Chester Zoo The Islands development - planning, development and build (2012-2015)

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gentle lemur

gentle lemur

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In today's Z magazine for Chester members (Spring 2012), Mark Pilgrim has given the first information about the Islands project which has been under development since the Heart of Africa scheme was shelved.
The Trustees have now approved the proposals, so the next step will be a detailed planning application.
There are a few details provided: the islands specified are the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Bali, Sumatra, Sumba and Sulawesi.
The species mentioned are anoa, banteng, babirusa, Bali starling, cassowary, Indonesian rhinoceros hornbill, Indonesian wrinkled hornbill, lorikeet, Sumatran orang utan, saltwater crocodile, Sulawesi macaque, Sumatran tiger and Visayan warty pig.
The zoo currently has most of these animals, including iris lorikeets (according to ISIS, but not on show) and Sulawesi crested macaques - although of course other species are available to meet the names listed ;). Only banteng and saltwater crocs are not held at the moment, as far as I am aware: I would not be surprised to see some of the other species from this area that are currently in the Zoo featuring in the final plans eg Philippine spotted deer, tarictic hornbill and Palawan peacock pheasant.
The aim is to make visiting the exhibit a personal journey through 'mangroves, swamps and bamboo and tropical forests' with 'shelters, animal observation points, rafts, boats and much more'. The sketch with Mark's article shows a tropical river with visitors strolling along a path beside it and looking at several shacks and stalls along the path, in the distance a boat with more visitors is crossing the river, the only animals are some tortoises on the sandy riverbank, some ducks on the water and a flock of birds in the sky.
I am a trained sceptic, so I am inclined to distrust some of gloss added to the details I have recorded here: however there is plenty of scope for displaying these species in interesting ways, linking the zoo exhibit to conservation work in the field, which is one of the aims of the project. I do like the way that the Zoo is aiming high and I hope they can pull it off.

Alan
 
copied my post over to here from http://www.zoochat.com/38/rethinking-rotra-261575/

gentle lemur said:
On Mark Pilgrim's page, he includes Sumatran orangs in the list of species for the Islands development and specifies the islands of the Philippines, Papua New Guinea (which is only half an island ), Bali, Sumatra, Sumba and Sulawesi. Borneo is not mentioned
The only species new to the Zoo that are mentioned are banteng and saltwater crocodile, plus the vague term lorikeet.
I have been searching for interesting species from Sumba, without significant result.
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Chlidonias said:
the obvious one for Sumba would be the critically-endangered citron-crested cockatoo, and there are several other endemic parrot subspecies on the island also which are all endangered. There's also the critically-endangered Sumba hornbill but that would be highly unlikely to be a species Chester would get.

(I'm speaking hypothetically of course, not from any stand-point of knowledge of what Chester is planning or announced)
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I believe the site will actually be in the middle of both these fields with what is currently the service road being towards the right hand boundary of the development (the green field). It will encompass the paddock behind the Zebra/Oryx and run right up to the A41.

Also it is worth noting that as it is linked to conservation programmes with aspects that will include education about the humans of the Islands not all of the Islands mentioned above will neccessarily house any animal species. Sumba for example.
 
The zoo has just released this:

Islands Plan Unveiled
Thursday, March 08, 2012
We've unveiled the first images of the biggest development seen in the history of UK zoos.

The images show an artist’s impression of our £30 million Islands development – a conservation expedition bringing the islands of the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Bali, Sumatra, Sumba and Sulawesi to the heart of Cheshire.

Continued:


Islands Plan Unveiled | Chester Zoo UK
 
kaytronika said:
The zoo has just released this:

Islands Plan Unveiled
The images show an artist’s impression of our £30 million Islands development – a conservation expedition bringing the islands of the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Bali, Sumatra, Sumba and Sulawesi to the heart of Cheshire.
Click to expand...

It's interesting that the illustrations show a couple of tigers, but no other animals, rather like the one in the magazine. I don't see the point of featuring the human culture of an island if it can't be linked to the wildlife on show - I hope that Chlidonias is right about the citron-crested cockatoo from Sumba (and the hornbill too, if possible).

Alan
 
Copied from the release:

The development will showcase our conservation fieldwork and bring together a range of animals including Anoa, Banteng, Babirusa, Bali Starling, Cassowary, Indonesian Rhinoceros Hornbill, Indonesian Wrinkled Hornbill, Lorikeet, Sumatran Orangutan, Saltwater Crocodile, Sulawesi Macaque, Sumatran Tiger and the Visayan Warty Pig.

Emphasis on "animals including", this could mean a host of other species will be brought in along with the salties and the banteng.

From the 2 drawings provided (i do like the look of the Sumatran tiger underwater viewing area), it seems to be an overtly outdoor area, which for our climate, could have its drawbacks.
But the new tropical and orang house, sounds very interesting.

Along with Budongo at Edinburgh, this has all the makings of Britain's second WORLD class zoo exhibit.

Well done Chester.
 
kiang said:
Copied from the release:

The development will showcase our conservation fieldwork and bring together a range of animals including Anoa, Banteng, Babirusa, Bali Starling, Cassowary, Indonesian Rhinoceros Hornbill, Indonesian Wrinkled Hornbill, Lorikeet, Sumatran Orangutan, Saltwater Crocodile, Sulawesi Macaque, Sumatran Tiger and the Visayan Warty Pig.

Emphasis on "animals including", this could mean a host of other species will be brought in along with the salties and the banteng.

From the 2 drawings provided (i do like the look of the Sumatran tiger underwater viewing area), it seems to be an overtly outdoor area, which for our climate, could have its drawbacks.
But the new tropical and orang house, sounds very interesting.

