Keepers at the Bristol Zoo Project have been left baffled by images of a mysterious creature caught on a night vision camera. The zoo’s conservation team made the discovery when looking through images from camera traps set up in the habitat where bears and wolves.
After reviewing the images, the experts say the creature appears to have four legs and is like nothing they have spotted before. There had been reports over the last few weeks of something unusual lurking between the trees, turning the heads of not just the staff, but also the animals that live there.
Camera traps are used by Bristol Zoological Society’s conservation team to survey and monitor species of all sizes that inhabit Bear Wood’s 7.5 acres of ancient woodland. The mysterious shape, which has been seen on camera on several occasions, has been impossible to identify.
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The sightings come just before the launch of the zoo’s ‘Howl-oween: Myths and Legends trail’, which will give visitors the opportunity to see giraffes, lemurs, cheetah, wolves and wolverines, as well as potentially spot the mythical creature. It will also include myth-busting talks, an interactive animal artefact experience in the Lodge of Legends, as well as the chance for visitors to create their own mythical creature in the Cauldron of Creation.
Rosie Sims, public engagement manager at Bristol Zoo Project, said: “The sighting of this mythical-like creature is a mystery to us here at Bristol Zoo Project and has been a great inspiration for the Halloween trail this year. Scotland has the Loch Ness monster and Cornwall has the Beast of Bodmin Moor – have we discovered a similar mythical here in Bristol perhaps?
“The spotting is great timing as we gear up for Halloween at the zoo. Visitors are in for a trick or treat along our Howl-oween trail as they discover whether hedgehogs were believed to be witches in disguise, or which two animals were thought to have been mixed together to create a giraffe. There’s also the opportunity for visitors to find out their animal personality, create their own mythical creature and play red panda roulette, too.”
Bristol Zoo Project said it is currently undergoing a transformation with the creation of a new conservation zoo, adding 78% of the animals it cares for are both threatened and part of targeted conservation programmes. It said its aim is for this to rise to 90 per cent of species by 2035.
It added: “Work is ongoing to create a new Central African Forest habitat which will become home to the zoo’s existing troop of Critically Endangered western lowland gorillas. They’ll be joined by Endangered cherry-crowned mangabeys, Critically Endangered slender-snouted crocodiles, Endangered African grey parrots and several extremely threatened species of West African freshwater fish.
“Alongside this, there will be new visitor facilities, adventure play areas and a conservation campus for students, vets, and the breeding of threatened animals. The attraction will remain open throughout the work.”
Howl-oween: Myths and Legends, runs from Friday 25 October to Sunday 3 November. Tickets to the zoo can be purchased online or upon admission and under 2s go free. Children in costume can receive 50% off their admission ticket.
To find out more about Bristol Zoo Project and Bristol Zoological Society, visit www.bristolzoo.org.uk.