A Peacock’s Tale
At the zoo we are lucky to have several free-roaming Indian blue peafowl, more commonly known as peacocks and peahens.
The males (peacocks), with their striking tails, are not only beautiful, but also illustrate a fascinating result of thousands of years of evolution known to scientists as “Fisherian runaway selection”. This peculiar form of evolution is named after the Victorian biologist Ronald Fisher, and is used to describe a feature of an animal (in this case, the male peacock’s tail) that has evolved to increase the chance of finding a partner, but is actually a huge burden on the animal...
Colder And Otter
As the weather turns colder, the otters at the zoo are keeping warm this Christmas!
Our Asian short-clawed otters, Aonyx cinerea, tend to stay indoors during the winter, in their heated enclosure. However, like all mammals, their fur reacts to the cold, trapping warm air close to their skin. Otters also have two layers of fur, one for insulation and one to keep the water out. This layer of fur makes them look cuddly, but they have sharp teeth and claws, which equip them for hunting fish, and even snakes and rats...