Chester Zoo construction work in Tropical Realm

Strange the things you pick up on. "The Tropical Realm is home to 43 free-flying and breeding birds..." Shortly after the Tropical House was built, there were almost that many birds in the birds of paradise collection alone, although only one species was free-flying (for a short time).

I'm sure I read somewhere that at one point there were almost three hundred free flying birds in there, including quite a collection of hummingbirds, something I'd love to see reintroduced.
 
SMR said:
Strange the things you pick up on. "The Tropical Realm is home to 43 free-flying and breeding birds..." Shortly after the Tropical House was built, there were almost that many birds in the birds of paradise collection alone, although only one species was free-flying (for a short time).

I'm sure I read somewhere that at one point there were almost three hundred free flying birds in there, including quite a collection of hummingbirds, something I'd love to see reintroduced.
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Wow, that sounds pretty impressive. But, the tropical realm was also home to a good number of herps at some point, now most of them are off-show with a select 3-4 in places like Islands in Danger, Tropical Realm, Spirit of the Jaguar and Realm of the Red Ape. There are some nice points to Chester's reptile collection (Philippine crocodiles mainly, but Komodo Dragons, Gila Monsters, Caiman Lizards and Reticulated Python as well), but their on-show reptile collection is certainly not as impressive as it used to be.
 
I wonder if redevelopment of the Tropical Realm might be on the cards now that Heart of Africa is indefinitely delayed? There's a huge amount of that building off-show, including the ape quarters and balcony (currently the bird kitchen), the old nocturnal house and the vivarium corridor.
 
SMR said:
I wonder if redevelopment of the Tropical Realm might be on the cards now that Heart of Africa is indefinitely delayed? There's a huge amount of that building off-show, including the ape quarters and balcony (currently the bird kitchen), the old nocturnal house and the vivarium corridor.
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I doubt it unfortunatly. Quick question, why has Heart of Africa been delayed, is it because of the Tories cutting tourism budgets? Or has planning been denied?

I think the most we'll get is maybe a slight refurbishment (and if we are lucky they may open up the old corridor near the Gila Monsters). I don't know why, but I just can't see it.

It is a shame about HoA, it was going to do so many things (better (hopefully naturalistic) Chimp housing, bringing back Gorillas to the zoo, bigger Okapi paddocks and freeing up a good amount of space for other species in the future.
 
Javan Rhino said:
Quick question, why has Heart of Africa been delayed, is it because of the Tories cutting tourism budgets? Or has planning been denied?
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The plans go before the Cheshire West and Cheshire Strategic Planning Committee on 16th September.

The issue is the funding and the cuts made to the regional development agencies. The hope was to attain a grant based on the economic growth the project would bring to the area.
Javan Rhino said:
It is a shame about HoA, it was going to do so many things (better (hopefully naturalistic) Chimp housing, bringing back Gorillas to the zoo, bigger Okapi paddocks and freeing up a good amount of space for other species in the future.
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Chimpanzees and gorillas I can take or leave to be honest (I don't think re-homing the chimps is a high priority item), I was actually more interested in the development of the ecosystem within the building and the more unusual exhibits.
 
SMR said:
The plans go before the Cheshire West and Cheshire Strategic Planning Committee on 16th September.

Chimpanzees and gorillas I can take or leave to be honest (I don't think re-homing the chimps is a high priority item), I was actually more interested in the development of the ecosystem within the building and the more unusual exhibits.
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Not long until planning then, fingers crossed that goes through (will they always have the planning permission if it is granted, or is it only valid providing they build it before a certain time?).

I am not a particular fan of Chimpanzees, but I do love the other ape species (rhinos, felids and apes are probably my favourites). Personally, I would love to see Chester with Bonobos (even if they had to get rid of the chimps) but I am aware Chester aren't interested in this species. The main reason I mentioned them was because I am waiting for a zoo to set an example in Britian and create an indoor chimp area (Chester's is the best I have seen, but it still isn't naturalistic indoors) that replicates their natural habitat, rather than just hanging tyres and ropes. (Don't get me wrong, these are needed, but they should be incorporated into a rainforest habitat, maybe disguise any ropes as vines and creepers etc.)
 
