Water Dragon
Well-Known Member
So, as Komodo said in his review last night, yesterday we both visited Blackpool Zoo together. Komodo is a close friend of mine, and I urged him to join this site. On our visit, Komodo was in charge of the photography, so he will upload all of the photos. We both said that we would do a review each, so this is the visit through my perspective.
I think that Blackpool is a nice little zoo. This was my first time visiting it in the sun. The past few times it has been either in winter or the rain, so when I visited this time, it felt like a whole new experience.
The enclosures were decent in my opinion. They aren't big and fancy like at Chester, but they seem to meet all of the animals' needs.
The first thing that we saw was the South American paddock with the Giant Anteaters, Patagonian Cavies, and Capybaras. This was a good little exhibit but the anteaters were pacing a bit, which is usually never a good sign in animals. But the animals seemed pretty active. This was Komodo's first time seeing an anteater, and I don't blame him because the ones at Chester are (or were) practically invisible.
The Small Primate house was very nice. I managed to see all of the primates except for the Grey Mouse Lemurs, which was rather disappointing. The primates had lots of enrichment in the forms of ropes, climbing-frames, and the usual primate toys, and they were quite active on them. The De Brazza's monkeys were one of my favourites, though at the entry was a small enclosure for some energetic little Prevost's Squirrels. Inside the monkey house, which is new, is a small vivarium for a Jamaican Boa (a new species for me), and at the other side was one for a frog species. This was a very nice little edition to the house.
One of my highlights was the cuscus which was also a new species for me. When I heard that Blackpool had these, they were top of the priority list for what I wanted to see.
Another highlight was the North American Porcupine which was actually active and walking around. I had to rush past it though, because the Sea Lion display was on and I didn't want to miss it. By the time that I had come back to see it, it was curled up on top of a tree and sleeping, as per usual.
The Sea Lion show was very good. A new baby had just been born and Komodo and I just managed to catch a glimpse of it in a cave. The Sea Lion enclosure is one of the best sea lion exhibits that i have come across, and possibly one of the best exhibits that the zoo has.
Blackpool is the only UK holding to have Magellanic Penguins. These comical but amazing birds were "flying" through the water on our visit. On the signs, Blackpool was priding itself for having an underwater viewing area, but every single penguin exhibit that I have seen has one, so what is there to boast about?
The Ape House was pretty good. Blackpool is the only local zoo to me that has Gorillas, and it was amazing to see the Gorillas, as I don't get to see them very often. The silverback came right up to the glass, and that was really cool. One thing that I found amusing was that the gorillas had a climbing wall in their exhibit, but I guess that it is all good enrichment. The orangutan exhibit was alright too, but I am not too fond of that rock thing with three tunnels in it. I guess it gives the orangs some privacy though. Also in there, was a small vivarium for water dragons, which was pretty sweet, although I did think that it could have been a bit more wider.
If there was one thing that I wasn't too pleased with at the zoo was the elephant, Kate. She seems so lonely and depressed. I hope this "project elephant" comes out fast because it pains me to see the elephant like that.
At zoos, reptile houses are usually my favourite parts, but this reptile house kind of let me down a bit this time round. I loved the Yacare Caimans, and they are probably my favourite species at the zoo. The reptile collection side of it was alright. Other than the retics, Rhinoceros Iguanas, and Nile Monitors, I thought that a lot of the reptiles there were pet-shop species. It was same for the amphibian collection as well, though the Cane Toads were quite cool. It was the invertebrate side of the zoo that let me down a bit. They had on-show Mealworm Beetles, Crickets, and Locusts which are mainly just reptile food. They also incorrectly labelled the locusts as "Desert Locusts" when they were, in fact, Migratory Locusts. Something else that ticked me off a bit was that they had Common House Spiders on-show. They were in the old tarantula vivarium, so I guess when the old tarantula died, the zoo saw a random spider on the ceiling and thought 'get that spider there, and stick it in this viv!' The reptile house had three aquariums for piranhas, goldfish and mixed tropical fish.
