Birkenhead-born award-winning poet Eleanor, 30, will be the zoo's Poet in Residence during October.

Eleanor's time at the zoo has been part funded by the Arts Council England as part of The Windows Project which aims to bring the benefits of creative writing to school children.

The zoo will play host to Eleanor on various dates throughout October.

Eleanor, who is writing original zoo-related poetry, is calling her collection of works for these events Rhythms in Nature.

As well as performing for zoo visitors, Eleanor will also be reading for secondary school children on two of the dates. The chosen schools will then receive a follow-up visit from Eleanor which will include poetry workshops.

Maggie Esson, Chester Zoo's Education Programmes manager, said: "Eleanor is an established poet and we are delighted to welcome her on board. Her work will reflect the zoo's status as international conservation organisation.

"We hope that Rhythms in Nature will inspire our visitors and school parties and prove to be a different and exciting way of communicating the conservation work we are involved in both at home and abroad."

Special signage will also be placed around the zoo with extracts from the poems visible at the relevant animal enclosures. Eleanor's poetry reading sessions will be taking place on the Joseph Banks lawn.

Eleanor said: "I am working on a long poem that I hope will enable visitors to understand more about the impact of the destruction of natural habitats upon the animals at the zoo.

"We all suffer, both humans and animals, if we lose our homes. The zoo provides a 'halfway' house for many animals that would face extinction in their natural habitats if not cared for in the zoo.

"These animals have become standard-bearers for their species, and we all agree, I think, that it shouldn't be this way, that the animals we so much admire and love have a right to a home as much as we do.

"I hope my poem talks in a fresh way about the impact of the loss of natural habitats upon wild creatures.

"It is written from the point of view of the animals and explores their dream sense that something is going wrong beyond the security of the zoo."

October 4-5 and 11-12 are public performance days and readings will take place at noon, 1pm and 2pm. October 9 (National Poetry Day) and October 10 will be secondary school performance days, with readings held at 11am, noon and 1pm.