Chester Zoo News from visits 2012
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ChesterZooFan
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Visited yesterday with my mum, who has not been to Chester for an age.....It was a great visit, with virtually all the animals not just on view but considerably dynamic and engaging with eachother. All credit to Chester as my last 2 or 3 visits I have thought that almost every exhibit is to a really high standard. It has also seemed like nearly every animal is extremely active and I can see how much they are using their enclosures to the full, more than I have ever seen before. Not sure if there is any science behind this or not but I have seen a lot more enrichment going on than before so this seems to be really impacting on the visitor experience ie animals on view! It's also pleasing to see so many young right now! Heard too that 2 x elephants likely to be pregnant (has this been posted here already??) and the lions seem likely to be expecting soon too. I think there is hope for the bears but so there has been for the last couple of years and nothing has happened! All in all a great day out!
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Alot of people have heard these rumours and until the zoo confirms anything thats what they are rumours,as for the Lions I'm not going to hold my breath as when Asha was with Iblis there was alot of matings then as well and no Cubs.
But Asha wasn't a particularly sure thing with her age and implant so it might not have been poor little Iblis's fault.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Very true,but I'm still not going to hold my breath over it,given how inbred the species is getting now!
karoocheetah
Well-Known Member
I love rumours - so as well as Chuck the Tyrannosaur (I made a non executive decision here) and the rumoured other pregnancies - I also wouldn't actually hold my breath (I'd go bluer than my current tshirt actually) but if every mating produced young the zoo would be awash (maybe a poor choice of words) with babies! I live in hope as much as the next enthusiast but until I get told by staff that X or Y is actually pregnant then I won't bother saying anything.
karoocheetah
Well-Known Member
Little Stripes are much bigger and bolder now but still great value for money.
I won an auction at a members talk on Tuesday and the 'prize' was a framed protrait of Kirana & Cub with Plaster Casts of her footprint and the two cubs - I love it and it's so unique. Chester Zoo come up with some unique stuff to raise funds.
I won an auction at a members talk on Tuesday and the 'prize' was a framed protrait of Kirana & Cub with Plaster Casts of her footprint and the two cubs - I love it and it's so unique. Chester Zoo come up with some unique stuff to raise funds.
ChesterZooFan
Well-Known Member
Yes.......I know I should be a bit careful with malicious rumour spreading!!! However, most of what I posted did come from keepers/presenters. The elephant keeper told me they were "waiting confirmation" over 2 pregnancies which I (perhaps wrongly) assumed meant 'they are pregnant but I can't tell you' I mean how long can it take to get the results back??- in fact the only reason I asked was that the 'pregnancies' seem to be really showing now so there is no hiding it anymore!
The lion presenter was very keen in her talk to mention how much mating has been observed and that they are "very hopeful" for some imminent births.
And the bear keeper told me that based on observations of their behaviour etc she thought this year could be the year, but of course this is purely wishful thinking on her part!!
Any other births we may realistically expect soon?
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
I have a golden rule when told something like this if in any doubt say nothing on here!
So did the previous pair and they had the grand total of zero,yes I do know Asha,was getting on and that could have something todo with it,but still they didn't have any cubs.
Like it has for the last couple of years!
The zoo has plenty of animals expected to give birth or hatch chicks at somepoint this year,but I will wait until they can be seen in the zoo or the zoo annouce it themselves,as speculation about what might happen doesn't do,this sites relationship with the zoo any good!!
"This site" per se cannot have a relationship with a speficic zoo, because "this site" is not a person on its own and no moderator here is controlling what members post or don`t post. Which, if it were the case, would be a pretty terrible thing in my opinion (as long as it`s just rather harmless speculation and not label and slander, certainly).
I am careful to post here what keepers tell me in private, but I have zero problems posting what keepers say during keeper talks to a number of people.
I am careful to post here what keepers tell me in private, but I have zero problems posting what keepers say during keeper talks to a number of people.
