Chester Zoo Your First Memories Of Chester

not just the male other considerations also affected the hatching of the egg

the condor cliffs did win an award for the enclosure and other zoos have followed in the footsteps of chester with there condors
 
Polar Bears at Chester.

Bongorob(our Chester Zoo historian...)

I mentioned the Polar bear exhibit in another thread but I can't find it now...:confused: Can you tell me the following;

1. How long were Polar Bears kept at Chester?

2. Did they breed, and if so how many cubs survived? (I have a p/c that shows four bears in the enclosure- would some of them have been homebred?)

3. Exactly whereabouts was the enclosure?

Many thanks.;)
 
Pertinax said:
Bongorob(our Chester Zoo historian...)

I mentioned the Polar bear exhibit in another thread but I can't find it now...:confused: Can you tell me the following;

1. How long were Polar Bears kept at Chester?

2. Did they breed, and if so how many cubs survived? (I have a p/c that shows four bears in the enclosure- would some of them have been homebred?)

3. Exactly whereabouts was the enclosure?

Many thanks.;)
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I think someone said that they were near the sealions, half of the Europe on the Edge aviary. I have a 1994 map that shows that aviary as being a concrete and water exhibit, and a pond exhibit with a path running through it, just with the netting drawn over it, suggesting that they had lazy artists or just hadn't converted it then yet.

For the interests of conversations elsewhere, Condor Cliffs is also not drawn on the map, but where the brown bears were an unlabelled pit is clearly left in the artwork next to the coati island.
 
I think the polar bears left in 1990...

They were in the concrete half of europe on the edge, it was extended to a neighbouring pond to create the aviary. If you look, you can make it out as a bear pit from the raised section of path.

I believe both europe on the edge and condor cliffs were created at similar times because both types of bear left the collection at roughly the same time...
 
The Chester polar bear enclosure was quite good for its time. The pool was large and deep, and there was a path all round it as well as rocks for the bears to walk around. They had far more space and were more active (as I remember) than the bears at Whipsnade, London or Bristol.
They kept a male and two females, and bred a cub in 1959. But Mr Mottershead decided not to repeat this as there was only one enclosure and he was not too happy about locking the mother (and cub) away and it was difficult to confine the other adults to let the youngster exercise in the pool.

Alan
 
gentle lemur said:
The Chester polar bear enclosure was quite good for its time. The pool was large and deep, and there was a path all round it as well as rocks for the bears to walk around. They had far more space and were more active (as I remember) than the bears at Whipsnade, London or Bristol.
They kept a male and two females, and bred a cub in 1959.

Alan
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Yes, I agree- it was probably the best Polar bear enclosure in the Uk- far more spacious than others. Interesting that they bred a cub in 1959- they were probably the third Uk zoo to breed them(after London & Bristol). So the four(adult) bears in my postcard are presumably the trio plus the grown-up cub. Any idea of the cub's sex or what happened to these bears when they phased them out?
 
CZJimmy said:
I think the polar bears left in 1990...

I believe both europe on the edge and condor cliffs were created at similar times because both types of bear left the collection at roughly the same time...
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Anyone know where they went to?

The Condor cliffs was definately the site of the Brown Bear pit. It was a very large square enclosure of bare soil and rocks- not a good display.
 
As far as I know no polar bear ever left Chester Zoo, they all died there.

The last one was Sabrina. She had ovarian cancer and was put down in 1992. Gentle Lemur has already given the reason for the lack of breeding. Motty was a male and he was born on 3rd December 1959 to Rubble and Rack. Those three plus Ruin are the four you have a photo of.

I'll answer the other questions as soon as I have all the information.
 
bongorob said:
As far as I know no polar bear ever left Chester Zoo, they all died there.

The last one was Sabrina. She had ovarian cancer and was put down in 1992. Gentle Lemur has already given the reason for the lack of breeding. Motty was a male and he was born on 3rd December 1959 to Rubble and Rack. Those three plus Ruin are the four you have a photo of.
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Yes, I remember these names now!(except the cub 'Motty'..:rolleyes:)

And 'Sabrina' rings a bell too- she was almost certainly born at Bristol -I can't give a date but her parents were the pair Sebastian & Nina (get it..?;)
 
Polar Bears were exhibited at Chester Zoo from 1933 to 1992, though for a short time in 1947, 1980 and 1984 there were no polar bears in the zoo.

