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^Chris^

Well-Known Member
New exhibit winging its way to Bristol Zoo!

Who doesn't have a butterfly house these days? :rolleyes:

Seriously though, it seems every big zoo has its own butterfly house these days- London started it (i think), and Bristol, Chester and Colchester have all followed. Why has this become the case?
I can't help but think they will all look the same (though hopefully none of the others will look as ugly from the outside as London's.)

I bet they'll be getting an African Savanna aviary like Chester, London & Edinburgh too!
 
Its not the first time... they had a Butterfly house in the 1950/60's, it was sited between the old(1930's) Monkey House and the small range of aviaries near the Polar Bears. It was a large greeenhouse-like construction witha darkened passageway viewing area and curved(?) glass window for viewing. You didn't walk in with the butterflies.
 
The trends you see will be connected to their market research....people want walk-throughs. A huge proportion of new exhibits opened in British zoos in the last few years have involved the public being able to enter an enclosure. Eg Marwell, Howletts, Port Lympne, London, Blackpool, dudley, linton, drusillas, longleat, etc...
 
johnstoni said:
The trends you see will be connected to their market research....people want walk-throughs. A huge proportion of new exhibits opened in British zoos in the last few years have involved the public being able to enter an enclosure. Eg Marwell, Howletts, Port Lympne, London, Blackpool, dudley, linton, drusillas, longleat, etc...
Click to expand...

I noticed that when looking at the London map the other day, they have 6 walkthroughs and a children's farm.
 
I find it odd that Chester (the UK's most popular) has only two walkthroughs (Twilight Zone and Tropical Realm). They even closed off public access to their children's farm... The butterfly house will make three though.

Regarding London and walkthroughs; perhaps they favour these because having a walkthough exhibit means that less space is devoted soley to the public on an already small site. Therefore as much space as possible is given to the animals rather than the public...

I guess butterfly houses must be generally popular amongst the public, I have only visited one collection which has a butterfly house (London) and decided to pass on entering it due to the noisy school crowd entering at the same time. (I decided on a second visit to gorilla kingdom instead;))

Don't forget Longleat has its own butterfly exhibit...
 
Thats a huge amount for London. Personally im not the greatest fan of walk-throughs especially where primates are concerned.
 
Any news on how Kamal is doing at Bristol? Has he been introduced to Moti yet? Any signs of intrest in mating her?
 
Saw this exhibit yesterday for the first time it was designed to be temporary but they are now planning to make it a permanent exhibit as the public,to me it was just a small version of Londons poly tunnel design without the ghastly entrance to it,the butterfly are doing well with some species having already bred in the exhibit but as of yet they are not sure which species.
 
No butterfly house at Colchester lol was supposed to be one as part of orangutan forest but they seems to have changed their minds :p So far! I like butterflies but unfortunately my fella won't come in tropical houses due to our photography equipment :rolleyes:
 
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