Chester Zoo Islands - Opening and impressions

Jackwow said:
Thanks Bongorob. So the whole islands development is really just about new enclosures and virtually no new species? Isn't that kind of disappointing? :confused:
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Some of the current stock has been rehomed into better enclosures vacated by the animals in Islands, including the capuchins and the younger babrirusas. Some new species are going or will go into these enclosures too: the sun bears are the first, the 'Geordie monkeys' may be the next and I'm sure there will be more.

Alan
 
At the zoo today, builders on the site of where the new tapir enclosure will be within islands, said that they were installing electricity cables and that the orangs were moving on the 28th.
 
Chester recieved 12 very rare Javan short-tailed green magpies ( Cissa thalassina ) ! The animals came from the Cikananga Conservation Breeding Center in Indonesia which is one of the few places ( the only ? ) breeding this species. With the help of Taman Safari Zoo at Bogor this export was made possible.
In the same shipment also 7 of the endangered Sumatran Pied laughing thrushes ( Garrulax bicolor ) came to Chester.
 
Sumatran Laughing Thrushes are already on show by the entrance to the Tropical Realm, and have been for about 4 years.
 
Islands Closure

When going to buy tickets online, from the 11th to the 22nd January tickets are half price because "Islands is closed on the date you've chosen to enable us to make a few enhancements.You’ll see that we’ve adjusted our prices to reflect this, so you can enjoy the rest of the zoo for 50% off the usual price"
I believe this could mean that this is the date that the Sumartran Orangutan's will be moving into their new home. I could be wrong but this is what I believe...
 
GeorgeMcCormick said:
I believe this could mean that this is the date that the Sumartran Orangutan's will be moving into their new home. I could be wrong but this is what I believe...
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2 + 2 = 4 (hopefully) except perhaps they are going to be working on the reptile display before the macaques or perhaps they are going to be doing both :)

Alan
 
GeorgeMcCormick said:
When going to buy tickets online, from the 11th to the 22nd January tickets are half price because "Islands is closed on the date you've chosen to enable us to make a few enhancements.You’ll see that we’ve adjusted our prices to reflect this, so you can enjoy the rest of the zoo for 50% off the usual price"
I believe this could mean that this is the date that the Sumartran Orangutan's will be moving into their new home. I could be wrong but this is what I believe...
Click to expand...
Worth noting it says Islands is closed not Monsoon Forest,I would suggest that the whole thing is closed,so they can sort out some of the little niggles over,the whole of the project that have only been found after it has opened,so they could well be closing it all to sort out these,without the problem of visitors walking about the site getting in the way of sorting these out!
 
I was told a week ago today that they are moving in January so it adds up. Also as ZG above there must be a few snagging problems to sort out moving forwards. It's coming along nicely I would say for such a large new build.
 
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Thinking it over, I think it would make sense to close all of Islands when the orangs go into their new outdoor enclosures for the first time. I don't think for a moment that anything is likely to go wrong, but if anything untoward did happen you wouldn't want visitors in the way. I'm sure zg is right that there will be other jobs that will be easier to do without visitors, particularly when the hours of daylight are so short at this time of year.

Alan
 
Also the land to the left of the (banteng enclosure?) At the bottom of the picture seems to have been landscaped with what I imagine is a holding lake for the lazy river but still looks perfect for easy expansion.
 
This also makes much clearer the oft-discussed, off-show grass paddock for the banteng.
 
Bongorob and I were among the first into the Monsoon Forest this morning. The orangs looked very chilled in their new indoor enclosures, they rather reminded of a family relaxing together on holiday. The little ones were swinging around, Subis was relaxing on one of the steel mesh 'nests' having carefully lined it with a nice piece of sacking, Emma came up to a window for a close look at the punters and then climbed up out of sight and Puluh was testing out various spots on the floor to find the best place to sit. I wish I could have stayed longer to watch them, but it was only a flying visit.
The orangs are in the two western indoor enclosures, separated from the gibbons in the eastern one. The gibbons seem well settled too and sang a duet quite nicely, although perhaps slightly piano - I expect they will work up to fortissimo when the weather warms up.
We saw the lizards in two of the newly furnished reptile enclosures, but could not spot the turtles.
The Lazy River boat ride is closed at the moment. Reconstruction work is going on at the embarkation side of the landing and the water level in the river has been dropped.
Inside RotRA,work has started on removing the soil and bark from the floor of the indoor orang enclosures. I hope the Bornean orangs can move across quite soon.

Alan
 
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