Chester Zoo Chester Zoo 2015 #2

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I think there does need to be a more obvious sign at the entrance to each Island. Am sure all these kind of opportunities will be picked up in time based on visitor feedback. I have been stopped a lot in Islands by confused guests. The map of Islands is also really unclear and far too basic in my opinion.
 
So yet again the largest part of the new attraction will be closed to visitors? Great planning that one. It was bad enough that it was not ready when Islands supposedly opened.

Granted there are always set backs and delays with large scale projects like this but there seem to be so many of them with Islands it seems as though a little incompetence has crept in to the management of the project.
 
Satan said:
So yet again the largest part of the new attraction will be closed to visitors? Great planning that one. It was bad enough that it was not ready when Islands supposedly opened.

Granted there are always set backs and delays with large scale projects like this but there seem to be so many of them with Islands it seems as though a little incompetence has crept in to the management of the project.
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Is it incompetent to close the Monsoon Forest to allow the birds to acclimatise? I would argue it would be incompetent from a welfare perspective to keep it open to the public when the new inhabitants are getting used to their surroundings.
 
ChesterZooFan said:
Is it incompetent to close the Monsoon Forest to allow the birds to acclimatise? I would argue it would be incompetent from a welfare perspective to keep it open to the public when the new inhabitants are getting used to their surroundings.
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Come on, Satan was clearly stating it should not have opened until it was complete.

Seems bonkers to open something when there is virtually nothing in there to see or any signs to explain this fact to visitors.
 
If Islands wasn't open yet, there would be well justified complaints that people couldn't see the warty pigs, cassowary, banteng, tigers, crested macaques, anoa and babirusa. As it is, only the tigers are temporarily off-show at the moment. This is a situation where there is no perfect answer.
Does anyone know whether there have been complaints at Regent's Park about the lions being off-show?

Alan
 
gentle lemur said:
If Islands wasn't open yet, there would be well justified complaints that people couldn't see the warty pigs, cassowary, banteng, tigers, crested macaques, anoa and babirusa. As it is, only the tigers are temporarily off-show at the moment. This is a situation where there is no perfect answer.

Alan
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I meant Monsoon Rainforest, I can see open the rest now there is animals in it but to open Monsoon and then close it again, esp. as it is a big part of Islands.
 
taun said:
I meant Monsoon Rainforest, I can see open the rest now there is animals in it but to open Monsoon and then close it again, esp. as it is a big part of Islands.
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OK, that's a fair point - but I don't think it was wrong to have the Monsoon Forest open at the zoo's busiest time when there were some animals there. As I have said here before, my criticism has been about all the missing and misleading labels in the Monsoon Forest and all round the zoo.

Alan
 
Have there been any movements within monkey islands to fill the now empty sulawesi Macaques enclosure?
 
Waddi said:
Have there been any movements within monkey islands to fill the now empty sulawesi Macaques enclosure?
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The capuchins have moved in and were very active this afternoon.

Their former enclosure now lies empty - no work yet started on adapting it to house .... that wonderful new species.

Can't wait, can't wait.

Will have to, will have to :D
 
SHAVINGTONZOO said:
The capuchins have moved in and were very active this afternoon.

Their former enclosure now lies empty - no work yet started on adapting it to house .... that wonderful new species.

Can't wait, can't wait.

Will have to, will have to :D
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Our paths must have crossed! The capuchins were a pleasure this afternoon. Such better viewing in their new enclosure (without the one way film on the windows). Hope they stay as active and engaging once they settle in.

The path through Sumatra should be open by the weekend. I saw a lot of activity from staff checking everything was in place etc. But it all hinges on whether the tigers are ready for their adoring public. They have been out exploring today and the signs look good. As I feared they are apparently spending a lot of time on the 'tiger bridge' (as I am calling it) above the tunnel which is probably the 1 place with very limited viewing opportunity!! But I guess we need to wait til it's all open to see how they use the space and how visible they will actually be.
 
A recurrent theme in the critical postings on facebook is "lots of empty enclosures; nothing to see".

Well, in the 10-15 minutes it took us to walk from the entrance to Islands we saw:

Elephants, rhinos, two species of deer, four primates, a bear :eek:, capybara, tapir, bongo, zebra and oryx.

Not bad!

Of course, some of them took a little bit of spotting which may be the problem with some people.
 
SHAVINGTONZOO said:
A recurrent theme in the critical postings on facebook is "lots of empty enclosures; nothing to see".

Well, in the 10-15 minutes it took us to walk from the entrance to Islands we saw:

Elephants, rhinos, two species of deer, four primates, a bear :eek:, capybara, tapir, bongo, zebra and oryx.

Not bad!

