UK Zoos with Leafcutter Ants

Jambi

Jambi

Well-Known Member
As I've been looking into zoos I want to visit and planning trips, I've been keeping a list of species I either haven't seen or want to see more of, and leafcutter ants are on the latter list. I decided to make this thread mainly because Zootierliste doesn't have a section for insects, I'm looking for recommendations for zoos in the UK have leafcutter colonies, and also for opinions on which zoos have the best looking enclosures for them?

Since starting my Zoo Life List in August 2021, I've been to two zoos that keep leafcutters; the Lakeland Wildlife Oasis in Cumbria, and Chester Zoo. However at Chester, the area in Spirit of the Jaguar where you can normally see the ants was empty when I visited, some work was being done to it at the time. I also remember back when Edinburgh Zoo used to keep a colony of leafcutters in their Brilliant Birds aviary, but sadly they're not there any more.
 
There's an unusual display of Leaf Cutter Ants at Twycross - they're only visible in the toilets in the new entrance building!

Not sure if they're still there, but there were Ants displayed in the Chimpanzee House at Dudley.

Not a zoo, but the Liverpool World Museum has an invertebrate gallery, which has live exhibits, including Leaf Cutter Ants

Am sure I've seen Leaf Cutters at very many more places, but these are the ones that came to mind.
 
Crowthorne said:
There's an unusual display of Leaf Cutter Ants at Twycross - they're only visible in the toilets in the new entrance building!
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Now there's a mental image. I'll have to plan a visit to Twycross and check that out!

Not sure if they're still there, but there were Ants displayed in the Chimpanzee House at Dudley
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I have a visit to Dudley planned this Summer, so I'll keep a look out for them. Leafcutters are listed on Dudley's website, but I don't remember seeing them last time I went in 2013.
 
Jambi said:
As I've been looking into zoos I want to visit and planning trips, I've been keeping a list of species I either haven't seen or want to see more of, and leafcutter ants are on the latter list. I decided to make this thread mainly because Zootierliste doesn't have a section for insects, I'm looking for recommendations for zoos in the UK have leafcutter colonies, and also for opinions on which zoos have the best looking enclosures for them?

Since starting my Zoo Life List in August 2021, I've been to two zoos that keep leafcutters; the Lakeland Wildlife Oasis in Cumbria, and Chester Zoo. However at Chester, the area in Spirit of the Jaguar where you can normally see the ants was empty when I visited, some work was being done to it at the time. I also remember back when Edinburgh Zoo used to keep a colony of leafcutters in their Brilliant Birds aviary, but sadly they're not there any more.
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The nest of the leaf-cutter ants at Marwell is in the darkened area of the Tropical House, with tubes providing routes to feeding islands in an enclosure containing spiny-tailed iguana and caeclinians and Blackline penguin tetras in the water, so a unique mix.
 
Jambi said:
Now there's a mental image. I'll have to plan a visit to Twycross and check that out!
Click to expand...

Probably not quite the mental image you are thinking of... they are actually in the wall set in front of the wash basins in the Gents. I don't know if the Ladies has a similar display or if the same display can be seen from in there somehow.
 
Pertinax said:
Probably not quite the mental image you are thinking of... they are actually in the wall set in front of the wash basins in the Gents. I don't know if the Ladies has a similar display or if the same display can be seen from in there somehow.
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As a lady I can confirm they're behind the wash basins there too.
 
I've checked this morning and Paignton still has them - in the Bugs At Home exhibit. There's a poor photo in the Gallery.
 
Knocking a thread: I plan on making a best enclosure poll on them, and they're not listed on ZTL, so what zoos have them and is there a website that lists their holdings?
 
felis silvestris said:
Knocking a thread: I plan on making a best enclosure poll on them, and they're not listed on ZTL, so what zoos have them and is there a website that lists their holdings?
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The best solution I could think of was searching the media gallery for leafcutter ants at all UK zoos. I saw images for the following (I didn't see any images for Chester or Marwell, so it clearly isn't entirely effective, but having seen them there in person, I added them anyways):

- Blair Drummond
- Lakeland Wildlife Oasis
- Tropical World (Roundhay Park)
- Call of the Wild Zoo
- Five Sister Zoo Park
- London Zoo
- Colchester Zoo
- Chester Zoo
- Marwell Zoo
- Ponderosa Zoo*
- Edinburgh Zoo*
- Twycross Zoo*
- Amazonia*

*The photos for these collections are very old, so may not be entirely up-to-date.
 
Of the above list, Colchester don't have them anymore, and they never arrived at Call of the Wild Zoo.

They are definitely kept at The Bug Parc in Norfolk and the Stratford-Upon-Avon Butterfly Farm.
 
Kalaw said:
The best solution I could think of was searching the media gallery for leafcutter ants at all UK zoos. I saw images for the following (I didn't see any images for Chester or Marwell, so it clearly isn't entirely effective, but having seen them there in person, I added them anyways):

- Blair Drummond
- Lakeland Wildlife Oasis
- Tropical World (Roundhay Park)
- Call of the Wild Zoo
- Five Sister Zoo Park
- London Zoo
- Colchester Zoo
- Chester Zoo
- Marwell Zoo
- Ponderosa Zoo*
- Edinburgh Zoo*
- Twycross Zoo*
- Amazonia*

*The photos for these collections are very old, so may not be entirely up-to-date.
Click to expand...
Chester's ants have been off show for a while now unfortunately.
 
I didn’t take pictures of the feeding / nesting tanks at Amazona recently but the photo in the gallery shows the nicely lit pipes that wind their way around the tropical house which you can watch the ants walking through with the leaves.

full
 
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Reaseheath College Zoo hold leaf cutters however I forgot to photograph the enclosure today on my visit. The Deep Aquarium also hold the species.

Kalaw said:
- Ponderosa Zoo*
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I don't recall seeing them at the zoo the last time I visited which was in 2021.
 
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