Chester zoo memories

AdrianW1963

AdrianW1963

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
As the year draws to a close and the weather turns a little damp and chilly I thought of a little thread that may bring back memories of this collection in years gone by.

Over the years we all see how the collection improves and for the better me thinks, but do you remember when the collection was just starting out and where each species where exhibited over the years.

If you have fond memories of this collection from time gone by I would be very interested as to hear from you, we could all then find out where species were exhibited and from when.

The zoo as many maps but as usual with all maps they only ever put the top species on the maps, I have the cd with the maps on but as I have said find it a little frustrating that many species are left off the maps.

I would think many others on here would be interested as into which species were where.
 
Some of my top memories that I can remember:
-Seeing the three most recent tiger cubs being groomed by Kirana about a week after going on show.
-The first time I heard the lions in the distance.
-Seeing an Ecuador Amazon for the first time after many years.
-A kangaroo boxing match!!
-Someone with their camera on a lead put it in the meerkat enclosure and they played with it for ages and it was quite funny.
-When I heard the hornbills in the Tropical Realm for the first time.
-Seeing Milli and Toni play fighting in their new enclosure.
-Going into the giant otter 'tunnel' and seeing them come right up close and I hi fived one.
-Everytime someone gets pooed on by a bat.
-Zebra stallions fighting.
-Seeing Bliss get close up to the glass flickering her tongue.
-Tapirs mating...
-Seeing the baby andean bear (forgot it's name) climbing a tree.
 
I could fill pages, and I probably have in various threads over the years. But then one day next year will mark the 60th anniversary of my first visit to Chester (don't ask me the date because I have no idea, in fact there is a chance that it may have already happened this year).
A couple that I haven't mentioned before, but I haven't seen the species anywhere else. Weka rails in the large aviary beside the old Ape House, where the babirusa and otter paddock is now, along with several ibis, maned geese and other birds. Calabar pythons curled on the surface of the layer of peat or soil in one of the small vivariums near the far end of the old reptile corridor in the Tropical House. It's a pity that I couldn't get a reasonable photo of either species :(
 
AdrianW1963 said:
Over the years we all see how the collection improves and for the better me thinks, but do you remember when the collection was just starting out and where each species where exhibited over the years.
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Not many left who can remember 1931! :)

I did have the pleasure, some years ago, of meeting some of the very early staff and even people who had visited Shavington.

All gone now though.
 
My first visit would have been in the early sixties. It was a fine summer's day and I remember most clearly the young pair of 'Mountain' gorillas Mukisi and Noelle wrestling together on their outdoor Island. After all, they were what I had come to see chiefly, though I had seen Chester Zoo on T.V. and heard plenty about it. Even in those days it had a top reputation among all the UK's zoos. The chimpanzee groups on their water-moated islands, with several males in each, were another novelty for me, while the Tropical house and sheer size of the collection overall and the colourful flowerbeds were other memories I brought away from that very first visit.
 
My earliest memory is of a caracal carrying a kitten in her mouth in the old cat house, by which I mean the original one somewhere in the vicinity of Jubilee monorail station. 1962 or 1963.

Also in one of the old ungulate paddocks where the cheetahs live now, seeing a male Pere David's Deer chasing a female. She escaped through a norrow door, he could not enter the small side enclosure because his antlers would not fit through the gap.

I think I also saw Malayan Tapirs in the old elephant house, which was north of the owl aviaries
but I can't be certain about that. The site is now a toilet block.
 
bongorob said:
I think I also saw Malayan Tapirs in the old elephant house, which was north of the owl aviaries
but I can't be certain about that. The site is now a toilet block.
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I remember both Malayan and Brazilian Tapirs in the Elephant House, but suspect its not the same one you are talking about?
 
Pertinax said:
I remember both Malayan and Brazilian Tapirs in the Elephant House, but suspect its not the same one you are talking about?
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I think bongorob means the old Indian elephant house. I don't remember tapirs there, but perhaps they were housed there temporarily during the construction of the Pachyderm House (the original name for the elephant house on the same site as the present one). That eventually held Malayan and South American tapirs and hippos as well as the mixed herd of African and Asian elephants.
 
As I said GentleLemur, I am not sure if the tapirs were there, I may be remembering them in the Pachyderm House.
 
gentle lemur said:
during the construction of the Pachyderm House (the original name for the elephant house on the same site as the present one). That eventually held Malayan and South American tapirs and hippos as well as the mixed herd of African and Asian elephants.
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Yes, I don't remember anything before the Elephant/Pachyderm house on the existing site.
 
