Chester Zoo Where are the Sealions????

taun said:
Surely you can see the point of view the enclosure is not really suited to Sea lions?
Click to expand...

What's wrong with it? Its always seemed to be perfectly adequate to me. Not outstanding and maybe not that modern now but its okay.

The more I think about it, the less I think it lends itself to being 'converted' for Giant Otters. I think the water/land ratio is totally wrong. As others have suggested, a purpose-built Giant Otter enclosure in the South American area would have made better sense to me too.
 
Pygathrix said:
I saw them at Duisburg in the 80's. Feeding time meant half a dozen live trout were dropped into the pool, which was a crystal clear concrete affair. Seeing the otters catch the fish within seconds was quite a sight, although I'm not sure if live feeding would be permitted today.
Click to expand...

This has been illegal in the UK for many years.

Alan
 
Pertinax said:
The more I think about it, the less I think it lends itself to being 'converted' for Giant Otters. I think the water/land ratio is totally wrong. As others have suggested, a purpose-built Giant Otter enclosure in the South American area would have made better sense to me too.
Click to expand...

While I agree that there's not a great deal wrong with the sea lion pool for sea lions, there's also nothing wrong with it (after some modification) for giant otters. I would say it has more area (both overall, and land and water individually) than Duisburg's, Dortmund's and Hamburg's, and more land than Chestnut's (water areas not too different between them).
 
I've never seen Giant Otter in captivity so I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert on their requirements. I'm sure Chester will make a decent exhibit for them. I just wish the Sea Lions didn't go...
 
Pertinax said:
The more I think about it, the less I think it lends itself to being 'converted' for Giant Otters. I think the water/land ratio is totally wrong. As others have suggested, a purpose-built Giant Otter enclosure in the South American area would have made better sense to me too.
Click to expand...
Bele posted a useful summary of giant otter husbandry in the https://www.zoochat.com/community/posts/287558 thread.

I'll mention that here since we were mainly discussing the enclosure modifications.

There's actually a more recent version of that document on-line: International Giant Otter Studbook Husbandry and Management Information and Guidelines (2005) (PDF).

Interesting, if a long read. From the summary: "This species requires very special and complex care and housing facilities to rear offspring with success. Often enclosures have been designed without these considerations in mind. It is not uncommon that giant otters are kept in inappropriate enclosure conditions, i.e. without enough land area because of inappropriate land to water area ratios or enough soft loose natural substrates or with insufficient size deep digging areas."

I suspect we'll see one of the sea lion pools remain as water, and the other become land and/or a deep digging area, since I think it has a concrete bottom (it's been a while since I saw it drained). For breeding they like quiet conditions and the house design has to be quite specific. So lots of work ahead for Chester.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I was seeing friends at ZSL yesterday and can confirm that the two female sealions that were at Chester are now at Whipsnade.
 
I think it's important to bear in mind that we really don't know what Chester will do with this area. They could have something radically different in mind which will just use the current sea lion enclosure as a starting point.

Look at Edinburgh, lots of people thought that the sunbears would just be moving in to a slightly modified polar bear enclosure and it's proving to be something much more ambitious.
 
I can also confirm the male arrived safely at Amsterdam's Artis Zoo.

I knew Artis previous bull died recently, so it was an obvious candidate. A visitor recently saw a new mature male so it's pretty certain it's Chesters old bull.
 
Do whipsnade still keep their sealions in the old dolphinarium? (has it been changed in the last few years?)

How many zoos in the UK keep sealions now?
I can think of:

Chessington, Flamingoland, Seal Sanctuary, Knowsley, Edinburgh, Belfast Zoo, Longleat, Colchester, Blackpool, Blair Drummond, Bristol, West Midlands, Twycross, Welsh Mountain Zoo and Coombe Martin Wildlife and Dinosaur Park. That's 15. Have I missed any?

London, Chester and Woburn have got rid of them. Any others?
Edinburgh: (http://deadlinescotland.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/sea-lions-could-face-axe-from-edinburgh-zoo/) not looking too good!
 
