Chessington Zoo Evening opening at Chessington Zoo on 25th June 2010
- Thread starter mhale
- Start date
MARK
Well-Known Member
So how long a go did they start the building for the new exhibit?
mhale
Well-Known Member
Evening visit to Chessington Zoo, 25th June 2010
I went to the "After Hours Zoo Adventure" at Chessington tonight, and I managed to ask a keeper about the gorilla enclosure extension. He said he believed the work was in the final stages and would possibly be ready next month. The photos I have added to the gallery show the progress of the work.
The new Wanyama Village and Reserve seemed nice enough. The grass enclosure for the zebras and oryxes seemed a decent size and there was quite a large area of hardstanding all around the edge of the housing. It was getting late by the time I got there, so I only actually saw one male zebra outside, whilst the other animals were all indoors.
Tonight was the first time I have actually seen the whole family of Persian leopards outside. The parents (Kalaf and Shakira) were in one enclosure, and their two year old son Cyrus and daughter Soraya were together in the other enclosure. Apparently, the other female cub, Tahmine, has already been sent to Sweden. Soraya was being a real show-off in front of the keeper and climbing the windows!
Ariel and Clara the ten month old sea lion pups seem to have settled in well. They were relaxing on the decking, until Dante the younger male tried to join them.
The keeper said that Perinet the female fossa is getting on well with the new male, Kimbato, and they are sharing an enclosure. Her ears look very 'chewed' which is apparently exactly what has occurred whilst mating.
Visiting a zoo in the evening has mixed blessings really, as some of the animals (e.g. the leopards) are obviously a lot more active, whilst others (such as the lions and gorillas) were either very elusive or sleeping. For example, I saw only one binturong, four gorillas and no otters.
Other news is that Xena the capybara has had three pups, which are her first litter. Also, the gentle lemurs appear to have had a youngster. There was a sign on the squirrel monkey enclosure advising that they were currently introducing a new male to the troop.
The evening was all for charity and included an auction and tombola stand. All money collected (which included all entrance fees, auction items and staff wages) will be donated equally to Ape Action Africa, the Marine Conservation Society, World Land Trust and EAZA's European Carnivore Campaign.
I went to the "After Hours Zoo Adventure" at Chessington tonight, and I managed to ask a keeper about the gorilla enclosure extension. He said he believed the work was in the final stages and would possibly be ready next month. The photos I have added to the gallery show the progress of the work.
The new Wanyama Village and Reserve seemed nice enough. The grass enclosure for the zebras and oryxes seemed a decent size and there was quite a large area of hardstanding all around the edge of the housing. It was getting late by the time I got there, so I only actually saw one male zebra outside, whilst the other animals were all indoors.
Tonight was the first time I have actually seen the whole family of Persian leopards outside. The parents (Kalaf and Shakira) were in one enclosure, and their two year old son Cyrus and daughter Soraya were together in the other enclosure. Apparently, the other female cub, Tahmine, has already been sent to Sweden. Soraya was being a real show-off in front of the keeper and climbing the windows!
Ariel and Clara the ten month old sea lion pups seem to have settled in well. They were relaxing on the decking, until Dante the younger male tried to join them.
The keeper said that Perinet the female fossa is getting on well with the new male, Kimbato, and they are sharing an enclosure. Her ears look very 'chewed' which is apparently exactly what has occurred whilst mating.
Visiting a zoo in the evening has mixed blessings really, as some of the animals (e.g. the leopards) are obviously a lot more active, whilst others (such as the lions and gorillas) were either very elusive or sleeping. For example, I saw only one binturong, four gorillas and no otters.
Other news is that Xena the capybara has had three pups, which are her first litter. Also, the gentle lemurs appear to have had a youngster. There was a sign on the squirrel monkey enclosure advising that they were currently introducing a new male to the troop.
The evening was all for charity and included an auction and tombola stand. All money collected (which included all entrance fees, auction items and staff wages) will be donated equally to Ape Action Africa, the Marine Conservation Society, World Land Trust and EAZA's European Carnivore Campaign.
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Thank you, Mhale, for posting the initial information about this, otherwise I would have probably missed the event. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening; my personal highlight was getting a good view of the albino skunk.
That’s interesting as I, too, asked a member of staff about the progress of this exhibit. Although the person I spoke to was rather vague about exact details, I got the impression that it would be a long while before it was complete.
I saw four male Grevy’s zebra and five scimitar-horned oryx.
mhale
Well-Known Member
Same here. It was the first albino skunk I have seen.
Only time will tell ... I hope it is completed sooner rather than later.
I expect you arrived a lot earlier than I did. Unfortunately, the traffic was horrendous around the M25 and my usual 45 minute journey took 3 hours so I didn't arrive until 19:45!!
Gorilla enclosure- from the very helpful photos you have posted, it looks about threequarters done to me. If they really got on with it I think they could have it done within a few weeks, but at 'normal' pace perhaps the Autumn is more realistic.
It seems they may put in some glass viewing panels this time- it may turn out even more like a Howletts enclosure than the other one. I think the decision to build this 'cage' rather than a big new open-air moated enclosure in the new Safari area, which was planned at one time, was mainly based on cost. But I think the Gorillas will benefit from this decision too- they much prefer these covered enclosures and will use the whole area far more . Also being connected to the old enclosure gives more flexibility for managing the current two groups which will obviously have to continue while old 'Kumba' is still alive.