Bristol Zoo (Closed) Bristol visit

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Dom

Well-Known Member
Well, today i visited Bristol zoo, for the first time in about 8 years, and came away a little dissapointed.

Firstly, the good points.

I have always enjoyed the nocturnal house at Bristol, and was today. Becuase we arrived early, most species were up and active. My favorites were the yellow armadillo and pygmy lorris, both of which i have never seen before.
Bug world was also very good, plenty of new species to me.
I thought seal and penguin coasts was also very good, and was especially in awe of the inca terns.
Gorilla feeding was also very good, very impressed with Jock the silverbacks ability to catch flying cabbiges!


Now the not so good points.

I was very uninspired by the "new" monkey jungle, it didnt really seem any better than the origional monkey house to me.
Okapi, their paddock outside seemed rather odd, with fences jutting across it in very strange angles. And it could do with more planting.
I also think that the section in the far corner, next to"smarty plants" could all do with a tidy up. Most of the aviaries at the back there needed repairs.

Right, now for some questions!
Has the Wallace aviary been knocked down, or has it been renamed "Forest of birds"?
Anyone know where all these armadillos come from? Overseas?


Thanks
 
the wallace avairy has become the rainbow lorikeet feeding/walkthrough aviary as part of 'explorers creek' which incorporates forest birds the buidling with various forest bird species (hence the name:D), the splash zone in front of the buidling, with lots of ikkle splishy-splashy streams for the ickle wickle kiddies ;) as well as the former wallace avairy now home to a large flock of rainbow lorikeets.

I can't help with the armadillos but six banded armadillos can also be found at newquay and heythrop.
 
Ah, well in that case.......we missed out most of the birds then!

Ooops!


Thanks for the info on the armadillos. Its strange, for many years ive been going to zoos, and have never seen one, or been to one where they've been kept, and then this year, i see 3 species of them!
 
I think the deal with the okapi fencing is due to the shape of the paddock and the position of the house. It looks to be the only way to split it into sections (kind of necessary with solitary animals) that allow both animals to be on show and have a decent lot of room.
Also, I believe the plants are still growing, it's got a lot greener within the last year or so so it should be even greener when the trees grow some more :p
 
Dom said:
Ah, well in that case.......we missed out most of the birds then!

!
Click to expand...

Out of interest dom, Why didn't you go to that area of the zoo (The forest of birds)? It's really interesting to note that lots of people visiting Bristol seem to miss it out and I'm not sure why that is. Any ideas? Location, signage, play area in front of it? We have lots of signs directing people to the forest of birds/lorikeet aviary, but I constantly get asked where it is or told people who've visited have missed it and I wonder why??!!

Kate
 
Oh and I just had a looat where the amadillos came from and the breeding pair came to Bristol from Parc de Lunaret (Montpellier), France. I believe they had 2 babies earlier in the year and the male, Archie, used in the shows came from a private breeder.
 
My guess is because the 'Bird House' is rather isolated in the centre of the Zoo. Virtually every other exhibit is either around the edges or leads from one to the next.

Do you know if the Okapi calf is doing okay?
 
We didn't see any signposts, and had forgotten where the aviary was, due to not visiting for a long time.

Hope that helps.
 
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