New resident for Terra Natura

New crocodile arriving at Terra Natura

Last week Terra Natura Wildlife park in Benidorm welcomed a new member to its extensive family - a Siamese crocodile.

This particular breed is one of the most endangered species of crocodiles in the world and sadly already extinct in some regions. It is officially listed as "critically endangered" on the ICUN Red List.

Crocodile facts

The 5 year old female is called Coco and measures approximately 1.5 meters in length - and once fully grown should not exceed 3 meters. She is a freshwater crocodile, native to South East Asia - but now virtually extinct in the wild from most countries with the exception of Cambodia, where it is estimated that there are between 100 and 300, which isn´t really that many. The decline is mainly due to hunting, human disturbance and habitat destruction.

She arrived from another zoo in Spain where they had too large a group of crocodiles, which can sometimes lead to aggression. Coco has been allocated her own quarters - a big freshwater pond with a wide sandy beach where she can relax and sunbathe within Asia zone.

Breeding program

Coco exploring her new home

Terra Natura´s philosophy is to preserve endangered species through conservation and captive breeding - they have had many successes over the years such as the White Handed Gibbon and Indian Rhino.

They are now sending out requests to other European zoo´s for the loan of a male Siamese crocodile in the hope that they will be able to breed - although potentially a difficult task as so few have been recorded.

Great place for a day trip

Terra Natura

Terra Natura has over 1500 animals of 200 different species - 50 of which are classified as endangered. They are doing a superb job with dedicated and committed staff, often taking the place of a missing parent. It is a particularly great place to take children - very educational as well as a fun day out.

Zip Wire - for the brave!

There are 3 zones - America, Asia and Europe and you can see the animals native to their continent in each. There are plenty of interactive activities going on throughout the day, such as feeding the animals - and for the somewhat more adventurous, you can try going on the zipwire, which will have you flying 400 meters over the elephant plain! The park is open every day - until 6pm during weekends and 7pm at weekends throughout May then increasing until 7pm and 8pm during the peak July/August periods.

Aqua Natura Water Park

Aqua Natura

Next door to Terra Natura is Aqua Natura - a fantastic waterpark, which opens next Saturday - 24th May. It makes for a great combined day out - and even better still, they have a FREE sea lion show there as well as the chance to go and swim with them if you pre-book the "Sea Lion Experience". There are plenty of slides, plumes and fountains to help cool you down as well as a man made beach with sand.