Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo news 2016

[pipaluk]

So I visited for the first time on Saturday. This may not be a popular opinion, but Colchester wasn't too memorable for me. Perhaps because of how condensed it felt in regards to enclosures (everywhere you looked there would be another one, which isn't always a good thing). Some highlights included the sealion underwater viewing tunnel (a first for me with sealions that is), the smooth-coated otters, red-backed bearded sakis and African lungfish (my first time seeing these species), the apes (of course) and the sun bear and tiger enclosures (both good designs).
However, some enclosures (most of the ones in the Africa house) felt way too small, which did not help the zoo's case. There also seemed to be a particularly large lean towards South American and African themed areas, which is fair enough considering these species/biomes do well with the public, but it wasn't a great feeling to turn a corner expecting something new only for it to be another South American house.
As for the apes, I enjoyed seeing Rajang for the first time, as well as the chimp group. This group seem to be very well-established, with little aggressive behaviour witnessed. Tombe seems to be a good alpha, and I look forward to seeing the new outdoor area (which looks very impressive) being put to good use.
Mixed exhibits were interesting to observe here too, albeit some felt a little cramped (the giraffe, Selous' zebra, greater kudu, white rhino, ostrich and crowned crane exhibit for example).
Overall I give the zoo a 4/5. A good zoo in most areas, but don't expect to see it near the top of my 'to revisit' list.
To answer Pertinax's question, two mangabeys were living together, with one being kept separate. There was another mangabey living somewhere else in the zoo (it has slipped my mind exactly where unfortunately, but it definitely wasn't in the mangabey enclosure). So no, they haven't been mixed yet.

Whilst I agree with your comment on the Africa house, the Pygmy Hippo enclosure probably worst in the UK, I find it strange your complaint that there are so many south American & African animals yet mention plenty of highlights that are Asian! There are 2 spider monkey exhibits and 2 squirrel monkey ones which I find irritating (along with about 7 komodo Dragon ones until recently!).
Other than Twycross or Monkeyworld, (Aspinalls maybe) there's probably nowhere better for primates.
Despite your criticism you score the zoo 4 out of 5, I'd be interested what zoo other than Chester scores higher than that? For mammals, Whipsnade maybe.
You almost seem to be complaining the zoo has too many enclosures, I prefer one that doesn't waste space. There's nothing wrong with the rhino mixed enclosure IMO & the elephant accommodation is probably only behind Howletts & Whipsnade

 

[ShonenJake13]

Whilst I agree with your comment on the Africa house, the Pygmy Hippo enclosure probably worst in the UK, I find it strange your complaint that there are so many south American & African animals yet mention plenty of highlights that are Asian! There are 2 spider monkey exhibits and 2 squirrel monkey ones which I find irritating (along with about 7 komodo Dragon ones until recently!).
Other than Twycross or Monkeyworld, (Aspinalls maybe) there's probably nowhere better for primates.
Despite your criticism you score the zoo 4 out of 5, I'd be interested what zoo other than Chester scores higher than that? For mammals, Whipsnade maybe.
You almost seem to be complaining the zoo has too many enclosures, I prefer one that doesn't waste space. There's nothing wrong with the rhino mixed enclosure IMO & the elephant accommodation is probably only behind Howletts & Whipsnade

I did not say that the elephant enclosure was bad, I agree that out of the enclosures I have seen for elephants in the U.K. only Howletts and Whipsnade are ahead.
As for primates, I again think the enclosures are fantastic for them, but yes, the repeated enclosures (penguins, spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, Komodo dragons) were irritating to find. That's my main qualm with the zoo, it uses up so much space and lots of it is repeated themes/species. Regardless, I still enjoyed it, just I'm not used to such a condensed zoo so I can't remember as much as I normally would. We'll have to disagree on the rhino enclosure, but I agree wholeheartedly with the hippo enclosure, horrific.
The 4 is a typo! Meant to say 3!

