Big news at Chester zoo » Chester Zoo

Big news at Chester zoo
13-05-2007

Chester did used to have a pair of Amur tigers but sadly they died in 2006. A pair of female bengal tigers came up from westmidlands Safari park to join them while a pair of sumatran tigers was brought in.

Chester has a male Sumatran tiger. This may not seem a big deal but Chester has been waiting over a year to get this species. We're still waiting for the Addax though....

13-05-2007

Where are the Addax coming from, maybe Marwell zoo ?.

13-05-2007

I heard Edinburgh and Dvur Kralorve

13-05-2007

WOW, any idea on numbers?

13-05-2007

I think Chester is getting 1.2. There are 2.3 at Edinburgh and loads at Dvur Kralorve, But then, that's what they specialize in isn't it.

19-05-2007

The Addax are coming from Germany as soon as DEFRA OKs the import. I do not know how many, nor form which collection. The delay is because of an outbreak of blue-tongue disease. Chester is also expecting some Persian goitred Gazelles from Helsinki, and are looking at obtaining a second Asian gazelle species, Bennett's has been discussed.

19-05-2007

WOW sounds like Chester zoo is getting some interesting animals

19-05-2007

I didn't kow about the goitered gazelles. How long have they been lanning to get them? I know they were looking after the departure of the arabians but I didn't know that they had already made a decision.

19-05-2007

Chester has now got a pair of fiji banded iguanas. Bongorob, do you know when they arrived?

19-05-2007

I did not know about the Fiji Banded Iguanas. I saw a male at Cotswold last July, it weas on loan from a private keeper. The Goitred Gazelles were expected last summer and will be goinmg in with the onagers and camels. Perhaps the delay is with the building of suitable inside accommodation under the bridge, I have been told that every available member of maintenance staff who has not been doing emergency repairs has been working on the Realm of the Red Ape.

20-05-2007

Does it open on the 26 of May. I'm planning to go then.

15-07-2007

Don't know if this actually qualifies as big news (well it will to at least one person), but I went to Chester today and they now have 2.2 Visayan Tarictic Hornbills (Penelopoides panini panini), pure bred birds. One pair are in the bird of paradise aviary in Islands in Danger and the other in the upper aviaries of the Tropical Realm with the Salvadori's Pheasants. I expect the hybrid pair will now leave the zoo.

The aquarium is exhibiting the duck-billed fish for the first time, and changes in the Realm of the Red Ape the Green Pricklenapes are now on show, the Tree Shrew aviary has had the Bali Stalring label removed and the Scissor-billed Starlings have been removed from the Timor Sparrow aviary. Maybe a sign the sparrows are nesting.

2 Great Grey Owls have hatched and the Greater Vasa Parrots have bred another 3 chicks. A second female Salvadori's Pheasant has arrived, giving the zoo 2 pairs. A curassow egg was seen on the ground near to thge front of one of the macaw avairies.

In the Okapi house the two rodent enclosures are still unlabelled, no animals were seen. ISIS lists Chester as no longer holding Grass Rats or Four-striped Grass Mice. The Thallomys rats have begun to breed with 12 babies so far.

The reptile section now has Pygmy Spiny-tailed Monitor back on show (in the old Mangrove Monitor vivarium), while the former Crocodile Monitor enclosure is now home to Utila Spiny-tailed Iguana and Smoky Jungle Frogs. The Black Marsh Turtle enclosure is undergoing maintenance and no animals were exhibited. New arrivals are a group of Splendid Leaf Frogs, though they are not yet on show.

A wooden cut out has been placed alongside the Asian plains exhibit, life size figures of Indian Rhino, Brow-antlered Deer and Blackbuck. At my full height, the top of my head is level with the bottom of the rhino's ear.

The zoo was not as busy as I expected, although there were huge numbers of Brownies. On my visit to the Jaguars, it was impossible to see the ants becuase about a dozen Brownies were photographing them. And I always thought girls did not like 'creepy-crawlies'. No sign of any cubs, and no signs saying they have bred. I guess the young jaguars were not reared.

The new information kiosk sells Monorail tickets, and anyone spending over £40 in the zoo shop gets a free cuddly chimpanzee.

15-07-2007

Bongorob.

What were your impressions of Realm of the Red Ape?

15-07-2007

Thanks!!

I know it's a bit over the top but I was jumping up and down when I heard you mention the Taricitcs. The zoo actually has 4.4 registered with ISIS, but I expect some will be moving on. Any pictures of them?
Do you know what's happened to the Black lion tamarins?
Can you explain more where the hornbills are in Islands in Danger? ie. with mindanao bleeding hearts
What zoo did these taricitcs come from?

Will they move the salvadori's pheasants in with the Timor sparrows or Belanger's tree shrew?

15-07-2007

I'm not sure, I like it but at the same time there seems to be something missing.

The glass-fronted exhibits cause all sorts of reflections with sunlight, and I think the orang enclosures ought to be better labelled. Both species are labelled together.

The outside enclosures are a bit untidy-looking with the huge steel walls, but I expect these will be less noticible when the vegetations grows larger.

There seems to be plenty of space for visitors to move around, but that could be said for the old house. This one is brighter.

On the site of the old aviary a section has been fenced off, as if it is an enclosure. It is wooded, and has a pool and waterfall. My first thought was it is for waterfowl, but it is not foxproof. Some small mammal perhaps, chevrotains, muntjac?

Apparently this is phase I. Phase II consists of a second house and two more enclosures, the only place this could go is to the east on the old car park.

I'm disappointed not to see the mossy frogs, they were acquired for this exhibit, and some of the offshow Asian turtles would have been nice.

I expect it will grow on me. I'm something of a traditionalist when it comes to zoo buildings.