Doncaster Wildlife Park set to feature in new Channel 5 show

Doncaster's top animal attraction, Yorkshire Wildlife Park, will tonight be featured in Channel 5's new show Big Week at the Zoo.
Tongki the polar bear.Tongki the polar bear.
Tongki the polar bear.

The show, which airs tonight at 8pm, will see Helen Skelton and Nick Baker visit the attraction, at Branton, to celebrate the conservation work carried out by British zoos.

The zoo is known for its conservation efforts, which have been instrumental in protecting a range of endangered animals. 
The park is home to more than 400 animals, including the country's only four polar bears, many of them endangered species.


A sulcata tortoise.A sulcata tortoise.
A sulcata tortoise.

Here's just some of the animals you can see there.

Rosie and Glenda

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The pair are endangered sulcata tortoises, which can live to around 80-years-old, and have been classified as vulnerable because of disappearing habitat in their native central Africa. They moved in to the Wildlife Park in July.

Victor, Pixel, Nissan, Nobby and Tongki

Painted dogs Nandi and Thabo.Painted dogs Nandi and Thabo.
Painted dogs Nandi and Thabo.

The Wildlife Park's resident polar bears an often be spotted roaming in Project Polar, which includes dens, pools, lakes in a rolling landscape and is designed to reflect the habitat of the summer Arctic tundra. Polar bears are threatened by global warming reducing their Arctic hunting and breeding and the park’s charity, the Yorkshire Wildlife Park Foundation, raises funds for polar bears. Tongki is the latest polar bear to make the park his home, and he will be joining Victor, Pixel, Nissan and Nobby from his home in Korea later this year.

Nandi and Thabo

These sisters are rare African painted dogs, and they are part of a nine-strong pack. This species is the second most endangered carnivore in Africa, with numbers dwindling from more than 500,000 to less than 5,000 in the wild.

Drake, Freya, Anadyr and Teva

The Amur Leopard is the most endangered big cat in the world. Anadyr and Teva were born on June 28 205. The cubs represent hope for an entire species, as currently there are less than 70 individuals left in the wild. Drake and Freya live in the award winning Leopard Heights reserve.

You will also find lions, meerkats, ring-tailed Lemurs, baboons and squirrel monkeys, among many more animals at the park.