Twycross Zoo What will replace dinosaur valley

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tpw123

Well-Known Member
I have been told by a keeper that dinosaur valley will be replaced with a species of animals. What would you put there and what do you think it will be.

I personally have no idea however I am hoping for giraffes but feel if they are to come back they will be placed somewhere else. I think it will be a hoof stock animal
 
If animals are going to be exhibited at the site vacated by the dinosaur exhibit, I think the zoo could do well to take notice of the comments made on their facebook page recently by visitors who were dismayed to see that the zoo no longer holds tigers, lions, sea lions and giraffes, giraffes in particular, comments made by the people who pay to keep the place going, they appear to be disappointed that there is not currently enough big stuff on show.
 
TARZAN said:
I think the zoo could do well to take notice of the comments made on their facebook page recently by visitors who were dismayed to see that the zoo no longer holds tigers, lions, sea lions and giraffes, giraffes in particular, comments made by the people who pay to keep the place going, they appear to be disappointed that there is not currently enough big stuff on show.
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This is the typical response expected from the visiting public- not enough ABC's. To them Coatis and bushdogs aren't a good exchange for Sealions, everybody expects to see Lions and/or Tigers (one or other species is usually sufficient) and of course the Giraffes are being missed by regulars because they are the latest in this line of lost large species.
 
The large amount of the site of the Dinosaurs is (fairly) well landscaped; I would personally (like the average zoo visitor) to see lions there, but has the zoo got the funds for it. Even if it was only a very affordable functional lion exhibit it would still be one of the zoo's most popular exhibits and might raise funds for the zoo.
 
tpw123 said:
I have been told by a keeper that dinosaur valley will be replaced with a species of animals. What would you put there and what do you think it will be.

I personally have no idea however I am hoping for giraffes but feel if they are to come back they will be placed somewhere else. I think it will be a hoof stock animal
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i would put,keeping to the world primate centre theme,one of africas most endangerd monkey the drill
 
slendercat said:
i would put,keeping to the world primate centre theme,one of africas most endangerd monkey the drill
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Not easy to obtain, there seems to be a waiting list, at least for females, and therefore for breeding, of this species.
 
I don't think they should get any a species of monkey in this area as many visitors are complaining their are too many monkeys so perhaps it would be sensible to get something non monkey related
 
tpw123 said:
I don't think they should get any a species of monkey in this area as many visitors are complaining their are too many monkeys so perhaps it would be sensible to get something non monkey related
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I''m not surprised to hear that. Twycross are top-heavy with Primates, yet they are a more general zoo collection at the same time.

IMO a 'World Primate Centre' should only or largely keep primates. From a marketing point of view I think they might be sensible to drop that title and maybe just market themselves as an ordinary Zoo. That means no more monkeys, in fact they might do better reducing what they have some more, and as for visitor attraction, concentrate on improving the balance with some more ABC species, a big cat species for a start.
 
Pertinax said:
I''m not surpised to hear that. Twycross are top-heavy with Primates, yet they are a more general zoo collection at the same time.

IMO a 'World Primate Centre' should only or largely keep primates. I think they might be sensible to drop that title and maybe just market themselves as an ordinary Zoo. That means no more monkeys, in fact they might do better reducing what they have some more, and getting in some other ABC species more appealing to visitors- a big cat species for a start.
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"If something is not broken, don't try to fix it", a saying that was very valid to Twycross in its latter, more successful days. I think its appeal then was definitely the large collection of primates, including all the great apes, as well as a collection of animals that the average visitors expected to see in a zoo that they were paying good money to enter. For the future, perhaps a reduction in the number of primates held would not be a bad thing, there are already less gorillas, orangs and chimps than what were there ten years ago, but I would say the zoo definitely needs at least either lions and tigers, as well as the return of giraffes. I agree that the title of "World Primate Centre" should be removed from the zoo's publicity, it was never marketed as such years ago, and concentrate on branding itself purely as a zoo. This is Twycross Zoo, not Monkey World, no offence to the excellent establishment in Dorset meant in that statement.
 