So this is Part 1 of my review. I will write part 2 later when I have the chance.
I think that Blackpool is a nice little zoo. This was my first time visiting it in the sun. The past few times it has been either in winter or the rain, so when I visited this time, it felt like a whole new experience.
The enclosures were decent in my opinion. They aren't big and fancy like at Chester, but they seem to meet all of the animals' needs.
The first thing that we saw was the South American paddock with the Giant Anteaters, Patagonian Cavies, and Capybaras. This was a good little exhibit but the anteaters were pacing a bit, which is usually never a good sign in animals. But the animals seemed pretty active. This was Komodo's first time seeing an anteater, and I don't blame him because the ones at Chester are (or were) practically invisible.
The Small Primate house was very nice. I managed to see all of the primates except for the Grey Mouse Lemurs, which was rather disappointing. The primates had lots of enrichment in the forms of ropes, climbing-frames, and the usual primate toys, and they were quite active on them. The De Brazza's monkeys were one of my favourites, though at the entry was a small enclosure for some energetic little Prevost's Squirrels. Inside the monkey house, which is new, is a small vivarium for a Jamaican Boa (a new species for me), and at the other side was one for a frog species. This was a very nice little edition to the house.
One of my highlights was the cuscus which was also a new species for me. When I heard that Blackpool had these, they were top of the priority list for what I wanted to see.
Another highlight was the North American Porcupine which was actually active and walking around. I had to rush past it though, because the Sea Lion display was on and I didn't want to miss it. By the time that I had come back to see it, it was curled up on top of a tree and sleeping, as per usual.
The Sea Lion show was very good. A new baby had just been born and Komodo and I just managed to catch a glimpse of it in a cave. The Sea Lion enclosure is one of the best sea lion exhibits that i have come across, and possibly one of the best exhibits that the zoo has.
Blackpool is the only UK holding to have Magellanic Penguins. These comical but amazing birds were "flying" through the water on our visit. On the signs, Blackpool was priding itself for having an underwater viewing area, but every single penguin exhibit that I have seen has one, so what is there to boast about?
The Ape House was pretty good. Blackpool is the only local zoo to me that has Gorillas, and it was amazing to see the Gorillas, as I don't get to see them very often. The silverback came right up to the glass, and that was really cool. One thing that I found amusing was that the gorillas had a climbing wall in their exhibit, but I guess that it is all good enrichment. The orangutan exhibit was alright too, but I am not too fond of that rock thing with three tunnels in it. I guess it gives the orangs some privacy though. Also in there, was a small vivarium for water dragons, which was pretty sweet, although I did think that it could have been a bit more wider.
If there was one thing that I wasn't too pleased with at the zoo was the elephant, Kate. She seems so lonely and depressed. I hope this "project elephant" comes out fast because it pains me to see the elephant like that.
At zoos, reptile houses are usually my favourite parts, but this reptile house kind of let me down a bit this time round. I loved the Yacare Caimans, and they are probably my favourite species at the zoo. The reptile collection side of it was alright. Other than the retics, Rhinoceros Iguanas, and Nile Monitors, I thought that a lot of the reptiles there were pet-shop species. It was same for the amphibian collection as well, though the Cane Toads were quite cool. It was the invertebrate side of the zoo that let me down a bit. They had on-show Mealworm Beetles, Crickets, and Locusts which are mainly just reptile food. They also incorrectly labelled the locusts as "Desert Locusts" when they were, in fact, Migratory Locusts. Something else that ticked me off a bit was that they had Common House Spiders on-show. They were in the old tarantula vivarium, so I guess when the old tarantula died, the zoo saw a random spider on the ceiling and thought 'get that spider there, and stick it in this viv!' The reptile house had three aquariums for piranhas, goldfish and mixed tropical fish.
So this is Part 1 of my review. I will write part 2 later when I have the chance.
)
