Twycross Zoo Twycross zoo

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Just another quick question about Twycross.

At one end of the chimp block there is a tiny semi-circle exhibit that is grassed. What is usually displayed in there? On my visit it was empty and no signs were up...
 
CZJimmy said:
Just another quick question about Twycross.

At one end of the chimp block there is a tiny semi-circle exhibit that is grassed. What is usually displayed in there? On my visit it was empty and no signs were up...
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This area used to house parrots before the new avaries near the tropical house were built.
 
CZJimmy said:
Just another quick question about Twycross.

At one end of the chimp block there is a tiny semi-circle exhibit that is grassed. What is usually displayed in there? On my visit it was empty and no signs were up...
Click to expand...
It houses a mixed group of parrots in the summer months.
 
zoogiraffe said:
Yep you used stand in the same place as you do now only with a different type of barrier their.
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Was it(in the indoor house) a dry moat or 'barrier and bars' ? I seem to remember the outside was just a basic asphalt-type yard but again still can't remember the enclosure properly. Eventually converting it into the existing Bonobo house was one of their better ideas.....
 
Pertinax said:
Was it(in the indoor house) a dry moat or 'barrier and bars' ? I seem to remember the outside was just a basic asphalt-type yard but again still can't remember the enclosure properly. Eventually converting it into the existing Bonobo house was one of their better ideas.....
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To be honest i`m struggling to rember the type of barrier in the house but think you have decsribed the outdoor paddock to a T.
 
Nothing to do with the previous posts but may be of interest to people.
Over the weekend of 26th and 27th April, the zoo will hold a celebration of live for Molly Badham who died last year. Quote from my local paper: "visitors will be encouraged to visit the marquee, where a gallery of photographs, newspaper cuttings and a rolling screen of news articles - including the famous PG Tips commercials - will be shown. There will also be several short informative talks and staff will be on hand to answer any questions. A book of condolence will be available for anyone who wishes to record their messages and thoughts. The zoo will also be selling a booklet about Molly Badham and all proceeds will go to the Molly Badham Chimpanzee Fund".
 
Twycross Zoo- NO news...

Bobby_21 said:
Its good that they have decided to commemorate her as she did a lot for the ape species she kept at the zoo.
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What exactly...?

I would like to vote Twycross as the UK zoo with the least interest in keeping people informed about what's going on there....

The last entry on their website news is from about June 4th last year (orangutans get new climbing equipment- which I'm sure didn't cost anywhere near the £10,000 raised for it incidentally) That was nearly 12 months ago. I've heard that a new website/news section is planned 'shortly', but when is shortly- 2012? :rolleyes:
 
to be honest its always been pretty bad. News was only really put up if it was quite big such as the birth of the leopard cubs and when Mamfe the old silverback died. At the end of the day despite this people still go so its probably not seen as that important by the powers that be at Twycross. Would be nice to be kept informed of the goings on though.
 
Bobby_21 said:
to be honest its always been pretty bad. News was only really put up if it was quite big such as the birth of the leopard cubs and when Mamfe the old silverback died. At the end of the day despite this people still go so its probably not seen as that important by the powers that be at Twycross. Would be nice to be kept informed of the goings on though.
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Yes, I agree its not fundamental for pulling in the visitors- but all the other zoos seem to be proud of their achievements and post their news to a greater or lesser degree at much more regular intervals- its only Twycross which doesn't seem to bother...:(.
 
It would be good if they followed Colchester's lead where there seems to be some kind of new piece of news every week or every few days. There's been a lot of stuff which they could have put up that instead has been found out through people talking to the keepers during visits and then posting it on here. Would it have been that hard to write a little article about the AI attempts with the elephants or the changes involving the lions???
 
The two best UK zoo websites for news in my opinion are Colchester and Cotswold. Colchester in particular don't shy away from reporting deaths as well as successes while Cotswold list virtually every birth, death, movement that takes place in their collection- yet I'm sure its maintained just by the staff. A pity that Twycross don't have somebody interested in maintaining their site up to date properly- it does reflect rather badly on them...as if they don't care.
 
The ones i find the most annoying are the likes of Howletts and South Lakes where there will be nothing for months on end and then they'll post a load of new stories. I once went on holiday to the Lake district and decided not to bother going to South Lakes because nothing much seemed to have happened accordin to the news section. When i came home it had been updated with news on a gentle lemur being born, a mandrill being born and i think the new sumatran tigress had arrived.
 
Bobby_21 said:
Its good that they have decided to commemorate her as she did a lot for the ape species she kept at the zoo.
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While Badham did alot of good in the early days by 'rescuing' primates from sometimes hellish conditions, her influence, up until her death, kept Twycross back some 20-30 years in animal management and display. Just saying that they have kept and bred a wide range of species does not make their record great. I am not knocking the current regime's attempts to rectify the old sins, but when I visited 10 years ago Twycross were keeping chimps in long thin rows of enclosures as singletons and duos, regularly pulling offspring from many species to rear, and had the most obese orangs I have ever seen. I cannot imagine the zoo has been able to transform this situation even in a decade and to my mind, it does not show Twycross in the best light. It was a pity because I saw examples of species and subspecies of primate that I will probably never see again.
 
tetrapod said:
While Badham did alot of good in the early days by 'rescuing' primates from sometimes hellish conditions, her influence, up until her death, kept Twycross back some 20-30 years in animal management and display. . I am not knocking the current regime's attempts to rectify the old sins, but when I visited 10 years ago Twycross were keeping chimps in long thin rows of enclosures as singletons and duos, regularly pulling offspring from many species to rear, and had the most obese orangs I have ever seen.
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I have to agree with some of this... the early accent was on keeping animals rather than any attempt to breed them, and with some species this attitude has been perpetuated even into the present day. Many species, particularly the primates, live in very ugly and unimaginative enclosures, even the newer builds.

As far as I know, the old row of chimpanzee cages are still in use, they wouldn't be out of place in a third World zoo...:(
 
Pertinax said:
As far as I know, the old row of chimpanzee cages are still in use, they wouldn't be out of place in a third World zoo...:(
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The old row of chimpanzee cages were still in use two years ago when I last went.

The newer gorilla enclosure wouldn't be so bad if it was planted up, but its really bear and nothing like there natural habitat.

I plan to go Monday, for a good stroll around should beable to give an update of the fron entrance developments.
 
The chimpanzee row was still being used during my visit a couple of months ago, but they appear to have opened the slide-doors in some of them, combining a couple of them.

There is also a pair of male chimpanzees living together in an enclosure near the ape nursery.
 
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