Bristol Zoo (Closed) bristol zoo - appalling!

[leiclad20]

Leiclad 20 Noahs Ark doesn't have anywhere near as many primates as Bristol.

YET.

Whether you love it or loathe it, it has grown very fast. Its visitor numbers have risen fast. It has good accessibility from the M5 and plenty of parking. Its specie count has grown quickly in a short space of time and their animals, on the whole, are in decent sized, suitable enclosures. It is progressing with its elephant sanctuary and all though im not fan of it, i think it will come to fruition. Espeically with NWCP (probably) shelved. Primates WILL come, that im sure of, and they will be able to give over more of the 300 acres they own to increase their portfolio.

Bristol, after 12 years+ of redevelopment, still has monkeys in the same sized enclosures - the new jungle may be aesthetically pleasing but those cages (and they are still cages, roof or no roof) and not signiifcantly bigger. Its called rearranging deck chairs.

The gorilla island is great, but its size means they *may* have to birth control the successful group in the future - they have 6 already i think, and can accomodate 11 with the extension to the house. For those that dont know, the gorilla island sits on the site of the wendy's old pen, a lawn and half the wading bird enclosure (which was beautiful - i promise to scan pictures this week for you all the see!). The island, btw is not as big as was depicted in artist impressions at the time and I do wonder if zoo management were a bit deluded as to the size of the area. The old elephant pen would have made a good lion enclosure (this was an early plan for the site), it would have been no smaller than their current one!

If it wants to keep itself as a respected zoo, with good animal exhibits, then it needs to:
1) ensure that new enclosures and not stagnant - ie the same size as the last bloody one!
2) not give up valuable space to childrens play areas, theme park attractions and exhibits it really does not have the space for anyway
3) not pander to the public by filling up its limited space with penguins, meerkats and lorikeets - more important than ever now, with its rivals upping their game (longleats good recent developments, noahs expansion plans and cotwolds conservative, tasteful developments).

 

[Javan Rhino]

I think Bristol uses the space well with the various houses, and opting to keep a lot of smaller species.

I wasn't a huge fan of the lion enclosure, I would perhaps hand that over to one or two small cat enclosures [can't quite recall if it's big enough to split into two].

The nocturnal house, reptile house, aquarium and bug house are [in my opinion] only rivaled by London in this country.

I think that due to the size of the site though that they do need to get it into the public's collective heads that it's not all about lions, tigers, bears etc. However this would never be easy to do, and I think Meerkats are [as much as I hate to say it] a collection Bristol should have for this reason. They're easy to keep, don't take up much space and are a crowd pleaser. If they could get the public interested in the odder, smaller species though, then I'd love to see Bristol become purely about the small, rare species

 

[mazfc]

I've only visited Bristol once (a couple of years ago) and I really enjoyed the experience. We arrived at 9am in peak season and it was virtually empty at the time so for the whole of the morning we were able to stay ahead of the crowds.

Plus points: the fruit bats I was captivated by them, the gorillas (of course), I loved the nocturnal house and managed to see the aye-aye. The seal/penguin exhibit. The general feel of the whole place.

Negatives: the size of the lion and Pygmy hippo enclosures and the rope walkway thing going round the gorillas. I also didn't really rate the lemur walk through either. The price of the food (£11 something for not great quality).

I'm actually making my second visit to Bristol this weekend. I'm looking forward to going and as I have a reciprocal membership it won't cost me anything.

However, on the question of zoo prices I'm sure they are priced as every other attraction is - onwhat the market can bare. I do t think £14 is a bad price. Having said that I would make sure I got a full day for my money.

 

[Chlidonias]

I think the problem has been the focus on the gallimaufry of the National Wildlife Conservation Park - the doomed project to build a new zoo outside the city.

it's not often that I come across a word I have never heard of before which I need to look up to see what it means! I am going to try and use "gallimaufry" in the future. Thanks sooty

 

[leiclad20]

it's not often that I come across a word I have never heard of before which I need to look up to see what it means! I am going to try and use "gallimaufry" in the future. Thanks sooty

I'm going to make a point of using it in conversation everyday.

 

[sooty mangabey]

it's not often that I come across a word I have never heard of before which I need to look up to see what it means! I am going to try and use "gallimaufry" in the future. Thanks sooty

I like it very much! It crops up in John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi - a play in which one character is described as looking like "an abortive hedgehog", which has always struck me as rather an excellent description. The play is also the source of the image of us being nothing more than "the stars' tennis balls, struck and bandied which way pleases them".