 

[pipaluk]

I did not say that the elephant enclosure was bad, I agree that out of the enclosures I have seen for elephants in the U.K. only Howletts and Whipsnade are ahead.
As for primates, I again think the enclosures are fantastic for them, but yes, the repeated enclosures (penguins, spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, Komodo dragons) were irritating to find. That's my main qualm with the zoo, it uses up so much space and lots of it is repeated themes/species. Regardless, I still enjoyed it, just I'm not used to such a condensed zoo so I can't remember as much as I normally would. We'll have to disagree on the rhino enclosure, but I agree wholeheartedly with the hippo enclosure, horrific.
The 4 is a typo! Meant to say 3!

So the question still stands! Please give some of us a laugh and say which zoos score higher? I'll accept Chester, maybe Whipsnade but I'll be interested beyond that.....

 

[ShonenJake13]

I'd rather not have people laugh at me thanks for the offer though pipaluk....but if you must know I would rate Chester, Whipsnade, Marwell, Blijdorp, Burgers' Zoo, Apenheul, Vallée des Singes and Bronx Zoo higher than Colchester.

 

[pipaluk]

I'd rather not have people laugh at me thanks for the offer though pipaluk....but if you must know I would rate Chester, Whipsnade, Marwell, Blijdorp, Burgers' Zoo, Apenheul, Vallée des Singes and Bronx Zoo higher than Colchester.

Fair enough with Chester & Whipsnade, I totally disagree on Marwell obviously, but none of the others are in the UK which was what I was referring to, I wasn't saying Colchester was better than Bronx or Rotterdam!!

 

[ShonenJake13]

Nor did I at any point say I was comparing it to only zoos in the U.K. , if I was only listing zoos in the U.K. it would rank near the top, that much is true!

 

[pipaluk]

Nor did I at any point say I was comparing it to only zoos in the U.K. , if I was only listing zoos in the U.K. it would rank near the top, that much is true!

Fair enough then!

 

[ShonenJake13]

No worries again, I at no point said I completely disliked the zoo. I very much enjoyed it, just some parts were less memorable than others. That could be said for any zoo however.
IMHO if I was creating a top 10 list of zoos in the UK I would put Chester, Whipsnade, Marwell, London, Bristol, Colchester, Edinburgh, Paignton, Welsh Mountain and Howletts in there, with Port Lympne and Twycross not far behind.

 

[pipaluk]

No worries again, I at no point said I completely disliked the zoo. I very much enjoyed it, just some parts were less memorable than others. That could be said for any zoo however.
IMHO if I was creating a top 10 list of zoos in the UK I would put Chester, Whipsnade, Marwell, London, Bristol, Colchester, Edinburgh, Paignton, Welsh Mountain and Howletts in there, with Port Lympne and Twycross not far behind.

My top 10 in no order wouldn't be massively different to yours except that I would remove Marwell & Welsh Mountain for the other 2, I also would place Cotswold, YWP, Dudley & Hamerton, (probably Exmoor) above those! Just my opinion!

 

[ShonenJake13]

My top 10 in no order wouldn't be massively different to yours except that I would remove Marwell & Welsh Mountain for the other 2, I also would place Cotswold, Dudley & Hamerton, (probably Exmoor) above those! Just my opinion!

if I'm honest I've never been to Dudley or Cotswold. I've been to Hamerton and it's good for what it is but a tad too small I'm afraid. When it comes to Welsh Mountain I'm more looking at what would be considered the best zoo in Wales, to get an even scope, but there you go.
Currently my top 10 is based off visitor figures, species conservation, species diversity and exhibit design anyways, there's still a few I have to visit in that list but when I do you can count on me posting an updated version!!

 

[zoogiraffe]

I'd rather not have people laugh at me thanks for the offer though pipaluk....but if you must know I would rate Chester, Whipsnade, Marwell, Blijdorp, Burgers' Zoo, Apenheul, Vallée des Singes and Bronx Zoo higher than Colchester.

Well I cannot disagree with you on that despite not having done Vallée des Singes and Bronx Zoo,I know people that have and they rate them highly,and i trust their views,as for the rest I have visited them all and would have no problem putting them higher than Colchester,which I have to admit has a damn nice collection but the zoo just doesn't do it for me!

