Chester Zoo Chester Zoo Review (25/10/17)

JoeDK14

JoeDK14

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Part 1- Elephants, Warthogs And Black Rhino
We arrived at the zoo at the zoo at around ten thirty and went straight over to the elephant paddock. The Hi way family were all crowded together around the feeding poles, with Mya across near the pool. Aung Bo was no where to be seen however I did not go in the house so he quite possibly could of been inside. I feel the elephant enclosure is slightly to small compared to some zoos such as Whipsnade and the new Blackpool enclosure however the landscaping is brilliant. We then made our way across towards the warthogs where I think I counted 8 or 9 but I'm really not sure. We entered the zoo and walked towards the Rhino enclosures where we seen Zuri and ike and who I thought was Kitani and her calf. The calf only looked young however was walking and wallowing. there we no male rhino to be seen

Part 2- Mkomazi Reserve,Sitatunga and Zebra
We then went to the African Hunting Dog enclosure however did not see any. we saw the aardvarks sleeping as usual. The zoo has a large herd of sitatunga however I think their enclosure is very poor. They are a wetland species who enjoy swimming or marshy land however the zoo hasn't even bothered to dig them a pool. There were five zebra out however they were all huddled by the house so I couldn't get a great view of them.

Part 3- Islands
Islands was the highlight of my day today. We entered and looked at the Visayan Warty Pigs which have one of my favourite enclosures in the zoo. I then went to look at the new building work which you can see a picture of in the chester zoo galleries. The Cassowary were no where to be seen, however I did manage to see the Bali Starling which was a first time for me as was the javan green magpie which were at the back of their aviary. We seen Kisarna playing on the hill in the tiger enclosure whilst Kirana watched on. The tiger enclosure is one of the best in the zoo however I do think its hard to see them sometimes and I wish you could see in their house. The female Malayan tapirs were both sleeping inside and the male was again no where to be seen. The new sun bear enclosures have now passed the indoor jaguar enclosures as my favourite in the zoo. The female was given access to the indoor pen and we briefly caught a glimpse of her. I managed to seen a Binturong climbing into the off show pens. If you can guess what I about to say next you are no genius, yes that's right the male sun bear was no where to be seen. I saw no Sumatran orangs today however I did see all silvery gibbons and one of the false gahrials. The lowland anoa had a claf and it looked very young. Does anyone know hold old it is ? This is also one of my favourite enclosures in the zoo. Finally we saw the Northern Babirusa pair in islands. There was a cage at the back of Monsoon Forest with what looked like Ring tailed lemurs however I thought this must of just been me seeing things.

That is the end of part one, let me know what you think and if you would like me to carry this on.
 
Interesting, as when I visited a few days before you, I had no problem seeing all 3 Tapir, several Sumatran Orangutan, the gibbons, but no anoa, babirusa, Warty pig, cassowary, sun bear, binturong. It was a pretty lousy day weather-wise though! Didn't see spectacled bears outside or Pademelon either!
 
Ang Bo is in the bull pen, you woin't see him unless you go into the house, and then only if he is not outside in his own yard.

The anoa is about 2 months old at a guess.

you are not seeing things, ring-tailed lemurs are in the macaque offshow cage.
 
bongorob said:
Ang Bo is in the bull pen, you woin't see him unless you go into the house, and then only if he is not outside in his own yard.

The anoa is about 2 months old at a guess.

you are not seeing things, ring-tailed lemurs are in the macaque offshow cage.
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I had no problem seeing Aung Bo in his indoor enclosure just before closing time
 
JoeDK14 said:
The zoo has a large herd of sitatunga however I think their enclosure is very poor. They are a wetland species who enjoy swimming or marshy land however the zoo hasn't even bothered to dig them a pool.
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The "spoil" paddock is heavy clay substrate and is incredibly wet for most of the year.
 
SMR said:
The "spoil" paddock is heavy clay substrate and is incredibly wet for most of the year.
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When I saw them last in the Spring the enclosure soil was as dry as a bone. And even when wet, boggy ground is not the same as giving them a proper deep water pool- they would swim and semi-submerge if given the chance- interesting for visitors to observe such an aquatic antelope. From memory even the signage shows them splashing through a marsh...
 
