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Young pair of rare endangered hyenas arrive at zoo

Lisa Young
BBC News, South West
Helen Black Photography Flo and Quinn are lying along side each other with their heads pointing in the same direction. One has upright ears while the other has one slightly floppy ear. Their long ruffs are pale brown and the fur on their bodies is darker brown. Their eyes and noses look dark brown or black. They are lying on a bed of twigs. Helen Black Photography
Brown hyenas are reported to be housed in only two zoos in the UK

A young pair of one of the world's rarest carnivores has arrived at a Cornish zoo.

Newquay Zoo said it was the only zoo in the south-west of England and one of two zoos in the UK to house endangered brown hyenas, also known as strandwolves.

Flo and Quinn, a sibling pair aged just under two years old, arrived from Hamerton Zoo Park in Cambridgeshire on Wednesday.

Newquay Zoo's curator of plants and animals John Meek said: "For people to be able to see them up close is a powerful reminder of why zoo conservation matters."

Helen Black Photography Quinn is looking at the camera and appears to be sitting down. We can see his head and shoulders. He has large upright ears that have pale long hair in from of them. His face is dark brown and his eyes and nose look shiny and black. His ruff is made of long pale brown hair and what we can see of his body is dark brown long fur. Helen Black Photography
Mr Meek says Quinn is one of the rarest species of hyena

"They are one of Africa's least understood carnivores - shy, solitary and beautifully adapted for survival in some of the toughest environments on Earth," he added.

He said brown hyenas (Parahyaena brunnea) were the rarest of the four hyena species, with as few as 5,000 estimated to remain in the wild, in southern Africa.

Mr Meek explained the species played "a crucial role in maintaining ecosystem health as nature's clean-up crew" because they ate carcasses that prevented disease spread and helped recycle nutrients back into the environment.

Helen Black Photography Flo is looking at the camera and appears to be standing. She has one upright ear and the other is slightly floppy. Her face is dark brown and she has brown eyes and a dark brown shiny nose. She has long black whiskers and her long fur is a mix of tan and dark brown.Helen Black Photography
Flo is one of the sibling pair moved from Hamerton Park Zoo

He described brown hyenas as "perfectly adapted scavengers", which ate almost every part of a carcass, including bone, while also supplementing their diet with fruit, eggs and insects.

Flo and Quinn had been housed in the old lion enclosure, he added, where their habitat included shelter areas, naturalistic landscaping and space for enrichment opportunities to encourage natural behaviours.

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