Chester Zoo Chester Zoo news 2025

derek said:
They are off show. A keeper stated that there was a worry about the vultures and secretary birds in together because there had been an incident were the secretary bird had attacked the vulture. This was not at Chester but he did not say where it was. It was likely they would get another habitat at a later date. There a few gaps around the HoA where they could be sited.
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Maybe explains the change in the aviary size, maybe the unused space next to the vultures will be used in the future for the secretary birds
 
derek said:
They are off show. A keeper stated that there was a worry about the vultures and secretary birds in together because there had been an incident were the secretary bird had attacked the vulture. This was not at Chester but he did not say where it was. It was likely they would get another habitat at a later date. There a few gaps around the HoA where they could be sited.
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I had no idea Chester had secretary birds until I read this thread, though it's a shame they're off-show, hopefully it won't be too long before they can be seen. After watching the film Flow earlier today I've added secretary birds to my species bucket list, so I may look into visiting some of the other UK collections that have them.
 
New meerkat indoor enclosure

New meerkat indoor enclosure

Visited today. The new Heart Of Africa zone is absolutely stunning Im posting some images of todays visit. Ive already posted the indoor meerkat exhibit.
 
Lots of pangolin merch for a zoo without them. If I recall correctly, pangolins were featured in some of the silhouette marketing back when HoA was still in progress. Must assume pangolins are due in future?
 
thejestermk2 said:
Lots of pangolin merch for a zoo without them. If I recall correctly, pangolins were featured in some of the silhouette marketing back when HoA was still in progress. Must assume pangolins are due in future?
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I don't think that's necessarily the case, Chester do a lot of conservation work involving pangolins if I'm remembering right which would probably explain why they were used on promotional images. Merch isn't necessarily a tell as to whether they'll get them either, from my experience pangolins have reached the same stuffed toy status as elephants (in that every zoo has them in the shop regardless as to whether they hold the species). Also European zoos are currently focused on Chinese pangolins

That said...wouldn't put it past Chester to somehow acquire pangolins, Chinese or the more apt African. Would certainly be pretty incredible
 
thejestermk2 said:
Lots of pangolin merch for a zoo without them. If I recall correctly, pangolins were featured in some of the silhouette marketing back when HoA was still in progress. Must assume pangolins are due in future?
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London and Whipsnade also sell a lot of pangolin merch despite not holding the species, but much like Chester they do work with them in situ. Pangolins are similar to pandas, although not quite on the same level of global popularity, in that they are emblematic of conservation, but also cute and unique. By selling pangolin plushies in shops and excessively signposting their conservation work with the species despite not holding any, they are easily able to draw attention to all these facets which make them lovable, and in doing so raise awareness about conservation as a whole.

That said, with Prague having finally broken through in breeding Chinese Pangolins, and with Vienna looking to import more from an unspecified zoo in Asia later this year (presumably Taipei), there seems to be an initiative silently growing to set up a breeding population of this species in Europe. I would not be surprised if, as a result of this, zoos like Chester or ZSL who work closely with the species in situ do manage to acquire some soon, which would be amazing. But I agree with @cerperal - if this does happen, I would be stunned if they are of any species other than Chinese (Formosan subspecies, I believe).
 
Was told that the Tiger cubs have been separated from the adults and are now off show
I assume that they will be moved to another zoo as part of the breeding program
 
After watching Mark and Gem's vlog on the new Africa section yesterday, I really can't wait to see it all for myself in person but go when the zoo is a bit more quieter. Take plenty of photos for my Planet Zoo recreation too.

It all does look pretty good, yes all the planting needs time to mature and there are still a couple of empty spaces for enclosures etc but all that will come in time.

There are even a few new species for me to see that I haven't seen before.
 
cerperal said:
I don't think that's necessarily the case, Chester do a lot of conservation work involving pangolins if I'm remembering right which would probably explain why they were used on promotional images. Merch isn't necessarily a tell as to whether they'll get them either, from my experience pangolins have reached the same stuffed toy status as elephants (in that every zoo has them in the shop regardless as to whether they hold the species). Also European zoos are currently focused on Chinese pangolins

That said...wouldn't put it past Chester to somehow acquire pangolins, Chinese or the more apt African. Would certainly be pretty incredible
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They dont have pangolins but they have a giant pangolin area with information signs and a statue, and use a beautiful puppet pangolin as part of a pangolin talk, which was much loved my the kids when i was there
 
Destiny Raven-Silva said:
They dont have pangolins but they have a giant pangolin area with information signs and a statue, and use a beautiful puppet pangolin as part of a pangolin talk, which was much loved my the kids when i was there
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When I said the zoo were getting pangolins, no one believed me. In my defence I never said they were getting real pangolins.:p
 
British explorer said:
I don't think they are as they wern't signed and on the map of the new area they were crossed out with black tape.
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From the footage I’ve seen, I very much get the impression they’ve not arrived yet. In general there’s a couple of things still not quite finished, so it’ll be nice to see the area gradually completed more in the coming months. The arrival of the foxes will especially be something to look forward to.
 
With all the pangolin signage and education it wouldn't surprise if if the plan was to hold them in the future.
 
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