new exhibits in British zoos

kiang

kiang

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
there has been a lot of new exhibits recently the s america area in the clore and the gorilla kingdom in london, realm of the red ape at chester, siamang and asian animals and the encounter area at marwell, the new monkey house at bristol, a new monkey house also at dudley, a new walk through aviary at twycross, the primates seem to be getting well looked after at the moment, with the new £5 million budongo chimpanzee exhibit at edinburgh nearing completion along with the lifelinks centre for south american species and a new walk through aviary for rainbow lorikeet with the option for feeding them due to open soon. Other major exhibits planned include a new aquarium at chester, a new tropical house at belfast, a crocodile house at paignton, an orang utan exhibit with se asian animals at colchester, new giraffe houses at banham and cotswold wp, there also plans for a gorilla exhibit at marwell, a new house for indian rhino at whipsnade, new enclosures for amur tiger, snow leopard and palls cat and a new red panda enclosure at the highland wildlife park. the British zoo scene at the moment is thriving with all this investment, things are looking good.
 
Thats really good news to hear they are pouring so much money into upgrading exhibits and new plans for other species
 
I saw the building site for Paignton's new crocodile exhibit last weekend - it is going to be huge!
 
I was told something about a chinese area at Chester, near where the otters and Vasa parrots are.

There is also a new Parrot aviary near the off show one. It's brilliant.
 
I was at Edinburgh on Saturday. The Budongo project looks as though it is at or nearing structural completion. The external rope and timber climbing apparatus has been erected. It looked as though the contractors were preparing earthworks for the moat. Should be a very impressive facility when it opens next spring.

The Rainbow Landings building looks complete from the outside, apart from landscaping. Unfortunately it looks like a fairly ugly, bog-standard industrial shed. Hopefully the landscaping will include some means of 'beautifying' the building which at the moment is a bit of an eyesore compared to the rest of the zoo.

The Living Links building is architecturally more interesting and is beginning to take shape with cladding and landscaping works now taking place.
 
Here's two more to add to the list:

Madagascar exhibit at Cotswold WP
Reptile House at Welsh Mountain Zoo
 
I've no idea, but two keepers mentione it. A walk througha viary or something like that. That would also mean that the vasa parrots, Derbyan parakeets and the small parrots, finches and doves in the nearby aviaries would have to be relocated.

The otters may be moved to Realm of the red ape. I went behind the scenes withe the members, and it was brilliant. I have to say, that I can now appreciate how much space the orangs now have compared to their old house, which I've also been behind the scenes in.
 
Hornbill,

I would expect Derbyan Parakeets to stay. They are endemic to China. This seems like an evolution of the Himalayan area which was proposed a few years ago.

Already the rock garden has been refurbished as a Chinese garden. Chinese Red Pandas and Red-crowned Cranes are already in residence, (as was a Golden Pheasant until earlier this year).

Chris79,

Do you know anything about the new reptile house at Colwyn Bay?
 
isn't the chester zoo twinned with the chengdu panda breeding centre in wolong, china so maybe just maybe a couple of giant pandas (i think i know the answer to this one).
 
kiang said:
isn't the chester zoo twinned with the chengdu panda breeding centre in wolong, china so maybe just maybe a couple of giant pandas (i think i know the answer to this one).
Click to expand...

The answer is 99.9% no. No giant pandas, but the zoo does support Chengdu.
 
bongorob said:
Hornbill,

I would expect Derbyan Parakeets to stay. They are endemic to China. This seems like an evolution of the Himalayan area which was proposed a few years ago.

Already the rock garden has been refurbished as a Chinese garden. Chinese Red Pandas and Red-crowned Cranes are already in residence, (as was a Golden Pheasant until earlier this year).
Click to expand...

Would the otters need to move. I know they're usually considered a South East Asian species really but I thought they had a fairly large range- could they be considered a chinese species?

I'd have guessed the same as you with cranes, red pandas and derbyans staying as all are already in the area close to the chinese garden. Do you think the bongos may be relocated (perhaps to the buffalo area near okapis or something) to make way for a chinese ungulate? Takin'd really complete the area!
 
They do support the work of one of the giant panda breeding centres, but as to acquiring a couple of panda's it is very unlikely in my opinion, esp with the superzoo plans being tendered for and i believe the tender has been awarded.
 
Chester does not support wild takins, But they do support chinese laughing thrushes so they could go in this aviary. I imagine that the bongo will move to a different part of the zoo in the near future.
 
Small-clawed Otters do live in China, as does the Eurasian Otter. The Chester enclosure would not be suitable for the latter.

The present bongo paddock could be used to house Asian deer, it was originally built for the wapiti. Besides takin there are serow and kiang which could also go into this exhibit. If I could chose an new species of endangered bird for the aviary I would go for crested ibis.
 
bongorob,

Realistically speaking no. The crested ibis thing is much more a local conservation success story and captive-breeding is succeeding well in China as it is. No need to set up a satellite program.

I would favour other endangered Chinese taxa. F.i. Sichuan takin to reflect the relationship of Chester with Chengdu and the province. Perhaps the Chinese are willing to provide some much needed new animals for the European population (based on Rotterdam born animals only). Also, Chinese alligator be nice for an outdoor exhibit (they can withstand bouts of snow and all in hib).
 
i think the bongo paddock would make a great mixed hoofstock exhibit with any of thorolds deer, sichuan takin, tufted deer, muntjac, chinese grey goral which are certainly available throughout europe, i certainly think laughing thrushes should be on show to highlight the work chester does for them in the wild.
 
bongorob said:
If I could chose an new species of endangered bird for the aviary I would go for crested ibis.
Click to expand...

Jelle

I didn't mean Chester ought to get some, what I wanted to say was that it would be nice if they did. It's good news that the ibis are making a comeback, wasn't there only 9 birds left alive in the 1970s?
 
The crested Ibis would be a bit hard for Chester to exhibit, but the madagascan crested ibis could be displayed, or released free flifght in the tropical realm. It's a beautiful bird.
 
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