Chester Zoo
This was definitely my favorite zoo of the trip. While not perfect and perhaps lacking a bit in some areas such as reptiles, many of the exhibits, enclosures, and species here are truly fantastic. Not to mention how great many of the animals, particularly the mammals, are managed (such as the elephants being kept in a multi-generation herd and most of the mammals being given 24-hour access to both indoor and outdoor enclosures weather and emergency-depending).
Islands, while obviously a bit incomplete at the time of my visit, was still an extremely impressive exhibit. It could certainly do with more species and more diversity, but the enclosures are truly great and generally very large. It's very aesthetically pleasing as well, with a lot clearly having gone into the design of the overall area. It might not always look the best from every angle, but the little details such as actual canoes bought from villagers in Asia and views such as babirusa overlooking macaque with the orangutan climbing structures in the background as pretty cool. Personally the boat ride seems a bit unnecessary to me, but if it brings in a little extra money for the zoo then I suppose it's not the worst.
Monsoon Forest in particular is the highlight of Islands, and while it is pretty great, it also lacks in a lot of areas. In particular, overall the building just feels a bit empty. There are large spaces with just nothing there, some of which were suppose to. The huge mixed aviary especially feels empty. It's such a large space with very few birds to fill it. The signage and flow is sometimes lacking as well. There are a few unsigned reptile enclosures and the False Gharial area in particular, as anyone familiar with the zoo is aware of, has a bit of a bottleneck issue. However, despite these flaws the building is still pretty spectacular. The indoor enclosures for the primates are very nicely sized and high, and again the detail in the design of some areas has to be admired.
Tropical Realm was probably my favorite exhibit at the zoo. I'm a bit of a sucker for big rainforest houses and when one includes tuatara, Aye-Aye, and several species of odd hornbill I'm hooked. All the enclosures here I found to be very nicely sized and designed for their inhabitants, many of which are on the rarer side in captivity. The large central walk-through aviary is also pretty great, though one might have trouble finding all the species in it.
Despite being the older and considered the lesser of the two orangutan exhibits at the zoo, Realm of the Red Ape is still a very good exhibit. The orangutan enclosures themselves are still much better than what most zoos have, both indoors and out. There are also a handful of enclosures and terrariums for other species that are fairly well done.
Spirit of the Jaguar has probably the best of the admittedly few Jaguar enclosures I've seen, and the first where I actually managed to spot one, if only just barely. It also has possibly the largest and most well-done indoor big cat enclosure I've seen. The real extraordinary feature of this exhibit, though, is the sloth enclosure. It's basically a series of ropes that hang from corner to corner along the very high ceiling and then drop down to the planted portion near the floor, which also has a nice pond for turtles and fish. This awesome sloth enclosure will soon be even better as, during my visit, the zoo was adding a large rope that will exit the building and slope down over the path into a decent-sized outdoor enclosure.
As far stand-alone enclosures at the zoo go, the best hands down is the one for Giant Otters. I've seen Giant Otters at three zoos in my life: Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Chester. Of those, Philly's is pretty bad, LA's is alright, and then Chester's is jaw-dropping. In fact, it's hands-down the best otter enclosure I've ever seen. The outdoor yard is about 40X10 meters and then the indoors is about 15X10 meters, not to mention off-show areas. Not to mention how extremely naturalistic it is. It pretty much looks like the zoo fenced off a natural pond and put otters into it.
The Monkeys exhibit deserves praise as well. The larger species get islands that are insanely vegetated and the smaller species (as in Pygmy Marmoset size) get large sections of live trees. You're not likely to ever see any of the animals unless they're in their indoor quarters, but the mere size and design of the outdoor yards is incredible.
Europe on the Edge is possibly one of my favorite aviaries that I've ever seen. It may not necessarily boast the largest collection of species nor the rarest, but it's a fairly huge aviary with a very nice and naturalistic design, except perhaps for the cliff-face at the back, which I found to be a bit funny looking.
The Tsavo Black Rhino Reserve is just amazing. Basically a series of huge grassy and sometimes hilly enclosures. No surprise they're the studbook holder and have bred more Black Rhinoceros in the past few years then anyone else.
The Andean Bear, Malayan Sun Bear, and Asiatic Lion enclosures are pretty impressive as well. All are very large and naturalistic for their species. The bear enclosures are quite well vegetated and have lots of climbing opportunities (with the Andean Bears' being more rocky), and the Lion enclosure is quite well forested with live trees.
When it comes to disappointments, they were few and far between at this zoo, though there are a few notable ones. The chimpanzee house was very small and felt dirty and dark. The house for both the Forest Buffalo and Malayan Tapir is a bit small and dark as well, though their outdoor yards are pretty nice. The Parrot Breeding Center was a disappointment mostly in the fact that there wasn't really much of anything there. Zootierliste lists a pretty nice variety of parrots for the zoo but it seems the vast majority are now kept off-show, with nothing but a couple of more common species left for visitors to see.
Still, overall Chester is an amazing zoo and one that I am very much looking forward to visiting again. Currently it sits at #2 in terms of my favorite zoo just behind Bronx, though in many ways I liked it more!
Highlight Mammals
Persian Onager
Equus hemionus onager
Malayan Sun Bear
Helarctos malayanus malayanus
Visayan Spotted Deer
Rusa alfredi
Bush Dog
Speothos venaticus
African Forest Buffalo
Syncerus caffer nanus
Highlight Birds
Yellow-Backed Chattering Lory
Lorius garrulus flavopalliatus
Philippine Scops-Owl
Otus megalotis
Visayan Tarictic Hornbill
Penelopides panini panini
Pink-Headed Fruit-Dove
Ptilinopus porphyreus
Mindanao Wrinkled Hornbill
Rhabdotorrhinus leucocephalus
Highlight Reptiles
Western Sand Lizard
Lacerta agilis agilis
Northern Tuatara
Sphenodon punctatus
Highlight Amphibians
Mountain Chicken
Leptodactylus fallax
~Thylo
Thanks for the reply.
