had passed "a few months ago", we asked at the front desk on the way out and the lady confirmed he had indeed passed. But I've not seen any public reports about this? Such a shame, he was a lovely old boy!
 
Emma_B said:
Was anyone else aware Jasper (Banhams male red panda) had passed away? We've been this evening for the Go Go Safari event and one of the volunteers told us he had passed "a few months ago", we asked at the front desk on the way out and the lady confirmed he had indeed passed. But I've not seen any public reports about this? Such a shame, he was a lovely old boy!
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In Mid July they had a Facebook post celebrating Jasper's 13th birthday, so I would assume he was still alive at that point. I haven't seen anything about him passing but then some zoos don't seem to make these things public.
 
The death of JASPER has been officially confirmed.
Banham Zoo on Instagram: "We invite you to join us in celebrating the life of Jasper, our much-loved red panda, who sadly passed away last month. Jasper arrived at Banham Zoo in 2013 and quickly became a favourite among staff, volunteers and visitors. With his gentle nature, love of snoozing high in the treetops and fondness for grapes as a treat, he was a true character who captured the hearts of everyone who knew him. Through the European Breeding Programme, Jasper fathered five cubs, including our two most recent arrivals. He leaves behind a lasting legacy - not only through them, but also through the countless visitors he inspired to learn more about the challenges facing red pandas and the importance of their conservation. Jasper will be missed by his keepers, colleagues, volunteers and all who visited him over the years. Our thoughts are especially with his animal care team, who gave him so much love throughout his life. If you have photos or memories of Jasper, please feel free to share them with us in the comments below. These photos were taken by the keepers who knew and cared for Jasper so well."
 
We visited here on 26/09/2025 for the first time, as part of our zoo-trip in Norfolk. 4 Nights at Caister-On-Sea, 4 animal parks to visit, and we did Banham Zoo on our way home.

Our first time here, and we had a free visit thanks to our Chester passes.

First thing I saw when entering was the map. Color coded, and in every area a specific map for that zone, listing all the animals, love it. I like crossing things off a list, lol. Sadly, we still managed to miss the Prairie Marmots, haha.
From looking at it, it seemed a large place with lots of animals, but eventually when we did our first round, it wasn't all that big.

I was definitely aware of Red Panda cubs, but I might have gotten their birth date a bit wrong, I thought they were older and would be exploring already, so it was the first thing to go and see if we could spot them.
(so many Red Panda cubs in the UK, but not at our locals)
The Howler Monkeys had just been fed and were sitting in front of the glass, so made some good views.
The Penguin enclosure wasn't open to the public, don't know why, but we could see some of them all the way in the back.
We passed the Blue-Eyed Black Lemurs first, and my God, they are stunning! Those eyes ... and the color of the female fur, it just pops!
Also the train wasn't going that day.
Nothing to see at the Red Panda enclosure, we'll go back later.

And then, more Lemurs!! New for me was the Sambirano Bamboo Lemur. What a cute little guy!! (or girl, I don't know).
The Red-Bellied Lemurs next door were super curious of us and very interested in what was going on. They were very active which was so nice to see.

Spend almost an hour just looking at Lemurs, we were told that at 11 the Tropical House would open, and there's a baby Sloth! So we headed there for 11, but it was almost 10 past and still not open, so we decided to walk around the entire park first and come back later. We then hear a very strange noise. Usually we hear Gibbons all over the place, but for the first time we heard the Black Howlers howl! It was such an odd sound, it wasn't your typical "howling" lol.

We went through the Tamarin/Marmoset bit, and there are Cotton-Top Tamarin babies, but we didn't see any of them all day.

Then headed to the cat section. We saw every single one of them, which was so nice.
The Tiger was lying in the grass. The Cheetah was on top of his platform. The Jaguar was walking around.
The Snow Leopards were both very active, and one had a paper bag he was playing with. Throughout the day they were lying on top of the rocks, and even on the roof of the building.

The Pallas Cat was walking around, for the first time we got some really good views! Usually the foliage or the mesh is very much in the way, but the glass bit made it great to have a good look.

