Bristol Zoo (Closed) Past Animals at Clifton zoological gardens

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Cat-Man

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
what animals have been kept here in the past i know of tigers and some others, but what else and were were they kept, and is it possible for someone to provide me with a couple of past maps?
 
Cat-Man said:
what animals have been kept here in the past i know of tigers and some others, but what else and were were they kept, and is it possible for someone to provide me with a couple of past maps?
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Polar Bears. I'm sure were kept where the Penguins and Seals are now.
Camels, up in the corner by the Reptile house.
Elephants where the Gorrillas are.
Giraffe where the Okapi are.
 
Black rhinos were the hippos are.
A grey seal where the gentle lemurs are.
Various big cats including tigers and leopards in the lion enclosure, then many divided pens.
 
Wendy lived on the Gorilla island too, I remember seeing her there. They also had tigers in the old polar bear enclosure after the polar bears left (or were put down?), and this is where seal and penguin coasts is today. They also had a bear pit which was converted into the aquarium. Not sure what type of bears were there though, I assume they were brown bears.
 
Johnny Morris. said:
I can't recall Wendy living where the Okapi enclosure is, only Giraffes.
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wendy lived on both sides of the elephant House. first with christina the african female on the Gorilla side- their outdoor yard was only about a half the size of the island. later she lived alone on the other side.

Other past 'large' species kept at Bristol include;
Sumatran & Bornean orangutan.
chimpanzee
Mandrill/Drill(both species)
yellow & Guinea Baboon.
black mangabey.
diana monkey
moor macaque(or hybrid)
rhesus macaque(colony)
grey langur. silvered leaf monkey
pileated/agile/lar gibbon.
brown bear/himalayan bear/sloth bear/sun bear/polar bear
puma/jaguar/leopard(spotted& black) sumatran tiger/indian tiger(white & normal)/crossbred tiger/african lion/
grevy zebra
grants zebra
damara zebra
llama/alpaca/beisa oryx/reedbuck/bushpig/porcupine
axis deer/red kangaroo
american bison
ostrich
ground hornbill
raven
secretary bird
 
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Didn't they breed the first squirrel monkey in captivity? I spent ages watching them today, I know they're very common but they're so fun to watch. The new aviary is great, that renovation was much needed! And the part with the lories was fun, people seemed really interested in learning about them too which is encouraging. Also, the gorillas were shut in, the islands main gate was open and there was a large pile of telegraph poles outside the zoo, I guess they're going on the island. There were also mongoose lemurs in the walkthrough in place of the ringtails that apparently went somewhere in Birmingham.
Sorry, bit off topic. I think they had more than one grey seal at one point, maybe in the show pool that was where Zona Brazil is (is that where it is?)?
 
There were tarsiers and a pacarana in the previous Nocturnal House above the restaurant.

There was also a very unusual macaque species, probably a Mentawai Island macaque, although I think there was some confusion over what species it really was.....
 
Tim May said:
There were tarsiers and a pacarana in the previous Nocturnal House above the restaurant.

There was also a very unusual macaque species, probably a Mentawai Island macaque, although I think there was some confusion over what species it really was.....
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And in the previous nocturnal house to that one, which was at the back of the Bird House, they had Genet, civet, kinkajous etc.

the 'Mentawi Island macaque' was later designated as a 'macaque hybrid' and probably had a moor macaque as one parent as it was sooty brown in colour and had a stump-tail.

another previous large species; Californian sealions. I think they also had Gelada baboons at one stage in the old Monkey House, which was also on the site of the current enclosures.
 
Johnny Morris. said:
Polar Bears. I'm sure were kept where the Penguins and Seals are now.
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The Polar Bear enclosure was right in that corner of the zoo- the zoo wall formed the rear sides of the enclosure with a watermoat at the front. There were steps up to a public walkway. Later two more similar smaller bear pits were constructed between it and the old Guthrie Road entrance gate and the public walkway extended along, with steps at both ends.

The enclosure nearest the entrance held a pair of Brown Bears. The next one contained Himalayan, Sun & Sloth bears mixed together, possibly all three at one time. Sloth Bears were previously kept in the Aquarium area cages too.
 
The blue painted walls of the rear of the polar bear enclosure can still be seen behind the fur seal pool . Polar , brown and I think Himalayan bears bred and reared young in these small enclosures .

They also had a clouded leopards in the Cat House in the 1960's - a male lived from January 1961 to July 1968 , neither of 2 prospective mates brought in during this period survived very long ( not that he killed them , as far as is known ) .
 
Pertinax said:
wendy lived on both sides of the elephant House. first with christina the african female on the Gorilla side- their outdoor yard was only about a half the size of the island. later she lived alone on the other side.

Other past 'large' species kept at Bristol include;
Sumatran & Bornean orangutan.
chimpanzee
Mandrill/Drill(both species)
yellow & Guinea Baboon.
black mangabey.
diana monkey
moor macaque(or hybrid)
rhesus macaque(colony)
grey langur. silvered leaf monkey
pileated/agile/lar gibbon.
brown bear/himalayan bear/sloth bear/sun bear/polar bear
puma/jaguar/leopard(spotted& black) sumatran tiger/indian tiger(white & normal)/crossbred tiger/african lion/
grevy zebra
grants zebra
damara zebra
llama/alpaca/beisa oryx/reedbuck/bushpig/porcupine
axis deer/red kangaroo
american bison
ostrich
ground hornbill
raven
secretary bird
Click to expand...

were at the zoo were these kept





i knew they had polar bears, but wasnt sure were, i know there enclosure was converted for arabian gazelle.

knew they had sumartra orag, but not about borneo

did they ever have chimps

i presume the zebra were where the cassowary enclosure or zona brazil is now

were were the tapir, okapi and cassowary kept before there current enclosures








thanks for replies so far hopefully will be more
 
Bristol was also the first zoo in the UK, if not further afield, to breed polar bears to a second generation. I'll have to hit the books for more info.
 
Animals mentioned in a guide book from about 1963/64
potto
slow and slender loris
brown capuchin
Geoffreys spider monkey
mandrill
drill
Guinea baboon
gelada
pig tailed, crab eating, stump tailed, moor and rhesus macaques
sooty and white crowned mangabeys
green, mona, diana, patas and guenon
white handed gibbon
paca
Canadian beaver
two spotted palm civet
pardine and blotched genet
jaguar
puma
caracal
Californian sea lion
Grevy's, Burchell's and Grant's zebra
African bush pig
axis deer
Cummings bushbuck
bohor reedbuck
Persian gazelle
red and grey kangaroo
red crowned crane
Andean condor
bateleur and imperial eagle
 
An IZES Collector's Fair and meeting was held at Bristol Zoo back in March . We were treated to a film show put together from old home movies of the zoo dating back to the 50's and onwards . Many of the species mentioned above and the old houses were shown . I made my first visit to Bristol Zoo over 55 years ago and can remember a lot of the old animals and enclosures and really enjoyed seeing film of them .
 
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