Five new sealions have been finding their flippers in Colchester Zoo's huge Playa Patagonia pool.

Making a splash - the new sealions at Colchester Zoo

The girls, named Paris, Winnipeg, Atlanta, Sydney and Milan, are not all yet on public view but have had a few sessions in the £1.7 million, 350,000 gallon pool.

The quintet arrived in mid-November and have been kept in quarantine since then.

They have not yet mixed with Agola, the zoo's existing sealion, but the animals have been talking through the bars and are getting on fine.

The new creatures should be on public view within the next couple of weeks.

Published Friday January 2, 2004

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