There are few shelters for urban wildlife in gardens. After pruning and the need to leave them clean and tidy obliges gardeners to remove all old trunks and branches from trees. At the Zoo we have started to change this trend and we are now leaving old tree trunks and standing or fallen dead trees in gardens in order to create spaces that urban wildlife can occupy: we call them bio-trunks.

Old wood is perfect for bats to use the holes; bats make their nests in them, and hedgehogs, lizards, geckos, and small Passeriformes can take cover during rains, and it is the perfect substratum for ants, bees and other insects and spiders that are part of the Zoo's biodiversity.

Photo captions: Cut tree in front of the hyena exhibit

This spring we have distributed the old trunks of two poplars, a Judas tree, two Japanese maples and a plane tree, and we have made different sized holes in them to make them rain shelters, nests and perfect dens for the garden’s wildlife. Take a look at these animal hotels when you are in the Zoo!