Chester Zoo Small news at Chester Zoo

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Visited today...

- Baatschi is an impressive creature and was interacting well with Patna
- I really like the bridge and I saw the Anoa for the first time!
- The croc pools and cheetah paddocks are coming along well
- The giraffes were shut in all day and the public weren't allowed entry to the house.
- I didn't see the female or baby babirusa but I did see the male.
- There is a baby spider monkey
- The campbell's geunons in the Mandrill enclosure had been removed and could be seen in a mobile cage in the keeper corrider at the back of the mandrill cage.
- Nearly all of the monkeys in monkey islands were outside (which is a rareity for me)
- the new signs on the bridge point towards ruffed lemurs yet the cartoon image is of a ring-tail ;)
- Landscaping was going on in the first indoor quarter in ROTRA (all Orangs were outside, incl. baby)
- I didn't realise the sitatunga numbers had increased so much. I counted at least 12.
- I have a sneaking suspicion that the female warthog is pregnant. She seems 'plumper' than on my previous visit and was slightly aggressive towards the male.
 
Does any one know when there due? Because am sure that on Zoo Days they thought they were close together within a couple of months
 
Pygathrix said:
Low fence around the bit by RORA really suggests animals are going in there, agree otters would fit.

Forgot to mention - one of the star aviaries has been demolished, I've not noticed this before.

Maned wolf enclosure flattened and fence removed but no sign of butterfly house yet.

Female warthog now has a mate.
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The aviary was demolished when Islands in Danger was built I think, the space is now a garden. I'm surprised that the other aviary is still in use, it is 38 years old.

I can't see any problem with putting otters in the small enclosure at RORA. The carnivore team will be responsible for the cheetahs which are quite a way
from everything else they keep, so going to RORA is not much of a problem. They look after the sealions which are nextr door to the penguins. Penguins come under the parrot team who have to go as far as the macaw aviaries, a lot furthur than RORA would be for the carnivore staff.

This move would also fit in with the rumoured Chinese area, out go the otters and in comes something Chinese.

CZJimmy, it seems as though the giraffes have another baby.
 
bongorob said:
The aviary was demolished when Islands in Danger was built I think, the space is now a garden. I'm surprised that the other aviary is still in use, it is 38 years old.
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I've been to Chester about 200 times since then, so I get 0/10 for observation !
 
My auntie went in the early 1970s when my cousins were aged about 5 and 3. She couldn't find the elephants. That's worse than 0/10.
 
Just a few more notes:

- There is now a gift cart outside the exit route of ROTA (next to the flamingo house) selling Orang and Gibbon merchandise. Similar to gorilla kingdom...
- There is still only one indian hornbill a piece in the tropical realm and the elephant house
- The cheetah viewing area looks like it is going to be a covered 'dome' with glass windows.
- The new bridge is named the 'Bat Bridge' according to the map


Now, just thought i'd put the question out there, what do you people think of the cartoon graphics which Chester is using now? Personally, i feel they are too 'disney' and some are just lazy (the same illustration is used for ring-tail lemurs, ruffed lemurs and coatis!). I'd prefer Chester to use real images of animals like ZSL is doing now.
 
I don't like the cartoons either. Maybe the zoo could commission Patrick - he does some mean animal graphics!
 
CZJimmy said:
Now, just thought i'd put the question out there, what do you people think of the cartoon graphics which Chester is using now? Personally, i feel they are too 'disney' and some are just lazy (the same illustration is used for ring-tail lemurs, ruffed lemurs and coatis!). I'd prefer Chester to use real images of animals like ZSL is doing now.
Click to expand...

Never mind Disney its like PLAYSCHOOL its all done to fit in with this new childlike design of map that they give to visitors at the paydesks,the realy bad news is they are changing all the signs to this design!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Just back from Chester, not much to add to the reports from yesterday. I saw three different okapis. The Giraffe House is still closed, the path along the canal from the coatis to the bridge by the Tropical House is closed and they are working on the butterfly house site.
The second indoor section of RotRA was being replanted.
I'm sure that the fence around the planted area by RotRA is just to keep children out of the pool. A waist-high chain link fence is not going to hold otters. I always imagined that if they put the otters in RotRA they would go into the outdoor enclosure next to the aquarium, where they could hunt in the sloping area where the water drains down from the moat.
I saw a Mallorcan midwife toadlet at the water's edge (good spot, Maguari) and as I was photographing it, one of the adults swam across the pool and climbed out of the water - I've never seen one before! Photos downloading now ;)

Alan
 
Themed chocolate names for the chicks. When they get to 'p' will it be Penguin the penguin chick?
 
Some notes from yesterdys visit
The Junglefowl which were in the squirrel aviairies are now gone
There are now 2 female Agoutis living with the Lilicane Amazons in the Rare Parrot Breeding Centre.
The Giraffes were still inside
The Snowy Owls are seperated, one is living the next door aviary which used to house Rhinoceros Hornbills and before that Great Indian Hornbills.
A Spider Monkey has recently been born
One of the male zebras is still seperated from the others, the oryx would appear to be shut inside on my visit.
A Large part of the waterfowl in the waterfowl/ crane & pelican area have been removed. Only a small number of waterfowl remain whilst the pelicans, storks and all crane species are also still there. The free zoo map gives away that Southern Bald Ibis, Hoopoe and Lilac Breasted Roller will be some of the species to be housed in the new african aviary.
The new bridge is really nice though i still didnt get to see the anoas.
All 4 Onagers are together now, instead of the male being seperated.
 
the oryx where out today and the junglefowl where in the squirrel enclourses that i have yet to see a squirrel in.

the giraffe where still looked in because of a new baby
 
Right, now this surely qualifies as 'small news'... ;)

taken from the zoo's website:
The Turkish Spiny Mice will not be on show in the Twilight Zone for a number of days whilst maintenance works are carried out, we apologise in advance for any inconvenience this may cause you.
 
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