Chester Zoo Chester Zoo Discussion and Questions 2022

What species are in the elephant house
As you go in, there's an enclosure for Swinhoe's striped squirrels and a small aviary, but I can't remember what bird was in it. Inside, you've got an aviary for great hornbills, a fish tank with a few different types of Asian freshwater fish (I can't remember any of their names) and last time I went there was an enclosure for Northern Luzon giant cloud rats, but I don't know if they're still there, I remember hearing they had bee moved to the Islands section, but I could be wrong.
 
Outside the elephant house there are
Swinhoes striped squirrel their enclosure was previously home to prevost squirrels and prior to them derbyan parakeets which are offshow behind the blesbok enclosure

Before you go into the elephant house their is an aviary which has silver eared mesia , spotted Laughingthrush and Cabots tragopan in

Inside the elephant house their is a aquarium for various Asian fish one notable in their is mascara barbs that enclosure was formerly home to arowana fish and after they left it was home to roti island snake necked turtles also in the elephant house is an aviary for great hornbill

And also in the elephant house is an enclosure for the north Luzon cloud rat which they formerly shared with belangers tree shrew
 
I think we can probably do without the constant litany of what *used* to be in a given exhibit every time you post about Chester Zoo, @hari Jones - if you are trying to impress us, it's not necessary :)
 
Parrot breeding centre is off show, and part of the Experiences you sign a disclaimer not to take photos and disclose animals you meet off show. Therefore, I doubt anyone would breach that confidentiality. I for one wont.
I wonder why that is ???
 
Apparently girrafes are going ofshow next week maybe there starting the area for the gorillas ???
 
I don't believe that will be true, no need to move them and they have no where else to house them, any plans for that area are probably a good number of years away
 
Apparently girrafes are going ofshow next week maybe there starting the area for the gorillas ???

And what makes you think there *is* an area for gorillas about to be built? :P a rather out-of-the-blue claim, and one which I think is unhelpful given the fact it only takes one overenthusiastic idiot to read your post, take the underlying assumption as fact, and start posting misinformation left, right and centre!
 
And what makes you think there *is* an area for gorillas about to be built? :p a rather out-of-the-blue claim, and one which I think is unhelpful given the fact it only takes one overenthusiastic idiot to read your post, take the underlying assumption as fact, and start posting misinformation left, right and centre!
I agree that there is no way that the giraffes are going to move in the short term. However, prior to covid the 2030 vision for the zoo was to move the giraffes to Grasslands (Heart of Africa) when this was complete. Then the area vacated by the giraffes would be updated with the inclusion of gorillas and pigmy hippos. I am sure covid has made the zoo rethink and was surprised that the snow leopard project is being built whilst Grasslands is under construction. I thought even Chester would not have the money to complete both projects.
 
Apparently girrafes are going ofshow next week maybe there starting the area for the gorillas ???

If they're going off show then lets remember there could be a number of reasons as to why.
 
However, prior to covid the 2030 vision for the zoo was to move the giraffes to Grasslands (Heart of Africa) when this was complete. Then the area vacated by the giraffes would be updated with the inclusion of gorillas and pigmy hippos.

You are conflating two different plans here; the "original" Heart of Africa project which was cancelled a decade ago (and which did include plans for a biodome for gorilla and pygmy hippopotamus) and the Grasslands project which has recently been renamed.
 
On the less serious side of things, if they managed to put them off show then maybe Chester are in the wrong business! Unless David Copperfied joined the board recently.
 
You are conflating two different plans here; the "original" Heart of Africa project which was cancelled a decade ago (and which did include plans for a biodome for gorilla and pygmy hippopotamus) and the Grasslands project which has recently been renamed.
I am not confusing the two plans, I am talking about the future long term plans that Mark Pilgrim (former CEO) spoke about in 2016. These were the future plans up to the 100th anniversary of the zoo in 2030 which consisted of grassland zones and forest zones. These plans included the now named Heart of Africa and pygmy hippos and western lowland gorillas.
 
I do remember hearing about a possible "Forests" area that includes gorillas and pygmy hippos that would start development after Heart of Africa is complete, but this was a while ago so perhaps plans have changed since then and the Himalayan area has taken priority over it.
I recently heard that new bird flu containment measures are coming into place in the UK soon, to anyone's knowledge has this affected Chester in any way? Have the walkthrough aviaries and buildings with free-flying birds been closed again?
 
Last edited:
I think you all contesting different plans need to accept that 2 years of virtually no income and the recent lash up of the economy going forward will have had a massive financial impact.

This will have more than likely nixed all previous plans, or at least delayed them considerably. They may be scaled back or conflated, so I really wouldn't read too much into previous plans, or assume they are still on play.

As usual, you've got to wait and see what actually happens, as opposed to a press release and an architect's "vision". So many times we see grandiose announcements without the wherewithal to bring the ideas to fruition.

This is a general point, not a direct criticism of Chester. Look how much money idiot Johnson spaffed up the wall on the Garden Bridge that never got built, for example.
 
Is anyone here good at identifying the Chester chimps? I know a few of them but not all. I have taken a few photos and not sure who is who; I'll post them on my media page if anyone has time to take a look.
 
This is speculation, but does anyone know/think the plan is to still move the Komodo Dragons over to Islands eventually? I know the original ground plans had them over there. Would make geographical sense, of course. Though plans do change and there is no obvious room for them unless a new area is expanded into.
 
No idea if they will move or if they do where they will move too. However the location on the original plans for the Komodo location is still not developed, used for waste bins and storage currently.
 
Back
Top