Springbok
Well-Known Member
Thank you prochilodus. A Shame they are off show. Have they ever been on show since they arrived?
Chester Zoo Chester Zoo discussion and questions 2025
- Thread starter Typhlonectes
- Start date
Prochilodus246
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately not 
hari Jones
Well-Known Member
Does anyone know if tuan the old male bornean orangutan is still at the zoo because I haven't seen him for a while the last time I saw him he was sitting on the ground at the back of the netted enclosure by the exit of RORA
He's always tended to prefer to be indoors - so I wouldn't be surprised if he was there during your visits.
As Gentle Lemur posted the house was indeed built for a pair of tuatara. Later it housed the Midwife Toads. The next plan was for it to be used as a Sand Lizard nursery. I have no idea what happened to this idea.
At the end of 2024 they had 3 males and 2 females. They have not bred at Chester.
The AGM already happened I think, I recieved an email about it back in May. Not had the magazine yet.
Joker22Hero
Well-Known Member
Hi, do you mean the "our Zoo“ magazine? If yes, I got the link on the 6th of June in a email titled: Secrets of Heart of Africa | Our Zoo summer edition
I was wondering whether there are minutes available from the AGM but didn’t get a response when I emailed them
Looking back it seems I did get the magazine... I must have accidentally marked it as read.
Pandaboi
Well-Known Member
Has ZeeZee the chimpanzee passed away? I recently went to the zoo and noticed her picture on the ID board has been removed. I counted 16 individuals (4.12) however I don’t know the troop well enough to confirm if I saw her. Additionally Friday and Boris (passing confirmed) signs were removed. Not sure if Jeff ever had a sign (or if he passed away) but I could only count 3 young juvenile chimpanzees.
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They had 20 chimps in 2020; 6 males and 14 females. Since then there have been three births; 0.1 Toyah (2020), 1.0 Jeff (2022), 1.0 Unnamed (2023).
So the six males mentioned above should have been Friday, Boris, Nicky, Dylan, Carlos and Eric. Is Nicky still around? Friday and Boris have since passed.
The 14 girls would have been: Rosie, Farthing, Mandy, Sarah, Sally, Layla, Alice, ZeeZee, Chrissie, Patti, Tina, Vila, Stevie and Alice. Since this point only Tina's passed to my knowledge. But if ZeeZee's sign has been removed, it appears she sadly may have as well. To line up numbers (and account for Toyah's birth), it seems another female from the above list has also passed - to give the 12 females you mention.
Pandaboi
Well-Known Member
The individuals listed on the sign were:
1.0 Nicky.
0.1 Rosie.
0.1 Farthing.
0.1 Mandy.
1.0 Dylan.
0.1 Sally.
0.1 Layla.
0.1 Alice.
0.1 Vila.
0.1 Chrissie.
0.1 Pattie.
1.0 Eric.
1.0 Carlos.
0.1 Stevie.
0.1 Annie.
0.1 Toyah.
Thanks - it appears Sarah is the missing female. She would have been forty this year.
Hopefully Jeff is still alive and well - especially as it seems his mother has passed.
I found a video of him that appears to be recent;
From that Youtube channel, it does seem like ZeeZee has passed sometime earlier this year. A video shows her with Jeff from a few months back. The most recent videos however show Jeff spending his time with Sally, who appears to have adopted him.
GamerGorilla
Active Member
Zeezee hasn't been on the sign for a while, I visited in April where she wasn't on it, but was still very much alive. Someone on the instagram location tag also shared a picture of her just a few days ago, and a friend of mine who visits regularly also has seen her just a few weeks ago. Really doubtful she has passed away.
It's interesting that she doesn't appear in any recent videos of Jeff though. It would be surprising if she passed without an announcement - she is a quite popular member of Chester's chimp community.
GamerGorilla
Active Member
Not sure when the newest video is from but you very clearly see Zeezee in that, she's also the one on the thumbnail carrying Jeff and I do agree it looks very recent. I think you also see a bit of her the other recent SloggerVlogger videos, but as its just a side profile or brow ridge my ID'ing obviously isn't 100%, but the videos are also fairly short, so there's a lot of the chimps you don't see.
Jeff is starting to get a bit more independent so he does explore away from Zeezee at times, and Sally does also get to carry him around as well which is nothing new
Please forgive and redirect me if a similar question has been asked earlier in the thread (or if there's a better one) but, I'm planning my first Chester Zoo trip in 18+ years! If there's any general 'pro' advice on what to prioritise and what to see at what times of the day, please let me know! I've only allocated one day for myself (which I'm a little worried about) but I'm planning to be there for gates open till gates close, and also planning on using my Edinburgh membership to get in. Should I still book in advance? Is this feasible? Any advice appreciated!
Jambi
Well-Known Member
The Islands section is definitely worth checking out, the Monsoon Forest building in particular is great. I can't really comment on Heart of Africa or the snow leopard exhibit just yet, but those will definitely be things not to miss as well. As far as prioritising, it depends which species you really want to see, maybe make a checklist of key animals you want to see, study the map to see where each one is located, and plan your route based on that. I'll also be visiting Chester the week after next, and I hope you enjoy your visit!
Typhlonectes
Well-Known Member
If you’re not too interested in seeing the Lions, bypassing that area of the zoo should save you a lot of time