Chester Zoo Chester Zoo 2017 Review

What will Europe on the Edge (the old one) get turned into? Have they revealed any special plans?
 
Water Dragon said:
Part 9: The Last Few Exhibits

European Black Vultures

The old Condor Cliffs aviary has now been remodelled into a new Europe on the Edge Aviary. It was formerly home to Andean Condors and an American Black Vulture but now it is home to the European Black Vultures. The other birds from Europe on the Edge are due to visit soon but I fear that a lot of the waterfowl species may have to depart.
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I wasn't sure if some of these waterfowl would be moved into the large wetland aviary near the black rhinos and zebras. Does anyone know if this is the the case, or are they likely to depart the collection?
 
Highlights

Mammals
Southern Pudu
Philippine Mouse Deer
Bats
Aye-Ayes

Birds
Montserrat Oriole
Schalow's Turaco
Southern Cassowary
Javan Rhinoceros Hornbill

Reptiles
Tuatara
False Gharial
Ploughshare Tortoise
Reticulated Python

Amphibians
Rio Cauca Caecilian
Golden Mantella
Lake Patzcuaro Salamander
Blue Poison Dart Frog

Fish
Pinstripe Damba
Sterlet
Butterfly Barb
Betta Palifina

Invertebrates
Golden Orb-Weaver Spider
Emerald Cockroach Wasp
Sea Star
Orchid Mantis

Exhibits
Fruit Bat Forest
Tropical Realm
Monsoon Forest
Dragons in Danger
 
Water Dragon said:
The sun bears used to be in the old tiger enclosure but they were moved into the Savannah half of Spirit of the Jaguar for reasons that I do not know.
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I believe this was simply because it was easier to separate the bears when necessary in the Jaguar house enclosure.
 
Water Dragon said:
There was in October last year; but I think that may have been because they were breeding them at the time?
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There is a difference between only *seeing* one individual in an enclosure and there only *being* one individual in an enclosure :p given the extended length of time between the species laying eggs and these eggs hatching - along with the fact that the eggs were incubated off-display and not left to their own devices - it is safe to say that only seeing Pixie in October had nothing to do with Chester having bred the species in roughly the same timeframe :p

Water Dragon said:
Before I visited the zoo, I planned out a route that would take us around all of the animals without having to back-track at all, and also to avoid crowds, and see everything at the right time of day. I may upload an image of the route that we took later.
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Always interesting to see people's suggested routeplans :p quite apart from anything else, I'd be interested to see how different it is to my usual route!
 
I wonder how it must feel for some of the older Chester Zoo visitors to see a lot of the old exhibits go. I was disappointed enough at the closure of Condor Cliffs :confused:
 
Water Dragon said:
I wonder how it must feel for some of the older Chester Zoo visitors to see a lot of the old exhibits go. I was disappointed enough at the closure of Condor Cliffs :confused:
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Gutting!

Though there's much to commend in recent developments it's arguable that many of the older exhibits gave better views of the animals. Which - after all - is the purpose of visiting.
 
I will miss the old tiger enclosure.I remember when I was a young child that whenever we went to Chester I would always want go and see the tigers.I remember watching the tigers for half an hour while they were fed and was blown away by those animals.Part of the reason why big cats hold a special place in my heart.
 
The sun bears were moved because they were notgetting on. Maguari has posted the reason why they moved

re Pudu - that is the downside of restricted viewing, outside viewing into this exhibit is needed.

Asian Steppes. I can never make my mind up. Do they have the wrong wild ass species, or do they have the wrong camel species? I'll go for the wrong camel species, Arabian camel would be appropriate.

The female tuataras were nor removed from the enclosure, they were probably hibernating.

Europe on the Edge will be demolished as will the old tiger enclosure - this area will be rebuilt as part of the Forest Zone. Thre aviary was named for birds on the edge of extinction and birds on the edge of their natural range.

I see no reason why they ducks won't move to the new aviary
 
bongorob said:
Nowadays the visitors seem to be an after thought.
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Too right. Some of the enclosures are way too foliaged at the moment such as the Lemur Island and the Spectacled Bears. At the moment the zoo only has four parrot species on-show (if I have done the maths correctly), and half their bird and reptile collection are being kept off-show as well.
 
Water Dragon said:
Too right. Some of the enclosures are way too foliaged at the moment such as the Lemur Island and the Spectacled Bears. At the moment the zoo only has four parrot species on-show (if I have done the maths correctly), and half their bird and reptile collection are being kept off-show as well.
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Plus there are now only four species of venomous snake being kept at the zoo.Tentacled snakes,Gaboon vipers,White lipped tree viper and eyelash vipers which are off show.
 
Water Dragon said:
I wonder how it must feel for some of the older Chester Zoo visitors to see a lot of the old exhibits go. :confused:
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No, you must never feel disappointed about this sort of thing. Chester's progress has always been founded on refurbishing or demolishing and rebuilding old exhibits. The oldest surviving exhibits at Chester, that were there when I first visited as a boy, have been improved and upgraded (even the godforsaken Nissen hut aviary). The majority have been demolished and replaced with something better. I still miss the range of species that were kept in old Cat House, the Small Mammal House and the disused reptile corridor in the Tropical House - but none of them would meet modern standards for animal accommodation, neither could they cope with the number of visitors that the zoo attracts today. There have been occasional false steps along the way, such as the dreadful little pools for penguins and small-clawed otters that were built on the site of the old Reptile House, and soon demolished in their turn (the site is now the half of the penguin exhibit next to the giant otters): but on the whole the process has been onwards and upwards, with fewer species housed in better enclosures. As the zoo continues to expand, the number of species may creep up a little, but expansion will also create the space for the older buildings like the Cattle House, the Tropical World and the old Ape House to be transformed or replaced in the forseeable future.
 
My pet hate at present, and not only at Chester, is the trend towards these new 'interpretative/immersive' exhibits where complicated layout actually makes the animals more difficult to see because of the limited viewing access and long distances to walk to get anywhere to a spot where you might see them from. Good examples at Chester are the Hunting dogs and Sumatran orangs. I suspect the Tigers in Islands also come into this category. And although I haven't seen it, London's new Lion exhibit sounds similar too.
 
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