Back in 2006 I stayed in Angouleme with my family and, on a whim based on finding a brochure, visited Zoo de la Palmyre in Royan. I enjoyed my visit, especially the hands-on access to the animals. This was before joining Zoo Chat and getting a better insight into zoos. This year Chris and I went on a road trip to Angouleme for the historic Circuit des Remparts classic car races. As we would be within reach of Royan we decided to visit Palmyre, but since we'd be spending the trips to and from the ferry port on the road and would have literally all day each way, we picked two other zoos to visit to make into an impromptu zoo tour - Zoo Spay (aka Spaycific'Zoo: based on spotting a map label "Jardin des Oiseaux" ("bird garden")) near Le Mans which was on our route South and Zoo de la Fleche, located via ZooChat's satellite map on the way back to Caen. Spay Zoo ======== Apparently a new one for ZooChat! A very small zoo, based in woodland. Based on the website (Zoo Spay - Spaycific'Zoo : un zoo pas comme les autres a 10km du mans (sarthe)) I was expecting a reasonably small collection and it took a while to work out using Google that Spaycific' Zoo was actually the same thing as the Jardin des Oiseaux on the map. The map led us to believe that it would be mostly birds, whereas the zoo website (assuming it was actually the same place) promised more. Since it was Friday, the zoo was deserted apart from one other couple and the lady on reception. On arrival we greeted the red macaw outside the entrance building and visited the toilets (a little run down, but proper loos and not a hole in the ground to squat over!) and then paid the 9 Euro per person entry. We were handed two paper bags: one of millet for the Australian walk-through aviary, and one of standard animal pellets for "everything else". According to the brochure, the zoo is 6 hectares. The layout consists of three "circuits": red, green and blue, with a suggested route starting with the red route, then onto green with the blue beginning halfway through the green route. You are issued with a guide showing a map of the zoo with a numbered key and each enclosure has an obvious corresponding large number on it so that it's impossible to not know what you're looking at. On the map there are "games" marked at intervals - more of these later The RED ROUTE begins at a pool containing European ducks and geese, which will mug you for food, then goes past a raptor aviary, a dingo enclosure and various exotic bird aviaries. The bird aviaries are standard size wire aviaries and the dingo enclosure is a good size and, even better, it's equipped with a (scarily-laddered!) photography platform that lifts you over the height of the fence to enable better pics without the wire in the way. About halfway round the red route is a walkthrough Australian aviary with a few rosellas, some cockatiels and a large flock of budgies who are all over you as soon as they catch sight of the millet bag. Great if you like birds (which we do )! On leaving you pass some more birds (small doves, kea, kookaburra, mynah, cranes), Japanese racoon dogs, Asian short-clawed otters, Parma wallabies, Porcupines and tortoises before arriving back at the gate that leads to and from the red route. Onto the GREEN ROUTE... Geoffroy's marmosets and cats, Japanese and Korean squirrels, various pheasants (Lady Amherst's, Golden) and yellow mongoose, then onto the BLUE ROUTE Canadian enclosure (racoons/skunks), cranes, peccaries and coatimundis, bush dogs, ring-tailed lemurs, white-handed gibbons and African grey parrots lead to a mini farm (pass through quickly, bribing the goats with food pellets to leave you alone) and onto an enormous and very impressive walk-through African aviary with egrets, Marabou storks, pelicans, cormorants etc (and side aviaries off this with various other African birds). This brings you back via red-ruffed lemurs in a nice large enclosure to the second half of the green route. There is another walkthrough enclosure with an odd mix of tamarins and various small parrots and agoutis, then it's onto jaguarundis, macaws and chipmunks and into another walkthrough with weaver birds and touracos and into the "Exotarium" - armadillos, reptiles, cappucins, ring-tailed lemurs and a nice nocturnal section with three-banded armadillos, nocturnal wallabies, douroucoulis, spring hares and bats. Quite a few species I hadn't seen before. About the last thing you come to is a building housing amethyst starlings, finches, tortoises and armadillos. Overall this is a small zoo that punches above its weight. The species mix is interesting and unusual. I loved the various photography outposts, even if the ladders are steep and tricky to climb with a lot of equipment! The signage is excellent with a lot of stimulating and educational information and quite a few flip-up question-and-answer type signs. Additionally, this zoo markets itself as being "for children". There is a stage in the main building where there are educational shows put on. Throughout the zoo there are the games that I referred to earlier. These include, for example, a set of stilts which you can use to compare yourself to a crane, and a long-jump pit to compare yourself to various jumping creatures. Several of these games would never pass a UK health and safety inspection, but I think it's great that they're there! Overall I would definitely recommend the zoo for a visit. I will be uploading photos at some point. Next... Zoo Palmyre
