The Michael Gamble Animal Management Centre
Our Animal Management Centre is home to a diverse array of species, including critically endangered fish from South America, a variety of amphibians, snakes and lizards such as our Boa constrictor, as well as a selection of birds and mammals, including goats and alpacas.
The Animal Management Centre allows students on our Animal Studies courses to gain hands-on experience with a wide variety of animals in our Animal Management Centre.
The Animal Management Centre is an educational member of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA). This means that our Centre has been inspected and meets a key industry standard for the care and welfare of the animals.
As BIAZA members we can collaborate with BIAZA zoos and acquire surplus stock from these zoos, allowing us to contribute towards conservation efforts, including captive breeding programmes for endangered species.
Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS)
We utilises the Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS) to record data about the species in our care, as well as Seneye to monitor our aquatic systems.
ZIMS is widely used in zoos globally and contributes to modern zoo research. Our collection is overseen by a specialist zoo veterinary team, ensuring our animals receive care that meets the highest industry standards.
Recent enhancements
This £1.7m innovative and highly energy efficient building has climate control and lighting systems which allow students to observe animals in as natural an environment as possible.
Recent enhancements to the Centre include a new coral propagation and marine fish breeding system, zoo-style enclosures for our reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates, a pet shop-style exotics room, and upgrades to our mammal rooms and paddock area.
Additionally, we have constructed a new kennel block designed to demonstrate the high standards required to operate a kennel business.
Individual climate controlled rooms
Each room has individual controls for heating and fresh air handling allowing each room to be its own climate. There’s also timed lighting controls to ensure ’day lengths’ are controlled in the winter months.
Nocturnal room
The nocturnal room has standard white lights and a separate blue light. The blue light is adjustable to very low levels, mimicking the light effect of a moonlit night.
This allows us to work with the animals on husbandry tasks in the morning and then switch to nighttime conditions in the afternoon. This enables students to observe nocturnal behaviour during the teaching day.
The central corridor has north lights and the south elevation has no windows, limiting the solar gain in the summer.
A carbon positive building
The Animal Management Centre is carbon positive. It will generate more electricity from 45kw of PV panels than it consumes and is heated by air source heat pumps. The hot water is generated from 5kw of solar collectors plus electric (PV) top up so burns no fossil fuel on site.
All the rainwater from the roof is sent to two large holding tanks for use in the horticultural department replacing borehole water for plant irrigation.