Endangered species will feature at the new facility

The National Wildlife Conservation Park will recreate threatened ecosystems and feature endangered animals.

Bristol Zoo says the project will be a revolutionary way of interacting with the animals.

The �50m conservation project is expected to draw in crowds of more than 600,000 a year when it opens in 2011.

'Feel different'

The animals will be grouped together in specially-created ecosystems, including a central American swamp and a South East Asian tropical zone, housed in futuristic dome-shaped enclosures.

Initial planning permission has been granted for the 132-acre site on the Hollywood Estate, close to the M5 motorway, which will feature an aquarium housing a live coral reef with fish and aquatic creatures from the Indian Ocean.

Dr Jo Gipps, director of Bristol Zoo Gardens, said: "We are the way forward - this will look and feel different to other exhibits.

"This is a new generation of zoological parks, a place where environmentalists and conservationists can meet and share best practice and where visitors can believe they are in the actual ecosystem."

A spokesperson for the zoo said there were no plans to relocate to the new facility and close the Clifton site.