Captive humans on display at Flamingo Land Zoo (From York Press)

Captive humans on display at Flamingo Land Zoo

9:31am Thursday 1st September 2011 in Video By Richard Catton, richard.catton@thepress.co.uk

FLAMINGO Land Zoo is proudly displaying the latest addition to its range of mammals – a group of captive humans.

The men and women will be on display at the zoo, near Pickering, until Monday, where they will be hoping to raise cash for forest conservation while telling visitors about zoos across Europe and the Aquaria Great Ape Campaign.

The four homo sapiens on display at Flamingo Land have been provided by the University of York and, when not in captivity at the zoo, are research assistants at the Centre For The Integration Of Research, Conservation And Learning (CIRCLE), a joint venture between the zoo and the university.

Dr Andy Marshall, one of those involved in the event, said: “Humans are the last surviving species of the homo genus and will join Flamingo Land’s chimpanzees as its second great ape species on show.

“Although humans are not endangered, nor part of a conservation breeding programme, it is exciting news for Flamingo Land as the homo sapiens will be promoting the Udzungwa Forest Project which uses education to help conserve tropical forests in Tanzania.”

He said: “Last year we raised enough funds to buy a pedal-powered cinema. In remote villages there is often no electricity, so being able to show conservation films on a big screen really amazes local people and helps spread the conservation message. At the premier film showing we had over 500 people watching.”

For Andy and his colleagues, the work does not end with their release on Monday. The week’s fundraising will culminate with them running the ten-mile Ryedale Run, while also collecting money for the Udzungwa project.

Donations can be made at justgiving.com/teams/ufp Collection buckets will also be available in and around the human enclosure.