Twycross Zoo Twycross Zoo Review

[jamie779]

I'd agree with some this, but to say that the zoo hasn't progressed in 20 years is rubbish. Chimpanzee Eden, Gibbon Forest and Tigers are all excellent and the elephant situation has been resolved. This just comes across as a bit of a rant, which has got you lots of attention, so enjoy it!

 

[SlothBear]

Very convenient you skipped the worst part of Zurich but choose to slate better enclosures at Twycross as rubbish! Maybe before holding Zurich up against Twycross you should look at their crap?
Not saying Zurich isn't good, but for great apes? Seriously!!
It was not me who brought Zurich into this debate either!

Well yes, why wouldn't we prioritise our time in the exhibits we most wanted to see?

No one has said Zurich is good for Great Apes. I won't engage with you further as you've continued to resort to straw man arguments.

 

[SlothBear]

I'd agree with some this, but to say that the zoo hasn't progressed in 20 years is rubbish. Chimpanzee Eden, Gibbon Forest and Tigers are all excellent and the elephant situation has been resolved. This just comes across as a bit of a rant, which has got you lots of attention, so enjoy it!

It's just my opinion but Gibbon forest is bad. Gibbons live in dense forrest canopies these island have no vegetation and little if any privacy, the climbing structures are completely exposed. The islands are also tiny which is especially baffling given all of the unused space around the islands (particularly as you ascend to the entrance) it's little wonder all four species spent the day inside.

I also thought the new Chimpanzee exhibit was bad especially so when compared to much older exhibits I've seen in Kansas and New York. It's just a slightly larger version of the concrete prison yard pits Twycross constructed decades ago.

The snow leopard exhibit is great but ruined by the design choice to restrict viewing to the restaurant. The Tiger enclosure is probably the next best thing they've built in 20 or years not really a great achievement.

The overwhelming majority is undeniably bad and the majority of primate exhibits should have been demolished years ago.

 

[SlothBear]

We're pointing out that A: Twycross isn't a low-quality zoo (by British, European or even global standards) and B: you seem to have a low opinion of UK zoos overall compared to those on mainland Europe.

You state that you had low expectations of Twycross and stated that "there are better establishments in the UK and many of the worlds best zoos are a short flight away in mainland Europe"... implying that zoos in mainland Europe are "better" than the even the best UK establishments.



Yeah - to argue that UK zoos are "superior" to European zoos is just as ridiculous as the other way round.

For example, I haven't heard much good about zoos in Spain - of course, part of that could be my deep-seated mistrust of institutions that keep cetaceans (I got that from my mother - it's a long story), which most zoos in Spain seem to keep. However, I've known someone who went to the biopark in Valencia and said it was fantastic.



I've never been to Cotswold or Paignton, but I would say that zoos like Chester and Yorkshire Wildlife Park can not just stand with, but surpass, the best of the continental zoos - I've been to zoos in mainland Europe and, with the possible exception of Zurich, Chester and YWP beat them all every single time.

(What did you find in Chester that disappointed you, @SlothBear? Just curious).

Yes, I believe there are several zoos in continental Europe (and many more if we include other continents and Aquariums) which are superior to everything in the UK. At no point was I pitting the zoological facilities of individual countries against each other.

YWP does have some large exhibits but I feel they're uninspiring. There's no star attractions with features like underwater viewing and no convincing attempt to replicate ecosystems with a strong botanical component. There's also no interest in representing anything other than large mammals. So in my opinion it's far from world class.

Twycross is absolutely a low quality zoo and the vast majority of the collection is housed in accommodation which is showing it's age and in many instances falling apart.

It's also a terrible experience as a guest, the site is much dustier than YWP, all indoor viewing areas are far too small (the new chimp enclosure is one large bottleneck and there is no seated gallery area for the visitors who want to stay) a large proportion of the exhibits are empty and the prices for drinks are high.

Regarding Chester, the elephant enclosure is too small (I believe the main exhibit is less than 1.5 acres). If Chester were serious about a future for elephants on the site I believe they should have devoted the expansion that is Monsoon forest to elephants with some support species to tell the tale of South-east Asian forests. Also the area with giraffe and the Tropical house should be prioritised for demolition/development.

I should add that you should visit both Cotswold and Paignton if you get the opportunity they're both quite unique in their own way.

 

[Pertinax]

The visitors were also on the occasion I went incredibly poorly behaved with the most glass banging I’ve ever seen, loads of yelling at the top of voices about bonobo penises etc. That may have been just a one off and it’s not unusual to wonder which side of the fence the animals are on sometimes. Still it was dialled right up that day, for whatever reason..

I would think this happens on nearly every busy day, your visit is unlikely to have been an exception to average visitor behaviour.

 

[Lafone]

I would think this happens on every busy day, your visit is unlikely to have been an exception to average visitor behaviour.

Interesting - it was much worse than other places I’ve been but then primates do seem to bring about a bit of weird behaviour in zoo visitors. I do like them (the primates) so have been glad to find some other places with them where things were less full on visitor wise!

 

[Canary]

So after visiting for free thanks to my Colchester Zoo pass, I'm glad I did not pay to get in.

Such a tired looking place. A lot of the enclosures are very dated and needing modernisation. The Amur leopard enclosure is particularly bad.

The snow leopards have an enclosure near the entrance. A lot of this is visible from the entrance café/restaurant, before you actually step foot into the zoo. For such a popular animal this location seems rather odd.

The tiger enclosures are alright. They're certainly better than a lot of the others.

For some reason, a lot of the obvious routes between areas are fenced off. No idea why. So you have to take big de-tours instead of a more direct route.

There was a quite a bit of building work going on when I visited so maybe improvements are being made.

Food selection poor. All that was available inside the actual park was fish and chips or a variation of. Maybe it was because it was off-season

The ape enclosures are OK, I suppose, but pretty boring. Lots of prison yard looking areas.

Penguin area very small. Hardly any of them about. The whole area looked like it could do with a clean.

The gibbon islands area is a good idea and was the best part of the zoo. This was probably the only area of the park I was impressed with.

Quite a lot of the windows were scratched badly or very difficult to see into.

I've definitely seen worst enclosures in UK zoos but here the standard was rather low throughout.

The park is confusing to navigate at times and not generally a very scenic place.

It was good to see bonobos. I've never seen these before. I enjoyed seeing all the primates. Some of the enclosures were better for the smaller monkeys etc and it was interesting watching them go about their day.

All in all, the place was very 'meh' and uninspiring.

I'm glad I visited but I won't be heading back.

 

[James Barber]

Just read your honest opinion on Twycross.

I haven't been to this zoo for a little over 10 years now (before the likes of the new enclosures since then were built) and the place was looking very tired and dated back then. Quite a lot of old and small 1970s/80s enclosures.

I do think that a lot of the Twycross Zoo old enclosures need knocking down to rebuild brand new enclosures and bring the zoo into the 21st century.

About 20 years ago, Twycross used to house a good 50 different primate species but they have about half that now and they specialise in primates. I would like to see some nice open air monkey islands here and boost the primate numbers again.

In my opinion, Twycross have worked hard into updating some areas of the zoo like new Tiger, Gibbons, Giraffes and Chimp enclosures but has slowed a bit since (I guess due to Covid-19). Next in the future, I would like to see new enclosures for the rest of the apes and monkeys and bring in some other new species and updated enclosures and aviaries for the other current animals there.