Back to Bristol Zoo....

I was thinking about the "value for money" debate this morning, when I went to the gym. My entry there was £5 - pretty standard - and I spent about an hour grunting away on the machines (again, a pretty standard length of time). Against this, the cost of entering Bristol Zoo, and spending potentially a whole day there, seems a veritable bargain!

 

[OrangePerson]

it's not often that I come across a word I have never heard of before which I need to look up to see what it means!

I started writing the very same thing but then got distracted, makes a change from looking up obscure reptiles.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

The nocturnal house, reptile house, aquarium and bug house are [in my opinion] only rivaled by London in this country.

Having now visited London, I very much agree - Bristol is a close second to London in terms of nocturnal, reptilian and aquatic on-show collections. I'd actually say that the Bristol bughouse is *better* than that at London.

 

[johnstoni.]

The gorilla and lion enclosures could always be extended at some point, currently I would say they are of acceptable size to the majority of visitors.

I don't object to monkeys in cages, the enclosures are often better than monkeys kept in 'paddocks'. However, I think a small extension to the lake and a couple more islands would have been a better approach than 'monkey jungle'. I would really like to see the lake extended with channels and small islands.

The prairie dog/pudu/aviaries corner of the zoo is to me a waste of space in a 12-acre collection. I know some people have been bemoaning the loss of some of the gardens, but I think in an age where interior planting of enclosures has really become an art in itself, does a small zoo like Bristol really need nice flowerbeds? If you like those, go to a municipal park!

I think when/if the large tropical building is constructed, it will make a huge difference.

I don't know why space-restricted zoos in the UK aren't a lot smarter with ungulate space. For example, browsers such as okapi won't really touch the grass in their paddock, so evening access for the pygmy hippos to graze would be of enormous benefit to the hippos, while allowing them to remain in a relatively small space for much of the day. As I've said with London also, if there was gated access to the water bodies, particularly the gorilla moat, even just at night in summer, the hippos would have an amazing facility without any additional unused land being added to their space.

 

[DavidBrown]

I don't know why space-restricted zoos in the UK aren't a lot smarter with ungulate space. For example, browsers such as okapi won't really touch the grass in their paddock, so evening access for the pygmy hippos to graze would be of enormous benefit to the hippos, while allowing them to remain in a relatively small space for much of the day. As I've said with London also, if there was gated access to the water bodies, particularly the gorilla moat, even just at night in summer, the hippos would have an amazing facility without any additional unused land being added to their space.

These are really interesting ideas johnstoni. Some American zoos are starting to experiment with similar ideas. The Philadelphia Zoo just announced that they will be building a system of trails around their zoo allowing animals to move across several exhibits. They have already done this for some of their monkeys apparently. The new Asian animal exhibit has several yards that the elephants, rhinos, and tapirs rotate through.

 

[SMR]

...but I think in an age where interior planting of enclosures has really become an art in itself, does a small zoo like Bristol really need nice flowerbeds? If you like those, go to a municipal park!

Interior planting is usually of little interest and lacks imagination, it's often colourless and involves the same species of bamboo, grasses and ground cover across all collections. The goal is usually to create an environment that is native to the animal exhibited, which in our climate often fails miserably.

A zoological garden like Bristol (or Chester) should demonstrate a certain standard of horticultural prowess within its own geographic zone, be it via herbaceous borders - such as the excellent example at Bristol - or via native plants or recognised national collections. It cannot be emphasised enough how such displays draw visitors and further enable an organisation's income and conservation work. And regardless of that... a zoo that is full of colour, scents and insect life greatly enhances the visitor experience.

Municipal parks, with their lowest-cost maintenance budgets and cash-starved councils cannot are unlikely to provide an alternative. It's an argument that was once used to support Chester's horticultural decline, and one that greatly devalues the wonderful skilled gardeners that once were the pride of both zoos.

 

[Pertinax]

The gorilla island is great, but its size means they *may* have to birth control the successful group in the future - they have 6 already i think, and can accomodate 11 with the extension to the house.

Being such slow breeders, it will take them quite a long time to reach eleven animals. Salome has a new small baby, while Kera has yet to start breeding. 'Romina' may never breed again unless they try AI on her(she has socialisation problems) while Namoki will have to leave the group at some stage fairly soon unless they exchange Jock for another male. I would estimate that they won't reach 11 animals for at least 5 years, probably quite a lot longer.