TARZAN said:
For the future, perhaps a reduction in the number of primates held would not be a bad thing, there are already less gorillas, orangs and chimps than what were there ten years ago, but I would say the zoo definitely needs at least either lions and tigers, as well as the return of giraffes.
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While such as us may delight in being able to see all four species of Great Ape in one place, plus all the other myriad primates they have- it is still a rich collection, despite some obvious gaps- for the ordinary visitor I think its 'primate overkill' on a fairly massive scale. They do want to see those Lions, Tigers, Giraffes etc and I think that's what Twycross need to serve up if they want to survive and keep drawing in existing and new visitors.

I think they have to keep all the existing Great Apes-with the common chimps realistically they haven't a lot of choice really (except by losing some of the older ones as they gradually die off) but they could probably still work on the smaller primates some more- keeping the bigger and more interesting breeding groups, and losing more of the others. They have done this to an extent in the last few years and may still be doing so, the Javan Langurs were the latest to go I think?
 
Pertinax said:
While such as us may delight in being able to see all four species of Great Ape in one place, plus all the other myriad primates they have- it is still a rich collection, despite some obvious gaps- for the ordinary visitor I think its 'primate overkill' on a fairly massive scale. They do want to see those Lions, Tigers, Giraffes etc and I think that's what Twycross need to serve up if they want to survive and keep drawing in existing and new visitors.

I think they have to keep all the existing Great Apes-with the common chimps realistically they haven't a lot of choice really (except by losing some of the older ones as they gradually die off) but they could probably still work on the smaller primates some more- keeping the bigger and more interesting breeding groups, and losing more of the others. They have done this to an extent in the last few years and may still be doing so, the Javan Langurs were the latest to go I think?
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I wonder what the cost would be to refurbish the existing giraffe house, including the very dreary, depressing looking paddock, also to build a new exhibit for either tigers or lions, or better still both, not a multi million pound one like London, but one built to a decent, spacious standard?, I would think it would cost a couple of hundred thousand pounds for both. They have had the dinosaurs this year as a new attraction, and I hope they have been a financial success for the zoo this year. Looking forward to next year, would it not be good to publicise "Back by public demand, the lions and giraffes return to Twycross",?
 
TARZAN said:
Looking forward to next year, would it not be good to publicise "Back by public demand, the lions and giraffes return to Twycross",?
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I'm sure it wouldn't cost the earth to build something reasonably decent for either Lions or Tigers- I think visitors would be more than content with just one of the two- perhaps Lions are the most iconic. Many other places manage it on limited budgets too..

Giraffes- although the house is old I think its still quite usable? The outdoors was too, though admittedly rather bleak. I am not really sure why they decided to part with them...:confused:
 
I have to agree with the views expressed that building a new enclosure for a new primate species really isn't what the zoo needs, particularly to attract visitors.
Is the Kuno idea scrapped permanently or postponed? If it has been scrapped it's a shame, as it could have been done more cheaply with functional & spacious enclosures without all the trimmings for the visitors. Iask this, because there wouldn't be much point in building a lion/tiger enclosure elsewhere in the zoo now, though i suppose it could be used later for something else e.g cheetahs, bears or wolves maybe.

My priority for the next newbuild would definitely be for lions or tigers and the return of giraffe wherever that might be. The addition of these would hopefully encourage more visitors and additional income could go to improving some of the dated primate housing.
 
I think that the odds must be that Twycross will follow the example of Chester and Bristol by replacing the dinosaurs with . . . (drumroll) . . . more dinosaurs :rolleyes:

Alan
 
The dinosaurs have certainly revitalised that area of the zoo, giving it a buzz that was lacking before, so I hope whatever they replace them with will generate the same feel.
 
when I asked a keeper about it a few weeks ago that dinosaurs won't be returning for a second year. They might do the bristol zoo thing and extend them until after october half term? otherwise we should find out in a few weeks what's replacing them as they are leaving on 1st september. it's a really big area of the zoo to fill. it would be nice to see them invest money in a permanent exhibit down there.
 
canaryboy said:
What about Sun bears!
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That would be very nice,but would cost far more money than Twycross could afford to spend!Given that everything that they have altered so far has cost peanuts,ie they have not cost much more than five thousand pounds if that from what I have heard.
 
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