And after an epic typing / photo uploading session... Zoo Palmyre ========= Zoo Palmyre is definitely a larger, more "zoolike" zoo with more of the ABC species and bigger, high-profile exhibits. However, it seems like a zoo of two halves - the rather cramped older part of the zoo, and the more open newer section. Unlike my first visit in 2006, this visit was at a weekend, and while the zoo wasn't completely packed to the point of not being able to move, there were enough people, especially parents with young children and prams, to hinder your movement. Despite many signs asking people not to provoke or feed some species (particularly the primates), there were kids stepping over barriers to put their hands up to cages or feed the smaller monkeys, encouraged by parents rather than being pulled back away. This is definitely the downside of providing popcorn to feed to the animals and encouraging physical contact. Having said that, the majority of people were respectful of the animals and not attempting to feed them anything else. Maybe I'm pessimistic, but I couldn't see people in the UK being trusted to handle or only feed sanctioned food to animals at zoos here. If you drive to the zoo, the signs peter out after a while. There's no specific car park to the zoo - just a large parking area outside for the zoo and national forest all around the area, so you will arrive at the zoo without realising! The entrance to the zoo is imposing with a large waterfall and Cuban flamingo pool. Entrance is 15 Euros for an adult. There is the option to buy a guide book in French or English, and a bag of popcorn. There is a defined signed path through the zoo, usually leading along the front of an enclosure and then around the back. This means there's a good chance of seeing most creatures. Opposite the flamingos is a small island with macaws which you pass to get to the giraffe paddock and house. Going up the ramp alongside the flamingos, you pass aviaries which are adequate for toucans and the Bali starlings, but seem a little small for the pair of Indian hornbills. There is then a small otter enclosure with a concrete/pebble dry section and a small pool with glass viewing and a couple of pipes at the bottom of the pool. Most of the otters were asleeep, but one was begging for popcorn from passing humans. I would have liked to have seen some non-concrete substrate and some more interesting tunnels/tubes etc in the habitat. At the top of the ramp is a viewing platform over the giraffe paddock where, if you are carrying a bag of popcorn, you will instantly attract the attention of one or more giraffes. My conscience isn't entirely happy about feeding what amounts to junk food to animals, but I can't deny that the opportunity to see the animals so close up and touch them is something special.
The next enclosure is tigers, which is mostly sand with some grass, a few bushes, and a sleeping/climbing platform. There was also a small drinking pool. I would have liked to have seen more interesting flooring and some more trees and bushes to give the tigers somewhere out of view to go. I had the same feeling with the jaguar enclosure next door: lots of concrete and sand, little or no vegetation, and a waterfall. Tigers: Jaguars: The Humbolt penguins in the next enclosure were also on concrete/pebbles/sand with a small, shallow and rather dirty pool. The public can get extremely close to the penguins. There were some holes in the retaining wall for nests which seem to be successful enough to raise young, but again it seemed a rather barren and uninteresting exhibit for the birds. The ring-tailed lemur cage upset me. It was open on all sides and made of wide mesh, with a number of platforms (no ropes or branches), but pretty much nowhere for the lemurs to hide and no vegetation. The same goes for the lions - sand floor, some concrete/block structures, a couple of dirty small pools, a platform and no cover or vegetation. None of the animals were exhibiting any stereotyped or distressing behaviour and they all looked healthy enough, but I came away with the overwhelming feeling that there could be a lot more done in the way of enrichment and environmental improvement.
The tapir/capybara/rhea enclosure was also sand-based, but at least was pretty large and had a reasonably-sized pool. Opposite is what can only be described as a lake with various primate islands and more flamingos. Reasonably sized, but mostly climbing structures on grass. Then onto colobus monkeys: large mesh cage, platform, little vegetation. Wolves: sand, concrete, little vegetatiion. Fennec foxes: inside and outside, mostly sand/concrete. Painted dogs: good all-round viewing including a raised platform but the usual sand substrate. At least this enclosure had some trees. The sand/concrete/wire mesh theme continued with the hoofstock and primates. Colobus: Wolves: Painted Dogs: Oryx: The red pandas at least had more climbing structures and some geographically-appropriate planting.
