Chester Zoo Chester Zoo News 2020

taun said:
Don't think this has been noted but the zoo have announced members wont need to book to visit for a period between before the year is out. Seems to suggest that now includes weekends.
Might get to go this year now!
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"Members will still need to book at the weekends in October (Saturday and Sunday) and during October half term (24 October – 1 November) and during the Christmas holidays (19 December – 3 January) to ensure that everyone is able to visit safely."

So thats, November 2nd, to December 18th
 
Had my yearly visit today and a very enjoyable trip it was.
Highlights were the Andean bear cubs playing happily away from mum, seeing the 2 Malaysian tapirs together and outside for once(has the baby moved on?)
Finally seeing the giant otter outside and very playful.
Disappointed not to see any capybara on any of the 3 vists we made to there enclosure.
The Sumatran orangs have moved back into monsoon forest (confirmed by a volunteer)
Lots of keeper activity around the onegars not sure why.
Confirmed Chester being my favourite zoo and not sure I can wait another year to return.
 
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gentle lemur said:
At 10am there was a large mobile crane parked on the road between the Indian rhino's pool and the spider monkey enclosure (the road had been closed off), there were also a few keepers congregated outside the rhino's house at about 10.45; the crane was gone by the time I left at 3.30pm. I make no further comment, because I don't want to be wrong again ;)
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Almost certainly the departure of the young Indian rhino male(Akeno?) to a zoo in Hungary? I found a report of his arrival from Chester- yesterday I think he got there?
 
I watched the video as a livestream. I don't know if it's significant that the presenter and crew went the opposite way to the one we used before, going in past the tortoises and Tomistoma and then out past the rhino hornbills. The plants looked good, the gardener said they had learned from the previous planting. There are some changes in the Tripa section (between the two orang areas), the meshed cupboards have been replaced by glazed cases, with smaller vivariums and aquariums inside them, and there may have been other changes too, but we didn't see everything there. We did see Subis and her offspring looking very relaxed and the moloch gibbons sleeping in little huddles.
 
It's an unlisted video, so you need to follow a direct link to it, and was set to 'Private' after the live stream finished yesterday so even direct links wouldn't work. It's back up now 'for a limited time' (so @bongorob 's link above will work again :) ). It was promoted as a special members' preview (I suspect it'll be a public video once the building's properly open).

Quite a nice 'guided tour' video, with Louise Minchin Off The Telly wandering round the building and chatting with strategically placed zoo staff.
 
Visited the collection 24 10 2020 booked over a month ago so the opening of Monsoon Forest was a bonus.
It was a miserable day rained from start to finish, must admit did think there would be more people around then what there was, even the staff were surprised with the lack of visitors.
It actually felt like I had the zoo to myself at times but enough of the negativity the Monsoon Forest was a little bit of a let down did think they would have tried to change it a little.
Having to access the Forest from the bottom and walk your way up was a little bit of hard going for someone who is not great on there feet, will be visiting again soon in the middle of the week so may get a better look around
It was well staffed and they were very pleasant and willing to answer questions on future and current species in the building.
The plantation was a little better with some areas being thinner planted then before but this is usual with a new exhibit let’s see how the plantation looks this time next year.

Species singed in the Forest were –

Sunda Gharial + 1 other (didn’t go into this area)
Grosbeak starling
Superb fruit dove
White naped pheasant pigeon
Blue crowned hanging parrot
Black browed barbet
Chestnut backed thrush
White rumped shama
Grey capped emerald dove
Cinnamon ground dove
Black naped oriole
Crested partridge
Asian fairy bluebird
Victoria crowned pigeon
Black bowed barbet
Asian giant tortoise
Green crested lizard
Fea’s flying tree frog
Forest dragon
Quince monitor
Sulawesi crested macaque
Sumatran orangutan
Silvery gibbon
Four spotted stick insect

There were others but I didn’t get round to seeing them.
 
A bit unrelated and outdated to the news thread but definitely worth notifying is Damian Aspinall's mention of the islands project. On the 23/09/2020 he posted this
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFezhJygXtu/?igshid=1v7b4x7xjxf3i
And commented on the small size of enclosures and large cost amount on Chester's Island Project. To be fairly honest I think this is totally unprovoked and the enclosures are spectacular!
 
bintarong said:
A bit unrelated and outdated to the news thread but definitely worth notifying is Damian Aspinall's mention of the islands project. On the 23/09/2020 he posted this
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFezhJygXtu/?igshid=1v7b4x7xjxf3i
And commented on the small size of enclosures and large cost amount on Chester's Island Project. To be fairly honest I think this is totally unprovoked and the enclosures are spectacular!
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Let’s be honest, did any of us expect anything else!:rolleyes:
 
bintarong said:
A bit unrelated and outdated to the news thread but definitely worth notifying is Damian Aspinall's mention of the islands project. On the 23/09/2020 he posted this
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFezhJygXtu/?igshid=1v7b4x7xjxf3i
And commented on the small size of enclosures and large cost amount on Chester's Island Project. To be fairly honest I think this is totally unprovoked and the enclosures are spectacular!
Click to expand...

Some of the enclosures are good when compared to other enclosures for the same animals in the UK, but, to be fair to what DA is saying, how much of the £40+ million spent on 'Islands' is for the animals? How much was spent on things that are purely for the public's benefit i.e. the vast amount of theming, the boat ride etc.? Is it Disney Land or is it a zoo?

I still think the enclosures in 'Islands' are great for the animals and they do fantastic work at Chester. However, I don't think there are many enclosures in 'Islands' that would be considered world class or even amongst the best in Europe, which is what expected when I first read about 'Islands' and the amount they were spending. A few aren't even considered to be the best in the UK; just see the recent 'Best UK enclosure' polls.
 
Benosaurus said:
Some of the enclosures are good when compared to other enclosures for the same animals in the UK, but, to be fair to what DA is saying, how much of the £40+ million spent on 'Islands' is for the animals? How much was spent on things that are purely for the public's benefit i.e. the vast amount of theming, the boat ride etc.? Is it Disney Land or is it a zoo?
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But by extension, because of that spend 'for the public's benefit', how many more visitors come to Chester? How many more does Chester have a chance to educate? And how much more gate money, membership cash and secondary spend as a result? All that money goes back into the zoo or its conservation/education projects, because unlike Disney Land, Chester Zoo is not a profit-making enterprise. Money 'for the public' is also for the animals.

So whatever one's personal opinion of the theming is, or even whether it could have been spent differently, it can't be said that any of that money was not spent for the animals. Some of it was just indirectly so. It's hard to say, but I suspect 15 acres of wood and wire fences wouldn't have had the same impact on visitor numbers and engagement that Islands as we know it did.
 
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