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Bristol Zoo (Closed) Bristol Zoo News 2022
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Everyonelovesatapir
Active Member
I have just put a few photos up in the media section of when I went to Bristol Zoo recently. They aren't professional standard but I thought a couple of them came out nice enough.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Does anyone know whether the Aye-Ayes are going to Wild Place/or if they've already left for somewhere else? Not sure if this has already been answered.
Somehow I don't think I need to mention that they're my all-time favourite animal
Somehow I don't think I need to mention that they're my all-time favourite animal
Does anyone know whether the Aye-Ayes are going to Wild Place/or if they've already left for somewhere else? Not sure if this has already been answered.
Somehow I don't think I need to mention that they're my all-time favourite animal
There’s no mention of them having left. They have a pair named Peanut and Tahiry, who welcomed an infant named Feo just over a year ago. Sexual maturity is around 2-3 years, so Feo will likely be transfered in the next year or so.
Ok thank you, I hope they manage to keep them but wherever they go I'm sure will be good.
They’ve kept and bred Aye-aye for many years and they’re a popular attraction so I too hope this is a species we’ll see at Bristol Zoo for a while to come.
zootrippingdaily
Member
Does anyone know whether the Aye-Ayes are going to Wild Place/or if they've already left for somewhere else? Not sure if this has already been answered.
Somehow I don't think I need to mention that they're my all-time favourite animal
I asked this question the other week at Bristol Zoo when I visited without knowing the Twilight World had closed. I was told that it was unlikely the Aye-Ayes would move to Wild Place when it opens in 2024, as the Lemur rebuild is not until Phase 2.
They said come Phase 2, Aye-Ayes may well be part of the plan, but the ones that are at Bristol would be going to a new collection.
I asked if there was any plans for a Nocturnal exhibit at Wild Place and they met it with an affirmative no, which was gutting for me. They said when they done a survey last year about Bristol Zoo and its exhibits, only 12% of people who answered voted that they visited the Twilight World, on the tick the box questionnaire of what exhibits do you view at Bristol.
This was part of the reason, the Zoo decided to shut it down earlier than a lot of other areas of the Zoo, as they felt the Twilight World was not on the whole well received.
I was shocked by this, but the keeper said its probably because for most families, its hard to see the animals in there and most people who visit are not spending a long time looking for the quirky animals, that the Zoo enthusiast looks for.
That questionnaire apparently was done to help the Zoo decide what the public wanted to see going forward. For me it was a shame, and a shame that because of it Twilight World was closed early. For me it was always one of the best parts about Bristol Zoo.
It feels like London Zoo is the only zoo left with a really good Nocturnal Area.
Of course, the fact that the collection had essentially wound Twilight World down over the last decade through vague neglect, no longer keeping it updated and maintained and replacing stock with duplicate exhibits, ceased to allow entry at a time before the lighting was switched off, and also made the lighting even darker than it had already been will have been a fairly large factor
one suspects that even if the pandemic had not forced the closure and relocation to be accelerated, they were looking for a pretext to get rid of the exhibit complex.
That's really sad to hear about Twilight World, naturally it was one of my favourite places to visit in the zoo (and nocturnal houses in general) and it's unfortunate that many people who wouldn't necessarily regard themselves as a zoo enthusiast just skip that portion of the visit in favour of other exhibits.
It was always great to see such a diverse selection of species in there, and you're right in saying that London still has a really good one thankfully - possibly the highlight of the zoo for me, along with the Clore.
I am surprised by this. I have spent quite a bit of time in Bristol's nocturnal house over the years and I have found that many of those visitors who do brave the darkness are very interested in the aye-ayes. Perhaps part of the problem was that the exhibits were retrofitted into the interior of the failed 1970s ape house, so that the light levels in the exhibits and the public area were never ideal and the viewing of the aye-ayes in particular was very limited.
It is worth adding that some smaller collections have small but interesting nocturnal exhibits, including Birmingham Wildlife Centre, Shaldon, Tropical World (Roundhay Park, Leeds) and Tropiquaria. But I don't expect that any of them will rehome the aye-ayes from Bristol.
It is worth adding that some smaller collections have small but interesting nocturnal exhibits, including Birmingham Wildlife Centre, Shaldon, Tropical World (Roundhay Park, Leeds) and Tropiquaria. But I don't expect that any of them will rehome the aye-ayes from Bristol.
I thought the initial remodelling of the old Ape House into Twilight World was an innovative approach and should have been very successful, but it was always let down by the light levels, as I found the lighting in there to be so poor that most of the exhibits were very difficult to see. The wonderful AyeAyes were perhaps the worst of all. When active, they were just vague silhouettes really. And in all the years the house was open the zoo never seemed to address this problem. Of course that still wouldn't really account for this news of a surprisingly low % of visitors entering the display, unless they had done so previously maybe and not bothered again.
It was always very dark in there, much darker than the nightzone at London and the visibility wasn't great either unfortunately.
I would go so far to say it was the darkest Noc House I've ever been in, which made viewing some species, Aye aye and quolls next to impossible. Not surprised it was not well received by the general public. Wonder what they thought of the Insect House and Aquarium, and whether those buildings will be replicated in any form at Wild Place? I'd imagine the infrastructure costs would suggest no. Will be a massive pity to lose three iconic collections of animals from Bristol in one fell swoop.
Well, as noted I'm taking those claims with a hefty pinch of salt; there is a world of difference between "we don't visit the Twilight Realm at all" and "we no longer visit the Twilight Realm now that the admission hours have changed, half the exhibits are empty and the lights are darker than ever before", and I strongly suspect the latter will have been the case more often than not, given the way the collection had been slowly winding the place up even before the zoo closure announcement. Quite apart from anything else, a decade or so ago I recall the building being jam-packed all day long on my first few visits to the collection!
It was lovely with Sand Cats in there
I could never understand why they did not improve the lighting during the long time that it was open. It would have made all the difference. Too difficult -or just a lack of interest in improving things for the viewing public?
I remember visiting once and it being really busy in there, but still too dark.
I'll miss the Black Rats in the 'attic' in the daylight section too.