The first polar bear was a male called Punch who arrived in 1933. He was joined by a female called Judy who arrived in 1940 from the Butlins Holiday Camp in Skegness. Both these bears died in 1947.

0.2 Rack and Ruin came from Antwerp Zoo in 1947, Rack died 1979 and Ruin in 1980 both from old age. Ruin died aged 35, which at the time was a joint longevity record for captive polar bears

1.0 Rubble came from Brussels Zoo in 1950, and died 1977 from age-related cardiovascular disease

1.0 Motty born 3rd December 1959 at Chester, (died 1977). Two other litters of polar bears were born at Chester, 2 cubs in 1965 and 1 in 1967, none of these were reared.

1.1 Nanook and Nija arrived from Copenhagen Zoo in 1980, Nija drowned in 1981, Nanook died in 1983

0.1 Twinkle arrived from Toronto Zoo in 1982 to replace Nija, she died in 1984

1.1 Amos and Sabrina arrived from Whipsnade in 1984. Amos was put down in 1989 as he was suffering from kidney failure and Sabrina was put down in 1992, she had ovarian cancer.

The first polar bear enclosure was next to the original elephant house, somewhere in the vicinity of the Jubilee Square toilets. I don't know the exact location, but it may have been on the site now occupied by the owl aviaries.

The second polar bear enclosure was situated across from the sealions and was built in 1946, it is now a garden and kestrel aviary. After the polar bears moved it was used for other bear species, the last animals to be exhibited there in 1979 were brown bears. It was paid for by Miss Catherine Jane Tomkyns-Grafton, an early benefactor of the Society, who bequeathed a considerable amount of money to the zoo on her death. This money allowed the zoo to acquire an additional 40 acres of land in the 1950s, leading to the zoo's rapid expansion into what is now the west zoo area.

The third (and final) polar bear enclosure was constructed in her honour, and is the southern half of what is now Europe on the Edge aviary. It was opened in 1950. The pool in this exhibit had a capacity of 250000 gallons.

Incidentally Chester Zoo began a sponsorship scheme at the start of the second world war. Punch the polar bear was available for adoption for the sum of 14/- per week (70p). Comparative prices for other bears were Sun bear 2/- (10p), Himalayan black and Canadian black 3/- (15p) and Russian brown 4/- (20p).

I hope the zoo intend to bring polar bears back in the Superzoo plans.
 
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I Personally woudnt really like Chester to house them as i dont think that they're a species that should be kept in zoos though on the other hand it would be nice to be able to see these magnificent animals at Chester
 
bongorob said:
1.0 Motty born 3rd December 1959 at Chester.

1.1 Amos and Sabrina arrived from Whipsnade in 1984. Amos was put down in 1989 as he was suffering from kidney failure and Sabrina was put down in 1992, she had ovarian cancer.

Chester have had more polar bears than I realised....

Motty's birthdate is interesting- the old female Cynthia at Bristol produced cubs every year (but didn't rear one until she was given suitable denning facilities) often on the very same date- 3rd December.

The original Whipsnade pair were Amos(male) and Mosa(female) 'Mosa' must have died first and been replaced with Sabrina(Sebastian x Nina) from Bristol Zoo- then later this pair were sent to Chester where she later became the last Polar Bear.
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I have just posted four photos from the 1970s in the Gallery (American badger, drills, fennec and plains viscacha).

Alan
 
Does anybody remember the Egg Centre (near the giraffes)?

I never heard much about it once it was built (around about the time Sprit of the jaguar was built I think) and I'm not sure if it's still there anymore...

Was it a successful building?
 
I don't remember it. There was a small bird rearing building on that location, I can't say if it is still used though. The zoo keep saying they'll build a rearing room with public viewing, we can but hope.
 
Random memories

I remember:

Arriving at the zoo down narrow, windy lanes – and being quite shocked the first time we came after the entrance had been moved. The old main entrance was near the aquarium, which meant I could spend much of the day looking forward to seeing the elephants, some of my favourite animals.

Piranhas in the aquarium – very disappointing.

The old parrot house – very, very noisy - and also the old bird house. The parrot house included a series of large photos explaining about how birds hatch from their eggs.

Being taken to see Jubilee, the baby elephant on a school trip. I also saw someone from a different school feeding a buffalo a sweet, which made it sick – I recall being very angry about it!