There is then a monkey house with an inside corridor with the indoor accommodation to both sides, and you also walk past the outside enclosures which are similar in size and planting to the Chester Zoo tamarin/marmoset enclosures. There is a wide range of small primate species. Next you reach a coatimundi island-type enclosure with trees to climb, grass to stand on, and rocks and a moat round the edge of the island. It looks from my 2006 photos like this used to be where the gorillas were. The cheetahs in the next paddock have a large space with a mixed grass/sand substrate and trees. Further on is a huge paddock with rhino and Grevy's zebra and Gemsbok. The zebras are partial to popcorn. Given the size of their teeth, my UK-honed sense of health and safety was pretty appalled at being allowed hands-on contact.
There's a decent-sized but not particularly inspiring scarlet Ibis aviary, a nursery area with small cages for young ibises and a nice small wildflower meadow on the way along a path that overlooks the lake with the primate islands and flamingos. Reasonably-sized paddocks for Poitou donkeys and Bison follow, then a hippo enclosure with a reasonably-sized (but no idea of depth) pool, some rocks and the ubiquitous sand. The same substrate is used for the kangaroos: lots of sand, and a couple of trees. The lynx at least have grass and a climbing platform, but not much in the way of cover. There is then a glass-fronted building which housed a kangaroo being hand-reared and a large number of dummy eggs of various sizes. One of the keepers was toileting the kangaroo (the glamourous side of animal husbandry ) and attracting a lot of spectator attention.
The polar bear exhibit, a newer building, is next. This offers excellent viewing from above and also underwater through large glass panels. The water is clean with a wide waterfall but the swimming pool floor/rock hardstanding wasn't too inspiring. There is a large new polar bear house. The polar bear seems to have a set routine of swimming up to the end glass pane, backflipping and swimming away. Looking on Flickr, there are a lot of similar photos. Once you pass the polar bears and cheetahs you move into the more open West side of the zoo, starting with a group of cranes to one side of the path and then the elephant paddock. The paddock has a waterfall and sand floor and looks perhaps a bit smaller than Chester's, split down the middle with a wire fence. I could see three elephants - presumably two females on one side and a male on the other. The two females were at the edge of the moat around the paddock and since they were within trunk reach of visitors, one was swaying and being fed popcorn.
Nice review of Palmyre so far, very informative and some good photo's that really give you a full picture of the zoo. I'm also quite concerned about the feeding of popcorn to animals, can't be the healthiest choice... I'm quite shocked that most animals seem to be on sand, it's France, not the Middle East!
After the elephants is another large paddock - a mixed exhibit of ostriches, Chapman's Zebra, Blesbok, Impala and Gnu. This is the usual sand with some trees. The zebra and ostriches were interested in mugging visitors for popcorn, and the ostriches weren't exactly gentle about it! Again, a health and safety nightmare! Beyond this paddock the path widens and leads you to Palmyre's flagship building - the new ape house. You first walk past four islands: chimpanzees, a pair of male gorillas (Mike and Nyuki), orang utans, and a second group of gorillas, including young. You then reach the ape house which has large glass windows on one side of the path, looking into each species' indoor climbing structures. The other side of the path is taken up with informative signage and themed items.
Once you emerge from the ape house, you dodge the miniature goat farm (use any remaining popcorn to bribe the goats to refrain from eating your bags and clothing while you make a swift exit) and come to Nocturama, the bat cave. While this is much smaller than the likes of Chester and you are not in with the bats, the cave theme was well done, with good rockwork and a small illuminated pool which looked great with water dripping into it. Passing an avairy containing Ruppel's Griffon Vultures and Maribou Storks you reach a tropical house with a few reptiles, tortoises etc. We didn't have much time in there as we were hoping to get to one of the shows. We rushed a little past the white-handed gibbons, Galapagos tortoises, macaws, snow leopards and Southern Ground Hornbills and arrived just about in time for the sealion show, but not early enough to get a place in the packed seating area.
