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New Zealand Zoo More than Doubles Its Population of Endangered Lemurs

A ring-tailed lemur mother with her offspring tastes a frozen snack given to the animals to cool down in the DierenPark in Amersfoort, The Netherlands, 19 July 2022. (EPA)
A ring-tailed lemur mother with her offspring tastes a frozen snack given to the animals to cool down in the DierenPark in Amersfoort, The Netherlands, 19 July 2022. (EPA)
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New Zealand Zoo More than Doubles Its Population of Endangered Lemurs

A ring-tailed lemur mother with her offspring tastes a frozen snack given to the animals to cool down in the DierenPark in Amersfoort, The Netherlands, 19 July 2022. (EPA)
A ring-tailed lemur mother with her offspring tastes a frozen snack given to the animals to cool down in the DierenPark in Amersfoort, The Netherlands, 19 July 2022. (EPA)

New Zealand's Wellington Zoo has more than doubled its population of endangered ring-tailed lemurs after its four females gave birth to twins, the zoo's primate manager said on Tuesday.

Ring-tailed lemurs, endemic to Madagascar, are on the endangered list. Wellington Zoo has only had ring-tailed lemurs for 18 months and got Zeus, their male, at the beginning of 2022 with the hope they might be able to add to their population.

Primate manager Lisa Ridley said given all four adult female lemurs were first-time mums, they were not sure whether they'd have success with breeding them.

"We're very, very excited that we've had four sets of healthy twins and they're doing well," she said.

The first set of twins was born in August and the final set was born last week.

The population of ring-tailed lemurs, made famous by King Julien in the 2005 movie "Madagascar", is declining in the wild. One of the challenges is female ring-tailed lemurs are only sexually receptive for one or two days a year.

"The window is literally 24 to 36 hours - that was all the time our male had to do his job," said Ridley. "Zeus is a really, really nice male. He's laid back. He is very respectful of the females and he understands his position within the mob."

Ridley said the zoo was not sure of the sex of the young lemurs as they try not to interfere with them until they are older.

Once they mature, any new males and Zeus would likely be separated to create a bachelor group, as would naturally occur in the wild.

Zeus would be used for breeding for a few more years before being replaced to prevent the genetic pool from becoming too small, Ridley said.

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Tourist Coins Pose Giant Problem at N. Ireland's Famous Causeway Site

Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)
Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)
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Tourist Coins Pose Giant Problem at N. Ireland's Famous Causeway Site

Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)
Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)

Northern Ireland's Giant Causeway draws close to one million visitors a year but their habit of wedging tiny coins in cracks between the rocks -- to bring love or luck -- is damaging the world-famous wonder.

Now authorities are urging tourists to keep their coins in their pockets to preserve the spectacular landscape.

Some 40,000 columns mark the causeway, Northern Ireland's first UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Geologists say the natural phenomenon was created by an outpouring of basalt lava 60 million years ago.

Legend has it that the causeway was formed by Irish giant Finn McCool.

In recent decades, visitors have pushed thousands of coins into fissures in the rocks.

The gesture is "a token of love or luck", according to Cliff Henry, the causeway's nature engagement officer.

But the coins rapidly corrode and expand, causing the basalt to flake and leaving "unsightly" rust-colored streaks, Henry told AFP.

He pointed to streaks on a rock and gingerly prized out a US cent with a set of keys.

"We get a lot of euros and dollar cents. But coins from literally all over the world -- any currency you can think of, pretty much -- we have had it here," he said.

A report by the British Geological Survey in 2021 revealed that the coins were "doing some serious damage" and something had to be done about it, he noted.

Signs are now in place around the site appealing to tourists to "leave no trace".
"Once some visitors see other people have done it, they feel that they need to add to it," causeway tour guide Joan Kennedy told AFP.

She and her colleagues now gently but firmly tell tourists to desist.

At the exit from the causeway, a US couple said they were "distressed" to hear of the damage the metal caused.

"Our guide mentioned as we came up that people had been putting coins into the stones. It's really terrible to hear that," said Robert Lewis, a 75-year-old from Florida.

"It's kind of like damaging any kind of nature when you are doing something like that, putting something foreign into nature. It's not good," said his wife, Geri, 70.

As part of a £30,000 ($40,000) conservation project, stone masons recently removed as many coins as they could -- without causing further damage -- from 10 test sites around the causeway.

Henry said the trial was successful and is to be expanded across the causeway.

"If we can get all those coins removed to start with that will help the situation and hopefully no more coins will be put in," he said.

"If visitors see fewer coins in the stones and hear appeals to stop the damaging practice, the problem can maybe be solved.

"We know that visitors love and cherish the Giant's Causeway, and many form deep personal connections to it, so we want this natural wonder to remain special for future generations."