Virtual zoo tours and animal cams: the best online zoo tours and live streams - from Chester to Edinburgh

As the whole of the UK has been urged to remain in their homes it is natural to suffer from a spot of cabin fever and boredom from time to time
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If you are struggling for ideas to keep yourself - or the kids - entertained during the lockdown period, animal fans can now enjoy a live insight into zoos across the UK.

A number of zoos across the UK have live webcam feeds into their animal enclosures, so viewers can enjoy a glimpse of the inhabitants from the comfort of their own home.

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If you are looking for some animal entertainment, here are few of the best webcams you can tune into.

Will you be tuning in? (Photo: Shutterstock)Will you be tuning in? (Photo: Shutterstock)
Will you be tuning in? (Photo: Shutterstock)

Chester Zoo hosted a live virtual tour of its facilities on Friday 27 March to offer some animal-filled entertainment to those cooped up in isolation.

If you missed the live feed, you can still recap all of the footage on the Chester Zoo Facebook page at your leisure.

The tour featured close-up videos of various animals housed in the zoo, from Asian elephants, to tigers, butterflies and penguins.

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The live installment included a look at the red pandas, followed by giraffes and Asian elephants.

A peek inside the butterfly enclosure was shown next, before a catch up with the sun bears, a species of bear that comes from Southeast Asia.

Fans of the big cats were then given a glimpse of the Sumatran tigers, while cameras later moved on to the Humboldt penguins.

Keeping with the aquatic theme, the final installment of the day came from the aquarium, which houses the likes of seahorses, clown fish, brittle stars and blind fish, among others.

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The live tour means viewers can enjoy spending a full day with the animals from the comfort of their own home - and completely free of charge.

Edinburgh Zoo has live video feeds on a number of its enclosures, including the pandas, penguins, rockhopper penguin, tigers and koalas.

The live webcams are available to watch via the Edinburgh Zoo website, although the zoo has warned that there may be some technical difficulties at the moment due to extra traffic on its site.

The Zoo has advised viewers to visit its YouTube channel or its Facebook page if they cannot access the webcam feed.

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Viewers are also warned that some areas of the enclosures are out of view of the cameras, and to be patient if there are currently no animals on view.

Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens

This wildlife park features a couple of live webcams on its website, with viewers able to enjoy a peek inside the meerkat and penguin enclosures.

Paignton Zoo and Animal Wildlife Park

This zoo and wildlife park has a number of live webcams to enjoy on its website.

These include a glimpse into the enclosure of the flamingos, meerkats, and Sulawesi crested macaques.

Marwell Zoo

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An array of live webcams are available for viewers’ entertainment on this Hampshire zoo’s website.

On offer is access to the flamingo, lemur, giraffe and penguin enclosures.

Dublin Zoo

Dublin Zoo has live webcam feeds into its penguin, elephant and African Savanna enclosures, which includes rhinos, giraffes, ostrich and zebras.

The zoo is currently warning the website is experiencing high levels of traffic, and it is working to increase capacity so viewers are able to tune in and watch the animals 24/7.

Colchester Zoo

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While there aren’t any live webcams on the zoo’s main website, there are several cute animal videos featured on Colchester Zoo’s Facebook page.

Keep checking back into the page to check out the latest ones that are added.