Along with Budongo at Edinburgh, this has all the makings of Britain's second WORLD class zoo exhibit.

Well done Chester.
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Obviously not to the same scale as Islands, but if you consider Budungo to be World Class then I would argue that RoRA, Spirit of the Jaguar and [potentially] Chester's wild dog exhibit are all world class. Just my opinion, but I think all three of them exhibits beat or are equal to Budungo Trail.
 
Although I'm trying not to become involved in Chester threads so as not to offend anyone, I am still a member so I have seen the magazine hence my intrusion here. I am afraid the impression of the development in the magazine makes it even less likely that I should wish to visit Chester again. Despite not having not visited since 2008 I thought I'd probably return one day all being well, but if this is the future I think I've made my last ever visit to Chester. I'll stick to my happy memories of visits past.
 
What strikes me about the Artist's Impression [and such images are notoriously sketchy!] is how little space there is for people to view the tigers! Thought they'd have learnt from the Jaguars where one person in a wheelchair could cause huge tail-backs. [This is not a criticism of wheelchairs in zoos, but poor design]
 
I think the idea of joining up the islands i a brilliant idea, however, does the zoo need more ****** play areas, or food outlets?
 
Javan Rhino said:
Obviously not to the same scale as Islands, but if you consider Budungo to be World Class then I would argue that RoRA, Spirit of the Jaguar and [potentially] Chester's wild dog exhibit are all world class. Just my opinion, but I think all three of them exhibits beat or are equal to Budungo Trail.
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I'm not sure what the definition of world class is, but Chester have several very good exhibits by UK standards, and although fairly basic, I would say the bear & cheetahs exhibits are good too, but ROTRA is far from perfect and not in the same league as Budungo, but thats just personal opinion from my limited experiences of them both.
 
pipaluk said:
I'm not sure what the definition of world class is, but Chester have several very good exhibits by UK standards, and although fairly basic, I would say the bear & cheetahs exhibits are good too, but ROTRA is far from perfect and not in the same league as Budungo, but thats just personal opinion from my limited experiences of them both.
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It does depend on your point of view, while it might not be visually appealing to some [I don't think it's bad, it would look nicer with indoor planting but with a species as destructive as orangs it's not gonna work - they had planting, it just got trashed], it seems amazing from a husbandry/animal welfare/enrichment POV.
 
Javan Rhino said:
It does depend on your point of view, while it might not be visually appealing to some [I don't think it's bad, it would look nicer with indoor planting but with a species as destructive as orangs it's not gonna work - they had planting, it just got trashed], it seems amazing from a husbandry/animal welfare/enrichment POV.
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I'm sure your're right on these last points, and I think maybe my view has been tainted by my last visit, by chance on a members day when the house was packed.

With a slow moving queue and very hot & sweaty atmosphere (& this was only April) I finally reached one of those tiny viewing porthole windows to catch a glimpse of a young orang disappearing behind a mound dragging a sack. I waited as long as the queue would allow before moving along.

Two other things I disliked were that the back area wall makes it resemble a prison yard,whilst every part of the building was labelled for both species, so not being an expert or regular visitor , I couldn't be certain which species I was (or in this case , not) viewing!
 
pipaluk said:
I'm sure your're right on these last points, and I think maybe my view has been tainted by my last visit, by chance on a members day when the house was packed.

With a slow moving queue and very hot & sweaty atmosphere (& this was only April) I finally reached one of those tiny viewing porthole windows to catch a glimpse of a young orang disappearing behind a mound dragging a sack. I waited as long as the queue would allow before moving along.

Two other things I disliked were that the back area wall makes it resemble a prison yard,whilst every part of the building was labelled for both species, so not being an expert or regular visitor , I couldn't be certain which species I was (or in this case , not) viewing!
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I think these are valid points, being a regular I've learnt the best times to visit RoRA and I go at those times when there's only a few exra visitors. Going when it's crowded really isn't pleasant, but I recommend if you're there again you try and do it first thing or last thing, it's a completely different experience. Also, the reptile exhibits and bird aviaries are nice :)
 
Javan Rhino said:
I think these are valid points, being a regular I've learnt the best times to visit RoRA and I go at those times when there's only a few exra visitors. Going when it's crowded really isn't pleasant, but I recommend if you're there again you try and do it first thing or last thing, it's a completely different experience. Also, the reptile exhibits and bird aviaries are nice :)
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Thanks for the advice, I'll try to do that next time I visit!
 
Satan said:
I think the idea of joining up the islands i a brilliant idea, however, does the zoo need more ****** play areas, or food outlets?
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no more play areas!! enough is enough haha

but food outlets it needs junes and bembe cannot cope with 1.4 million visitors even in winter when its quiet they struggle
 
We've been in the middle of the summer when the kids are off at lunch time and it managed perfectly fine.

Bembe is just horrible though, that should have been re-done properly.
 
Satan said:
Bembe is just horrible though, that should have been re-done properly.
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Bembe is now renamed Tsavo ;) it will have to change with the redevelopment of the entrance. A further alternative will be needed if visitor numbers grow. The only play area in the West Zoo is the climbing frame beside the Monkey House. I am very much in favour of giving kiddies safe places to let off steam, preferably well away from the animals, so I like the ideas of extra catering and play spaces.
No one has mentioned the effect of Islands on the rest of the Zoo. We are discussing RotRA in another thread, but think of the other exhibits that will be vacated - the tiger enclosure, anoa island, a section of the monkey house, the cassowary pens and the warty pigs' enclosures. They cannot remain empty - so which species will be on our wishlists?

Alan
 
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