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Bristol Zoo (Closed) Bristol Zoo news 2014

Discussion in 'United Kingdom' started by Nisha, 13 Feb 2014.

  1. Nisha

    Nisha Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    1.0 Crowned Lemur arrived last week. Tomorrow he will be joined by a female from Mulhouse
     
  2. lamna

    lamna Well-Known Member

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    How long does it take to walk around Bristol Zoo? I'm planning to trip visit a couple of Bristol Museums but if that doesn't take up the whole day I might go down to the zoo as well.
     
  3. Brum

    Brum Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Not that long to be honest, just depends on what you want to see.It's only 12 acres but they have a lot of stuff crammed in there. The nocturnal house can wile away quite a bit of time if you want to see everything (don't talk to me about the cuscus though...) but for a casual visit you can be in and out within about 2-3 hours.
     
  4. pipaluk

    pipaluk Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Have to agree, i would say if you have 2 hours to spare, it's worth going, but i've managed to be there over 5 hours on my most recent visits(including several returns to the nocturnal house).
     
  5. Brum

    Brum Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    My last visit (and quite a few others on here) lasted from 9.30 am until about 1 am the following morning... That was for ZooHistorica though! ;) And that involved several trips to the nocturnal house as well, not to mention many attempts at locating the sousliks! (With no luck I should add!)
     
  6. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    I'd be another person who has, on occasion, spent a good few hours in the Nocturnal House alone :p
     
  7. Bele

    Bele Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    An early morning drop-off at Bristol Airport was a good excuse for a few hours at the Zoo . It is half-term in Bristol so the Zoo was busy , with the usual large numbers of baby-buggies and small children .

    Whilst inside the Pygmy Hippo House , some young girls were excited as they had seen a baby . After watching for a while , a baby popped up from the murky water behind the female . The second pool seeemed to be unoccupied . There was no notice about the birth , though I could see a discarded notice stating 'House Closed for Husbandry Reasons' .

    Managed to see all the Old World Primates on show , due to on-going improvements to the Entrance/Shop it is not possible to get near to the Drill enclosure , I was lucky to see one from across the Flamingo enclosure . No sign of new Crowned lemurs being on show yet .

    Saw one of the Cassowary in revamped paddocks besides Gorilla House , no grass and very wet soil in both paddocks . Centre of Aquarium closed for development of new tank .

    Will post some photos when I get time , though not certain if any of baby Hippo much good , very steamy in house .
     
  8. Nanook

    Nanook Well-Known Member

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    Hi Bele,
    The Crowned Lemurs are due to be on public view in March I believe.
     
  9. Nisha

    Nisha Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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  10. Bele

    Bele Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Pleased to see that my sighting last week is now confirmed . Not certain if mother Sirana is the female Pygmy Hippo that Bristol have kept for some time or whether they got a new one in recently . If she is the long-time female , then it would seem that male Nato's trip to Marwell where he fathered a baby was doubly beneficial .

    Shame the baby is not a male though ! ( After all the recent discussions about the problems of surplus males mammals in zoos , this is one species where males seem to be in short supply ) .
     
  11. Pertinax

    Pertinax Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    It is strange, there are occassional species, like Pygmy Hippo, where its the males that are in lower numbers. Another is Spix Macaw.
     
  12. mhale

    mhale Well-Known Member

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    Yes, Sirana has been there some time - she came from Marwell (born to Antone and Wendy in 2006).
     
  13. Clunes

    Clunes Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    In July 2011, the Bristol Post wrote the following article and I wondered if anyone knew (Gorilla House excluded of course) about the progress of the other plans...

    Ten-year plan for Bristol Zoo
    By The Bristol Post | Posted: July 15, 2011


    Bristol Zoo projects

    Bristol Zoo projects
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    BRISTOL Zoo will be transformed by four major projects over the next decade, the Evening Post can reveal.

    The zoo, which is celebrating its 175th anniversary, hopes to have all four new developments

    in place in 10 years. They are:

    â– Building an Eden Project-style tropical rainforest area

    â– Building a replica mountain environment

    â– The gorilla house doubling in size

    â– Construction of a river section that could include crocodiles.

