littleRedPanda
Well-Known Member
angled glass does tend to distort photographs though 
Chester Zoo If you could, how would you change Chester Zoo!
- Thread starter Fallax
- Start date
cliffxdavis
Well-Known Member
Quite so. My favoured option is vertical glass and shading from the sun.
The second stage of my proposals for Chester is less specific than the first.
I accept that the main priority when selecting new species for the Zoo is to bring in endangered species for captive breeding and I also accept that, in many cases, this means that the animals will be kept off-show. However, I think that more effort should be made to put some specimens on-show. I am very pleased that this has now happened with the Javan green magpies and I am sure that it will happen with some of the Malagasy species as the new developments proceed. And about time too! Likewise some more species of birds, chelonians and amphibians are now in show in various places around the Zoo: but there are still, as redstarsmith pointed out much earlier in this thread, large numbers of animals off-show in the labyrinths of the Tropical House, which will need to be moved out in the next few years. I hope that a good proportion of them will then be visible to the public.
Linked to this, I feel, is the need to expand the range of types of species on show. I think I am right in saying that there are now only 5 species of rodent on show and that the only really small mammals are the Seba's bats, the invisible tenrecs in the Bat Cave and the short-eared elephant shrews in two converted fish tanks opposite the okapis. I think this gives people a very distorted view of the world's mammals. I don't want the Zoo to rebuild the Small Mammal House, but I'd like to see a well designed display for the naked mole-rats, where they can be compared with some less specialised rodent species so that people can see how strange they are. Likewise I would like to see a bigger range of birds on show. For example, it's a crying shame that there are no hummingbirds and precious few sunbirds on show in the UK. What about some of the flightless island birds? There are so many educational points that could be made with these smaller species.
I dream of an Aquatic Animals House, which would hold manatees, yapok, anhingas and lots of fishes. The existing Aquarium could then become an Amphibian Ark. But it's only a dream.
I accept that the main priority when selecting new species for the Zoo is to bring in endangered species for captive breeding and I also accept that, in many cases, this means that the animals will be kept off-show. However, I think that more effort should be made to put some specimens on-show. I am very pleased that this has now happened with the Javan green magpies and I am sure that it will happen with some of the Malagasy species as the new developments proceed. And about time too! Likewise some more species of birds, chelonians and amphibians are now in show in various places around the Zoo: but there are still, as redstarsmith pointed out much earlier in this thread, large numbers of animals off-show in the labyrinths of the Tropical House, which will need to be moved out in the next few years. I hope that a good proportion of them will then be visible to the public.
Linked to this, I feel, is the need to expand the range of types of species on show. I think I am right in saying that there are now only 5 species of rodent on show and that the only really small mammals are the Seba's bats, the invisible tenrecs in the Bat Cave and the short-eared elephant shrews in two converted fish tanks opposite the okapis. I think this gives people a very distorted view of the world's mammals. I don't want the Zoo to rebuild the Small Mammal House, but I'd like to see a well designed display for the naked mole-rats, where they can be compared with some less specialised rodent species so that people can see how strange they are. Likewise I would like to see a bigger range of birds on show. For example, it's a crying shame that there are no hummingbirds and precious few sunbirds on show in the UK. What about some of the flightless island birds? There are so many educational points that could be made with these smaller species.
I dream of an Aquatic Animals House, which would hold manatees, yapok, anhingas and lots of fishes. The existing Aquarium could then become an Amphibian Ark. But it's only a dream.
We need something better than that nowI do!
And I suppose that the tree shrew(s) would also count among the small species - but that hardly weakens my argument.
Bigger! Better! Brighter!
Waddi
Well-Known Member
What about the Prevosts Squirrel too?We need something better than that now
And I suppose that the tree shrew(s) would also count among the small species - but that hardly weakens my argument.
I would assume they are included in the 5 species of rodent.
- Prevost squirrel
- Capybara
- Malagasy jumping rat
- Azara's agouti
Struggling to think of a 5th off the top of my head.
- Prevost squirrel
- Capybara
- Malagasy jumping rat
- Azara's agouti
Struggling to think of a 5th off the top of my head.
Cape Crested Porcupine.
Thank you, I knew there would be one but couldn't for the life of me think! (Not a species that's on my usual route around the zoo, which I think is why I forgot)
angled glass does tend to distort photographs though
I realise photography is important to many people on here but I think the majority of visitors simply want to see the animals.
(And you can always buy a postcard
)
littleRedPanda
Well-Known Member
For sure, hence the winkyI realise photography is important to many people on here but I think the majority of visitors simply want to see the animals.
(And you can always buy a postcard
Regardless, a large number of visitors armed with phone cameras also hope to get clear shots these days (even if it's only the back end of a sleeping lion)
(And you can always buy a postcard
Not at Chester Zoo!
I don't know exactly when they stopped selling them, but it's a national trend. J Salmon Ltd, the oldest postcard manufacturers in the country announced last month that they are closing down.
Agree. Not that many zoos still sell postcards these days, and those that do tend to have a much reduced range than formerly.
First and foremost, I'd like the zoo's PR and communications department to move away from the lowest-common-denominator content it produces at the moment, which only seems to be concerned with 'cuteness', emojis and anthropomorphism, towards something a little more sophisticated and informative.
Ah. Haven't been in the Gift Shop much recently as there's nothing of interest in there.
(Soft toys and jewellery not my thing.)
Why not buy the official Chester Zoo Top Trumps
I would personally like to see the lion enclosure either renovated or demolished. I would move the lions to the savannah side of spirit of the jaguar whilst the building work was going on and I would knock the house down and build backwards to make the enclosure slightly bigger. Then I would re-landscape it for to resemble the gir forest. I would also like the deer in the Asian plains exhibit as well as the rhino to be able to mix with the elephant. And finally I would mix the giraffe, okapi and Congo buffalo enclosures. Building a new Pygmy hippo enclosure we’re the Malayan tapirs used to be in the process
These mixes *might* not end so well. I'm sure most would agree with you, however, on the need for new lion facilities, be these for Asian or African Lions.