Being taken ‘behind the scenes’ in the Tropical House on another school trip, and seeing some tiny baby snakes – not sure what species.

The old Bird of Prey cages along the canal side behind the Tropical House – and the birds not seeming very happy there.

The Giant Tortoise next to the Indoor picnic area roughly where the Buffy Headed Capuchins are now.

The cheetahs down by the kangaroos, and the small cats in a house near where the minature monkeys live now. Their enclosures were arranged either side of a central (off show) corridor, and each had a flat area nearest the viewing window, and a built up area like a minature cliff at the back. Residents included lynxes, caracals, Scottish Wildcats and a three legged black panther.

Polar Bears and Brown bears in pits. One polar bear – female- used to push the other one around sometimes.

Gorillas in the Tropical House ( Where the Hornbill are now) and a Gorilla throwing poo at us!

You could walk straight through the cattle house, which also contained porcupines.

Hippos – next to the elephants. (approximately the current Bull elephant enclosure) One day, in the late 80’s, one of the hippos was leaning against the wall with his (or her) back to us, and we leaned over and gently touched his rubbery skin. He/she didn’t even notice. They were followed by pygmy hippos, though not for long. I too remember the elephants eating the flowers, and also touching an elephant’s trunk when it reached out to us inside the old elephant house before larger bars were erected between elephants and people.

For a short time – not sure when – there were temporary shops somewhere near the rainbow lawn I think. You didn’t go into the shops. They were a bit like a row of sheds open at the front, with the merchandise on shelves behind the staff, who got down whatever it was that you wanted to buy. I remember buying Wade ‘Whimsey’ animal ornaments.

Reindeer and gnu in the West Zoo.

The small nocturnal house – both when it was new and when it was demolished. The bats lived behind wire mesh and glass in an enclosure stretching across one end, and the small mammals lived nearer the doors, but seemed rarely to be visible.

Marmots popping up in numerous paddocks in the West Zoo, and wondering if they ever found their way into nearby gardens.

The old monkey house – more species of monkey than in the current one, but in smaller enclosures – another noisy place.

The sealion enclosure had metal railings around it, not a wooden fence.

My mum has a picture of my grandparents sitting on a bench at the bottom of the slope into the orang house sometime in the mid-sixties – it didn’t look much different then to the way it looked until it was closed off when the RotRA was opened.

Leaving through a high one-way turnstile that made an unforgettable clicking sound at the end of the day.

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As an addition to my wife’s memories from the mid sixties to the early 70’s our annual school trip was always to Chester Zoo. I remember Gibbons in their own enclosure and with no malicious intent I ate my lunch near them. All was well until I got to the banana which caused a Gibbon to get very irate and if the wire could have been shaken to pieces it would have been.
 
Woodbine said:
For a short time – not sure when – there were temporary shops somewhere near the rainbow lawn I think. You didn’t go into the shops. They were a bit like a row of sheds open at the front, with the merchandise on shelves behind the staff, who got down whatever it was that you wanted to buy. I remember buying Wade ‘Whimsey’ animal ornaments.
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The shop was constructed in 1965 and was in use until the late 1990s. The site was formerly the site of cages used for quarantine, and is now occupied by the pottery studio etc. I may have a picture of this shop, I'll have a look.
 
I first remeber visiting chester in the early 1990's not exactly sure what year but remember going with my mum, dad and my little sister. Me & dad decided to go off on our own an leave mum and my little sister to wander around on there own. We then had to use the monorail to try and find them later on in the day. I remember seeing Jake the lion not sure of the name of the lioness at the time and being in awe of the size of him and stood for ages staring at Jake. I also remember seeing the empty polar bear enclosure and hearing rumours that the polar bear had been put down which i now know to be true. I also remember the bison and zebra as well as other animals being in a rather large enclosure i think were the asian rhino/camels are now as i remember walking over a raised concrete bridge. Were the gorillas ever in the roundhouse that the chimps are in now? or were they chimps and me being small made them seem bigger? I also remember going into the old rhino house were each rhino was in a seperate section and seeing a calf that had not long been born. I also remember seeing the old orang enclosure and how close you seemed to be to them when they were on the island. That was my one and only visit to the zoo up until 2008 when i took a group of schoolchildren there as part of work. I was hooked once again and have since became a member of the zoo and have visited 7 times since and plan on going again next saturday.
 
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