Bewdley (West Midland Safari Park)
Blackpool (Zoo)
Chessington (Sea Life)
Chessington (World of Adventures - bis 1987 Zoo)
Dunstable (Whipsnade Wild Animal Park)
Gweek (National Seal Sanctuary)
Ilfracombe (Combe Martin Wildlife)
Knowsley (Safari Park)
Longleat (Safari Park)
Malton (Flamingo Land)
Stirling (Blair Drummond Safari Park and Adventure Park)
Belfast (Zoo)
Colwyn Bay (Welsh Mountain Zoo)
Diss (Banham Zoo
Bristol (Zoo)
Paignton (Zoo)
Torquay (Living Coasts

17 places i make it
 
sealion said:
Do whipsnade still keep their sealions in the old dolphinarium? (has it been changed in the last few years?)
Click to expand...

Yes. Can someone remind me what was it's official title when it first opened? I recall 'Aquatic Mammal House'.


Malayan Tapir said:
17 places i make it
Click to expand...

Break down by species:

California sea lion

  • Blackpool (Zoo)
  • Chessington (World of Adventures - bis 1987 Zoo)
  • Dunstable (Whipsnade Wild Animal Park)
  • Ilfracombe (Combe Martin Wildlife)
  • Longleat (Safari Park)
  • Stirling (Blair Drummond Safari Park and Adventure Park)
  • Belfast (Zoo)
  • Colwyn Bay (Welsh Mountain Zoo)
  • Malton (Flamingo Land)
  • Cleethorpes (Pleasue Island)
  • Lowestoft (Pleasurewood Hills)
  • Knowsley (Safari Park)
  • Bewdley (West Midland Safari Park)


Patagonian sea lion

  • Colchester Zoo
  • Gweek (National Seal Sanctuary)
  • Twycross Zoo
  • Dudley Zoo
  • Edinburgh Zoo


South African fur seals
  • Diss (Banham Zoo)
  • Bewdley (West Midland Safari Park)
  • Rhyl Seaquarium


South American fur seals

  • Torquay (Living Coasts)
  • Bristol Zoo




Shall we go for the numbers now ;)
 
Last edited:
18 actual sea lions and 4 with just seals (i'm guessing we're not counting the native seal species at Gweek.)

Still quite a few! But the future seems a bit uncertain as many zoos want to emphasize their "conservation" ethic and sea lions don't quite fit that, not being endangered and all.

Is there anywhere other than Edinburgh who are thinking about closing their sea lion exhibits?

And John, does the Pleasure Island at Cleethorpes have anything to-do with the Cleethorpes Zoo (with Dolphinarium)?

EDIT: 19 with Rhyl
 
Last edited:
John Dineley said:
Break down by species:

California sea lion

  • Blackpool (Zoo)
  • Chessington (World of Adventures - bis 1987 Zoo)
  • Dunstable (Whipsnade Wild Animal Park)
  • Ilfracombe (Combe Martin Wildlife)
  • Longleat (Safari Park)
  • Stirling (Blair Drummond Safari Park and Adventure Park)
  • Belfast (Zoo)
  • Colwyn Bay (Welsh Mountain Zoo)
  • Malton (Flamingo Land)
  • Cleethorpes (Pleasue Island)
  • Lowestoft (Pleasurewood Hills)
  • Knowsley (Safari Park)
  • Bewdley (West Midland Safari Park)


Patagonian sea lion

  • Colchester Zoo
  • Gweek (National Seal Sanctuary)
  • Twycross Zoo
  • Dudley Zoo
  • Edinburgh Zoo


South African fur seals
  • Diss (Banham Zoo)
  • Bewdley (West Midland Safari Park)


South American fur seals

  • Torquay (Living Coasts)
  • Bristol Zoo




Shall we go for the numbers now ;)
Click to expand...

Rhyl Seaquarium now has some sea lions and harbour seals. im struggling to find what species of sea lion though.
 
It suprises me that zoos are moving away from sealions-although they aren't rare, they are charismatic-lively, noisy, showy-all big attractions to the public.

I thought it was a bad move when London let theirs go-I used to enjoy watching their antics.
 
sealion said:
And John, does the Pleasure Island at Cleethorpes have anything to-do with the Cleethorpes Zoo (with Dolphinarium)?

EDIT: 19 with Rhyl
Click to expand...

The sea lions at pleasure island are owned by APAB Limited (Parrot and seal productions) as are the sea lions at flamingo land ,knowlsey, lowerstoft, also two at blair drummond.

Pleasure island is a theme park with a sea lion and bird show, the park is built on the old site of the zoo but has nothing to do with the zoo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top