The sealion show was pretty much exactly as I remember it in 2006. It's more entertainment than education, but very slick and very well choreographed with no hiccups during the presentation. The keeper (the same man I remember from my first visit) obviously has a very good rapport with the sealions and they're 100% attentive to him. It's very well done and very entertaining and got a good response from the crowd. Immediately after the sealion show is the parrot show. In 2006 this was done by the same keeper who did the sealion show. It was someone different this time but just as slickly done with no misbehaviour from the parrots. This was also more entertaining than educational, but did stress the intelligence of parrots as shown by their ability to count and recognise shapes and colours. By this time our day was pretty much over and we'd been everywhere and seen everything. We'd sampled the food and drinks (food choices mainly either fairly expensive microwaved stuff or crepes but a reasonable selection of drinks) and found that while the toilets near the sealions were the horrible squat-over-a-hole-in-the-ground type the newer building near the ape house actually had proper loos. Overall the zoo feels a little cramped and dated, at least in the older sections. The newer sections are a lot larger, more up-to-date and better equipped. I would hope that having built the ape house, Palmyre Zoo will invest in the older enclosures, providing better habitats, larger spaces and more enrichment for the animals on that side of the zoo. I would like to see fewer bare looking enclosures full of sand with no shade, cover or hiding places for the inhabitants, and for the more dangerous and/or vulnerable animals to be better separated from the public. Other than that the variety of creatures held and size of Palmyre makes it well worth a visit, especially if you pick a weekday when there are far fewer other people about. ============= This concludes our virtual tour of Zoo Palmyre. Onto La Fleche later today or tomorrow...
La Fleche ======= At 18.50 Euros, La Fleche was the most expensive of the three zoos visited. Although it was first opened in 1946 the overall feel is of a clean and mostly modern zoo. The heart of the zoo is more cramped and obviously older than the outer areas but all the pathways, rope walkway edgings etc were clean and looked new and well-maintained. The general theming of the walkways, buildings and enclosures appeared very aesthetically pleasing and well thought out and complemented the pleasant woodland setting. A word of warning - if you don't like walking uphill, this is NOT the zoo for you as there are many sections of the zoo that are pretty steeply sloped. First impressions: Sadly this will be an incomplete review. The zoo was a few hours' drive from the hotel and despite pushing my little car to the motorway speed limits, we didn't get to the zoo until the afternoon which was mostly taken up with the various talks and shows, so we missed out a substantial portion of the zoo, despite it not closing until 6. We arrived with enough time to grab a quick portion of frites from the decently-sized and priced restaurant and hurried to the polar bear pool (naturally a long way away from the entrance!), arriving just as the polar bear talk started. Like all other demonstrations at La Fleche, it started with a pre-recorded introduction to the species set to music before introducing the talk, whereupon the live presenters take over. In the case of the polar bear, the presenter climbed a tower alongside the pool, gave a short talk about polar bears (lifespan in captivity, weight, eating habits - that sort of thing) while throwing in pieces of fish to get the bear to move around the pool for the audience to see. The talk lasted perhaps 15 minutes and since we were there on a Monday there were few other people around so no competition for viewing. The polar bear has a graduated pool with walls that offered good opportunities for scratching, and he spent some time swimming along the windows which gave us a great view of his fur and enormous paws. I could have cheerfully spent several hours there. Aside from the pool, the enclosure is a good mix of shore, trees and grass. There was tape blocking the way between the trees on one side but access via some steps appeared unimpeded and from the path behind the enclosure you could see the other side of the hill, a wide gravel path, logs and additional paving.
There was enough time between this talk and the sealion show to complete a circuit of the South-East section of the zoo, this comprising Asian short-clawed otters (including a viewing window into a den with a cub in it!), a mini farm, Humbolts penguins and red pandas. The otter and penguin pools could have been bigger, but they are OK for the small number of animals and the water was clean. We skipped over most of the mini farm, bribing the escaped goat kids with popcorn to leave us alone as we walked through! The red panda enclosure was the standard climbing structures and bamboo affair, but with nicely planted pools. The carefully-placed branches across the stream and attractive reeds in the two ponds caught my eye - it was obvious a lot of attention to detail had been paid. The remaining enclosure on this loop is the Arctic wolves. Again, they had plenty of space in an attractive exhibit with running water and natural woodland planting. There was viewing from above and side-on through glass with wider paths and log piles on the far side. The buildings and walkway covering were imaginative and what you would imagine a woodsman's hut might look like.
