Twycross Zoo Twycross Zoo News 2025

Visited for the first time today...

Amazing experience, I really enjoyed it, and will probably post my visit report at some point this week. Before I do so, I had a couple of questions I was hoping someone could answer for me:

1. In-between the Flamingos and the viewing for the Black Rhino/Giraffes, there is an area that seemed barred off - is this correct or did I miss the entrance, I only ask as from the road out of the zoo I could see signage.

2. I know the NSCC for the Orangutans is to be built soon, and the Chimpanzee Eden is a great exhibit, but when it comes to Gorillas and Bonobos are there any plans for these in the future? Their enclosures (although obviously the best they can be currently) did seem on the smaller side, especially with the Gorillas.

Thank you in advance for any responses.

EDIT: Have read through other threads and Question 2 has been answered, apologies.
 
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HelloCrossy67 said:
Visited for the first time today...

Amazing experience, I really enjoyed it, and will probably post my visit report at some point this week. Before I do so, I had a couple of questions I was hoping someone could answer for me:

1. In-between the Flamingos and the viewing for the Black Rhino/Giraffes, there is an area that seemed barred off - is this correct or did I miss the entrance, I only ask as from the road out of the zoo I could see signage.

2. I know the NSCC for the Orangutans is to be built soon, and the Chimpanzee Eden is a great exhibit, but when it comes to Gorillas and Bonobos are there any plans for these in the future? Their enclosures (although obviously the best they can be currently) did seem on the smaller side, especially with the Gorillas.

Thank you in advance for any responses.
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I presume you mean the Borneo Longhouse walkthrough aviary which was in between the Flamingos and the Rhino and Giraffe paddocks. That area has been closed off now for the last year or so and sadly don't know what the future plans are for it.
 
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HelloCrossy67 said:
Visited for the first time today...

Amazing experience, I really enjoyed it, and will probably post my visit report at some point this week. Before I do so, I had a couple of questions I was hoping someone could answer for me:

1. In-between the Flamingos and the viewing for the Black Rhino/Giraffes, there is an area that seemed barred off - is this correct or did I miss the entrance, I only ask as from the road out of the zoo I could see signage.

2. I know the NSCC for the Orangutans is to be built soon, and the Chimpanzee Eden is a great exhibit, but when it comes to Gorillas and Bonobos are there any plans for these in the future? Their enclosures (although obviously the best they can be currently) did seem on the smaller side, especially with the Gorillas.

Thank you in advance for any responses.
Click to expand...
1. As said above, that area has been closed off for at least a year, as I understand I think it is basically because it is mostly empty enclosures and an area that would benefit from redevelopment in general.

2. In the masterplan (I think it would be fair to call it that) from a few years ago there were plans for new enclosures for both species further down the line after orangutans, along with other developments for Black rhinos, penguins, African primates. Hopefully they should still have planned new exhibits somewhere in the pipeline but there is certainly a lot of other developments Twycross could also entertain themselves with in the coming years.
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
1. As said above, that area has been closed off for at least a year, as I understand I think it is basically because it is mostly empty enclosures and an area that would benefit from redevelopment in general.

2. In the masterplan (I think it would be fair to call it that) from a few years ago there were plans for new enclosures for both species further down the line after orangutans, along with other developments for Black rhinos, penguins, African primates. Hopefully they should still have planned new exhibits somewhere in the pipeline but there is certainly a lot of other developments Twycross could also entertain themselves with in the coming years.
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I would hope that the Amur Leopard cages (chimp row) are demolished and that the Siamangs house (ex chimp nursery building) is repurposed and these apes given a more open enclosure.
 
Quick review from me, I hope it's OK to post here:

Recently purchased a Marwell Annual Pass, however I have previously decided to wait until the new entrance to visit, so went with Twycross as my visit for yesterday. All in all, I definitely enjoyed my experience, and ticked off a few species (L'hoests, Bonobo, A few Gibbons & Dusky Langur)

As mentioned prior, there are clearly some sub-par enclosures mainly the Leopards, Gorillas, Orangs (but I know they are due an upgrade), aswell as the Penguins, Siamang and Bonobos I would say. However, despite this, the Chimpanzee Eden, Tiger Enclosure and especially the Gibbon Forest were astounding and well designed- I would place Gibbon Forest in my top 10 of exhibits

I would honestly rank this about the same as Marwell, but I'd give Marwell the slight edge over as I don't feel sorry for any of the animals there, where I admittedly did for some at Twycross. Additionally, both have 2-3 majorly good exhibits and both display a group of animals (Hoofstock Marwell, Primates Twycross) in abundance. I'd rank it slightly higher than Paignton (per 2019. visit) .

Would I recommend Twycross? Yes
Will I be visiting before a decent amount of new developments? Probably not
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
1. As said above, that area has been closed off for at least a year, as I understand I think it is basically because it is mostly empty enclosures and an area that would benefit from redevelopment in general.

2. In the masterplan (I think it would be fair to call it that) from a few years ago there were plans for new enclosures for both species further down the line after orangutans, along with other developments for Black rhinos, penguins, African primates. Hopefully they should still have planned new exhibits somewhere in the pipeline but there is certainly a lot of other developments Twycross could also entertain themselves with in the coming years.
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have you got a link to the 'masterplan' anywhere?
 
Falconhoof said:
have you got a link to the 'masterplan' anywhere?
Click to expand...
Twycross Zoo News 2020 [Twycross Zoo] - Page 2 - ZooChat
The first link on page 2 of the 2020 thread is what I was referencing, and is possible to still be viewed by internet archive. There was also conversation about future plans at Twycross on page one of the thread, as well as on the last page of the 2019 news thread, however they were not about the 'Twycross Zoo Vision 2030'. It is important to note that these plans are likely redundant now (5 years and a pandemic later), with the latest NSCC and orangutan complex plans largely different from what was put out in 2020.
 