(what I also really noticed here, that all the glass was super clear and super clean)

The Margay was lying in it's box, but still good visible. Are there 2? It looked like 2 separate enclosures but could only spot the 1 the entire day.

So we then managed to go around the entire place. Once at the Flamingo's, I'm not sure anymore actually if the walkthrough was open, but only at the end of the day, I was like "hang on, weren't there Prairie Dogs?" turns out they are somewhere where the Flamingo's were, it looks like if you go through the walkthrough? But it was 10 min before closing, so we had to miss it.

Went back to the tropical house, got to see some Sloth fur high up in the tree, hehe, and the keeper showed us some videos she was able to make a few days ago from mom and newborn baby.

Had something to eat, and did another full loop. That time we did see 2 Maned Wolves outside.
By 3pm we basically walked back and forth between the Lemurs and Cats for an hour. The little Bamboo Lemur was outside eating, it was too adorable.
Sadly we didn't get to see the Red Panda cubs ourselves, but heard from someone that during the day they were out briefly.
Spend loads of time with the Blue-Eyed Black Lemurs before closing, it's just one of those I can just happily watch for hours.

We were very surprised with Banham Zoo and really liked it, and it's a shame it's a 2 hour drive and no public transport for us to get there really, so I won't be going back anytime soon. The boyfriend might, he doesn't really care about the driving (we only have a motorbike at the moment, and I need more stops then he does, so makes the day way too long in general).
But maybe next year summer with an overnight stay somewhere.

Definitely recommend.
 
“The Penguin enclosure wasn't open to the public, don't know why, but we could see some of them all the way in the back.”

I visited in June and saw plans displayed at one of the old entrances to the walk through, think it shows that there are plans to get rid of the walk through element, most probably due to avian flu, which is why they probably also haven’t reopened it.

Thanks for your reviews of your four zoos. It’s probably due to you being used to Chester that you find these zoos small. As you say in this review, it’s actually a benefit as you can revisit animals over the course of the day. At Chester it’s hard to do that as a visitor who’s not from the area as you’re then trying to see all, which can detract from a visit.

I enjoyed Banham again, and the first thing I encountered were the Howler Monkeys howling, which was amazing to see; only seen at Paignton previously.

Personally, I prefer their sister collection Africa Alive as I think they have the best mixed African savannah in the UK with the animals mixing so well and using all the available space.
 
polarbear said:
“The Penguin enclosure wasn't open to the public, don't know why, but we could see some of them all the way in the back.”

I visited in June and saw plans displayed at one of the old entrances to the walk through, think it shows that there are plans to get rid of the walk through element, most probably due to avian flu, which is why they probably also haven’t reopened it.

Thanks for your reviews of your four zoos. It’s probably due to you being used to Chester that you find these zoos small. As you say in this review, it’s actually a benefit as you can revisit animals over the course of the day. At Chester it’s hard to do that as a visitor who’s not from the area as you’re then trying to see all, which can detract from a visit.
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I'm not used to Chester really, as that's not our local zoo, but I get what you mean.

Our locals aren't super big either, in my opinion, which are Dudley and Hamerton.

I've also not said it's a bad thing they are smaller, but in my opinion they are 'small'. But we spend from opening until closing at all 4 we went too, it's all good, hehe :)
 
Moorhunhe said:
We visited here on 26/09/2025 for the first time, as part of our zoo-trip in Norfolk. 4 Nights at Caister-On-Sea, 4 animal parks to visit, and we did Banham Zoo on our way home.

Our first time here, and we had a free visit thanks to our Chester passes.

First thing I saw when entering was the map. Color coded, and in every area a specific map for that zone, listing all the animals, love it. I like crossing things off a list, lol. Sadly, we still managed to miss the Prairie Marmots, haha.
From looking at it, it seemed a large place with lots of animals, but eventually when we did our first round, it wasn't all that big.