Yes, it does seem that sometimes you go on a forum because you are interested in something and then people are paralysed for fear of upsetting someone so everything is kept secret! No casual chatter allowed!
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I'm afraid Chuck the Tyrannosaur keeps reminding me of 'It's a Knockout' - unless it's going to be a new event for the 2016 Olympics
Alan
mazfc
Well-Known Member
I agree. If I was told something on a Walk and Talk I would never repeat here, or if I was having a 1 on 1 chat with a keeper or presenter again I wouldn't repeat it as it was a private conversation not for public consumption; but if presenters are saying these things in their talks that is THEIR speculation/knowledge that's already in the public realm.
I'm sure the zoo doesn't let the presenters say anything that they don't want in the public realm - if they do then that's a problem to be rectified by them not us.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
What you say about a relationship between a zoo and site is very true,but the I will counter that with asking how many zoo's have given members of this site the chance,to be able to ask questions direct to various Curators and in many cases show members of this site behind the scences.The simple answer is just 2 Chester and one done at Highland Wildlife Park.The fact that after 2 years of Chester been more than happy to do this for people,on this site they have now backed away from doing for various reasons,is to me very sad given that I know just how much of a risk was taken by Tim Rowlands to do the very first walk and talk for us!
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
After a short visit today I noticed yound of the followin species in the paddocks,Sitatunga,Gemsbok and Roan Antelope.
Mr T
Well-Known Member
Surely if a keeper/presenter tells you something then you should be free to discuss it with others. If the information was top secret then the keeper/presenter should not be telling you. The majority of people on here are just members of the public with an interest in zoos. Staff in the zoo will (or should be at least) be briefed or be aware of what information can be disclosed and which cannot. If information that should not be made public knowledge gets out then the zoo concerned should have a grudge against their own staff rather than the zoochatters.
mazfc
Well-Known Member
I've loved a the walk and talks I've been on and appreciate Chester (and Tim) taking time (often his free time) to share with us. It was also great to be able to put back into the zoo during the EaZA ape days too.
It would be a shame if these stopped, what reasons have been given? I would certainly understand if it was the time that they take as the staff involved were great giving up their time to take such great care with us. The W&t's also seemed to do a lot to stop speculation as well.
I have no idea what the guys from Chester actually expected. Here are dozends of enthusiastic people who have all kind of questions about Chester (and other zoos, certainly). These "walk and talks" were a fantastic idea and a fabulous opportunity, but only for the very few who could attend. What about the many dozend others who still had the same questions and no opportunity to ask (and KNEW that a lot of information had been given to members they knew)? I have no idea why Chester backed out of the walks, but if it is because the speculation here didn`t stop and because information leaked that was given on the walks, well, then both was totally be to expected.
By the way, plenty of opportunities exist for zoochatters in many zoos to talk to keepers or get behind the scenes tours. Just that these possibilities are not specifically designed for members of zoochat. But every zoochatter is a paying visitor and often a member of a "friends of xy zoo" group and possibilities to get more information thankfully do exist, and sometimes it`s as easy as showing up and asking a keeper during a designated "ask a question" session. Zoochat is just a really nice tool to get some of that information without constantly travelling around the world.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
The logic behing trying to engage with the users of this site was to try,and stop the speculation and guessing about why the zoo did some of the things they did,and to show that just because they didn't annouce very death or animal departure from the zoo that they were not hiding anything.As for it only been for the select few that could attend that is true,but if anyother user that couldn't attend then they could always ask me to ask the question for them,and in a few cases I did when people asked.At times on the walk and talks things could be said that were said to people off record,but it was always very clear when the discusssion was off-record.Alot of the speculation about Chester did stop but late last year,a bit did start to reappear on here that and the fact,that a few things been posted in here,like certain animals paying their neighbours a visit that wasn't public knowledge on to this site didn't help matters!!
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