Nishikigoi, commonly referred to as Koi, are the national fish of Japan.

Koi are referred to as 'living jewels' or 'swimming flowers'

Here at Colchester Zoo we have a number of horses and donkeys that rotate from their stable to their field.

All of our horses are rescues from the World Horse Welfare who rehome horses with us who enjoy human interaction.

There are more than 300 breeds of horse developed for many different uses.

A male donkey is called a Jack, and a female is called a Jenny or Jennet.

The giant Asian pond turtle is one of the largest hard-shelled, semi-aquatic turtles.

Binturongs mark their territory bu leaving a musky substance that smells like popcorn!

The Aldabra giant tortoise is indeed a giant, with individuals reaching over one metre in length!

Amur leopards are distinctive due to their pale coat and dark rosettes which are large and widely spaced with thick, unbroken rings. Our enclosure is home to our two leopards (one male and one female)

See if you can spot the leopards in their enclosures, or learn more about them at the daily leopard encounter during your next visit!

Much like a human fingerprint, no two tigers have the same stripe pattern.

We have one male and one female burmese pythons housed in the Wilds of Asia exhibit.

The Burmese python are capable of reaching 23 feet or more in length and can weigh up to 200 pounds!

The great grey owl is one of the world's most instantly recognisable birds of prey. The great grey owl is almost all feathers for insulation, underneath its body is no bigger than a tawny owl.

The grey wolf is the largest wild canid, or member of the 'dog' family. Grey wolves are social animals and the ancestor of all domestic dogs. In the wild they live in packs of 5–10 individuals and have a highly organised social structure.

The Komodo dragon is classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and listed on Appendix I of CITES; their number has declined in the wild due to the threat of widespread habitat loss, a loss of prey species and hunting.

The lion-tailed macaques name comes from its long tail, which has a tassel at the end like that of a lion.

Orangutan means 'person of the forest'

Orangutans are extremely endangered in the wild. The main reason is that their rainforest home is being cut down to make way for palm oil plantations. This is a very high profit crop and it is thought that 10% of all supermarket products contain it. This is causing severe habitat loss, which is causing the dramatic depletion in Orangutan numbers.

The Philippine spotted deer is also known as Visayan spotted deer and it is thought that they are mainly nocturnal, emerging at dusk to look for food.

The Pileated gibbons live in socially monogamous pairs so the male and a female live together and rear their offspring together.

Our breeding pair of red pandas are housed in an open air enclosure with a number of different platforms and plenty of space for them to climb and explore.  The enclosure has plenty of bamboo for our individuals to enjoy, as this makes up 95% of their diet in the wild. Bamboo is highly nutritous and red pandas may spend up to 13 hours foraging for this food source as well as consuming 200,000 bamboo leafs a day.

The Rhinoceros Hornbill has a prominent golden-yellow horn, called a casque, on the top of its beak. The casque is a hollow structure made up of keratin (the same material as human fingernails) and acts as a resonating chamber, amplifying the bird’s calls.

Smooth coated otters love being in water and use all four paws to ‘doggy paddle’

The Visayan warty pig is a dark grey colour, and the body is lightly covered with bristly hairs.  There is a tuft of hair in between the ears and like all pigs, the face is long and ends with a round nasal disc