Five Sisters Zoo Park Five Sisters Zoo

Hi all, I'm planning to visit FSZ for the first time this year (hoping I can get a train from Edinburgh), does anyone happen to know if there is a list of the species at the zoo? I can't find one on the website and the map has the larger/key species but not all. I'm especially interested in any primate species and canines (and cats, but I see they are listed above).

How long would you recommend spending here?
 
hjkr said:
Hi all, I'm planning to visit FSZ for the first time this year (hoping I can get a train from Edinburgh), does anyone happen to know if there is a list of the species at the zoo? I can't find one on the website and the map has the larger/key species but not all. I'm especially interested in any primate species and canines (and cats, but I see they are listed above).

How long would you recommend spending here?
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There's a page on Zootierliste for Five Sisters, however I'm not sure how accurate it is. It's been recently updated with the new cheetahs and clouded leopards, but I'm not sure if there's anything on there they used to have but don't now.

I'm also planning my first ever visit to Five Sisters this March, though I'm guessing the bears will still be in tomorrow by then so I don't expect to see them. From what I've seen the place looks fantastic and I'm looking forward to it.
 
I have been to Five Sisters several times, including pre Xmas at the end of November. I have also done their photo days.

Bears will now be in Torpor until March.

The tropical house, has Caiman, West African Dwarf Crocodile, Monitor Lizard, Lorikeets, few snakes and lizards
Cranes, Meerkats and Otters are near entrance, as well as primate exhibits for Lemurs (walkthrough closed at present), spider monkeys, white-faced saki monkeys and a few other small primate, as well as Gibbons. There is also an old area of a sort of adventure castle which now has animals in (used to be entrance) which houses Kinkajou, Bats, Raven and Mice, like many nocturnal animals, not easy to see.

On the main walk round of the zoo, the exhibits are on the edge and in the middle is a fairground, not normally open this time of year.

Hard to see Reindeer in their exhibit, Tapir sometimes can be seen opposite.

Zoo has a number of species of cat and small carnivore, notably Lion, Clouded Leopard (not active usually during day), Cheetah (don't often see in paddock, but on the sand area), Snow Leopard (one on show, one off show, nice exhibit), Fishing Cat, Lynx, Rusty Spotted Cats, Red Panda (rarely see), Fossa, Scottish Wildcat, Badger (never see), Arctic Wolves and there may be something else forgotten.

Also small exhibits for Degu, and some other small rodents, as well as a farmyard, with various farm animals. Also a wallaby walkthrough, although again may be closed off in winter.

Not a lot of cover at zoo, so when you go on rainy day, you will get wet!

Cafe is outside the zoo, quite nice, but basic menu and pricey.

It's not over big and you can easily walk around the site in 60-90 minutes. I have found a number of animals certainly in my winter visit no shows, and that included 2/3 walk arounds.

Zoo is not huge, but not small, but definitely geared to families and that with all the rides and stuff around it. Exhibit sizes are decent enough, although a lot of the mesh makes it very hard to get good shots.

Even when I done a photo day the Clouded Leopards were no shows.

RSC, Clouded Leopards, Red Panda, Reindeer, Bears, Fishing Cat & Badgers, were all no shows when I went end of November and looking on social media posts, I would say that others say similar in winter.

Hope this helps.

Not a full inventory but would give you an idea of what you might see.
 
Alwaysevergreen said:
I have been to Five Sisters several times, including pre Xmas at the end of November. I have also done their photo days.

Bears will now be in Torpor until March.

The tropical house, has Caiman, West African Dwarf Crocodile, Monitor Lizard, Lorikeets, few snakes and lizards
Cranes, Meerkats and Otters are near entrance, as well as primate exhibits for Lemurs (walkthrough closed at present), spider monkeys, white-faced saki monkeys and a few other small primate, as well as Gibbons. There is also an old area of a sort of adventure castle which now has animals in (used to be entrance) which houses Kinkajou, Bats, Raven and Mice, like many nocturnal animals, not easy to see.

On the main walk round of the zoo, the exhibits are on the edge and in the middle is a fairground, not normally open this time of year.

Hard to see Reindeer in their exhibit, Tapir sometimes can be seen opposite.

