Chester Zoo Your Chance to ask the questions to somebody that knows whats going on
- Thread starter zoogiraffe
- Start date
mazfc
Well-Known Member
I would just like to say a big thankyou to zoogiraffe for organising the walk with tim today. And even bigger thank you to tim for giving up his time to share the zoo with us.
I really enjoyed the whole afternoon and found it really interesting and informative. To hear about the zoo 'from the horses mouth' was very insightful. So again thank you.
It was also great meet other zoo chatters as well, and hear their ideas and views.
A great day - hop we can do it again.
I really enjoyed the whole afternoon and found it really interesting and informative. To hear about the zoo 'from the horses mouth' was very insightful. So again thank you.
It was also great meet other zoo chatters as well, and hear their ideas and views.
A great day - hop we can do it again.
lechweoryx
Well-Known Member
Any information you can tell us?
lechweoryx
Well-Known Member
Any infomation as to what is happening at the zebra/oryx paddock. Alot of digging!
Maisie
Well-Known Member
A very enjoyable and informative afternoon! Not too many secrets told, but it was nice to hear from "the inside" the reasons for various decisions and to discuss the plans for the future of the zoo. Hopefully this will be the first of many such events, and the beginning of better communication between the zoo and its customers/fans/supporters. Many thanks to zoogiraffe for organising the day, and to Tim for taking so much time out of his day to talk to us!
As far as the zebra/oryx paddock is concerned, the digging is to make it easier to separate animals if needed (by putting in a fence that's more resistant to hurdling by zebra!), as well as improving the looks of the boundary between the two halves of the paddock.
There was a lot of discussion today about the ramifications of building on good ol' Cheshire clay, how hard it is to maintain decent drainage, and the limitations it places on which animals are suitable for Chester's paddocks.
As far as the zebra/oryx paddock is concerned, the digging is to make it easier to separate animals if needed (by putting in a fence that's more resistant to hurdling by zebra!), as well as improving the looks of the boundary between the two halves of the paddock.
There was a lot of discussion today about the ramifications of building on good ol' Cheshire clay, how hard it is to maintain decent drainage, and the limitations it places on which animals are suitable for Chester's paddocks.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
I would like to personnaly thank all the members of zoochat that turned up today,and hope they all enjoyed and got something from the day.
I certainly enjoyed the day. I think we ought to be thanking you ZooGiraffe for organizing it.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Yes but if none of you had turned up it would never have worked so thanks again to you all and also I must thank Tim for giving up his time.
It was really interesting, thanks to Tim and zoogiraffe for an excellent event.
Yes indeed - many thanks to zg and Tim - was a fascinating day.
Against all conceivable probability I remembered to ask - now that they've started breeding the zoo will be keeping and breeding Gemsbok for the foreseeable future.
Against all conceivable probability I remembered to ask - now that they've started breeding the zoo will be keeping and breeding Gemsbok for the foreseeable future.
lechweoryx
Well-Known Member
Thanks Maguari.
MonkeyGirlAmy
Active Member
Thanks zoogiraffe for organising a fab afternoon and a HUGE thank you to Tim for being fab and showing us all around and asking questions.
Hadn't been to Chester for a few years before yesterday, and I love the place. Going back in a few weeks
Hadn't been to Chester for a few years before yesterday, and I love the place. Going back in a few weeks
chesterfan
Active Member
I too had an extremely enjoyable afternoon, and got a lot of great info. regarding existing and future exhibits.
There were a few snippets that I don't think have been posted yet, so i thought I may offer a brief summary of some of the news that I liked hearing.
Tim confirmed the reworking of the elephant paddock was due to be complete only 1 or 2weeks before the birth of the first baby! Let's keep fingers crossed there are no delays! The 2 new babies will be a massive draw in the summer and help swell visitor numbers and therefore revenue, so I hope they will be able to be on outside view!
The re-design of the Meerkat exhibit has been attributed to the recent arrrivals. All agreed it was a very simple, cheap but effective 'makeover'. Ideally it would be in a more prominant location.
We spent a lot of time talking about the hunting dogs. I think it is no secret that this exhibit will not be completed within the time frames origially anticipated. It was great to hear what the ideas for the exhibit are though. It seems this will be a welcome addition to the West zoo. We talked about how the West zoo is severely under visited - and whatever is done needs to be compelling enough to attract additional guests. (FYI the natural vision plans state that only 10% of visitors ever visit the west zoo!!).
We discussed the balance between animal exhibits and including other leisure facilities. In light of Natural Vision it is clear that one has to work with the other, and I have to say having finally read the entire Natural Vision Design Statement I agree that this has to be the way forward, even if it means that some developments may take a little longer to come to fruition.
