Bristol Zoo Project Bristol zoo project news 2024
- Thread starter Charles
- Start date
Charles
Well-Known Member
Bristol Zoo Project on Instagram: "NILO HAS ARRIVED! Watch as he takes his first steps inside the brand new red panda habitat Nilo will be kept off show for the next couple of days as he adjusts to his surroundings, but visitors will be able to see him this weekend! Book tickets at the link in bio!"
The zoo announced on their Instagram that Nilo arrived today and he will be on show tomorrow to members and the public soon
The zoo announced on their Instagram that Nilo arrived today and he will be on show tomorrow to members and the public soon
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Look forward to seeing him in his new home, will be strange not seeing him at Whipsnade but we have a few others to admire still
It's great to see he has a new tree, I did hope it was going to be more than frames!
Charles
Well-Known Member
visited the zoo yesterday a few small and one potentially big update
there was a trailer nearby the zebra/eland stables, i don't know if there are plans to move one or both species on or if this is for just training however Arron seems quite lonely now and it would be nice to see him with more eland elsewhere or in the zoo
the old Sumatran laughing thrush aviary is still empty
whilst looking at the ostrich, the male was sat in the corner with the female nearby which is uncommon for them and then in the grass paddock there was what appeared to be an ostrich egg however this may have been for easter however it does seem odd if it did
there was a trailer nearby the zebra/eland stables, i don't know if there are plans to move one or both species on or if this is for just training however Arron seems quite lonely now and it would be nice to see him with more eland elsewhere or in the zoo
the old Sumatran laughing thrush aviary is still empty
whilst looking at the ostrich, the male was sat in the corner with the female nearby which is uncommon for them and then in the grass paddock there was what appeared to be an ostrich egg however this may have been for easter however it does seem odd if it did
Laboratory 7
Well-Known Member
Well the Eland have been on the surplus list for sometime now, going back to before they closed the Clifton site.
Its a non-endangered antelope and doen't seem to fit the remit of 'conservation park' they are selling themselves as. Presumably originally aquired as a 'filler' species
Charles
Well-Known Member
The eland were there since the park opened before they rebranded as a conservation park and even tho their species list has since been retracted, the eland weren’t on it then
I presumed that due to the unfortunate passing of Axel the other eland that another collection would have space but it seems not according to laboratory7
According to ZTL, 157 UK collections have meerkats and 12 UK collections have common elands. Both are Least Concern
One problem I think this place has is that it has no really major exhibits or species at present. The biggest exhibit is the one for non-endangered bears and wolves.Seemed an odd choice of a flagship exhibit for a 'conservation park' to me. Giraffe and zebra are next probably. I've been a couple of times in the past but there's nothing there to attract me back at present.
Last edited:
Lafone
Well-Known Member
The main issue for Bristol zoo project is really being not Bristol as it was. It still seems unlikely that Bristol will reopen in it's old form.
Of course the people posting with inside information on the budget know more. As just a visitor, I have a visitors view of what's in front of me vs insight into what Bristol's bank balance is or what keepers say to people they know about applications for planning permission.
I disagree that bear wood, with the lynx, wolverine and mixed exhibit for wolves and bears, is a bad current flagship / focus exhibit. It's well laid out and set up and the walkways for viewing are thoughtfully designed with some excellent educational material. It's horses for courses but I'd argue it is a major exhibit in terms of other zoos, albeit not for everyone. There are lots of UK zoos with conservation at their heart who have a mix of endangered and non endangered species. I think if you enjoy the type of exhibit it is, it's great and if you don't it's not worth bothering with but that's true of lots of places vs it's intrinsic standard.
Of course the people posting with inside information on the budget know more. As just a visitor, I have a visitors view of what's in front of me vs insight into what Bristol's bank balance is or what keepers say to people they know about applications for planning permission.
I disagree that bear wood, with the lynx, wolverine and mixed exhibit for wolves and bears, is a bad current flagship / focus exhibit. It's well laid out and set up and the walkways for viewing are thoughtfully designed with some excellent educational material. It's horses for courses but I'd argue it is a major exhibit in terms of other zoos, albeit not for everyone. There are lots of UK zoos with conservation at their heart who have a mix of endangered and non endangered species. I think if you enjoy the type of exhibit it is, it's great and if you don't it's not worth bothering with but that's true of lots of places vs it's intrinsic standard.
cerperal
Well-Known Member
Bear Wood is easily the best exhibit for all housed species in the country (alright, Whipsnade probably deserves the wolverine spot and the bear exhibit there comes close). The point of it wasn't to serve as advertisement for endangered species but to firstly show very different species to Bristol proper and secondly to get across in natural history terms how much this damp island has changed thanks to certain hairless bipeds. And in that goal, it's certainly succeeded. And I think through the combination of those - fantastic exhibits and equally brilliant storytelling - that Bear Wood is not just a great flagship exhibit but a truly fantastic one.