Of course, some of them took a little bit of spotting which may be the problem with some people.
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Saw exactly the same on Tripadvisor, some of the posts on their are embarrassing they expect the animals to come and wave at them as soon as they walk past the enclosure which they took no notice of anyway. They don't understand they have to "look" for the animals from time to time!
 
SHAVINGTONZOO said:
A recurrent theme in the critical postings on facebook is "lots of empty enclosures; nothing to see".

Well, in the 10-15 minutes it took us to walk from the entrance to Islands we saw:

Elephants, rhinos, two species of deer, four primates, a bear :eek:, capybara, tapir, bongo, zebra and oryx.

Not bad!

Of course, some of them took a little bit of spotting which may be the problem with some people.
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I was in guest services a few weeks ago when a very irate visitor demanded a refund as he and his girlfriend hade been in the zoo for 45 minutes and not seen a single animal. When asked how far he had walked into the zoo grounds he said he came in and turned right as far as the rhinos, but hadn't seen a single animal!!! I didn't stay to see exactly how the zoo dealt with his complaint (although I know they don't give refunds) but it made me realise just how totally unreasonable and utterly stupid some visitors really are. I mean fair enough then bears and jags are not always on show but everyone is pretty much guaranteed to see the elephants, monkeys, birds and rhinos which is the only areas he visited!!!

I think a lot of the 1 star reviews on trip advisor are totally unjustified. I think in the current era of 'Internet trolls' a lot of these comments are actually without any foundation at all and are just trolling the zoo for the sake of it.

I've been to the the zoo quite a few times in recent weeks and seen EVERY single animal!!( well maybe not all 12,000 but you know what I mean). It is true that many visitors don't look hard enough, I have heard many complaints about empty exhibits when the animals in question are on view.
 
A strange zoo moment for me on Sunday... seeing cheetahs back in what were their enclosures at least fifteen/sixteen years ago.

There was that sense of wonder when you're young and you can hear, smell and almost touch an animal, plus the memories of zoo visits when the experience impacted all your senses. Yet at the same time, thoughts of how their current enclosures have progressed since - not that the old ones are particularly unsuitable, they were designed for cats - but how the infrastructure hasn't really changed.

These are the same enclosures that I'd walk up to with visitors and say "this used to be cheetahs" only to be looked at as if I'd made the whole thing up...

[For those wondering, the enclosures were most recently occupied by the cassowary, before that servals, and before them cheetahs.]
 
SMR said:
A strange zoo moment for me on Sunday... seeing cheetahs back in what were their enclosures at least fifteen/sixteen years ago.

There was that sense of wonder when you're young and you can hear, smell and almost touch an animal, plus the memories of zoo visits when the experience impacted all your senses. Yet at the same time, thoughts of how their current enclosures have progressed since - not that the old ones are particularly unsuitable, they were designed for cats - but how the infrastructure hasn't really changed.

These are the same enclosures that I'd walk up to with visitors and say "this used to be cheetahs" only to be looked at as if I'd made the whole thing up...

[For those wondering, the enclosures were most recently occupied by the cassowary, before that servals, and before them cheetahs.]
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Do you know why they are there? Which ones have been moved?
 
SMR said:
A strange zoo moment for me on Sunday... seeing cheetahs back in what were their enclosures at least fifteen/sixteen years ago.

There was that sense of wonder when you're young and you can hear, smell and almost touch an animal, plus the memories of zoo visits when the experience impacted all your senses. Yet at the same time, thoughts of how their current enclosures have progressed since - not that the old ones are particularly unsuitable, they were designed for cats - but how the infrastructure hasn't really changed.

These are the same enclosures that I'd walk up to with visitors and say "this used to be cheetahs" only to be looked at as if I'd made the whole thing up...

[For those wondering, the enclosures were most recently occupied by the cassowary, before that servals, and before them cheetahs.]
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I was thinking exactly the same thing. We went Sunday and I walked up to the old cassowary enclosures to see if they had been occupied and nostalgia hit me like a ton of bricks. One of my earliest memories of Chester zoo (I'm late twenties) is watching the cheetahs in that enclosure with my dad.
 
SMR said:
A strange zoo moment for me on Sunday... seeing cheetahs back in what were their enclosures at least fifteen/sixteen years ago.

There was that sense of wonder when you're young and you can hear, smell and almost touch an animal, plus the memories of zoo visits when the experience impacted all your senses. Yet at the same time, thoughts of how their current enclosures have progressed since - not that the old ones are particularly unsuitable, they were designed for cats - but how the infrastructure hasn't really changed.

These are the same enclosures that I'd walk up to with visitors and say "this used to be cheetahs" only to be looked at as if I'd made the whole thing up...

[For those wondering, the enclosures were most recently occupied by the cassowary, before that servals, and before them cheetahs.]
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I had exactly the same feeling when the sea lions moved back briefly into their pool at London Zoo a few years ago. It's amazing that these things can make us feel like this!
 
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