Chester Zoo Best Exhibit(s) at Chester

Indlovu

Indlovu

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Which one gets your vote?
  1. Elephants of the Asian Forest
  2. Tsavo Black Rhino Experience
  3. Tsavo Bird Safari
  4. Monkey Islands
  5. Twighlight Zone
  6. Spectacled Bears and Coatis
  7. Cheetahs
  8. Realm of the Red Ape (and Otters/Babirusa)
  9. Islands in Danger
  10. Spirit of the Jaguar
  11. Tropical Realm
  12. Other

(There isn't an actual poll, just posting)
 
Tropical realm, Spirit of the jaguar and the Monkey islands are my favourites. but from my opinion it's the spectacled bear enclosure
 
RORA, but then I'm biased and was thrilled to see so many orangs in one place - plus babies - brachiating.

But I also loved the monkey islands and spirit of the jaguar.
 
Elephants of the Asian Forest hits it for me as the off-show area's are really good and well organised, also there's a shower for the keepers. But exhibit wise i'd say Cheetahs (camels and onagers too)
 
Im torn between RORA and Monkey Islands here. I really cant wait to see this aviary though if people consider it to be the best exhibit there!

Other enclosures not named on that list worth a mention would be Miniature Monkeys, Europe On The Edge and The Lemur Islands.
 
I'd say I was most dissapointed by the islands in danger exhibit, where I expected to find many more species (although I really was dleighted to see the birds of paradise)
 
Elephants of the Asian Forest is my favourite simply because of the number of elephants, the success of breeding and the nice enclosure.
 
My own little "short"list

Chimp Island
Possibly the most underrated enclosure at Chester and the UK in my opinion. Not much is said about it because it is in the shadow of the impressive RORA, but I don't think there is more heavily planted chimp enclosure in the country. Home to a very large, active group and the indoor accomodation is good despite most of the indoor are being 20 years old.

RORA
The most expensive exhibit at Chester and it allows the inhabitants to act as natural as possible. Home to two successful breeding groups of Orangs it provides an intriguing exhibit for both the public and animals. The "sideshow animals" are also interesting in very good exhibits.

Condor Cliffs
A converted bear pit and can be viewed from "canopy level" and at the foot of the cliff. The base of the exhibit is also one of the most relaxing areas of the zoo because visitors will usually rush towards the giraffes, butterflys or cheetah. Home to Andean Condor and Black Vulture (?)

Cheetah
Excellent cat facility which does a good job of recreating an African Savannah due to Chester's use of landscaping and planting. Visitors can also get great views in a number of locations.

Tropical Realm
Old exhibit, but still going strong and home to some hidden jewells in Chester's collection. Recently upgraded with the addition of a modern crocodile pool

Tsavo
I'm including the aviary and meerkats as well as the Rhinos. A scenic setting for Chester's black rhinos which is complemented well by an excellently decorated walk-through aviary and a good spacious meerkat enclosure.

Twilight Zone
Possibly the largest walk-through bat cave in Europe which houses a staggering number bats (from multiple species). Some intriguing "sideshow animals" also capture the visitors attention.

Bears
A brilliantly landscaped enclosure which has hill, rocks, waterfalls, pools and climbing poles. The bears and coatis can get out of view if they want as well.

Jaguars
Moreso the tropical half, but an excellent facility for displaying these cats. The forest half of the building does a good job of immersing people into the habitat and the leaf-cutter ants make a good distraction if the Jags are a no-show!

Monkey Islands and Mini Monkeys
Monkey Islands is the best set of monkey enclosures i've seen and until recently didn't get enough coverage on this site in my opinion. The islands are densley planted with many climbing poles and the indoors allow for a lot of enrichment to be used and the woodchip floor is a great idea.

Other contenders:
Okapi
Islands in Danger
Elephants of the Asian Forest (the house)
Europe on the Edge
Lions
 
Thanks for the list Jimmy, and it makes me want to visit Chester Zoo tomorrow!:) Great recap of what appears to be a top notch zoo.
 
snowleopard said:
Great recap of what appears to be a top notch zoo.
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It certainly is- no one can come away from Chester without thinking that.

I agree with CZJimmy that the Chimpanzee exhibit is underrated- As well the good outdoor area, I really like the circular indoor exhibit area, it is simple but shows off the group very well. Chester should also be remembered as the pioneers, at least in UK of keeping Chimps in a large multimale group, they were doing it with smaller groups on the old islands as far back as the 1950/60's.

Monkey Islands represents a very stylish conversion of an existing building- the old Monkey House. The islands themselves are far better since they recently added tall poles and climbing equipment.

There really aren't any bad exhibits at Chester these days, only degrees of excellence. The one poor exhibit?- the Asian plains mixed Rhino/deer exhibit doesn't work properly at present. And the one species still missing- Gorillas! (yes I know they are on the cards now..)
 
MARK said:
Is there any reason why they dont have Gorillas in the in the collection?
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Very simply, nowhere to keep them! The last place they had gorillas was in the Tropical House (indoor gorilla area is now a pair of hornbill avairies) but it was nowhere near big enough for a modern zoo.


And to my mind the species I miss most is Common Hippo!
 
MARK said:
Is there any reason why they dont have Gorillas in the in the collection?
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I think it stems from the fact their previous Gorillas were non-breeding pairs. The female Eastern Lowland died and the male 'Mukisi' was later sent to Antwerp, Belgium. The Lowland pair 'Jason' and 'Gogal' were sent in the 1980's on 'permanent loan' to Bristol to try and breed from them.

They didn't get any more but when Chessington nearly closed in the 1990's recession, Chester were very interested in getting hold of their breeding Gorilla group and were prepared to build an enclosure for them. Nothing happened though and Chessington stayed open.

Now Gorillas should be returning in the new planned 'Heart of Africa' building. I think they deserve a male/female group for breeding purposes -rather than just bachelor males.
 
It's good to hear that they want a group again I hope they have better luck than London zoo with that, it appears London never really did that well with them for some reason
 
MARK said:
It's good to hear that they want a group again I hope they have better luck than London zoo with that, it appears London never really did that well with them for some reason
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London's attempts at establishing a Gorilla group in the past have been a catalogue of bad luck, old and incompatable animals, deaths, bad decision making, just about everything really.

I see no reason why Chester shouldn't succeed with a small group of socially well- balanced animals. So much more is known about their social requirements nowadays than when they kept them before.
 
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