Thanks for the info and pointers guys would u like to read part 2 later today or should I stop here
 
No harm in continuing, but saying that, Chester Zoo is heavily covered on the forum (and the TV show). Personally I'm just interested in how busy it was, as I might go up tomorrow :D
 
It was extremely busy if I were you I would wait until next week after half term to visit
 
Part 4- Andean Bear, Giant Anteater, Capybara and Brazilian Tapir
After we left islands we made our way to the Andean Bear and Capybara enclosure's. We spent fifteen to twenty minutes around this area waiting to see the bear cub. Eventually Lima appeared over the hill with the cub straggling behind her. The cub came down to the water to get some fruit and then they both disappeared back over the hill. I love this enclosure however a common theme around the zoo is not being able to see the animals if they are sleeping in their dens. I wish the zoo could change this however I know it is hard. The capybara were all huddled together at the back of there paddock. Bliss the giant anteater was sleeping in the corner of her on show house which wasn't unusual for her. Finally in this section we seen the Brazilian tapirs. They were being fed by the keeper and were very active so overall this was a very successful section for us.

Part 5- Bats Bridge, Cheetah's, Canal Islands, Babirusa and Lions
As we walked over bat's bridge we noticed that there was a 'nobody home' sign on the former Philippine Spotted Deer enclosure. From the top of the bridge we could see one of the greater one horned rhino. I noticed a temporary fence up in the rhino paddock. Does anyone know what this is for? As we came to the cheetah enclosures we noticed Adeaze asleep in the enclosure on the right. The three boys were in the far enclosure near the camels and onagers. We did not see Kinky-Tail who I do think is still off show due to her illness. There was two babirusa on the old anoa island and some monkeys on the island opposite however there was no signage so I couldn't tell what species they were as they were in the trees moving quickly. The next enclosure we visited was the lions. When we arrived we first noticed one female with a large carcass and the other sat on the hill with nothing. We eventually seen Iblis behind the hill also with a carcass. We stopped for lunch in June's and then went back to see the lions which now all had a carcass.

Part 6- Dragons in Danger, Giraffe's, Okapi
Dragons in danger was extremely busy. One of my favourite enclosures in the zoo is the Komodo Dragon enclosure which currently houses the zoo's male dragon. I like this enclosure because of the hut which sits in the middle of the enclosure and also the landscaping of the exhibit. We saw the Monserrat Tarantula and also the Philippine mouse deer. I also counted 5 mountain chicken frogs. Next was the Giraffe's; the whole herd was outside and feeding around the platform. We saw two okapis however I don't know how many okapi's the zoo actually keep so any help on that would be brilliant.

I will be posting the last part of my review either later tonight or tomorrow.
 
JoeDK14 said:
From the top of the bridge we could see one of the greater one horned rhino. I noticed a temporary fence up in the rhino paddock. Does anyone know what this is for?
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The fence restricts the rhinos to the sandy area near the rhino house. The grassed area is poorly drained and gets very boggy in wet weather, so they will only have access again when it dries out.
 
gentle lemur said:
The fence restricts the rhinos to the sandy area near the rhino house. The grassed area is poorly drained and gets very boggy in wet weather, so they will only have access again when it dries out.
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thanks I was very confused as I have seen them towards the elephant paddock before
 
JoeDK14 said:
We saw two okapis however I don't know how many okapi's the zoo actually keep so any help on that would be brilliant.
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As far as I know the zoo has 5 Okapi (3:2)
JoeDK14 said:
As we walked over bat's bridge we noticed that there was a 'nobody home' sign on the former Philippine Spotted Deer enclosure.
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This had been home to the 2 Lowland Anoas born at the zoo in 2014 and 2016 which are now in the old Malayan Tapir enclosure
 
MagpieGoose said:
As far as I know the zoo has 5 Okapi (3:2)

This had been home to the 2 Lowland Anoas born at the zoo in 2014 and 2016 which are now in the old Malayan Tapir enclosure
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if this is true and the zoo does have five okapi's then I do not believe that this enclosure is big enough for them all.

I did see the lowland anoa in the old tapir exhibit and wondered were they had come from.
 
JoeDK14 said:
if this is true and the zoo does have five okapi's then I do not believe that this enclosure is big enough for them all.
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There is a second okapi exhibit at the back of the giraffe house which can be viewed from across the canal. Each exhibit holds a pair plus any offspring - so the main display exhibit holds Dicky and Stuma (and I believe Usala as well), while the second exhibit holds Stomp and K'tusha.
 
The okapis do not all live in the same exhibit.

the monkeys on the island north of the babirusa are black howler monkeys,
 
Does anyone actually know what will be housed in the old spotted deer enclosure? I'm guessing some kind of asian ungulate.
 
is the other okapi enclosure wear the anteaters were first held when they arrived at the zoo
 
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