Home to Mexican blind cave fish, critically endangered newts and cute meercats, Askham Bryan College has evolved greatly since its days as the Yorkshire Agricultural Institute. MATT CLARK takes a look round its new animal management facility.

HOW many motorists whizzing along the A64 at Bilbrough Top, or not whizzing as is often the case, would you say are aware that just a stone's throw away Barry the blue tongued skink has just started to tuck into his five a day?

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Barry the blue tongued skink. Picture: Matt Clark.

Or come to think of it that a beady eyed croc, is eyeing up passers-by as potential dinner.

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Not many, that's for sure. But Askham Bryan College isn't just a farmers training centre these days, it has a new animal management facility and wildlife conservation park which houses a wide range of reptiles, amphibians, mammals, birds, fish together with invertebrates in state-of-the-art enclosures.

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Bearded dragon in the new animal management centre. Picture: Matt Clark.

And this half term you can get to see the facility for yourself.

You'll find 100 different species in specialised habitat areas, from an aquatics room to a tropical house, small mammals yard to bird garden, The college is home to raccoons, possums, meerkats, Gambian pouched rats, and of course skinks. Because this is a training facility there is a bit more handling than would take place in a zoo. Even then wildlife park manager Caroline Howard says certain species don't take too kindly to being handled like domesticated animals.

"It's more about how should we be managing them," she says. "The way you do a health check on a marmoset is very different to say a guinea pig, which is very hands on.

"If you want to weigh a marmoset you need to persuade it to get on the scales of its own accord."

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Marmoset in the wildlife park. Picture: Matt Clark.

Even more exotic creatures are the bearded dragons and curious eye-less Mexican blind cave fish. Then there are stick insects that don't look like sticks at all, more like leaves in fact – although leaf insects are something else altogether.

Not to mention Barry and his blue tongue.

"He's from Australia and when he sticks his tongue out he's sensing the air," says Caroline. "It's blue as a threat display to scare off predators.

"Blue is not a common food colour, so it's a very effective warning colour. We have blue poison dart frogs here which are indicating that it's a very bad idea to eat them."

It seems Barry's message is sent out loud and clear.

And watch out for the skunks. Everything you saw in the Pepé Le Pew cartoons is true.

"We went in to clean them out and two young males got really agitated, so they sprayed one of my colleagues," says student ranger Jane Sinclair. "He had to take Epsom salt baths for a week and certainly wasn't the most popular person on the bus that day."

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Student ranger Jane Sinclair. Picture: Matt Clark.

A number of the creatures at Askham Bryan are critically endangered, such as the Lake Urmia Newt from Turkey and, from closer to home, York's very own Tansey Beetle, which is rubbish at surviving floods, so naturally made the Ouse its home.

No wonder they're rare.

You'll find 500 of them in the new wetland area and it's Jane's job to convince us that less exciting creatures like the Tansey deserve our attention just as much as adorable meerkats.

"The whole point of having a wildlife park is to give us an industry standard, genuine working environment to develop the skills we will need outside," she says."And we need some public to practice on."

So if you fancy being practised on, pop along to the 'sneak peek' open days in the wildlife park this coming half term. All have a Halloween theme.

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Getting ready for the Hallowe'en opening. Picture: Matt Clark.

"It's amazing here, I'm doing the job I want to do, but as a student," says Jane. "I'm glad I didn't choose anywhere else because this college focuses on everything you need and it instils passion. You're not just sat in lecture theatres listening, you're out there doing it."

Nathan Campion has fostered a similar passion. After his studies he hopes to go into a conservation role, mainly overseas.

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Animal management student Nathan Campion in the new facility. Picture: Matt Clark.

"I've always loved animals and mostly want to protect the White Rhino, trade in Rhino horn, that kind of thing, but also the destruction of rain forest, palm oil," he says.

But isn't it dangerous coming up against poachers?

"It can be. I've been out to Africa working alongside conservationists and you get people coming up to you with live ammunition. A lot of it is about education, getting the next generation to take a stand. It's a big job."

So how well does Askham Bryan prepare him for this big job?

"The college as a whole is fantastic, especially now with this new wildlife park," says Nathan. "We get a lot of hands on and public interaction, especially as student rangers where we get to see what it would be like to work in a zoo even before leaving education.

"This is a very special college."

Askham Bryan Wildlife & Conservation Park is a brand new visitor attraction in the historic arboretum at Askham Bryan College. October half term sneak peek open days, all with a Halloween theme can be booked at www.abcwildlifepark.co.uk/whats-on/seasonal-events and follow the link.