Chester Zoo Chester Zoo Discussion, Speculation & Questions 2018

HGibbins said:
A further issue with the orang viewing in Monsoon Forest: since the orangs still tend to spend a significant amount of time on the ground, it's often only possible to glimpse them when stood right up at the window.
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Yes, I am far more in favour of ground level viewing anyway- I don't like looking down on animals in their enclosures. Great Apes, Giraffe, Elephants are some of the species exhibited like this in some places.

For 'arboreal' Apes, particularly Orangs, the concept in this modern-type design is of course that you are viewing them at their own height when they are climbing about- the reality is they are quite lazy(in zoos) and spend far more time on the ground than climbing around. So the idea is defeated to an extent and for much of the time it results in the difficulty you describe for people trying to see them.

In that respect I think Blackpool score- in their Orangutan house there are two levels for viewing...
 
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Pertinax said:
I don't know her exact age and she probably wasn't geriatric but I'd have termed her elderly, at least during her latter time at Chester. The main difference was she didn't have cubs etc so maybe lacked the same stimulation and slept a lot more or stayed hidden. The original males Chester had in that enclosure were perfectly visible, or at least they were to me on a couple of visits.
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She was 18 or 19 (I forget; my spectacled bear birthdates are saved on my old iPhone 6 at home) which isn’t a bad age, but in captivity many do live for longer, into their 20s or even early 30s sometimes.
 
beccasunbear said:
She was 18 or 19 (I forget; my spectacled bear birthdates are saved on my old iPhone 6 at home) which isn’t a bad age, but in captivity many do live for longer, into their 20s or even early 30s sometimes.
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Not so elderly then. Maybe not the reason she was public-shy...
 
Pertinax said:
For 'arboreal' Apes, particularly Orangs, the concept in this modern-type design is of course that you are viewing them at their own height when they are climbing about- the reality is they are quite lazy(in zoos) and spend far more time on the ground than climbing around. So the idea is defeated to an extent and for much of the time it results in the difficulty you describe for people trying to see them.
In that respect I think Blackpool score- in their Orangutan house there are two levels for viewing...
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I think that part of the reason for high-level viewing of orangs is to encourage them to get off the ground to watch the people: together with provision of plenty of climbing apparatus and of food at cage roof level, of course. The twin level viewing at Blackpool conspicuously failed to do this for Ramon when I was there last year.
 
gentle lemur said:
I think that part of the reason for high-level viewing of orangs is to encourage them to get off the ground to watch the people: together with provision of plenty of climbing apparatus and of food at cage roof level, of course. The twin level viewing at Blackpool conspicuously failed to do this for Ramon when I was there last year.
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Ramon at Blackpool was seated on the floor with admiring visitors when I went too.

At Chester it works when they roof feed as the (Sumatran) orangs climb up to get the grub, but they are soon down on the floor again. I'd be interested to know what % of their time is spent using the climbing equipment- I think Sumatrans(particularly adult males) do have regular bouts of energetic swinging/climbing activity- I have seen this at other places in the past- but even so I suspect the time spent off the floor is quite small.
 
HGibbins said:
A further issue with the orang viewing in Monsoon Forest: since the orangs still tend to spend a significant amount of time on the ground, it's often only possible to glimpse them when stood right up at the window - those stood further back see nothing (this is one area where I feel the indoor orang accommodation at Jersey succeeds, even though it is not of the same overall calibre as Chester).
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A further, further issue is that bloody cupboard alongside one of the viewing windows!

What's that for?
 
Pertinax said:
Yes, I am far more in favour of ground level viewing anyway- I don't like looking down on animals in their enclosures. Great Apes, Giraffe, Elephants are some of the species exhibited like this in some places.
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I think there's also a psychological/ philosophical issue with looking down on exhibits (think bear pits). I have seen it suggested that it subconsciously emphasises human "superiority".
 
SHAVINGTONZOO said:
I think there's also a psychological/ philosophical issue with looking down on exhibits (think bear pits). I have seen it suggested that it subconsciously emphasises human "superiority".
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I think the problem there is more to do with it being a pit than it being viewed from above. Chester's Cheetah and Black Rhino exhibits both include viewing from above, as did the old tiger enclosure, and it seems to work fine (YWP also springs to mind as a collection where much of the viewing is raised).
 
