Best UK Sun Bear enclosure

[britishzoofan]

This is just a bit of fun to judge the general consensus on the best enclosure for Sun Bears in the UK. I have added a few photos from the gallery to make it easier for members to compare the different exhibits. If anyone wants to make an argument for a particular enclosure, please feel free to do so. Also, I would encourage people to perhaps list the enclosures in order of what they determine to be the best.

Chester

Colchester

Belfast

Edinburgh

 

[amur leopard]

OK, let's do a @Benosaurus:

Indoor:
Colchester - 4 points
Chester - 3 points
Edinburgh - 2 points
Belfast - 1 point

Outdoor:
Chester - 4 points
Colchester - 3 points
Edinburgh - 2 points
Belfast - 1 point.

Overall:
=1: Chester - 7 points
=1: Colchester - 7 points
3: Edinburgh - 4 points
4: Belfast - 2 points.

Oh well...
Essentially, Chester has a sloped exhibit that can be viewed from 2 areas or more and has some nice, though rather low-lying vegetation. However, the exhibit doesn't really take into account the sun bears' tree-climbing.
On the other hand, Chester's exhibit is only viewable really from one angle but is much better in terms of climbing opportunities and vegetation. However, the indoor enclosure is basically the same but swopped around. Chester has a rather barren indoor enclosure whereas Colchester is better for climbing. So we are stuck essentially having to think - which do we value more - indoor or outdoor? Well, I assume the sun bears spend most of the time in the winter inside, but sun bears are not found indoors in the wild, so I would suggest that the outdoors is more important. By that reasoning, Chester's enclosure is just the tiniest bit better, so it gets my vote.

 

[britishzoofan]

Score update. Chester currently has a large lead over Colchester in second with 70% of the vote. This is perhaps unsurprising with Chester's exhibit the most modern of the four.

 

[britishzoofan]

Poll closed. Congratulations to Chester on their success in winning the vote for Best UK Sun Bear enclosure. This was perhaps no surprise with Chester being the UK's premier collection and having the most modern enclosure of the four. Interestingly this is Colchester' 6th outing in these polls and their best performance to date (a very distant second). This perhaps reflects they are a collection with a lot of large mammal species but few quality enclosures.

Chester: 72.4%
Colchester: 24.1%
Edinburgh: 3.4%

 

[Shorts]

Interestingly this is Colchester' 6th outing in these polls and their best performance to date (a very distant second). This perhaps reflects they are a collection with a lot of large mammal species but few quality enclosures.

That's not really fair, their Sun Bear enclosure (and a number of others) are very good, it's just that Chester's is considered better by a majority -also let's not forget nearly 1 in 4 still thought Colchester's was the best.

 

[britishzoofan]

That's not really fair, their Sun Bear enclosure (and a number of others) are very good, it's just that Chester's is considered better by a majority -also let's not forget nearly 1 in 4 still thought Colchester's was the best.

Yes, sorry perhaps I was too harsh with that comment. A better way to phrase it would perhaps have been they do have good enclosures but no outstanding ones. I think that is a fair comment.

 

[amur leopard]

Yes, sorry perhaps I was too harsh with that comment. A better way to phrase it would perhaps have been they do have good enclosures but no outstanding ones. I think that is a fair comment.

Yes, I think that is a good way of putting it. I think if Colchester had a single outstanding enclosure as well as the exhibits they already have, they would be certainly quite high up in the mix for the UK's second best zoo.

 

[Shorts]

Yes, I think that is a good way of putting it. I think if Colchester had a single outstanding enclosure as well as the exhibits they already have, they would be certainly quite high up in the mix for the UK's second best zoo.

I'd argue their Komodo enclosures, Sea Lion enclosure (where else in the UK has a large walk under tunnel?), African Savannah and Edge of Africa complex are right up there. Colchester can hold it's own (and win), on mammals, against pretty much any UK zoo except Chester (a few years after Edge of African opened, prior to Islands ,even that was, arguably, very hard to call).

