Small cats with big ears arrive at Wellington Zoo
Visitors to Wellington Zoo will be able to see New Zealand’s first Caracals in the Zoo’s new Grassland Cats habitat,
with a special visitor opening day on Saturday 27 September.
The Caracals will be joined by the Zoo’s popular Servals in their brand new home.
“Caracals are such striking and interesting animals; it’s fantastic to have them here at Wellington Zoo. We’re
de-lighted to have developed this new space for our Servals too, that have been off visitor view for a while, in this
amazing new exhibit which was designed and built by our Zoo team.” says Wellington Zoo Chief Executive, Karen Fifield
“Wellington Zoo is establishing a reputation for designing and building innovative exhibits in-house, and the Grass-land
Habitat continues this beautifully. Our interpretation gives visitors a chance to experience hunting like a Ser-val or
Caracal.”
“Both Servals and Caracals have distinctive large ears, and are amazing athletic cats able to jump metres into the air
from the ground. I’m sure our visitors will love getting the chance to meet our new cats and welcome back some
favourites,” said Karen.
The visitor opening day will be full of cat based entertainment including animal talks, cat based games and activi-ties,
face-painting, and giveaways.
Construction of Grassland Cats was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Zoo’s principal funder Wellington
City Council.