Seaside Zoos

[Devi]

I'm looking to combine a zoo trip with an easter holiday. Does anyone know of a good zoo, preferably with seldom seen species, that is coastal?
I've done Paignton, Monkey World, and Borth fairly recently, so not them.

 

[zoogiraffe]

Newquay,Thrigby Hall,Amazona Zoo are all very near the coast and worth a visitas far as I`m concerned.

 

[gentle lemur]

Blackpool, Colwyn Bay (Welsh Mountain) and even Chester (there is plenty of sand in the Dee estuary, but not much water even at high tide).

Alan

 

[Devi]

Newquay, Welsh Mountain, and Blackpool are on my shortlist, I've also thought about Colchester.
Do any of these have unusual species? All their sites seem fairly non informative.

 

[Shorts]

Off the top of my head, and probably far from definitive:

Newquay: Paca, Asian Fishing Cat, Black Wildebeest, Fossa, Belted Black & White Ruffed Lemur (not a separate species, but interesting nevertheless), Philipine Spotted Deer, Visayan Warty Pig, Owston's Palm Civet (unlikely to see), Narrow Striped Mongoose, Six Banded Armadillo, Tamandua.

Welsh Mountain Zoo: Brown Bears, Arctic Fox, Andean Condor, very large Alligator.

Blackpool: Blesbok, Hartmann's Mountain Zebra, Markhor, Yacare Caiman, Mellaganic Penguin, Aardvark, North American Tree Porcupine, Arabian Gazelle, Agile Wallaby, Ground Cuscus, King Colobus, Lesser Mouse Lemur, Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, West African Mud Turtle.

Colchester: Geoffroy's Cat, Binturong, Aardvark, Striped Hyena, Spotted Hyena, White-nosed Coatis, Cherry-crowned Managbey, Black-backed Jackal, Komodo Dragon, Cuban Crocodile, Slender-snouted Crocodile, Warthogs, Patas Monkey, Blue Duiker, Cuban Hutia, Mandrill, Gelada Baboon, White Tiger (if that's your bag).

Newquay's a great little zoo (arguably the best little zoo in the UK), Blackpool's very good, a nice medium to large-ish zoo (it has the advantage of being built early '70's, therefore no really old enclosures, great Sea Lion enclosure too), and I like Colchester and think it's a good large zoo (great Sea Lion walk-through and you can feed (supervised) the Giraffes & Elephants) -I agree, as someone here has stated, it's a "Marmite zoo" but I know many who don't particularly like it who still concede it's a great collection.

 

[foz]

Off the top of my head, and probably far from definitive:

Newquay: Paca, Asian Fishing Cat, Black Wildebeest, Fossa, Belted Black & White Ruffed Lemur (not a separate species, but interesting nevertheless), Philipine Spotted Deer, Visayan Warty Pig, Owston's Palm Civet (unlikely to see), Narrow Striped Mongoose, Six Banded Armadillo, Tamandua.QUOTE]

I dont think they have tamandua anymore (I think it was posted on these forums somewhere). And you are almost gurantee'd to see the owston palm civets in their little hut next to their cage where they are always curled up aspleep. ...and dont forget the carpathian lynx one of the very few in the UK (according to zootierliste Edinburgh and Highland wildlife park also have carpathian lynx).

 

[Shorts]

I stand corrected on the Tamandua.

Either the exhibit has changed or I've been unlucky or stupid (not impossible) to miss the Civets on my last two visits.

Carpathian Lynx, mumbles "not a recognised sub-species" (though things may have changed recently, I lose track) -beautiful pair of cats though!

 

[Mzungu]

Devi, i work at the welsh mountain zoo and i think it is worth visiting (im paid to be a little biased ). I think our 'best' animals include snow leopards (who are mating so fingers crossed we'll have littlens again), chimps, Tigers, Gibbons, Meerkats who have had littlens after only being together since september, European brown bears, red faced spider monkey (only 3 zoos in britain have them i think), new fishing eagles, sea lions and plenty more. Worth the visit as its not the same atmosphere as youll find in other nearby zoos such as Chester ect.

Welsh Mountain Zoo - North Wales Snowdonia attraction

Theres a full list of the animals found there.