What are the "must see" zoos in the UK?

[Pertinax]

Following up on some points already made I too find contemporary British collections a bit disappointing.

"When I was a lad" the 'big' collections [Regents Park, Chester, Belle Vue, Bristol] offered a huge range of species. It's become known, disparagingly, as a "stamp collection mentality" but it did offer the visitor an opportunity to see a wonderful variety of wonderful creatures. The housing was often poor, but there was plenty to see!

Today the larger collections now offer a greatly slimmed-down offering, and the smaller collections offer much the same. But less.

Very accurate appraisal here of what's happened to many of our Zoos. Most people would say they've changed for the better as more spacious housing and better animal care have replaced the old- but in nearly every case at considerable loss of collection diversity, as you say.

I remember Belle Vue Zoo- a fantastic collection. London, where in those days you couldn't expect to see everything properly in one visit as you can nowadays. Bristol, where you could see virtually every ABC animal species including Rhino, Elephants, Giraffe, Zebra, Antelope, 3 Great Ape species, about a dozen of Monkeys, a whole range of large cats etc that's without including the Birds, Fish and Reptile collections.

And I am sure those collections will never return.

 

[SHAVINGTONZOO]

To develop my theme, if I was travelling half way across the world to visit some zoos then I'd hope to find something with a wow-factor!! It could be an enclosure, or a rarity, or a grouping of species. Years ago I found that wow-factor in various ways:

Early/mid 60s at Chester, Belle Vue, Regents Park and as a young child the sheer size of an elephant, the smell of a giraffe, or the exoticism of an alligator gave me that feeling.

Subsequently I found it in various forms :-

the free-flight aviary at Aberdeen (I wonder how many of you visited there?
the Clore Pavilion
humming birds at RP
my first visit to Twycross (cycling from Atherstone station!) - those gibbons, uakari, tree kangaroo etc
Marwell's ungulates; Howletts' gorillas
Mauritius Kestrel at Paradise Park (Hayle)
a black rhino calf trotting over to investigate me at P Lympne

But today? Well, at Chester the bat cave and the butterflies have given me that sense of excitement, but I was underwhelmed by the new Orang housing and - particularly - the Jaguar Cathedral!
On my last visit to RP an Aye Aye gave me that wow moment by suddenly appearing and staring into my eyes before moving on. But beyond that, nothing memorable.

But I suspect all these [freeflying bats, butterflies, Aye Aye] can be seen in the US, without needing to cross the Atlantic!

 

[kiang]

But I suspect all these [freeflying bats, butterflies, Aye Aye] can be seen in the US, without needing to cross the Atlantic!

But what will be new to our American visitor?

Vicuna aplenty
as mentioned some langur species at Howletts
smooth coated otters at 3 collections
plenty of Alaotran gentle lemur
capercaillie (once heard, never forgotten)

Rarely seen species in the USA, such as red backed saki, gelada, drill, L'Hoest's guenon, marbled polecat, pine marten, Scottish wildcat, Brazilian tapir, Philippine deer and pure giraffe sub species, to name a few, but worth traversing the Atlantic, i will leave that up to you.

 

[Tim Brown]

Actually deer are very poorly represented in U.S. zoos by and large,the common or garden Western Reds at Fossil Rim creating something of a stateside stir amongst enthusiasts there.You see a lot of White-tailed but very few Black-tailed or Mule, and San Diego apart,not much of anything else in my opinion.Mind you they do have a problem with chronic wasting disease.Kiang is totally right about Capercallies[my favourite British bird] especially in the breeding season[spring].

 

[Tim Brown]

Oh, forgot about Moose[especially ssp.gigas at Columbus] and there are quite a lot of Wapiti of course!

 

[Cat-Man]

But to get back on-topic

If it's a short visit I'd opt for:

Regent's Park (where it all started), Whipsnade (which reflects the 1930s style post Hagenbeck), and Marwell or Port Lympne/Howletts (post 1960 conservation-era collections). They have the added advantage of being close together!

If you have a little longer then : Chester (perhaps taking in Twycross for its primates en route.

And if you carried out such a tour I'd be interested to hear your views on the health and significance of our collections.

i like the list you have there, Edinburgh is a must see if you ask me aswell, aswell as painton

 

[zooman64]

I would recommend Shaldon Zoo/Shaldon Wildlife Trust in Devon. It's a very small zoo so you would need to take in another in the same area (such as Living Coasts or Paignton) to make it worth your while, but it really does show what can be done with a small area with a little imaginationm, the right choice of species, and the support of the local community.

