Quest for the wild canary - part 1: Landscape and geography

Mt Teide, Teneriffe - inside the caldera

The canary is such a common cage bird that I expect hardly anyone ever thinks about where they come from, and I very much doubt that the word “canary” conjures up images of large explosions or the possible devastation of much of the seaboard of the east coast of the United States. However, I hope that by the time these posts are finished, you might have a better picture of the back story of one of the commonest cage birds in the world.

New year, new births

This week Bristol released the news of the first successful birth of a pigmy hippo here at Bristol for many years. Names Winnie, she has just turned 1 month old and is the daughter of Sirana and Nato.

Bristol snakes 9: Northern Pine Snake

Northern Pine Snake

The last of Bristol Zoo’s snakes I will post about in this series is the impressive Northern Pine Snake Pituophis melanoleucus. These are some of the largest snakes in North America, and can grow as thick as my wrist and nearly 2m long.

Bristol snakes 8: Corn Snake



Corn Snake

Almost certainly the most commonly kept pet snake in the world, and tying with the Leopard Gecko and Inland Bearded Dragon as the default reptile pet, at least here in the UK, the Corn Snake Pantherophis guttatusis native to the south eastern United States, where it prefers fairly dry areas with plentiful rodent burrows.

Bristol snakes 7: Royal Python

Royal Python

As well as the various snakes on show in the Reptile House, the volunteers have several snakes that are used in the Animal Encounters talks. One of the most popular of these is the Royal Python, Python regius, of which we have three so that we can spread the workload between them. As I am sure most people are aware, Royals are one of the most popular pet snakes, owing to their small size (even large females seldom reach 1.5m) and usually placid demeanour, which makes them very good for handling.