 

[britishzoofan]

I'd argue their Komodo enclosures, Sea Lion enclosure (where else in the UK has a large walk under tunnel?), African Savannah and Edge of Africa complex are right up there. Colchester can hold it's own (and win), on mammals, against pretty much any UK zoo except Chester (a few years after Edge of African opened, prior to Islands ,even that was, arguably, very hard to call).

Yes, fair enough and in votes to come that may become evident. What I had noticed was a pattern with Colchester where it had failed to gather many votes in the Bornean Orang-utan, Chimpanzee, African elephant, White Rhino and Pygmy Hippo polls. However, as you point out it may be because the areas it has strength in have not been discussed yet.

 

[Shorts]

Yes, fair enough and in votes to come that may become evident. What I had noticed was a pattern with Colchester where it had failed to gather many votes in the Bornean Orang-utan, Chimpanzee, African elephant, White Rhino and Pygmy Hippo polls. However, as you point out it may be because the areas it has strength in have not been discussed yet.

Yes, those choices don't really play to the zoos strengths:

Orang inoors is okay but outdoors is a fail;
Chimp enclosure is arguably pretty good but the chimps don't use it much and it's weird-looking and ugly;
Elephant enclosure is pretty decent for a zoo elephant enclosure (but there are better);
White Rhino is okay but they're really bit players on a mixed savannah (something not many zoos do on a similar scale).
Pygmy Hippo was weird and poor but has been improved considerably recently.

 

[pipaluk]

Personally I think Colchester is one of the most underrated UK zoos on zoochat. Its enclosures are often heavily criticised but apart from Pigmy Hippos, none are bad!
It would probably be rated number 2 by any general visitor, yet at least half the people posting on top 10 threads ignore it, but for some reason many include London in their best 5. Colchester don't have the catchment of other zoos yet still get around 1m visitors a year, they must be doing something right!

 

[Sand Cat]

Personally I think Colchester is one of the most underrated UK zoos on zoochat. Its enclosures are often heavily criticised but apart from Pigmy Hippos, none are bad!
It would probably be rated number 2 by any general visitor, yet at least half the people posting on top 10 threads ignore it, but for some reason many include London in their best 5. Colchester don't have the catchment of other zoos yet still get around 1m visitors a year, they must be doing something right!

I haven't been to Colchester for years for a number of reasons, but I used to absolutely love it - it was probably my favourite UK zoo for a while. I think they have/had a lot of very high quality enclosures, not necessarily the best for any species, but the overall standard is really high. Its also a good all-round collection with most of the typical 'zoo animals' the public demand as well as some nice rarities too.

 

[Zia]

Personally I think Colchester is one of the most underrated UK zoos on zoochat. Its enclosures are often heavily criticised but apart from Pigmy Hippos, none are bad!
It would probably be rated number 2 by any general visitor, yet at least half the people posting on top 10 threads ignore it, but for some reason many include London in their best 5. Colchester don't have the catchment of other zoos yet still get around 1m visitors a year, they must be doing something right!

I completely agree with you.

 

[britishzoofan]

I haven't been to Colchester for years for a number of reasons, but I used to absolutely love it - it was probably my favourite UK zoo for a while. I think they have/had a lot of very high quality enclosures, not necessarily the best for any species, but the overall standard is really high. Its also a good all-round collection with most of the typical 'zoo animals' the public demand as well as some nice rarities too.

Yes, you are right and I do agree with @pipaluk that it definitely appears to be an underrated collection on this site. This is perhaps reflected in its performance so far in the polls. In addition it is joint second with Whipsnade so far in number of polls entered, demonstrating it does have a good set of typical zoo animals (I do appreciate we haven't done polls for all of them yet).

 

[UngulateNerd92]

Chester Zoo and Colchester Zoo are my top two choices, with Chester being my favorite.

 

[Rajang-GOAT]

Colchester always my number 1. Bears Of The Rising Sun is a great home for Jo Jo and Srey Ya: I hope they breed soon. Newest big enclosure project not counting Chimpanzee Lookout.

 

[Jurek7]

It is very unusual to have large indoor, well furnished exhibits for bears or other big carnivores. Most indoor exhibits are 'dens' or, at best, technical stables like Edinburgh.

Who knows other large, well-furnished indoor bear exhibits besides Chester and Colchester? Also outside the UK?