Okay, time to put the 'cat amongst the pigeons' again. Assuming of course that the cat and pigeon species both come from the same geographic area or some other loose connection such as both living on an island?

What do Chester zoochatters think? and I guess this will be different according to age?
I refer to the 'Emperors New Clothes' of Chester Zoo. I'm not a fan of geographical / habitat zoning. Call me old fashioned but I'd prefer to see all the cats in the same part of the zoo, all the monkeys in the same part of the zoo, the reptiles in a reptile house etc, etc, etc....

I think it was educationally more beneficial when for example White Rhinos and Black Rhinos, [later Black and Great Indian] were alongside each other in the Rhino House. Visitors including me as a school child could make direct comparisons with size, build, lip shape etc. It was easy to see where they came from, there was a map on a sign.

The zoo is now all mixed up!

Imagine if ASDA (Sainsbury's / Waitrose if you're posh) decided to put their items on the shelves according to where they came from? The store would become a terrible mess (cf the zoo). Imagine the supermarket scenario... "Excuse me, where's the tea please?... " REPLY "Which tea were you after Sir, the Kenyan tea is over there in the African Section, your Darjeeling and Assam are on the other side of the store in the Indian Section. Ceylon Tea? well that's from Sri Lanka so you'll find that in the Islands section of the store, or was it one of the Chinese teas you were looking for? They're right at the back of the store on the same shelf as the noodles"

Far fetched, is it? Imagine the zoo scenario, a new visitor asks... "Excuse me, where are the reptiles please?" :confused:
 
I quite like having set geographic areas as I think it creates quite a pleasant atmosphere (it probably helps that most of my favourite animals are from the same region), but it honestly doesn’t make a great amount of difference to me either way. I often find that set taxonomic areas don’t always include every species that the zoo holds of that particular family anyway (albeit most), so there is still some element of separation going on.

I’m happy enough to follow the map if I’m really desperate to find something, however usually I would rather just browse at my leisure, enjoying the fact that around every corner there is a new surprise.

Is it really posh to shop at Sainsbury’s?!
 
Pertinax said:
I shop at Sainsbury's- always have. Its light and airy, like an airport terminal. ASDA is dark and cavelike and I saw folk fighting in there once.
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Our Sainsbury's here is horrible - really dark and claustrophobic.

ASDA I'm no fonder of - they have an unnerving habit of splitting say, biscuits, across two half-aisles so you're looking for something that's not there.
 
North Entrance said:
I'm not a fan of geographical / habitat zoning. Call me old fashioned but I'd prefer to see all the cats in the same part of the zoo, all the monkeys in the same part of the zoo, the reptiles in a reptile house etc, etc, etc....
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You are obviously yearning for the older style zoo layout with centralised exhibits for the different species and yes, it certainly made seeing animals and comparing them easier, but it will never come back. I'm not overly keen on geographical exhibits either, but I think Chester is more untypical at least in the UK with so having many species- birds, reptiles etc spread all around the zoo in their correct(?) geographical areas. Many other zoos still have more centralised reptile or bird houses

My chief misgiving is that all new and future exhibits at Chester will now be of the 'Islands' style- lots of theming, rock walls and long paths to walk along to reach small viewing windows a long distance from each other...;) Apart from the viewing problems it creates an Americanised/Dysneyesque feel as well.(IMO)
 
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I shop somewhere different each week as I get bored easily and I couldn’t bear to eat the same things all the time - I really like having as much variety and choice as possible. However, my cheapest shop always seems to be at Sainsbury’s. They also have probably the best bakery, I think. I really like the salad bar at Morrison’s, though. Tesco is depressing, has a poor range and one time there was a pigeon trapped in the shop and it kept flying up and hitting the ceiling and knocking itself out, so I’m a bit mentally scarred from that experience.
 
beccasunbear said:
I shop somewhere different each week as I get bored easily and I couldn’t bear to eat the same things all the time - I really like having as much variety and choice as possible. However, my cheapest shop always seems to be at Sainsbury’s. They also have probably the best bakery, I think. I really like the salad bar at Morrison’s, though. Tesco is depressing, has a poor range and one time there was a pigeon trapped in the shop and it kept flying up and hitting the ceiling and knocking itself out, so I’m a bit mentally scarred from that experience.
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Trust you to bring a bear into the conversation !
 
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