Chester Zoo Chester 2011 #1

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TeaLovingDave said:
I do hope both of these eventually come to pass! Baby giant otters and any kind of sloth are a rarity in the UK, as I recall.
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If Chester were to breed their Giant Otters this season it would be only the second successful UK breeding (after the Chestnut Centre's well-deserved first breeding only last summer).

Sloths are actually quite a bit more common than they were a few years ago (at least Linne's Two-toeds are), so I'm a bit surprised they're proving that hard to get hold of. Admittedly they don't seem to be breeding quickly so there may just not be any surplus anywhere.
 
Maguari said:
Admittedly they don't seem to be breeding quicklyQUOTE]

Sloths don't tend to do much very quickly - I'm suprised any sloths ever have the enthusiasm to breed at all :D

Joking aside, I'd be interested to learn about sloth relationships. Are they monogamous [sp?]. Do they move around alot more that the media lets on? Surley they must, because I've heard things saying 'they can/will spend their whole life in one tree' - surely they move about to find the opposite sex and keep the gene pool healthy?

Sorry, I know very little about sloths and myu questions must sound pretty stupid - but it's one area of mammals I've never really focused on :)
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The fact that they are pretty good swimmers must play a role, I would think - they may be ungainly on the ground but they are rather buoyant and their powerful limbs can get them through the water quite well, which is a definite advantage when living in rainforest which is often flooded.
 
Although getting a compatible breeding pair of sloths does seem to be tricky , pairs that start breeding do seem to continue to do so regularly . Both Hamerton and Island Amazon have bred quite a few - does anyone know how many , as neither collection publishes much information ? Last I was aware , both collections were holding quite a few specimens .

Another question - has Jangolie been mixed back with the rest of the Elephant herd yet ?
 
Bele said:
Although getting a compatible breeding pair of sloths does seem to be tricky , pairs that start breeding do seem to continue to do so regularly . Both Hamerton and Island Amazon have bred quite a few - does anyone know how many , as neither collection publishes much information ? Last I was aware , both collections were holding quite a few specimens .

Another question - has Jangolie been mixed back with the rest of the Elephant herd yet ?
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Jangoli was with the herd on sunday
 
New visitor experience due to be launched in the summer. Would this be the Dinosuars or something else? :confused:

..and apparently (might be a typing error, who knows) the eight AW Dogs that were due into Chester shortly are now down to seven
Chester Zoo - British Tourism Week
 
SMR said:
The new visitor experience most likely relates to the rope wire climbing thingy in the car park.
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They seem to be becoming quite popular at the moment, I noticed Bristol had something similar at the weekend. "White knuckle queueing", I'd call it -but if it means more money for the zoo and less people in front of me at the enclosures I'm all for it.
 
I agree, have seen the one at Bristol and also one at Edinburgh. In one single glance I accounted for over £70 income at Edinburgh on their climbing/adventure thing. Doesn't sound like much but like I said, it was literally in one observation. Financially they must be bringing a lot in throughout the course of a day. And ropes and poles require little maintenance. If staffed with volunteers or seasonal workers I can see a lot of zoos following this example.

They also provide a rather hilarious 'exhibit' if you can bear the screaming that seems to emminate off them. Brave children suddenly turning into jibbering wrecks and the older visitors that really should know better.

A final bonus is that they appear to blend in well (mimicking primate climbing frames) so there's no eye sores on the horizon like you get with tacky fair grounds and the like.
 
Nisha said:
New visitor experience due to be launched in the summer. Would this be the Dinosuars or something else? :confused
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The fact the text states the new experience is being kept'under wraps' suggests it is something not yet in the public domain. The new experiences (giraffe feeding / penguin feeding etc) are already on the website so i reckon this is not what is being talked about, I also thought the dinosaurs were not a 'secret' either. Unless the 'under wraps' tag is just a clever marketing tag line to generate extra interest.

Incidently, i read on a previous thread the dinosaurs were going on the fountain lawn. However, i was told they were actually gonna go in the area behing IinD in the space where phase 2 will be built, THis will be an amazing 'exhibit' actually as the planting here lends itself very well to this and will have educational slant aswell as giving litle kids a spectacle too!!
 
chesterfan said:
Incidently, i read on a previous thread the dinosaurs were going on the fountain lawn. However, i was told they were actually gonna go in the area behing IinD in the space where phase 2 will be built, THis will be an amazing 'exhibit' actually as the planting here lends itself very well to this and will have educational slant aswell as giving litle kids a spectacle too!!
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If that's accurate, I too think that would be a far better location. Since the HT and beautiful (original) butterfly garden were decimated in the summer of 2002, that area has become totally forgotten by the public, a situation made even worse by the absence of the circular aviaries. Standing some dinosaurs where they once were would be perfect, especially as many of the bushes that were planted last year died due to lack of care.

The rocks and elevated areas would make for a miniature Dan-yr-Ogof - let's just hope they don't have a taste for flamingos!
 
SMR said:
If that's accurate, I too think that would be a far better location.
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I'm sure I'm not letting anything out of the bag..it was Nick who told me on the EAZA day, so assume he's a reliable source!!

I am actually looking foward to seeing this! A good example of something that will drive additional visitors, is entertainment for kids yet in keeping with the zoo's themes and aesthetic!
 
Couple of bits and bobs:

New signage is up on the Eastern Pygmy Marmoset and Black-Tailed Marmoset enclosure, and Dwarf Mongoose were mating today.
 
Can anyone identify this species? Its been put into the Tropical Realm in the enclosure with the Beetles.
 

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It's a tailless whipscorpion - most likely Damon sp. - most captive animals are D. variegatus. Very nice animals.
 
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that is cool. I love whip scorpions! (But have never seen a real one :()
 
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