One quick opportunity Tim told us about is to create some outdoor seating and viewing opportunites for the black rhinos. I was really pleased, especially in light of a recent post i wrote, that there is a lot of consideration of trying to ensure that the animals make full use of their enclosures, and give visitors a much better viewing opportunity. Chester has a clear policy of not locking out animals from their internal/off show quarters. Tim is putting a lot of thought into how to encourage better viewing of the animals whilst still meeting their welfare needs.
We finally established that the bears are not separated from eachother!!!! They are getting along fine, if giving eachother some space. It was really good to ask Tim about how he and the team address enrichment opportunities. I was enthralled before and after our talk watching the bears make full use of their exhibit and really enjoy all the natural features. The male looked incredible splashing in the water.
Otter exhibit is a big hit in my opinion. I really loved it. It was my first stop at 10am when i arrived. Both animals making full use of the space. they were a joy to watch - which i did for about 1/2 hour i think! I loved the planting(it needs to mature) and i thought there was amazing viewing opportunities. Tim confirmed thet the land to water ration is exactly 60-40! The full conversion is not yet complete - with additional housing and inside viewing planned.
Finally from me I was thrilled to have seen the Okapis getting on rather well indeed. Again, i stood for an age watching the male repeatedly try to mate with the female. It was amazing to observe the behaviours. I think we all need to keep fingers crossed for a birth next year??!!
thats all. thanks for making it happen - tim seemed to have been happy with the day too and i hope we can make it a regular event!Hope i didn't ask too many questions too....
chesterfan
There were a few snippets that I don't think have been posted yet, so i thought I may offer a brief summary of some of the news that I liked hearing.
Tim confirmed the reworking of the elephant paddock was due to be complete only 1 or 2weeks before the birth of the first baby! Let's keep fingers crossed there are no delays! The 2 new babies will be a massive draw in the summer and help swell visitor numbers and therefore revenue, so I hope they will be able to be on outside view!
The re-design of the Meerkat exhibit has been attributed to the recent arrrivals. All agreed it was a very simple, cheap but effective 'makeover'. Ideally it would be in a more prominant location.
We spent a lot of time talking about the hunting dogs. I think it is no secret that this exhibit will not be completed within the time frames origially anticipated. It was great to hear what the ideas for the exhibit are though. It seems this will be a welcome addition to the West zoo. We talked about how the West zoo is severely under visited - and whatever is done needs to be compelling enough to attract additional guests. (FYI the natural vision plans state that only 10% of visitors ever visit the west zoo!!).
We discussed the balance between animal exhibits and including other leisure facilities. In light of Natural Vision it is clear that one has to work with the other, and I have to say having finally read the entire Natural Vision Design Statement I agree that this has to be the way forward, even if it means that some developments may take a little longer to come to fruition.
One quick opportunity Tim told us about is to create some outdoor seating and viewing opportunites for the black rhinos. I was really pleased, especially in light of a recent post i wrote, that there is a lot of consideration of trying to ensure that the animals make full use of their enclosures, and give visitors a much better viewing opportunity. Chester has a clear policy of not locking out animals from their internal/off show quarters. Tim is putting a lot of thought into how to encourage better viewing of the animals whilst still meeting their welfare needs.
We finally established that the bears are not separated from eachother!!!! They are getting along fine, if giving eachother some space. It was really good to ask Tim about how he and the team address enrichment opportunities. I was enthralled before and after our talk watching the bears make full use of their exhibit and really enjoy all the natural features. The male looked incredible splashing in the water.
Otter exhibit is a big hit in my opinion. I really loved it. It was my first stop at 10am when i arrived. Both animals making full use of the space. they were a joy to watch - which i did for about 1/2 hour i think! I loved the planting(it needs to mature) and i thought there was amazing viewing opportunities. Tim confirmed thet the land to water ration is exactly 60-40! The full conversion is not yet complete - with additional housing and inside viewing planned.
Finally from me I was thrilled to have seen the Okapis getting on rather well indeed. Again, i stood for an age watching the male repeatedly try to mate with the female. It was amazing to observe the behaviours. I think we all need to keep fingers crossed for a birth next year??!!
thats all. thanks for making it happen - tim seemed to have been happy with the day too and i hope we can make it a regular event!Hope i didn't ask too many questions too....
chesterfan
Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere, but which two Elephants are pregnant, and approximately when are they due?
Sithami in July and Thi in August.
A quick follow-up to this:
I also heard that the female cheetah has been moved to an enclosure that's out of sight of the males. There was a suggestion that the enclosure was on the opposite side of flag lane near to Fruit Bat Forest, but I'm not sure which that would be and didn't have time to go and investigate.
The news today is that the spectacled bears have actually been seen mating, so they're getting along more than fine!
I also heard that the female cheetah has been moved to an enclosure that's out of sight of the males. There was a suggestion that the enclosure was on the opposite side of flag lane near to Fruit Bat Forest, but I'm not sure which that would be and didn't have time to go and investigate.