Chester Zoo Chester circa 1991

C

CZJimmy

Well-Known Member
I recently recieved an old chester zoo guide book from I think 1991. This was the year I was born so I am a little unsure of some of the changes since then, so I have a few questions.

- What were the Cat, Monkey and small mammal houses like and when were the cat and mammal houses demolished?

- What was the elephant house and paddock like? (from the map, the paddock seems quite square in 3 sections :confused:)

- When were condor cliffs and europe on the edge constructed?

- Where were the Giant Tortoises kept?
 
What is on the cover of the guide book?

The cat house was demolished in 2001 I think.

Giant Tortoises were last kept where the Buffy-headed Capuchins are. This was the old pygmy hippo enclosure. They were also kept in the antelope paddocks which stood on the site of Asian Plains.

I'm looking into your other questions.
 
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A young rhino is on the cover (probably Emma) and i've noticed that the date is actually 1992
 
I was wrong with my date of the demolition of the cat house. It was not in 2001. I'm sorry for the error.

The cat house (built 1965) and small mammal house (built 1960) were both demolished in 1998. Under the original plans one-third of the cat house was to have been refurbished to house jaguars and leopards. Planning permission was obtained for a leopard enclosure but this was never built. The jaguars had a brand new exhibit on the other side of the zoo.

Also demolished in 1998 was the free-flight area of the bird house, which made way for Islands in Danger.

Europe on the Edge was constructed between 1992 and 1993

Condor Cliffs was constructed in 1996
 
What was kept in the old bird house? I only went in once. The bird corridor is still there now. Was it a part of the bird house.
 
The long corridor was part of the bird house. The main aviaries were on the eastern side, on the other side was a long flight aviary (this is now the aviaries opposite the shop). The corridor led to the free-flight aviary (Islands in Danger). Many species of birds were kept in this building.

In July 1966 the house contained,

Red-shouldered Glossy Starling
Chestnut-bellied Starling
Superb Starling
Violet-backed Starling
Black-headed Starling
Grey-headed Starling
Rose-coloured Starling
Hill Mynah
Dumonti's Mynah
Boat-billed Heron
Blue-backed Fairy Bluebird
White-cheeked Turaco
Purple-crested Turaco
Red-crested Turaco
Greater Kiskadee
Victoria Crowned Pigeon
New Britain Green Imperial Pigeon
Large Brown Cuckoo Dove
Pacific Fruit Pigeon
Blue Roller
Olive-Green Lorikeet
Laughing Kookaburra
Green Magpie
White-crested Laughing Thrush
Western White-browed Coucal
Grey-headed Kingfisher
Variegated Bittern
Snowy Egret
Scarlet Ibis
Double-striped Thickknee
Northern Lapwing
Pied Avocet
Grey-necked Wood Rail
Swainson's Toucan
Cuvier's Toucan
Great Indian Hornbill
Bismarck Wreathed Hornbill
Double-toothed Barbet
Scarlet-rumped Tanager
Blue-shouldered Mountain Tanager
Scarlet **** of the Rock
Bare-faced Curassow
 
I can add a little about the free-flight or temperate bird house. There were aviaries at each side and the pathway meandered from side to side across a stream. The aviaries held many of the birds (particularly the hornbills, cookaburras and other potential predators, also pheasants at a later date). There were free flying birds, but not very many of them. The house always seemed rather dimly lit and the vegetation was sparse - as if the roof was too opaque. The side aviaries were also rather small and bare. In short it wasn't a particularly good display.
I do miss the small mammal house. There was always something interesting to see there, although the accomodation was not ideal for all of them. I remember the American badgers, viscacha, grison and tayra; later on there were mountain viscacha, banded mongoose and a small nocturnal section for kinkajou, echidna and the zoo's first Rodrigues fruit bats. At one early stage they even had free-flying hummingbirds inside!

Alan
 
Sounds great. I have the 1998 zoo guide, i got it from a friend at school, and it shows the layout of the small mammal house and gives lots of species that were housed in it. Nearly ten years since it was demolished!!!
 
On 13 June 1994 the Small Mammal House had

Australian Echidna
Rodrigues Fruit Bat
Seba's Short-tailed Fruit Bat
Lesser Bushbaby
Slow Loris
Pygmy Marmoset
White-lipped Tamarin
Kinkajou
Dwarf Mongoose
Meerkat
Black-footed Cat
Peruvian Mountain Viscacha


On the same day thwe bird house inventory was

Occipital Blue Pie
Azure-winged Magpie
Variable Chacalaca
Bare-faced Curassow
Brown Eared Pheasant
White Eared Pheasant
Edwards' Pheasant
Grey Peacock Pheasant
Palawan Peacock Pheasant
Satyr Tragopan
Temminck's Tragopan
Tawny Frogmouth
Trumpeter Hornbill
Wrinkled Hornbill
Laughing Kookaburra
Blue-crowned Laughing Thrush
Blue-crowned Motmot
Rothschild's Mynah
Greater Blue-eared Glossy Starling
African Red-winged Starling
Superb Starling
Regent Parakeet
Common Bronzewing Pigeon
Mauritius Pink Pigeon
Crowned Plover
Southern Stone Curlew
Red-crested Turaco
Schalow's Turaco
Violet Turaco
White-cheeked Turaco
White-naped Shama
White Woodpecker
 
Just out of interest what is the rarest species at the zoo? and what is the rarest species that has been kept at the zoo?

Guerney's pitta?

It can be rare in captivity, or just rare full stop.
 
In 1995 only a single specimen of the Huahine Tree Snail (Partula varia) exiasted in the world. Fortunately this individual produced about 70 young. I nominate this species as being the rarest to be kept at Chester.
 
what about the single vermiculated fishing owl, it was the only one in captivity, what happened to this bird is it still alive?
 
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