SMR said:
Strange the things you pick up on. "The Tropical Realm is home to 43 free-flying and breeding birds..." Shortly after the Tropical House was built, there were almost that many birds in the birds of paradise collection alone, although only one species was free-flying (for a short time).

I'm sure I read somewhere that at one point there were almost three hundred free flying birds in there, including quite a collection of hummingbirds, something I'd love to see reintroduced.
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in the 1966 International Zoo Yearbook there's an article about the then newly-opened Tropical House. It says there were altogether over 235 birds of 83 species, of which over 200 of 70 species were free-flying. (Also there were in the house 53 mammals of 14 species and 137 reptiles of 32 species).

In "Zoo Without Bars" it says "two or three hundred birds" in the Tropical House. The birds of paradise were 37 birds of 10 species which cost them 9000 pounds [there's no symbol for pounds on my computer of course]
 
Wow, 37 individual birds-of-paradise! Now that would be cool to see. Do you know what the 10 species were?
 
from the 1966 IZY (using the names used in that book, not all of which are still taxonomically correct):

ribbon-tailed bird of paradise (Astrapia mayeri)
superb bird of paradise (Lophorina superba)
Princess Stephanie's bird of paradise (Astrapia stephaniae ducalis)
Prince Rudolph's bird of paradise (Paradisaea rudolphi)
Count Raggi's bird of paradise (Paradisaea apoda raggiana)
sickle-billed bird of paradise (Epimachus meyeri bloodi)
Carol six-plumed bird of paradise (Parotia carolae)
Lawe's six-plumed bird of paradise (Parotia lawesi)
magnificent bird of paradise (Diphyllodes magnificus)
Loria's bird of paradise (Loria loriae)
 
Thank you Childonias, I should dig out the actual numbers rather than trust my memory, even though I wasn't far out.

To add a little more detail, the birds of paradise came by way of Taronga, whose own bird keepers escorted them by air onwards to London. After arrival, the Prince Rudolph was briefly given access to the whole house, until it started destroying the vegetation.
Chlidonias said:
The birds of paradise were 37 birds of 10 species which cost them 9000 pounds [there's no symbol for pounds on my computer of course]
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And that, drum roll, is the equivalent of ~£140,000 ($215K USD) in today's money!

P.S. the pound symbol is alt+0163 on most Windows machines. ;)
 
SMR said:
And that, drum roll, is the equivalent of ~£140,000 ($215K USD) in today's money!
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Given that there must be aviculturalists out there who would pay a lot more than this for such a collection, I'd bet the bird-of-paradise rate of inflation over this period is somewhat higher than the general rate of 6.3% that the Bank of England calculator quotes.

What an amazing collection of birds. I'd be surprised if it has ever been matched, outside New Guinea at least. Unfortunately not a conservation success story; I don't think there was any breeding. Any idea when the last one died?
 
OrangePerson said:
Have you been to Edinburgh?
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Ahh yes, I forgot about Edinburgh's Budungo. (I only had a quick look in there, sort of to say I'd been - and another quick look when I realised I'd left my lens cap on the penny press :D). Yes, Budungo is good.
 
SMR said:
Strange the things you pick up on. "The Tropical Realm is home to 43 free-flying and breeding birds..." Shortly after the Tropical House was built, there were almost that many birds in the birds of paradise collection alone, although only one species was free-flying (for a short time).

I'm sure I read somewhere that at one point there were almost three hundred free flying birds in there, including quite a collection of hummingbirds, something I'd love to see reintroduced.
Click to expand...

I'm guerssing that they mean 43 species of birds in the Tropical Realm.
 
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