Chester Zoo Natural Vision Plans

Indeed. What happens to it I would think is related to whether the Tropical Realm ends up getting demolished or not, which seems to be up for debate at the moment.
 
In all of the plans I have looked through the Tropical Realm, Chimpanzee House, Cattle House, Okapi/Giraffe House are all listed as 'buildings for removal'. Obviously plans change though.
 
Can anyone share some infomation on the elephant paddock? On the masterplan map it shows an "Asian Plains" area bigger than the current asian plains exhibit and i assumed that they would extend the elephant paddock for this! I have briefly looked for info and pictures on the files/links posted above but couldn't find anything!
Thanks
 
Pertinax said:
Am I right in assuming from these plans that the 'Heart of Africa' biodome will be situated somewhere in the area where the Sand Lizards/ buffy headed(?) Capuchins now live? Not being a regular(unfortunately)I can't remember what other buildings/enclosures are currently in this area?
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Page 13 of Heart of Africa design statement parts 1-4 shows the location of the site, it's behind the giraffe/okapi/tropical houses on the field soemtimes used for overflow car parking
 
There's some interesting stuff in that document - planned extensions to Spirit of the Jaguar, Realm of the Red Ape and the Twilight Zone all seem to suggect these buildings are to be retained.
 
Maguari said:
There's some interesting stuff in that document - planned extensions to Spirit of the Jaguar, Realm of the Red Ape and the Twilight Zone all seem to suggect these buildings are to be retained.
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The proposed extension to Spirit of the Jaguar appears to be quite large from most of the concept maps, so could house some interesting things.

There is a list of retained buildings and proposed species for each zone in a table on page 1 here:

http://www.ukplanning.com/chester/d...LUME6&contentType=application/pdf&pageCount=1
 
Hmm... the species list for Mysteries of the Rainforest is frustratingly incomplete! It's just the list for Heart of Africa - omitting the Jaguars and Orangs that will clearly still be there. I assume the bears will have to move over here too; it's the only one of the zones they can really fudge them into.
 
I am also frustrated by the lack of species shown for the Rainforest Zone. I wonder if the bears will even remain in the collection once the masterplan has been fully implemented?
 
I'm pretty sure they will - they're a favourite of the increasingly-influential Tim Rowlands if nothing else!
 
i have crunched the numbers on some of the paddocks

2.5 acres total space for the chimps ;O

0.8 acres for the Okapis (0.5 of that will have Duikers in)

So that is big enclosures!!
 
First of all, big thanks to SMR and Maguari for alerting us to this mine of information. It will take quite a while to work through all of it - and I am sure some of my colleagues will find a lot of useful material for their Animal Care classes somewhere in the package.
I must admit that the plans for Heart of Africa look very impressive. I like the gorilla (+monkey) and chimpanzee areas, although it did strike me that labelling the rockwork and mud walls (synthetic, I presume) as 'non-climbable' was not exactly a guarantee of security - I guess there will be hot wires too. I wonder what the substrate of the indoor areas will be: could it be grass? The fact that there are two indoor enclosures which could be used alternately, might make this feasible.
I also wonder what might be kept in the aquarium. There are lots of interesting fishes from the Congo, but most of them are not particularly large - and there looks to be a lot of water (with an off-show area too). Dare we dream of manatees?
I'm not completely convinced about the mandrill and pygmy hippo combination yet. I guess they can manage a pair of pygmy hippos if they can keep one inside and one outside, perhaps they can arrange to divide the outdoor section between the hippos if they need to be separated, while still allowing the mandrills to cross the barrier.
My only real criticism is that area for bongos looks too small for such a large species, unless they only aim to keep a bachelor male or two. Maybe a smaller species would be better suited.
The longer scale plans are naturally vaguer. I am not particularly impressed with the idea of an African savanna building featuring Nile crocodiles and common hippos, if they already have slender-snouted crocodiles and pygmy hippos. I think there is bound to be some tension between the need for large popular species to attract visitors and the less glamorous but more vulnerable species which will need space for conservation reasons.

Alan
 
intersting points there alan since they could manage a pair because there is 2 enclosure - indoor outdoor, and tbh the new enclosure is bigger than the current one. its 0.4 acres

but isnt that the thing the pygmy hippos are more endangered than the common and the slender snouted are more endangered, but there will be tension =)
 
The zoo is aiming to be a top-flight zoo on the world stage - if it's doing that properly, it should have a balanced enough collection to be able to stand having both hippos and two (three? Don't see the Philippines going!) croc species without anything else losing out. And Common Hippos make a fantastic exhibit.

But then, Common Hippos would be one of the first things I brought in if I was running Chester, even if there wasn't a multi-million pound masterplan going on!
 
Have just been looking at the Lanscape Stratergy and it show that in the wild african savanah section both African Lion and Hyena are listed is the just potential species that could be in the exhibit or species that are planned for that exhibit?
 
LeeMac13 said:
Have just been looking at the Lanscape Stratergy and it show that in the wild african savanah section both African Lion and Hyena are listed is the just potential species that could be in the exhibit or species that are planned for that exhibit?
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most of the ones after HoA are only planned
 
Looking at HoA, and its species list, i see amongst the mammals, no carnivores, but then again, the species that came to mind being appropriate to the biome was a difficult proposal, and i could only come up with cusimanse?
I take it the large open area in the middle will be a free flight area for rainforest birds?
West African manatees in the water, would propel this world class exhibit into the stratosphere. (but wishful thinking there i think).
I would have thought if the zoo are keeping monkey islands, maybe keep the mandrill where they are, and mix drill with the pygmy hippo?
I would also liked to have seen a few more guenon or mangabey species in individual exhibits.
But all these minor quibbles, it looks at last as if the UK is finally going to get a stand alone TRULY world class zoo exhibit to join with the likes of.
Burgers bush
Rotterdams Oceanium
Lied forest, Omaha
Congo forest, Bronx
I really say second world class forgot about Budongo!
 
kiang said:
I would have thought if the zoo are keeping monkey islands, maybe keep the mandrill where they are, and mix drill with the pygmy hippo?
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From the looks of things Monkey island will just hold asian monkey species, which means some interesting species could make its way into this exhibit.
 
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