The house I mean was in the east zoo, just north of the owl aviaries. The toilet block stands there now. The area before the Pachyderm House was opened was a field.
 
bongorob said:
The house I mean was in the east zoo, just north of the owl aviaries. The toilet block stands there now. The area before the Pachyderm House was opened was a field.
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The owl aviaries are still in the same place on either side of the path heading towards the main entrance - although they were completely rebuilt some years ago. For many years there was a whale's jawbone on top of the wall beside that path where it left the square - I have no idea what species of whale it was.
The cats that bongorob mentioned above were on the opposite side of the square beside the works yard (originally the stables for Oakfield House, and still a listed building). I think it's the face-painting HQ now. I don't remember them well. In the corner between the cats and the lions was a little aviary built into the wall which held a fishing owl (was it the rare one Scotopelia ussheri?). In the middle of the square was the old Monkey House.
The big expansion of the zoo came when the bridge was built over Flag Lane and the West Zoo was created. The Pachyderm house was built and the 'new' Monkey House (on the site of the current one) which was a pretty awful building as virtually all the animals were kept inside. The current Asian Plains site was a large paddock for Ankole cattle, with smaller paddocks on both sides of the path between it and the Monkey House for the Arabian gazelles, red-bellied pademelons and similar stock. At the end of that path, where the Philippine spotted deer and the Bat Cave are now, there were two large square grassed enclosures for lions and Siberian tigers.
 
I remember that owl aviary in the square Gentle Lemur and it did hold the fishing owl, which was Bruno the famous Vermiculated fishing Owl. The aviary was under the ramp to the upper level viewing area overlooking the lions. I'm sure I have a photo of the ramp with the aviary underneath somewhere.
 
gentle lemur said:
The cats that bongorob mentioned above were on the opposite side of the square beside the works yard (originally the stables for Oakfield House, and still a listed building). I think it's the face-painting HQ now.
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The recent history of Chester Zoo in two sentences ...

:(
 
SHAVINGTONZOO said:
The recent history of Chester Zoo in two sentences ...
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I really think that's far too simplistic.
As I said above, I don't remember those old cat cages very well, but I am quite sure they had to go. I have no problem with kids or grown-ups getting their faces painted if they wish: it doesn't stop anything that I consider important from happening. The zoo has to cater for the wishes of as many of its visitors as it can. As long as it's doing a good job of keeping and breeding species that I want to see, bringing in new ones and working for conservation in the long term, the other activities that support and promote this work are basically OK in my opinion: although I reserve the right to criticise particular points (like those plastic flowers that SMR spotted).
 
gentle lemur said:
I really think that's far too simplistic.
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It was rather tongue in cheek, but nobody can dispute that the last 30 years have seen a big reduction in the live offering and a big increase in commercialism.

But we do also need to remind ourselves (especially we nostalgic oldies) that parts of the zoo were pretty dreadful back then. For example the civet in a box near the Fountain Restaurant or those awful baboon enclosures. (And the original form of the 1950s/1960s Monkey House - referenced by someone above - with solitary specimens crammed in, many of whom spent their time self-grooming to excess and masturbating.)
 
My earliest memory’s of the zoo is sittings in the monkey house eating lunch whilst watching the spider monkeys. I remeber the zoo having 4-5 jaguars aswell, Pele,Sofia,Salvador however I can’t remeber the other names. Pele launches himself at the glass one day which scared The life out of me. However my favourite thing as a kid was seeing the big male orang in the old house that was so good for a small kid
 
My earliest Chester memories are from the early to mid nineties and include the old jaguar enclosure up by the bat house now, the old rhino house with black and Indian rhino (now off-show), the old ape house (also off-show), herds of bison, antelope and Pere Davids deer where Tsavo is now and the reptile corridor in Tropical Realm with invertebrate enclosures at the end.
I also remember being impressed with the monorail at the time, something that I've since got over! ;)

Am I right in thinking zebras used to be kept where the camels and onagers are now? And the camels were kept where the okapi are now?
And when did the brown bears leave? As I know they were on the site of the new European/old condor aviary but don't remember seeing them, only remember an aviary being there. I also can't recall hippo in the elephant house either... :confused:
 
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