Bristol Zoo (Closed) Past Animals at Clifton zoological gardens

[Pertinax]

Bristol was the first zoo in the UK to breed chimpanzee

... and Gorilla and Okapi.

 

[Pertinax]

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 .

That is almost exactly the date of my first visit too. Oddly enough I have no recollection of seeing the Gorillas on that very first visit- what I do remember seeing was the rhino enclosure.

But I also visited many other times during the late '50's and early sixties and can remember many of the enclosures of that era and the animals they contained.

 

[Tim May]

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.

Searching the intranet, I discovered that Kitchener and Groves recognise that Bristol Zoo specimen as a Siberut macaque Macaca siberu
Reference: Kitchener A.C. and Groves C. 2002. “New insights into the taxonomy of the Mentawai Island macaques”. Mammalia, 66: 533-542.

 

[ZooTeacher]

His name was Charlie and he was the very first animal I worked with as a keeper. He lived with many other primates over the years including a young colobus monkey. There are pictures of him in Noel Rowe's 'Pictorial Guide to the Living Primates'. We knew him as a Mentawi Island macaque, but long after he died he became the '1st' Siberut Macaque.

 

[Pertinax]

His name was Charlie and he was the very first animal I worked with as a keeper. There are pictures of him in Noel Rowe's 'Pictorial Guide to the Living Primates'. We knew him as a Mentawi Island macaque, but long after he died he became the '1st' Siberut Macaque.

Fascinating. If I remember correctly the cage label was later changed from 'Mentawi island macaque' to 'Macaque hybrid' or at least that is how he was later described.

Presumably his true identity only came to light posthumously?

 

[ZooTeacher]

Yeah, he died in 97 (I think) and was re-classified up in Edinburgh in the early 00's

 

[Pertinax]

Yeah, he died in 97 (I think) and was re-classified up in Edinburgh in the early 00's

I was pretty certain he wasn't a Mentawi Island macaque even when he was alive. I have only seen drawings, not a photo of them, but from those they seem to resemble Pig -tailed Macaques.

 

[Bwassa]

Bristol 1st's

Bristol was the 1st zoo in the UK to breed: Black Rhino (1958); Okapi (1963); Lowland Gorilla (1971).
It was the first in Europe to breed Chimpanzee (1934)
And the first in the world to breed Squirrel Monkey (1953).

Polar Bears: Sebastian was born in 1958, only the second polar bear cub to be successfully reared in the UK. In 1959, a female bear, called Nina, came from Copenhagen to be his mate. In 1966 a female cub , Sabrina, was born to this couple, making it the first recorded successful rearing of a second generation polar bear in the UK. Sabrina then went to London to be the mate for Pipaluk. I'm not sure if she was the last polar bear at Chester, circa 1991/92. Can anyone help with this?
Apparently, 2 years after the birth of Sebastian, his mother again had cubs, but while nursing them, there was a burst water pipe in Guthrie Road, which the polar bear dens backed on to. The noise from the workmen drove her to kill and eat the cubs

 

[bongorob]

Sabrina was the last Polar Bear at Chester Zoo. She died in 1992.

 

[Pertinax]

Bristol was the 1st zoo in the UK to breed: Black Rhino (1958); Okapi (1963); Lowland Gorilla (1971).

Apparently, 2 years after the birth of Sebastian, his mother again had cubs, but while nursing them, there was a burst water pipe in Guthrie Road, which the polar bear dens backed on to. The noise from the workmen drove her to kill and eat the cubs

Despite having 'firsts' with those three species, Bristol's later record with successful breeding all three was not so good with a lot of mortalities.

Regarding the polar bears. the original breeding pair were'William' & 'Cynthia'. Cynthia produced cubs for several years, always around December 4th, before Sebastian was successfully reared.

When the father died, Cynthia lived as a trio with Sebastian and Nina, One year both females reared a cub each, Cynthia's being fathered by her adult son,Sebastian. I seem to remember a temporary wall was put into the enclosure to seperate the two mothers while Sebastian was locked away offshow during the daytime. I don't know where those two cubs were sent to.

 

[tobyBZG]

I dont think Bristol were the first to breed in captivity, although 1971 was when the first gorilla was raised in captivity (Daniel), there have been several births before then but obviously dns.

 

[Pertinax]

I dont think Bristol were the first to breed in captivity, although 1971 was when the first gorilla was raised in captivity (Daniel), there have been several births before then but obviously dns.

Bristol was definately the first zoo in the UK(though not in the World by any means) to breed Gorillas.

The first birth was actually another male baby born a few weeks before Daniel to their other female 'Caroline.' This baby died and then Daniel was born 10th April, so he was the 2nd birth (both being at Bristol) and the first to survive.

 

[MikeG]

I have some notes from a visit to Bristol I made almost 30 years ago. At that time the zoo was exhibiting a Grizzled Tree Kangaroo (Dendrolagus inustus), Plains Viscacha, Wallaroo, Pesquet's Parrot, American Purple Gallinule, Sparkling Violet-ear Hummingbird, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Grey-breasted Spiderhunter (Arachnothera affinis), Purple Sugarbird and Yellow-vented Bulbul.

 

[bongorob]

I remember the Pesquet's Parrots but not the rest. I saw them in 1977.

 

[kiang]

I never knew that the zoo kept a kiwi, all i know is it was pre 1918, this info is gleaned from the book, We went to the zoo today...
The golden age of zoo postcards by Alan Ashby, the kiwi is featured on a postcard that also shows a chimpanzee and a cockatoo

 

[Dartboy]

[/QUOTE]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[/QUOTE]

Basically their were no cassowary they only came in a few years ago the current cassowary enclosure was split in two (you their is still the old fence down the middle with the gate open today) Okapis on the lager side and zebras on the other. Im not sure if they had tapir.

 

[Bele]

Bristol Zoo's old Ape House with 'new' Gorilla annexe had breeding pairs/groups of Chimp , Gorilla , Bornean and Sumatran orang . I believe in one year they had births of four ape species - Chimp , Orang , Gorilla and Gibbon .

 

[Designaka]

The kiwi appears in the 1904 guidebook but is absent from the 1909 guidebook. I'm researching a book about the history of Bristol Zoo and would like to obtain any images pre-1900. Any help would be greatly appreciated. – Alan Ashby

 

[kiang]

A real surprise for me reading a press release about the zoo's new book, celebrating Bristols 175th anniversary.

While researching the book, Alan Ashby discovered many previously- unseen photos, illustrations and archive documents, such as the never-before-published photo of a rare gerenuk (a species of antelope) with its keeper in 1956.

I always thought the now closed Belle Vue zoo and possibly Regent's park were the only places ever to hold gerenuk in the UK.

A NEW book has been published charting the colourful history of Bristol Zoo in celebration of its 175th anniversary.

 

[Maguari]

There is indeed a shot of a Gerenuk at Bristol in the book.

More amazing still was information given at the IZES meeting by former head keeper Don Packham that the zoo kept Emperor Penguins for a short time (he collected them himself from the airport).