 

[pipaluk]

It's strange that a zoo which is so popular with the general public is so regularly panned on zoochat. To an extent I can understand why though, even as an annual passholder, I've only been 4 times this year.
It is probably the UK zoo which has the most appeal to the general visitor, every species they might expect to see in a zoo, but to the more experienced zoo visitor there is something not quite right about the place. It does have a few relative rarities though.

Very few of the enclosures are really bad, but there aren't many that stand out either.

The zoo is probably aimed too much at the masses, but it's them that keep the zoo going not us.

 

[banham.tiger]

I LOVE colchester zoo. It ticks all the boxes for me but I understand what you mean about everything being cramped together.

I believe that the pygmy hippo enclosure will be updated soon.

 

[Zia]

So the question still stands! Please give some of us a laugh and say which zoos score higher? I'll accept Chester, maybe Whipsnade but I'll be interested beyond that.....

Why on earth are you being so confrontational? You can have a different opinion without ridiculing someone...

 

[pipaluk]

Why on earth are you being so confrontational? You can have a different opinion without ridiculing someone...

Sorry, this was just an off the cuff comment which I think was smoothed over afterwards. No point in stirring it up again now!

 

[gentle lemur]

It's strange that a zoo which is so popular with the general public is so regularly panned on zoochat.

I think that some of the criticism of Colchester here is unfair; but so is some of the criticism of every other zoo that I have visited and I suspect that the same could be said of every zoo on ZooChat.
I think part of the problem is Colchester has its own special characteristics - the music, the fake rock, the winding paths, the seemingly random arrangement of species, the rather claustrophobic nature of the site with very few long views and so on. There's nothing wrong with any of these things and you will find them separately in different parts of most other UK zoos, but in Colchester they combine and somehow set the tone of the zoo. You may like it or you may not. I feel that if you consider each exhibit separately and take into account the range of species on show, Colchester is easily in the top half of the Premier League of British zoos - but others may disagree.

 

[FunkyGibbon]

I thought I'd throw in my comments from my first visit last year. Colchester's definitely an odd one but I'm very much in agreement with Pipaluk; for me it's impossible to look past it when discussing the UK's number two zoo.

First off, because otherwise I could come across as overly critical, I really did like it. I enjoyed the game reserve and Taiga Tiger in particular, and in general I thought enclosures were a high standard. It also has that 'gloss' that shows the management of a zoo is able to achieve what they want with the site, and I think the lack of that is what plagues a lot of other UK zoos. Also, it has quite a lot of species that are less common in UK collections, and while I don't value that as much as a lot of people on this site I did really enjoy seeing them.

Here's what gives it a different feel: at no point in the zoo is is possible to look at an animal through bars or caging (with the exception of the land train, which I did not go on). Every single view of an enclosure is either through glass, or over fencing. In many ways this is a positive; everyone enjoys an unimpeded view. But the problem with it is in order to achieve this they have often had to turn enclosures into 'open-topped rooms'; the Colobus was a particularly good (bad) example of this. Walls are used where fencing would really have been IMO more appropriate. As a result enclosures can feel smaller than they are, which matters to humans but probably not to most of the inhabitants. More importantly, I have always thought that views of the surroundings act as good enrichment for a lot of species, and I worry that this has been decreased at Colchester. Also, for plenty of arboreal species caging in itself is a good thing. The strange thing is that bars and caging are still very much in evidence; you can see them at the backs of enclosures or in the indoor accommodation, often in large quantities.

I assume that they think people prefer it this way. Maybe what zoochat calls 'the general public' do, but I have to say I did not.

The other thing that was a bit different was that apart from Edge of Africa the zoo feels quite built up. You often view animals from indoors and on a cold February day this was a good thing! The passages between buildings and walled enclosures give quite a closed feel to the place, which is unusual for a big zoo.

In summary I thought Colchester was great, I just found the enclosure architecture to be quite distracting.

These are my thoughts

 

[Gigit]

What struck me most about Colchester during my first visit for 12 years in September, was the friendliness and openness of all the staff, from those at the entrance onwards. That, combined with the large range of species, made it a very good day out for me.

 

[ShonenJake13]

I agree with Alan and FG here, it just wasn't the best zoo I had visited in a while is all!! Still would put it in my top five of UK zoos!