ZooTripper365
Well-Known Member
Does anyone know if there are any planned refurbishments or new exhibits coming next year? I could see the monkey house being re-done as they seem to be doing a lot to that area of the zoo.
Blackpool Zoo Are there any new exhibits coming next year?
- Thread starter ZooTripper365
- Start date
JonWild
Well-Known Member
I have done a bit of research and I can’t find anything to do with 2024, but anything could happen really
ZooTripper365
Well-Known Member
Yeah I thought so. My bets on the monkey house because, even though I love it, it just doesn't fit the more modern future at blackpool.
JonWild
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I do hope they create a new facility for the primates in the monkey house, as it is barely adequate for them to live in
ZooTripper365
Well-Known Member
Both monkey houses for that matter. The one next to the lake especially as the tiger habitat looks so good now it just looks awful. However, the spider monkeys have just had a brand new cage built so this one could take a while.
Last edited:
JonWild
Well-Known Member
Oh, I thought the large aviary-style enclosure beside the tigers was for two male gibbons that were born at the park, but I might be wrong
ZooTripper365
Well-Known Member
It may have been built for that but the spider monkeys were in there when I visited in July. It's probably on some sort of rotation cycle where each species has a designated time in there.
One Animal I would love to. See at Blackpool is rhino. Maybe a surplus collection for the Indian or the black rhino. I'm unsure where they could go. The only place I think is the current camel enclosure but that may need a bit of work. I would like to see a breeding herd of giraffes but the enclosure may not be big enough particularly the house. I would like to see some work on the gorilla house. One thing that I think would be great for the zoo is if the giant Anteater paddock was made bigger to house the tapirs with more indoor housing too and the Tapir enclosure be made into a pygmy hippo habitat with a larger pool being made. Some of these changes are highly unlikely but I think would look nice.
Alwaysevergreen
Well-Known Member
I remember back around 2016/17 it was muted that the old Elephant house, which now holds the Camels, may be developed for Rhino, but they moved away from that, when they needed to upgrade the Big Cats.
Given Elephant Base Camp took 2/3 years to complete and opened in 2018, and then the big cat exhibit took around 18 months to build, to open this year, I would not expect any significant changes in the next few years. The last two big changes are 5 years apart and had been in the planning for some time.
These also took massive investment, and therefore it will take some time for the coffers to fill to start another big development, so whilst I understand some of the speculation above of things people would like to see happen, it's most unlikely any time soon, and this is meant to be a news thread, so doesn't need to be side tracked with needless speculation. Nowhere have Blackpool intimated that they are about to do any major development and a lot of people read Zoo Chat and don't contribute and they see speculation and report it elsewhere as fact or tell people and then it reflects badly on this great site, so it's always best to keep speculation off news threads.
ZooTripper365
Well-Known Member
They successfully bred black rhino's in the late 90s and were a popular attraction for many years. The old elephant house used to be split into 3 areas with giraffe in one, rhino in the other, and then obviously elephant. After the success of project elephant, I think the zoo could make a really good enclosure for rhinos in a similar style. Pygmy hippo would fit that area quite well, going along with the african theme. The giraffe enclosure could be extended into the fields behind it which currently house a mix of animals from muntjac deer, rhea and llama.
JonWild
Well-Known Member
I think white rhino would be a good addition for Blackpool, and I’d love an African Savannah area with the zebra, giraffe, ostrich and Blesbok all loving together. I think if they moved the camels to the zebra paddock, they could probably fit the rhinos into the old elephant Enclosure and make a on show rhino house as well.
Anteater Shrub
Member
Rhinos could fit that area well and could see the opening of an African House where the reptiles were.
Seconded.
Baringogiraffe12
Well-Known Member
The two male gibbons in that enclosure are Seronimo - who was born in 1990 in Cambodia and Dobbie born in 2014 at the zoo. They were housed together, however, on recent visits I have seen one in the main enclosure and the other in the newer enclosure next to the tigers.
There's been nothing released at the moment regarding plans, Blackpool have done a good job with their big cat house. Hopefully the zoo has their first elephant calf next year and possibly some more great ape births.
Baringogiraffe12
Well-Known Member
They do, the current breeding pair are Ivy and Chamoa, current offspring are below:
2010 0.1 Hollie (died in 2012)
2013 1.0 Sovann (died)
2014 1.0 Dobbie (still at the zoo)
2017 1.0 Iwani
2020 0.0.1 (died)
2021 0.0.1 unsexed/unnamed (still at the zoo)
I never heard Blackpool have ever kept Black Rhino, let alone bred them. Are you sure about that?
ZooTripper365
Well-Known Member
Maybe not black but they definitely kept rhinos for the good part of 30 years (1971-2001) and bred them. I've read articles from the time about a rhino birth in the early 70s and seen photos of this baby rhino.
Last edited:
ZooTripper365
Well-Known Member
"Nykasi" born in June 1973 was a white rhino sorry
JonWild
Well-Known Member
Wow, a lot of the young died more or less in the first 1-2 years