I attended the preview of the new "Close Encounters" exhibit today, it was impressive.
Species included: Sand Lizard, Boa Constrictor, Panther Chameleon, Gooty Ornamental Tarantula, Turquoise Dwarf Gecko, Giant African Millipede, Chinese Crocodile Lizard, Fiji Banded Iguana, Pancake Tortoise, Chapa Bug-eyed Frog, Golden-Eyed Stick Insect, Desertas Wolf Spider and Yellow-headed Day Gecko.

The Chinese Crocodile Lizard from Gibbon Forest now has a proper pool in there and looked very content.
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I had a feeling there wasn't going to be any crocodilian species presented in this new exhibit (not even a small/medium-sized one).

Oh well, it still looks like a very nice reptile house and might have me visiting Twycross again later this year. :)
 
Went to Twycross the day before yesterday and was greatly impressed with the overall improvements made. Majority of the animals were active, particularly the vasa parrot, chimps, finches, tufted deer, vicuña and all three pigeon species in the butterfly house.


Some news with thoughts:

Hazel dormice and harvest mice have joined the collection (fittingly in the Gruffalo zone) and are on display through a small building with glass windows. The zoo aims to breed and release these native species. Nice to see that coupled with the pond turtles, sand lizard and Demoiselle crane, European species are being better represented within the collection and along side a healthy number of species from Asia, Australia and the Americas in addition to being home to dozens of African species, Twycross’s living collection is started to become more representative of global biodiversity.

One of the wooden enclosures near the Leopard Tortoise and African Spurred Tortoises located just before the small monkey house now contains a single spider monkey- unsure as to whether or not this is an individual separated from the main group or another species as know the zoo holds/recently held two different spider monkey species.

Speckled pigeon are now held both in the Butterfly House and the Deep Dark Wood aviary with them located on the left hand side enclosure (assuming you were following the Twycross’s intended route) and Hamerkop and a Demoiselle crane in the aviary on the right. The right hand enclosure also has signage for the turacos, so seems that the number of bird species within the butterfly house is now down to three.
 
Visited today for the first time in 10 years. The addition of the tiger enclosure and the chimpanzee area are great additions! The loss of a lot of species is quite noticeable since my last visit a bit like Paignton and Marwell. Loads of empty enclosures and I was curious with some of them boarded up but also couldn’t help but be nosey and managed to look over one of the fences to see two red ruffed lemurs in a primate enclosure round the corner from the abandoned owl aviaries near the tortoise. I know it’s probably on this thread already but could anyone also confirm the number of Amur and Snow Leopards please as both of these species were a no show on my visit
 
okapi said:
Visited today for the first time in 10 years. The addition of the tiger enclosure and the chimpanzee area are great additions! The loss of a lot of species is quite noticeable since my last visit a bit like Paignton and Marwell. Loads of empty enclosures and I was curious with some of them boarded up but also couldn’t help but be nosey and managed to look over one of the fences to see two red ruffed lemurs in a primate enclosure round the corner from the abandoned owl aviaries near the tortoise. I know it’s probably on this thread already but could anyone also confirm the number of Amur and Snow Leopards please as both of these species were a no show on my visit
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They have 1 of each I believe
 
Copied off Facebook

WE'VE HAD A BABY...

We're thrilled to announce the arrival of a baby De Brazza's monkey!!

As a first time mother, our female is displaying exceptional maternal instincts and successfully rearing her newborn, which she's learnt observing other females caring for young within her troop...

The birth is part of something much larger, our troop of De Brazza's are part of an important European-led conservation programme - a collaborative effort from zoos across Europe to create a healthy and diverse population of this species to support their wild counterparts who are threatened with extinction
 
Embu said:
Copied off Facebook

WE'VE HAD A BABY...

We're thrilled to announce the arrival of a baby De Brazza's monkey!!

As a first time mother, our female is displaying exceptional maternal instincts and successfully rearing her newborn, which she's learnt observing other females caring for young within her troop...

The birth is part of something much larger, our troop of De Brazza's are part of an important European-led conservation programme - a collaborative effort from zoos across Europe to create a healthy and diverse population of this species to support their wild counterparts who are threatened with extinction
Click to expand...
Two Humboldt penguin chicks have hatched aswell
 
Embu said:
We're thrilled to announce the arrival of a baby De Brazza's monkey!!

As a first time mother, our female is displaying exceptional maternal instincts and successfully rearing her newborn, which she's learnt observing other females caring for young within her troop...
Click to expand...

This seems to be the new mantra, that primates 'learn' maternal behaviour from others. But many individuals (of group-living species) that are kept in pairs successfully raise their young too, as afaik it is largely instinctive, not learned behaviour.

That said, Twycross have done well with this species. But I can't help thinking they should have persevered with the Dianas as well. The successive male births eventually left them with a non-breeding situation so they recently disbanded them and sent them abroad. Another loss for this species in the UK.
 
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Important to note that this De Brazza’s Monkey infant is very important (and cute!). The mothers line is under represented in the breeding program while the male is fairly represented as he is part of the Blackpool line. It’s taken a while to mix the male with one of the younger females (both sisters).

In other news the old Lemur House and fencing is now fully demolished.

A young male Red Titi Monkey is currently separated from his family troop while he waits to move to a new collection.

Breeding activity between the Vasa Parrots and Red-Fronted Macaws has been spotted by keepers. Hopefully they can produce some chicks.

Nuria (a 2 year old Snow Leopard) safely arrived recently. The plan is for her to be introduced to the male Khumbu as soon as she settles.
 
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