Chester Zoo My Chester Zoo Visits

Javan Rhino said:
I didn't know that, when were they there?
Click to expand...

Collared Peccaries were exhibited at Chester from the 1960s to 1996. The had an enclosure as stated above where the coffee house is, and were moved sometime in the late 1980s (1984 I think) to the old dog enclosures which is where the Butterfly Greenhouse now stands.
 
bongorob said:
Collared Peccaries were exhibited at Chester from the 1960s to 1996. The had an enclosure as stated above where the coffee house is, and were moved sometime in the late 1980s (1984 I think) to the old dog enclosures which is where the Butterfly Greenhouse now stands.
Click to expand...

Awww, shame I never saw them (I probably did when I was very young, but I don't remember). Hopefully they will return in the future, though I doubt it. Why did they get rid of them, was it to make room for the Maned Wolves or did they just die off?
 
Javan Rhino said:
Why did they get rid of them, was it to make room for the Maned Wolves or did they just die off?
Click to expand...
The long-standing species in that corner of the zoo, well before the maned wolves, were jackals and hyenas, with wolverines behind the brown bear enclosure for good measure. The maned wolves arrived in either late 1996 or early 1997 if I remember correctly, so they were only invisible for about ten years. You could smell them from the entrance though! ;)

Rob has an encyclopaedic knowledge of these things, perhaps he can remember if the collared peccaries were in one of the semi-circular enclosures (the one that once housed the porcupines)? None of the guides have them labelled.
 
SMR said:
The long-standing species in that corner of the zoo, well before the maned wolves, were jackals and hyenas, with wolverines behind the brown bear enclosure for good measure.
Rob has an encyclopaedic knowledge of these things, perhaps he can remember if the collared peccaries were in one of the semi-circular enclosures (the one that once housed the porcupines)? None of the guides have them labelled.
Click to expand...

The enclosure behind the porcupines (Andean garden now) which had wolverines also variously had badgers and cassowaries.The pens on the site of the butterfly house had black-backed jackals, peccaries, and Bagot goats for a long time. The semi-circular enclosures mostly had coypus in one and porcupines in the other, although otters (cape clawless I think) were kept in one of them for a while. Peccaries were never in there, the enclosures were too small.
 
I saw a peccary in the old Maned Wolf exhibit on one of my very earliest visits - as I recall it was just in the paddock as used by the wolves, occupying more-or-less the exact same area (I think the divisions from the jackal/hyaena days had been removed by this point).
 
Yes Maguari that would be right. Just reminiscing about coypus - most collections had at least a few, they were the meerkats of old. Banned in the UK since 1987.
 
Pygathrix said:
Yes Maguari that would be right. Just reminiscing about coypus - most collections had at least a few, they were the meerkats of old. Banned in the UK since 1987.
Click to expand...

How come they were banned. I have seen that they have become an invasive species in parts of the world, is this the reason?
 
They were a pest mainly in East Anglia, having escaped from fur farms. Now thought to be extinct in the UK, although still cause problems in other parts of Europe. Up to 1987 zoos could keep them with a licence, after that the law was changed and although an exceptional licence can be granted I don't think any zoos in Britain are interested anymore.

The Coypus (Prohibition on Keeping) Order 1987
 
This is suprising actually as I only discovered what a Coypu was a couple days ago on Zootierliste and I was amazed to see that so many zoos have them in Europe and we dont have a single Coypu, according to Zootierliste.

I thought this was rather embarresing but I also thought there must be a reason behind it.

Then last night on chat Coypu was mentioned. A Coincidence. I think not and now the Coypu is mentioned again on here. Thanks for the information and I know know why the UK does not keep Coypu. Its a shame. Beautiful species.
 
My brother took a photo of a raccoon in one of the semi circular enclosures back in the 1960s and the guide in 1968 listed plan no.29 as porcupines and raccoons. They must have been rotated.

All I ever remember seeing in those two enclosures was coypus and Indian Crested Porcupines, and the latter only infrequently.

In 1988 a coypu enclosure was built at Chester occupying a site between the kiosk and the bridge by the Tropical Realm. It was later used for Coatis and eventually demolished. This enclosure was built after the government informed the zoo that the coypu enclosure did not meet regulations. By which I think the government considered it not to be escape proof.

I'd forgotten about the cassowaries in the old Wolverine enclosure. I also remember a Striped Hyena in the dog enclosures.
 
bongorob said:
In 1988 a coypu enclosure was built at Chester occupying a site between the kiosk and the bridge by the Tropical Realm. It was later used for Coatis and eventually demolished. This enclosure was built after the government informed the zoo that the coypu enclosure did not meet regulations. By which I think the government considered it not to be escape proof.
Click to expand...

That exhibit I remember well - and still miss!
 
The tortoises were adjacent to the camel house; that area is now occupied by the okapi house.
 
SMR said:
I remember giant tortoises (as in large, not necessarily the species) in that area too. Would that be before or after the coypu and coati?
Click to expand...

the tortoises were next to the old camel house, where the okapi house is now. I'm sure Beavers used to be in the area next to the tropical realm bridge - infact were they the last species to reside here before it was demolished?
 
Pygathrix said:
The tortoises were adjacent to the camel house; that area is now occupied by the okapi house.
Click to expand...

The house and enclosure was built in 1976 to house a pair of African Spurred Tortoises which were uncommon in captivity at the time. Now I'd say they are the chelonian equivilent of Meerkats.
 
Paix said:
Thanks for the information and I know know why the UK does not keep Coypu. Its a shame. Beautiful species.
Click to expand...

I disagree. I remember going to Minsmere for the first time in the late '70s and apart from seeing my first avocets and spoonbills on the scrape, my most lasting memory is that each of the deeper pools seemed to have a big, fat, ugly, coypu floating in the middle of it. Let's face it, big bright orange teeth are not attractive.
I can also remember from one of my first visits to Chester that the space behind the camel house had a small house with a low wall, holding the young African elephants.

Alan
 
gentle lemur said:
I disagree. I remember going to Minsmere for the first time in the late '70s and apart from seeing my first avocets and spoonbills on the scrape, my most lasting memory is that each of the deeper pools seemed to have a big, fat, ugly, coypu floating in the middle of it. Let's face it, big bright orange teeth are not attractive.
I can also remember from one of my first visits to Chester that the space behind the camel house had a small house with a low wall, holding the young African elephants.

Alan
Click to expand...

Yeah but they are beautiful when the teeth arent showing!
 
Sorry about short notice again, but I might be able to nip to Chester tomorrow or Sunday afternoon if anything needs finding out.
 
I'm going on Sunday as well, does anybody have any photo requests. I can help Haz_Cat in any info searching as well :).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top