The sealion show started at 3 beginning with the same talk set to music before handing over to a keeper who worked with first two sealions, then a second pair, and finally all four together. Although there were some similarities with Palmyre's show - leaping out of the water to hit hanging balls, fetching footballs from the pool, dancing with the keeper etc, overall there was a lot more educational information added into the show. For example: - Demonstrating the natural predators of the sealion (Orcas) by getting one to swim through the pool with a flipper held out of the water. - Getting one sealion to fetch an empty plastic bottle from the pool while another opened a bin lid to highlight the dangers of plastic to aquatic animals. The gist was "if a sealion can recycle - so can you!" - Demonstrating the sealion's call set to music - Showing the public the size of the sealion's teeth - Having one sealion lie on its back while another brought an oversized syringe to the keeper. This nicely demonstrated to anyone worried about "exploiting the animals for our entertainment" how important it is for keepers to be able to check an animal's health and administer medicine in a stress-free way. Recycling plastic: Bendiness, playfulness and agility: Examining and treating your sealion: The full complement:
We had enough time to get a good, close-up view of the cheetahs in their spacious enclosure which also had plenty of trees, grass and other cover to move in and out of before heading into the "Yukon Valley" for the falconry demonstration. The show was led by a falconer who gave the talk as well as handling some of the birds, assisted by two other falconers at the top of the seating areas. The first birds to be shown were a kestrel, saker falcon and tawny, barn and snowy owls. The flights were set to music from films such as Lord of the Rings, 1492, Chronicles of Narnia (Chris: "Have they been raiding my MP3 player??"), the extracts being well matched to the birds on display. After the first few birds we were expecting the usual "A few raptors and some owls" fare. The next bird out was a steppe eagle, along with two more! This was followed by a bald eagle, including a display of snatching food from the surface of a pond. The next birds out were three kites. "Big deal", I thought, "Gauntlet fly 9 at a time!"... and then out came three turkey vultures, AND three griffon vultures, all flying low over the audience. The sight of those huge birds coming past to the tune of 1492 actually gave me goosebumps! Before all the kites and vultures had been gathered up, the final birds were introduced: a flock of magnificent storks soaring overhead. We were extremely impressed at such a varied and large display which would have been worth the entry fee by itself.
Once the falconry display was over (a good half-hour, 40 minutes), we walked back up the Yukon Valley hill to take a better look at the bear enclosures. Again, the natural woodland-style planting was very impressive and aesthetically pleasing, and the "bear cave", a grotto under the rock face with bear footprints in the concrete floor and a viewing window onto the bear enclosure, was unusual enough for us, but would have been great for kids. A platform offers viewing over the brown bear's pool (which a bear was usefully demonstrating). Next to this is the coatimundis' island which has a mixture of tree trunks, climbing platforms, shrubs, grass and rock/soil sections for digging. Entrance to the Bear Cave
The parrot show was about the last thing we had time to see. This started at five and also had some similarities with Palmyre, using the same sort of equipment, but with more carefully-stated correlations between the parrots' natural abilities and the piece of equipment in use. There was also a demonstration consisting of items made from metal, plastic and glass which were sorted into the correctly-coloured "bins" (plant pots) by a macaw - again getting the recycling message across. Parrot show stage: Demonstrating balance: Colours and shapes: Something along the lines of Dr Irene Pepperburg's work with Alex using combinations of colours, shapes and materials would make a nice extension of this sort of demonstration. Recycling: Unfortunately one particular macaw wasn't especially cooperative, and it was rather embarrassing to watch the poor presenter trying to encourage it to complete its tasks rather than either ignoring him or trying to take a chunk out of his finger! As a fellow bird owner, I could sympathise
Once the show had finished, it left very little time to do more than huff and puff back up the hill to the main section of the zoo, where we got somewhat lost and confused amongst the smaller exhibits in the centre, and to admire the spectacular black panther and African elephant exhibits. The former consisted of a beautiful waterfall with dense planting all around, affording plenty of cover for the panther which we only intermittently got a glimpse of. The latter had sandy-floored sections as well as natural woodland with trees and rocks and there were noticeable enrichment items hanging from overhead branches. The elephants appeared relaxed and playful. Panthers: Elephants: My overall impression of Zoo La Fleche was very good. The natural woodland setting and piped calming music made for a relaxing experience (helped by being there on a quiet day) and the enclosures were generally very naturally planted, affording varied habitats and plenty of shelter from the elements and human eyes. I thought the mix of education and entertainment in the presentations was good, and the falconry display was simply superb. The signs were generally large and informative, decoratively done with wooden frames and rope fastenings. I'm very sorry that we didn't get a chance to see the whole zoo and to spend some more time at some of the enclosures. If I have a chance to go back, I'll be grabbing it with both hands! THE END ======
Great set of photo's and informative reviews! Thanks for taking the time to post them. Only question I have is do you think the animal shows got a little repetetive, the parrot shows in particular?