However, I also completely agree with there being little to draw you back. If I wasn't so local I wouldn't go out of my way to visit in it's current state, but I don't think that's much of a surprise to BZS. There's a lot of discussion to be had (and that we have had) on the financial situation of BZS and Wild Place, but currently it definitely feels like they are budgeting for local often visitors moreso than people travelling across the country, while also preparing for the inevitable boost the Congo exhibit will bring. We have to remember that nobody, including BZS, foresaw Bristol closing. One has to imagine any plans for Wild Place had to be dropped or massively changed to ensure, in a decade or so, it can fully replace Bristol. Part of that change was the shift to a mostly conservation-orientated collection, but even then Bear Wood still has a place. After all, why are there no bears in Somerset anymore, and what's happening to the fragmented populations of the species currently on the continent?
I hope I don't come across as a BZS disciple, but I think Wild Place is in safe hands and though the loss of the eland is going to be a real shame, even with Longleat just down the road, in the long term I think it's all going to work out well.
The rhinos are less than a year away now, after all. Hopefully.
Charles
Well-Known Member
i do agree, i think if the eland does go they will acquire a different more threatened antelope species perhaps addax or nile lechwe and people do need to be patient as the zoo's funds depleated in the pandemic and they are rebuilding
Rajang-GOAT
Well-Known Member
I am sure it must be likely that this is the case, if we remember the species plan released just over a year ago did show/suggest the phasing out of the eland in favour of the endangered Nile Lechwe.
Kalaw
Well-Known Member
As mentioned by @cerperal , 'conservation' doesn't just refer to assisting with the survival of individual species. The diversity of ecosystems and the spread of the individual populations of said species are equally important to preserve, and Wild Place gets this message across well. It takes a traditional expanse of British woodland and filling it with fascinating animals that leaves you longing to be able to see them in the wild, only for the signage and theming to inform you that they were indeed once native to the nation in question before human activity wiped them out. It's a powerful message, and an important one, and serves as ample proof that, when done well, and when related to conservation, theming in zoos doesn't have to be. And although I am certainly biassed, as it offered the best views I have got to date of Brown Bears, I consider Bear Wood to easily be one of the top ten best zoo exhibits in the country. I visit Somerset often due to having family members living there, and out of the vast selection of zoos in that region Wild Place (or Bristol, I suppose I should say) always tempts me to return due to Bear Wood alone, and most locals that I have spoken to seem to speak similarly highly of it, so it is clearly doing a good job as the zoo's 'flagship' exhibit.
This is a fair assessment, but I honestly don’t believe that Bristol can look at the collection as it is now (or will be in the near future) and think it has any scope for reducing the collection. I really don’t think that the park at present can afford to classify any species as a filler!
I agree. Things might feel more stable and more promising if large parts of the Clifton collection were able to move over to the new site when the old one closed. Sadly this wasn’t possible.
My comments about Bear Wood seem to have created some healthy discussion. I wasn't criticising the exhibit per se at all, only its current place at the park but I also appreciate it was created prior to the metamorphosis into what the park is intended to be now, so their priorities were rather different then.
Two endangered higher profile species I would have kept from the old Zoo were the Asian Lions and the Drills. Yet both were let go. Surely they had enough cash to build a simple (or even a temporary?) Lion enclosure at Wild Place? As for the Drills, these could have replaced the bachelor male Geladas, the choice of keeping them over breeding Drills seems a bit odd to me though no doubt they had a reason.
I'm encouraged if the news of the timespan of Rhinos returning within a year is correct but they would need to get on with building for them soon judging by the speed of development there (we all know the financial constraints causing this). Currently the gorilla house/enclosure is scheduled to open in 'summer 2005', by then the gorillas will have been living offshow at the old site for nearly 3 years(!!!). I've never heard of a situation anywhere else like that before.
Last edited:
Don’t forget the gorillas would have been off show for almost a year during covid too. Could lead to some problems when they’re on show full time again.
I don't think they were ever offshow at Bristol during Covid- at least when the zoo was open? I suspect they would re-adapt anyway in a very short time, like just a few days. No doubt they would do a 'soft' opening too, allowing gradual exposure to the public again.
Kalaw
Well-Known Member
It is worth noting that Bristol was already out of Drills by early 2020, over two years before the Gardens' closure, with the last male having left for Barcelona Zoo (per ZTL), and with the other three animals having already passed away, so as lovely as it would have been to see them at Wild Place / Bristol Zoo Project, whether that is in addition to or as a replacement for the Geladas, it was never really an option. I definitely agree with you regarding the Asiatic Lions and do question why they weren't more of a priority - no doubt they would be a tremendous lure for many visitors.
You are also correct about the gorillas having never been offshow while the zoo was open, and I believe @Cat-Man was likely referring to the time in which the zoo was closed during the pandemic.
Yes, that is what I meant. Apologies for the confusion.