Best UK Takin enclosure

Best UK Takin enclosure?

  • Total voters
    34
  • Poll closed .
felis silvestris

felis silvestris

Well-Known Member
This is just a bit of fun to judge the general consensus on the best enclosure for Takins in the UK. I have added a few photos from the gallery to make it easier for members to compare the different exhibits. If anyone wants to make an argument for a particular enclosure, please feel free to do so. Also, I would encourage people to list the enclosures in order of what they think is best.

HWP (Mishmi)

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Port Lympne (Mishmi)

Unfortunately there are no photos of this enclosure in the gallery. If someone could describe or provide a photo of the exhibit, that would be great.

Paignton (Mishmi)

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Photo credits to @felis silvestris @MagpieGoose
 
I've only seen HWP and Paignton. The spaciousness and beauty of Highland's enclosure with the coniferous trees deserves a lot of praise, and the rocks, logs and undulation offer decent climbing, which is nice. But the reality is that it does not hold a candle to Paignton's enclosure. A former quarry which has held several caprine species over the years offers more climbing, height and variation than any other by virtue of having a steep drop, and looks similarly beautiful with moss, lichen and many live trees giving it an overgrown feel. Its probably one of the best zoo enclosures in the UK, an excellent enclosure and a great example of how zoos can repurpose bizarre and inconvenient features that come with their location.

All things considered, two excellent enclosures, but I definitely know who I will be voting for here.
 
Paignton’s quarry has its management downsides I’m sure, with sheer cliffs on one side and dense trees on the other, and it was a shame to lose the tur to TB. But as a viewing experience it is absolutely outstanding, and is also bigger than it looks at first glance. A superb example of a zoo using their natural setting as an animal enclosure.
 
It's worth noting that this doesn't show all the takin enclosure at HWP and iirc there is a part near the start of the drive through with more climbing area.
 
Fallax said:
It's worth noting that this doesn't show all the takin enclosure at HWP and iirc there is a part near the start of the drive through with more climbing area.
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Yes, although this is the only photo of the exhibit in the gallery. Has anyone seen the Port Lympne exhibit?
 
Fallax said:
As far as I am aware the exhibit at Port Lympne is only visible on the drive through for a short amount of time, I haven't visited myself so someone correct me if I am wrong.
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Yes your correct and it’s got no chance against the other two in the poll anyway
 
Rajang21 said:
Paignton’s quarry has its management downsides I’m sure, with sheer cliffs on one side and dense trees on the other, and it was a shame to lose the tur to TB. But as a viewing experience it is absolutely outstanding, and is also bigger than it looks at first glance. A superb example of a zoo using their natural setting as an animal enclosure.
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As Rajang says, this is a fantastic exemplar of matching species to the geography of a site. The signage here is concise & well written and many regulars use this space to sit & relax. I’m sure that in the future species will be added to create a Himalayan area, probably the Red Pandas and another? I hope there are plans in place to secure a breeding pair once the Brothers pass on. It is a quite brilliant enclosure.
 
TriUK said:
As Rajang says, this is a fantastic exemplar of matching species to the geography of a site. The signage here is concise & well written and many regulars use this space to sit & relax. I’m sure that in the future species will be added to create a Himalayan area, probably the Red Pandas and another? I hope there are plans in place to secure a breeding pair once the Brothers pass on. It is a quite brilliant enclosure.
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Be nice to have some Himalayan pheasants nearby…..maybe Laughingthrushes…..
 
FBBird said:
Be nice to have some Himalayan pheasants nearby…..maybe Laughingthrushes…..
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Indeed, I too thought that Monals and Laughing Thrushes would bring some colour and sound to the area and give visitors more reason to enter a cul-de-sac dead end area, as brilliant as it is to us, it can be an issue. Unfortunately, I don’t believe the zoo will keep birds in widespread areas of the zoo, as they do now, but rather they will all be contained in one area to make sectioning/closing off easier to manage when future Avian Flu outbreaks happen. Such a shame, but the zoo is really trying hard to safeguard itself and it’s animals going forward.
 
Poll closed. Congratulations to Paignton for having the Best UK Takin enclosure. The large former quarry gave this enclosure an easy win over the other good enclosure at Highland. This is their third win.

Paignton: 91.2%
HWP: 8.8%
 
felis silvestris said:
Poll closed. Congratulations to Paignton for having the Best UK Takin enclosure. The large former quarry gave this enclosure an easy win over the other good enclosure at Highland. This is their third win.

Paignton: 91.2%
HWP: 8.8%
Click to expand...
Paigntons Takin enclosure is currently closed (as is the Lemur walkthrough) due to flash flood damage.
 
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