Nocturnal houses

Does anbody knows what Species Budapest Zoo keeps in the Nocturnal Section in its Australia House ? The guidebook names only Quolls and Sugar Gliders.

Is there another nocturnal department at the Zoo ?
 
Bib Fortuna said:
Does anbody knows what Species Budapest Zoo keeps in the Nocturnal Section in its Australia House ? The guidebook names only Quolls and Sugar Gliders.

Is there another nocturnal department at the Zoo ?
Click to expand...

(information below based on a visit to Budapest Zoo in April of this year)

There are multiple small nocturnal sections all around Budapest Zoo. Within the Australia part of the zoo, there is a house with Quoll, Kowari, Echidna and Wombat and in the walkthrough nocturnal section of the main Australia house are Brush-tailed Bettong, Grey Cuscus, Lyel's Flying Fox, Sugar Glider, and Common Brushtail Possum. There are also Feather-tailed Gliders near the walkthrough nocturnal section.

There are other nocturnal sections at the zoo, but not one big nocturnal house. There is a nocturnal enclosure for Aardvarks in the Savannah Section and several nocturnal enclosures in 'Magic Mountain' (I don't have a species list for those though). I think that is it, though I could be forgetting a couple.
 
@LaughingDove.

Thank you for the information.

Now I'm looking for more detailed informations about the two Nocturnal Houses at Chester Zoo. The fist Nocturnal Section was located in the Tropcial House-when was this section opened-together with the Tropcial House in 1964 ? What species were in it ?

The second was opened around the beginning of the 80ty years in the Small House-but where was or is this Small Mammal House-I can't find in the maps of the Guidebooks from the 80ties...so is this "Small Mamal House"only a section of the Tropcial House ?
 
Bib Fortuna said:
@LaughingDove.

Thank you for the information.

Now I'm looking for more detailed informations about the two Nocturnal Houses at Chester Zoo. The fist Nocturnal Section was located in the Tropcial House-when was this section opened-together with the Tropcial House in 1964 ? What species were in it ?

The second was opened around the beginning of the 80ty years in the Small House-but where was or is this Small Mammal House-I can't find in the maps of the Guidebooks from the 80ties...so is this "Small Mamal House"only a section of the Tropcial House ?
Click to expand...

The first nocturnal section was in existence before the Tropical House (now the Tropical Realm) was completed. It is shown in this photo from 1957 which is in the Gallery.



The block at right angles to the chimp gallery had the indoor quarters for the pygmy hippos and a crocodile pool on the ground floor, which were viewed from a raised walkway which led into the nocturnal section. The last three or four of the large windows on the first floor of this block were covered with very dark blue paint to provide the blackout. At that time the exit was through the door visible at the end of the block, which led to the ramp (or steps?) down from the chimps; later the exit was along the upper gallery of the Tropical House, which is now a dead end. This area is now off show and includes the indoor part of the hyacinthine macaw aviary.

As you say the second nocturnal display was in the Small Mammal House, which was to the west of the elephant paddock, at the left rear in this old photo (there are more photos in the Gallery, but this one shows the location quite well).



This area of the zoo was considerably redeveloped when the new entrance was built. The elephant paddock has been extended over part of the site of this old house, and the rest of the area is now the wide pathway leading from the entrance towards the Monkey House, between the elephant paddock and the Bembe Kitchen. The nocturnal section was a modification at the northern end of the house, when light traps were fitted in the public area inside the house so that the indoor enclosures at that end of the house could be darkened during the day. If my memory is correct there were only a few enclosures (3 or 5?), the largest being for the Rodrigues fruit bats. Most of the indoor and outdoor enclosures of the house were not affected by this development.

Alan
 
Wow-thank Alan for all these informations. So the first Nocturnal section was opened in 1957 ? in this case it would makes it the second NH in Britain.

And the second one ended when the Small Mammal house was demolished, in what year ? Thanks your picture I've found it now in the Maps, it is not labeld, thats why I couldn't locate it...But it seems, both were very small.
 
Bib Fortuna said:
Wow-thank Alan for all these informations. So the first Nocturnal section was opened in 1957 ? in this case it would makes it the second NH in Britain.

And the second one ended when the Small Mammal house was demolished, in what year ? Thanks your picture I've found it now in the Maps, it is not labeld, thats why I couldn't locate it...But it seems, both were very small.
Click to expand...

I can't confirm the 1957 date exactly, but I think it's approximately correct. The fact that the building existed in 1957 doesn't mean that it was open then and 1957 was before my first visit as a young boy. I hope to visit the Chester Zoo Library later this week and I will try to look up details for you - likewise the date for the demolition of the Small Mammal House. That will have been about the time that the Twilight Zone (now the Fruit Bat Forest) was built in 1998.
Perhaps bongorob or another Chester member know more than I do.

Alan
 
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