Zoo has a number of species of cat and small carnivore, notably Lion, Clouded Leopard (not active usually during day), Cheetah (don't often see in paddock, but on the sand area), Snow Leopard (one on show, one off show, nice exhibit), Fishing Cat, Lynx, Rusty Spotted Cats, Red Panda (rarely see), Fossa, Scottish Wildcat, Badger (never see), Arctic Wolves and there may be something else forgotten.

Also small exhibits for Degu, and some other small rodents, as well as a farmyard, with various farm animals. Also a wallaby walkthrough, although again may be closed off in winter.

Not a lot of cover at zoo, so when you go on rainy day, you will get wet!

Cafe is outside the zoo, quite nice, but basic menu and pricey.

It's not over big and you can easily walk around the site in 60-90 minutes. I have found a number of animals certainly in my winter visit no shows, and that included 2/3 walk arounds.

Zoo is not huge, but not small, but definitely geared to families and that with all the rides and stuff around it. Exhibit sizes are decent enough, although a lot of the mesh makes it very hard to get good shots.

Even when I done a photo day the Clouded Leopards were no shows.

RSC, Clouded Leopards, Red Panda, Reindeer, Bears, Fishing Cat & Badgers, were all no shows when I went end of November and looking on social media posts, I would say that others say similar in winter.

Hope this helps.

Not a full inventory but would give you an idea of what you might see.
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Actually you can see both snow leopards with one in the main enclosure and the other in the small holding enclosure to the left.
 
Jambi said:
I'm also planning my first ever visit to Five Sisters this March, though I'm guessing the bears will still be in tomorrow by then so I don't expect to see them. From what I've seen the place looks fantastic and I'm looking forward to it.
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I've just realised that my phone's autocorrect changed "torpor" to "tomorrow" and I can't change it now. :confused:
 
I've only been twice in the last 18 months or so (May of last year and the September before) and I saw the red panda and badger on both occasions so I guess I was lucky!
There's the corsac fox and coatis near the wallaby walk through and also the fennec fox that I can think of from my last visit if they are still there :)
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catfan said:
I've only been twice in the last 18 months or so (May of last year and the September before) and I saw the red panda and badger on both occasions so I guess I was lucky!
There's the corsac fox and coatis near the wallaby walk through and also the fennec fox that I can think of from my last visit if they are still there :)
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The red panda is surprisingly active compared to zoos like Edinburgh’s and the badgers are unseen about 70% of the time. I’ve never not seen the panda at five sisters.
 
Alwaysevergreen said:
I have been to Five Sisters several times, including pre Xmas at the end of November. I have also done their photo days.

Bears will now be in Torpor until March.

The tropical house, has Caiman, West African Dwarf Crocodile, Monitor Lizard, Lorikeets, few snakes and lizards
Cranes, Meerkats and Otters are near entrance, as well as primate exhibits for Lemurs (walkthrough closed at present), spider monkeys, white-faced saki monkeys and a few other small primate, as well as Gibbons. There is also an old area of a sort of adventure castle which now has animals in (used to be entrance) which houses Kinkajou, Bats, Raven and Mice, like many nocturnal animals, not easy to see.
Click to expand...

Thank you, this is all very helpful information. I will probably be visiting around mid-late April time so hopefully the weather might be a little better and there will be more activity. Sounds like they have a good variety of species.
 
Alwaysevergreen said:
Yes appreciated, but there is no direct view to the smaller holding, ie path around it. She is moving next month anyway to another Wildlife Park in the UK.
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Do you happen to know where she is moving to? And which one is moving? I assume that means they are looking to get a male to pair with the remaining female?
 
hjkr said:
Do you happen to know where she is moving to? And which one is moving? I assume that means they are looking to get a male to pair with the remaining female?
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I do, but it is not common knowledge, so I don't think it would be right of me to say where at this time.

They are sisters who don't get on, which is why they are moving her. Not sure what Five Sisters plan is, just that this one does not get access to the main paddock, so they thought it best for her, for her to move on. As she is not an EEP animal, the studbook aren't the ones arranging her move, so she is moving to another collection.

How Five Sisters would source a male I do not know, as their 2 females are not EEP studbook animals, so obviously there would be no input from the studbook holder to arrange a male. Also I suspect it would mean they couldn't look to get a male from any collection, whose Snow Leopards belong to the stud book.

However I am not as clued up on this side of things, as many on here, so they would probably be able to answer better, but the above is my current understanding, but I know that the Snow Leopard will be leaving for its new home in the next month or so, and whilst they are building a cracking new exhibit for it, it will be staying in a holding exhibit for a few months, whilst its impressive new exhibit should be finished by the end of the year.
 
