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Video of the day. Snake Discovery took a trip to the Belize Zoo, and documented it. The part with the awesome Bairds Tapirs starts at around 1:42.
Great timing with all the tapir memes around Belize right now.
"While on vacation, we toured the Belize Zoo again as we just love this place! All of their animals are both rescued and native to Belize. Watch to see what all we found!" 
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Yes, it is, and that's why we love the Belize Zoo.
"The Belize Zoo had the extraordinary honour of being selected as a 'Bright Spot' by the Caribbean Leadership Project hosted by UWI's Cave Hill School of Business. Through the project's module 'Serving Our People, Country, and Region,' the Zoo was highlighted as one of the 'bright spots' in Belize that exhibits successful leadership and citizen focused services, for its 30 years of contributions to education and wildlife conservation in our country. A group of CEOs and Permanent Secretaries from around the Caribbean (including Belize!) graced TBZ with their presence, as Founding Director Sharon Matola shared the history, mission and vision of 'the best little zoo in the world.' Rose the crocodile then made an appearance at the end of discussions, along with 'Miss Belize' the tapir mascot, displaying a perfect summary of the Zoo's approach to wildlife conservation through interactive education. TBZ thanks our colleagues for such an honoured visit, and looks forward to another 30 years of putting Belizeans in touch with their natural heritage, so we can save it for generations to come!"
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Belize was listed first on the list of Best Wildlife Travel Adventures. Of course, due to Cayo, where the wildlife is. The picture is of the Twin Falls, taken from La Capitana pontoon boat on Lake Benque.
"Located on the northeastern coast of Central America, Belize is brimming with unique and exciting wildlife. There are approximately 145 species of mammals, 139 species of reptiles and amphibians, and over 500 species of birds that call the Latin American country home. Belize contains remarkable protected parks and coastal cays abundant with indigenous wildlife. To see some of Belize’s rarest animals, such as Baird’s tapirs and scarlet macaws, a tour guide is required, but many exotic animals can be spotted all around the tropical paradise. Swim with sharks and stingrays in the crystal-clear Caribbean waters, and make sure to visit the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, which is recognized internationally as the world’s first jaguar preserve."
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The Belize Zoo really impresses in this travel article. The funny signs, which are unique to the zoo, are mentioned too. There are some good pictures of the Tapir, the national animal of Belize.
"This zoo is friggin awesome!! The Huffington Post knows what I'm talking about, they have it listed as number five on their top ten list of best zoos in the WORLD! ... It's true - other than being on nice walkways and going over little wooden bridges, I felt like I was walking through the jungle the whole time I was in there."
's comment September 19, 2012 10:33 PM
I didn't even know our zoo is considered one of the best in the world!!!
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The Belize Zoo got a great review, and there's quite a bit of information about it in the article. It also mentions The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw.
"In 1983 a filmmaking team came to Belize to make a wildlife documentary called Path of the Rain Gods. By the time filming was over, the animals that the team had collected for the film had become tame, the crew were leaving the country, there was no money left, and no one knew what to do with 17 animals that couldn’t be released into the wild. Sharon Matola (the film’s animal handler) stayed behind with her furry charges and started the zoo... The zoo’s animals include all the Belizean cats, from the jaguar and puma all the way to the tiny jaguarundi (a small ginger cat with a hoarse throaty purr that looks and sounds like an domestic moggy with asthma). Another famous resident is the tapir (the country’s national animal), a fat beast that looks somewhere between a pig and a cow, and has a prehensile snout and a reputation for spraying its urine at curious visitors. There are howler monkeys (who are one of the loudest animals and whose crepuscular roars can be heard for miles). And there are a number of cute furry critters, with exotic names like agouti, gibnut, kinkajou, and coatimundi."
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Video of the day. The Belize Zoo has video of their new tapir calf. Talk about cute! National Tapir Day will be celebrated this Saturday at the Belize Zoo, and you can vote for the name of the new calf.
"We are so excited to share this very special video with all our "watermelon" fans! Here is a sneak peak of the tapir calf with proud mama, Navidad. You can meet the whole tapir family in person this Saturday April 28th during National Tapir Day celebrations at the Zoo! There will plenty of games, animal encounters, and special surprises, including the big reveal for our naming poll for the tapir calf. It's going to be "mountain cow mania" at the Zoo from 10am-3pm!
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Rember Cerón has an essay submission for this year’s Chaa Creek Eco Kids Summer Camp.
"The rainforest is home to numerous species such as The Tapir, Scarlet Macaw, Toucan, etc. It is the home of a wide variety of flora and fauna. In the anxiety of developing the world, and expanding to provide dwellings, humans are destroying nature. When someone builds a house or a building, they destroy many animal species and plants; thus, contributing to the destruction of the rainforest. Another way that humans are destroying the forests is through fires. Being careless can cause any forest fire and so it destroys nature. The only way how the rainforest can develop or grow more is by us taking care of it and planting more trees."
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April 27th is World Tapir Day, and the Belize Zoo will be having a grand event to celebrate it, including the displaying of their latest tapir, which is a full sized paper mache tapir created over the span of 2 months by Katie Shea Stevens. Don't miss the festivities at the best little zoo in the world!
"Katie Shea Stevens made a life size tapir out of paper mache for the Belize Zoo. Don't forget that April 27th is World Tapir Day, and the Belize Zoo will be having special activities for it. The paper mache tapir is currently on display at the zoo." https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151512013356162.1073741841.265387546161
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The Houston Zoo sent some volunteers down, and they have praise for the 'best little zoo in the world.' They have some pictures of all the great signs at the Belize zoo, too.
"After flying into Belize City, our group of 22 students and 2 instructors drove some 47km west to the Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center (which would serve as our main hub over the 10-day stay)... We spent a considerable amount of time there, learning about their efforts to educate Belizeans about the rich wildlife diversity that is apparent in their country. What struck me most were their signs. All exhibit signs are hand-painted with quirky, sing-song like poems that encourage native Belizeans to learn more about, and take pride in their national animals. Like, their national animal for example…the tapir. How many people really know what a tapir is (outside the Zoo world), or where our tapirs come from?"
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Great article on the Belize Zoo from the World Travel List site. Recently, Sharon Matola was awarded the 'Zoo Wildlife Conservation Award' from the Cincinnati Zoo, but more about that later.
"What made the zoo a must are the facilities and small size of the area. The zoo tries as best as possible to replicate the natural environment of animals in the wild. The zoo educates children on their native fauna. Even Belizeans will not find all of these species out in the wild. As a firm believer in changing the world for the better by educating people, the fact that the zoo attempts to teach the locals not to harm, hunt, or kill these precious native species of the Belize jungle made my first stop a worthwhile visit."
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