 

[snowleopard]

Where is the best reptile house in Britain? The American zoological landscape is littered with loads of top-notch reptile houses but is there a great one in Britain? Also, would the Blue Planet Aquarium near Chester be regarded as the best of its kind in that part of the world? I touched on these subjects on another thread but I think that I might receive more responses here. It seems to me (as someone with 90% English background but I've still never been to the British Isles) that Britain has one truly great zoo in Chester, one historically vital zoo in London, a potentially great zoo in Edinburgh, and then at least 250-260 other captive animal collections that vary greatly in size and quality. Yet for all of those establishments there is not a single aquarium or reptile house that could crack the top 25 in the United States. Is that a fair comment?

 

[Maguari]

The Deep (in Hull) is much better than Blue Planet, for my money.

The biggest traditional Reptile House in the UK is surely London's, but I'm not sure how you're getting a 'top 25' - quality, number of species?

Most British zoos (even Chester) no longer have 'proper' Reptile Houses - they've mostly moved to dotting the reptiles around to fit in with local themes. Of the 'big 10' zoos, only London, Bristol and Paignton really have a full-scale Reptile House.

 

[Brum]

Where is the best reptile house in Britain? The American zoological landscape is littered with loads of top-notch reptile houses but is there a great one in Britain? Also, would the Blue Planet Aquarium near Chester be regarded as the best of its kind in that part of the world? I touched on these subjects on another thread but I think that I might receive more responses here. It seems to me (as someone with 90% English background but I've still never been to the British Isles) that Britain has one truly great zoo in Chester, one historically vital zoo in London, a potentially great zoo in Edinburgh, and then at least 250-260 other captive animal collections that vary greatly in size and quality. Yet for all of those establishments there is not a single aquarium or reptile house that could crack the top 25 in the United States. Is that a fair comment?

If we're including safari parks then West Midlands have a very nice reptile house and collection, owned by renowned herpatologist Mark O'Shea. It houses 4 species of crocodilian, a large collection of venomous snakes (they claim it's the largest of its kind in the UK), extremely large specimens of anaconda and python and an assortment of lizards and tortoises!
Aquaria in the UK tend to be dominated by the Sea Life chain and are grossly over-priced in my opinion. They also tend to be fairly formulaic and end with the shark tank and tunnel. It's a pity we don't have a mega aquarium in this country but with the stance on captive cetaceans it sort of limits the pulling power of somewhere like Shedd or Georgia.
Hope that helps.

 

[Johnny Morris.]

If we're including safari parks then West Midlands have a very nice reptile house and collection, owned by renowned herpatologist Mark O'Shea. It houses 4 species of crocodilian, a large collection of venomous snakes (they claim it's the largest of its kind in the UK), extremely large specimens of anaconda and python and an assortment of lizards and tortoises!
Aquaria in the UK tend to be dominated by the Sea Life chain and are grossly over-priced in my opinion. They also tend to be fairly formulaic and end with the shark tank and tunnel. It's a pity we don't have a mega aquarium in this country but with the stance on captive cetaceans it sort of limits the pulling power of somewhere like Shedd or Georgia.
Hope that helps.

The national Marine Aquarium is head and shoulders above the Weymouth sea life centre. I doubt i'll ever go to a sea life centre again. As far as Aquariums in Zoos, the best i've seen is Bristols.

 

[Pertinax]

Of the 'big 10' zoos, only London, Bristol and Paignton really have a full-scale Reptile House.

... whereas Cotswold, which isn't in the 'big 10',also has an excellent one.

 

[Maguari]

... whereas Cotswold, which isn't in the 'big 10',also has an excellent one.

Very true (to my mind a better one than Paignton as well - in fact it's quite tight between Cotswold and Bristol for number two spot).

 

[Brum]

The national Marine Aquarium is head and shoulders above the Weymouth sea life centre. I doubt i'll ever go to a sea life centre again. As far as Aquariums in Zoos, the best i've seen is Bristols.

Bristol do have a good reptile house and an extremely good zoo-based aquarium. I don't remember much of Londons aquarium and Chesters is not really a huge display even though it has good results with certain species eg. Motoro stingray. American zoos do seem to go all out with aquaria compared to UK collections, we tend to have seperate attractions.
@Maguari/Pertinax the Cotswold collection is great but just goes along with the rarity feeling of the rest of the park and Paignton technically has two reptile houses with the main one and Crocodile Swamp, along with the giant tortoise house and some species in the desert house.

 

[zooman64]

Colchester Zoo is a must-see, though you really need more than a single day to see everything it has to offer. A perfect example of how a fair to middling zoo in the '60s and '70s has become a great zoo when taken over by owners with imagination. The emphasis is on mammals, but much else besides. It's forever expanding, always building new exhibits. Only pity is that it's no longer got Rocky Mountain Goats.