Southwick's Zoo EARTH's animal ambassadors which include macaws, a bush baby, porcupine, turtles, snakes, bearded dragons, and other reptiles. These animals are used in EARTH's education programs including live presentations at the zoo, ZooMobiles, and Wild Adventure Programs for younger students. Southwick's Zoo has four big cat exhibits; lions, bengal tigers african leopard, and the recently added cheetahs. Southwick's Zoo opened their larger, updated giraffe exhibit in 2011. In 2010, the zoo also began offering giraffe encounters on weekends. The zoo has the largest primate collection in New England. Species of primates found at Southwick's Zoo include chimpanzees, white-handed gibbons, siamangs, mandrills,
History of Edinburgh Zoo chimpanzees at Edinburgh were found to use word-like vocal labels for food. In late 2005 the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) threatened action over the holding in captivity of Mercedes, then Britain's only polar bear. The zoo had initially planned to retire their polar bear exhibit after Mercedes died. When zoo officials announced plans to create a new attraction, citing their responsibility to ensure the survival of the species, the ALF threatened damage to zoo workers' property and other scare-tactics. Edinburgh's treatment of polar bears had often been subject to criticism, punctuated by incidents like the death in 1997 of Mercedes'