Bristol Zoo (Closed) Bristol Zoo news 2013

LSouthern said:
what lions are at bristol zoo now, as Kamal has sadly passed away and Shiva has gone to france, do they still have the hand reared male lions at the zoo still?
Click to expand...

The 2 young males were still there when i went 2 days ago.
I thorougly enjoyed my first visit in 4 years and left feeling very positive about the place! It will always have its limitations due to the 12 acres, but it makes good use of that on the whole, though i think they could probably add a few small cat enclosures somewhere.
Only let down was not seeing the okapi calf.
 
Is there any way to get to The Wild Place Project from the Zoo by public transport? It looks like a two hour walk.
It looks like the 8/9 can take me straight from Bristol Temple Meads to just outside the zoo, and there is a bus stop right outside the Wild Place called Easter Compton, Blackhorse Hill, but it doesn't seem as though any buses go there.
 
From what I've gleaned I'd have thought that you could do a lot worse than head to Cribb's Causeway Shopping Centre, where taxis will abound.
 
IanRRobinson said:
From what I've gleaned I'd have thought that you could do a lot worse than head to Cribb's Causeway Shopping Centre, where taxis will abound.
Click to expand...

It would only be a 10 minute walk from the shopping mall, but you'd have to cross the M5 roundabout . . . :rolleyes:

Alan
 
Two part question:

1. Has anyone else noticed that Bristol's current brochure has a Common Hippo on the front rather than a pygmy one?

2. Am I ultra observant or just "over-nerdy"?
 
On that subject, do look at the motif above the entrance. It features Giraffe (no longer held), Bison and Eland (not held in my memories of Bristol, going back forty years) AND Common Hippo (which I am advised by a normally highly reliable source has never been held there at all!).
 
IanRRobinson said:
On that subject, do look at the motif above the entrance. It features Giraffe (no longer held), Bison and Eland (not held in my memories of Bristol, going back forty years) AND Common Hippo (which I am advised by a normally highly reliable source has never been held there at all!).
Click to expand...

Rather like the common hippo, that have never been in the Bristol collection, the frieze over the entrance also includes Indian rhino and they’ve never been in the collection either.
 
Last edited:
IanRRobinson said:
It features Giraffe (no longer held), Bison and Eland (not held in my memories of Bristol, going back forty years)
Click to expand...

I don't know if they ever had Eland in the Zoo(though they have them at Wild Place now). I remember the last American Bison, a bull called 'Ferdinand'. He lived in half of the Giraffe enclosure and had a small brick-built house adjacent. When he was shut in you could hear him repeatedly hitting the door with his head. After he died(?) the dividing fence was removed giving the Giraffe the whole outdoor area.

I think the frieze/montage of animal shapes above the entrance isn't meant to represent animals they had necessarily, its more a random selection of exotic beasts. But the wrong species of Hippo on a modern brochure isn't really very good for a Zoo of their ilk.
 
Last edited:
OrangePerson said:
Has anyone been and seen how the gorillas are getting on in the extended house?
Click to expand...

Quite a few of us did last weekend whilst you were out gallivanting with Hix in Uganda... ;) They seem to be doing okay but the house leaves a lot desired from a visitor and ape point of view. Photography is quite hard unless you like lots of glare and pictures of gorilla backsides! :p Zoomans thread sums it up quite accurately.

http://www.zoochat.com/9/zooman-september-2013-european-zoo-tour-333562/index8.html
 
Brum said:
They seem to be doing okay but the house leaves a lot desired from a visitor and ape point of view. Photography is quite hard unless you like lots of glare and pictures of gorilla backsides!
Click to expand...

Afaik it is only part finished at present, completion due early next year, with the Gorillas now living in the new part and their previous smaller area awaiting conversion. Can any of you that were at Bristol explain how they have managed to divide the house on what must be a temporary basis,until the work is complete?

As well as giving them a whole lot more space, they have obviously gone for the immersive/novelty appeal of the public viewing tunnel through the house enabling visitors to see the animals above them etc.. I'll reserve judgement till its complete and I've seen it myself, but I would expect it to be pretty good.
 
IanRRobinson said:
On that subject, do look at the motif above the entrance. It features Giraffe (no longer held), Bison and Eland (not held in my memories of Bristol, going back forty years) AND Common Hippo (which I am advised by a normally highly reliable source has never been held there at all!).
Click to expand...
not 100% sure but i believe the zoo entrance is listed , which will explain why the animals on the motif will stay and have never been changed for years , regardless of what species are kept at the zoo now .
 
IanRRobinson said:
On that subject, do look at the motif above the entrance. It features Giraffe (no longer held), Bison and Eland (not held in my memories of Bristol, going back forty years) AND Common Hippo (which I am advised by a normally highly reliable source has never been held there at all!).
Click to expand...

Could this be the earliest example of an abandoned masterplan!?
 
kiang said:
As part of a £50 million investment in natural history programming, the BBC is to produce a programme called sleepover at the zoo, which will feature a team of experts staying up all night at Bristol Zoo.

BBC News - BBC commissions Blue Planet follow up
Click to expand...

My heart sank when I scanned the article and Richard Hammond's name jumped out at me. But I see he's being confined to a series about the weather, no doubt a subject he's as expert on as he is about African wildlife :rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top