Alwaysevergreen said:
I do, but it is not common knowledge, so I don't think it would be right of me to say where at this time.

They are sisters who don't get on, which is why they are moving her. Not sure what Five Sisters plan is, just that this one does not get access to the main paddock, so they thought it best for her, for her to move on. As she is not an EEP animal, the studbook aren't the ones arranging her move, so she is moving to another collection.

How Five Sisters would source a male I do not know, as their 2 females are not EEP studbook animals, so obviously there would be no input from the studbook holder to arrange a male. Also I suspect it would mean they couldn't look to get a male from any collection, whose Snow Leopards belong to the stud book.

However I am not as clued up on this side of things, as many on here, so they would probably be able to answer better, but the above is my current understanding, but I know that the Snow Leopard will be leaving for its new home in the next month or so, and whilst they are building a cracking new exhibit for it, it will be staying in a holding exhibit for a few months, whilst its impressive new exhibit should be finished by the end of the year.
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The snow leopards are getting a new exhibit?
 
derek said:
Who else is building a snow leopard enclosure other than Chester?
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Linton Zoo are raising money for one, but it is a new enclosure because of a breeding recommendation for Snow Leopards that are already there, so not a new species.
 
I popped into 5 Sisters the other morning whilst in Scotland and noticed there are a few changes going on at present.

The first is at the back on the "Secret Graden" next to the Bears on the corner. There is a large indoor room, which is definitely being converted to an exhibit. There was a lot of sand, and lamps set up in there and rocky bits, and they were putting mesh all around the sides and on the floor, to then be covered. I didn't like to take a photo as workmen were working in there, but I would say it looked halfway completed. I do not know what will be going in there, but it looks like it will be set up to suit something like Armadillo or Mongoose.

I don't think it will be Meerkats as the Zoo only has one mob and they are being built a new exhibit. This exhibit is nearly finished and I have put some pictures below.

Meerkat Exhibit

Meerkat Exhibit

Meerkat Exhibit

Meerkat Exhibit

Meerkat Exhibit

Meerkat Exhibit


I was chatting to one of the workmen near the Clouded Leopards and cracked the joke of have you seen them, he said nope and he works here all day, but he was constructing a hut by them and told me, that this hut was going to contain a TV station, which would show a live feed into their bedrooms, so people would be able to see them. Most Cloudy's at zoos seem active, but at Five Sisters, the pair seem to rarely ever use their exhibit outdoors, unless its in the evenings. I know they are considered nocturnal by the zoo, but as forest cats a lot of them bask in the sun in the trees and platforms in their enclosures. I often wonder if as they are rather shy, and they came from a private collection where they wouldn't have seen the public, that because their house is off-show they chose just to stay in there whilst people are around. It could also be considered that maybe the colder climate doesn't suit them. Most collections with Cloudy's appear to be down south where it is warmer and even on damp days, it's not normally very windy and cold. The exhibit at Five Sisters is in the open, with massive fields next to it, with strong winds blowing in, at its seldom anything but cold. It is also very low (although not as low as Thrigbys) and I wonder if that puts them off venturing outside as they can't get nice and high and soak in the sun. It's a shame such a lovely species is rarely if ever visible there and even when I done a Photography evening last May, around a month after they arrived, we spent 30 minutes outside their exhibit for them to be a no show. I notice that in all photography sessions since, they have not included the Clouded Leopards as part of them, and have switched them from evenings to mornings. At least the TV room set up, will allow visitors to now see them.

I saw the soon to be departing Snow Leopard out and about in the left sided exhibit. Her move to a new collection has been delayed because of something that has shown up in fecal checks. She as I understand has had treatment for it, and the receiving zoo are waiting for another round of fecal checks to confirm whether she is in the clear yet or not, so if they receive that, she will soon be departing to join her new collection.

Snow Leopard

Snow Leopard


The final thing to note, whilst not exciting for many would be there must be at least 6/7 baby Prairie Dogs running about in their exhibit! It's not a small exhibit, but I counted upwards of 25 Prairie Dogs, I don't think I have seen so many of them in an exhibit before, aside of South Lakes, where whilst there are too many for sure, they do have a massive run of land. Here is a picture of one of the babies, I would hazard is a few months old.

Baby Prairie Dog

Baby Prairie Dog

 
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