I was definitely aware of Red Panda cubs, but I might have gotten their birth date a bit wrong, I thought they were older and would be exploring already, so it was the first thing to go and see if we could spot them.
(so many Red Panda cubs in the UK, but not at our locals)
The Howler Monkeys had just been fed and were sitting in front of the glass, so made some good views.
The Penguin enclosure wasn't open to the public, don't know why, but we could see some of them all the way in the back.
We passed the Blue-Eyed Black Lemurs first, and my God, they are stunning! Those eyes ... and the color of the female fur, it just pops!
Also the train wasn't going that day.
Nothing to see at the Red Panda enclosure, we'll go back later.

And then, more Lemurs!! New for me was the Sambirano Bamboo Lemur. What a cute little guy!! (or girl, I don't know).
The Red-Bellied Lemurs next door were super curious of us and very interested in what was going on. They were very active which was so nice to see.

Spend almost an hour just looking at Lemurs, we were told that at 11 the Tropical House would open, and there's a baby Sloth! So we headed there for 11, but it was almost 10 past and still not open, so we decided to walk around the entire park first and come back later. We then hear a very strange noise. Usually we hear Gibbons all over the place, but for the first time we heard the Black Howlers howl! It was such an odd sound, it wasn't your typical "howling" lol.

We went through the Tamarin/Marmoset bit, and there are Cotton-Top Tamarin babies, but we didn't see any of them all day.

Then headed to the cat section. We saw every single one of them, which was so nice.
The Tiger was lying in the grass. The Cheetah was on top of his platform. The Jaguar was walking around.
The Snow Leopards were both very active, and one had a paper bag he was playing with. Throughout the day they were lying on top of the rocks, and even on the roof of the building.

The Pallas Cat was walking around, for the first time we got some really good views! Usually the foliage or the mesh is very much in the way, but the glass bit made it great to have a good look.

(what I also really noticed here, that all the glass was super clear and super clean)

The Margay was lying in it's box, but still good visible. Are there 2? It looked like 2 separate enclosures but could only spot the 1 the entire day.

So we then managed to go around the entire place. Once at the Flamingo's, I'm not sure anymore actually if the walkthrough was open, but only at the end of the day, I was like "hang on, weren't there Prairie Dogs?" turns out they are somewhere where the Flamingo's were, it looks like if you go through the walkthrough? But it was 10 min before closing, so we had to miss it.

Went back to the tropical house, got to see some Sloth fur high up in the tree, hehe, and the keeper showed us some videos she was able to make a few days ago from mom and newborn baby.

Had something to eat, and did another full loop. That time we did see 2 Maned Wolves outside.
By 3pm we basically walked back and forth between the Lemurs and Cats for an hour. The little Bamboo Lemur was outside eating, it was too adorable.
Sadly we didn't get to see the Red Panda cubs ourselves, but heard from someone that during the day they were out briefly.
Spend loads of time with the Blue-Eyed Black Lemurs before closing, it's just one of those I can just happily watch for hours.

We were very surprised with Banham Zoo and really liked it, and it's a shame it's a 2 hour drive and no public transport for us to get there really, so I won't be going back anytime soon. The boyfriend might, he doesn't really care about the driving (we only have a motorbike at the moment, and I need more stops then he does, so makes the day way too long in general).
But maybe next year summer with an overnight stay somewhere.

Definitely recommend.
Click to expand...

Nice review and glad you had a nice day. I'm pretty sure it's Sri Lankan Leopard's they have and not Jaguar though? Unless that's changed recently.
 
 
Linne’s two-toed sloth birth:

From socials:

We are delighted to announce a historic first for Banham Zoo - the birth of a Linne’s two-toed sloth!

On Sunday 7th September 2025, our much-loved female Rowan welcomed her very first youngster with partner Arlo, marking an incredible milestone for the pair and for the zoo.

Both mum and pup are thriving, with our animal care team keeping a close eye on their progress while giving them plenty of space to bond. Visitors may be lucky enough to spot the newborn clinging to Rowan’s belly - a heartwarming sight that showcases the remarkable bond between sloth mothers and their young.
 
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