    Zoo director Dr Bryan Carroll told the Evening Post: "It's important to keep giving visitors something new.

    "Our conservation work relies heavily on visitors coming back for repeat visits to the zoo, so we have to make sure we are constantly evolving to give visitors new experiences."

    As well as transforming the landscape of the zoo, Dr Carroll also hopes several new species will be brought to Bristol, including Barbary macaques, well-known for living on the Rock of Gibraltar but endangered elsewhere in the world.

    The four major development projects on the 12-acre Clifton site are planned to be introduced one-by- one, with a new scheme coming along every two to three years – although the order in which they will be developed has yet to be decided upon.

    The replica "mountain" environment will be built around and incorporate the zoo's existing Monkey Temple, which has stood empty for decades.

    The "riverine exhibit" would create a river-like habitat and could feature a variety of river creatures from otters to crocodiles.

    Dr Carroll said: "When I first came many of the old 1950s enclosures were still in place, and we were just about to begin a period of capital investment that brought about new enclosures like the seal and penguin area, which have been fabulous additions to the zoo."

    Dr Carroll, who has worked at the zoo for 15 years and was promoted to the role of director last year, said the institution had to balance the demands of visitors for new experiences with changes in its conservation role.

    He said: "From a conservation point of view, ideas about which animals are most in need of being part of the zoo's captive breeding programme are changing all the time, and of course we have to keep up with those changes in demand.

    "For example, we hope to bring Barbary macaques here for the first time as part of the proposed mountain exhibit.

    "These creatures may be plentiful on the Rock of Gibraltar, but internationally they are an endangered species, and we can hopefully help raise their numbers in captivity."

    Of the prospect of bringing the Monkey Temple back into use, Dr Carroll said: "It will be nice to use the building – it is no longer suitable for keeping monkeys, but clearly it is an iconic building for people who remember childhood visits to the zoo in the 1950s and 1960s.

    "Clearly we can't create a mountain in the zoo, but we can recreate a mountain habitat.

    "We would hope to move our red panda into this new area, as well as bringing in new animals such as Barbary sheep, Barbary macaques, pika, rock wallaby, montane chameleon, giant salamander, cheer pheasant, pekin robs, cave cricket and cave spiders."

    Another exciting addition planned for the zoo in the coming decade would be a mini Eden Project-style tropical rainforest exhibit.

    Dr Carroll said: "It would be built on the south side of the zoo – the area that is currently themed as Zona Brazil, which was only ever meant to be a temporary exhibit."

    The "most distant" planned exhibit for the zoo's 10-year strategy, Bryan says, would be a "riverine exhibit" – which would "focus on the importance of water to life on Earth and the impact of unsustainable water use, pollution, contamination, flooding, draining of natural wetlands and loss of habitat".

    He said: "As this is the furthest down the line of planned exhibits, we don't yet have a firm idea of how this would look, but again, we could include a varied range of animals such as otters, pygmy hippos, Cuban crocodiles, freshwater turtles, pygmy geese, African darter and whistling ducks."

    All of this development would come on top of existing plans to develop a safari park-style attraction on land owned by the zoo at the Hollywood Towers estate, near Cribbs Causeway.

    The zoo director declined to comment on the current state of the plans, which have been in the pipeline for more than a decade
     
  14. tetrapod

    tetrapod Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Several points from the press release that stood out for me that I thought were interesting. The two parts of the zoo which have been highlighted for development - Zona Brasil and the old monkey temple were also two of the poorer parts of the zoo in my mind. The South American-themed area looked poorly planned and cobbled together with some older buildings, and definitely overdue for renovation (I realise that it has been in place for a few years now). I guess some of the animals from this area may end up at Cribbs. The Monkey Temple and surrounds is surprisingly devoid of animal exhibts, although nicely planted. Definitely a better use of the old buildings and harking back to history by adding primates. Will be interesting to see how they go in 'faking' a mountain.

    Also what is it with UK zoos and macaques that is at odds with other parts of the world? Australian and US zoos are avoiding them like the (Herpes) plague, while the UK seems to want to keep adding them, particularly Barbarys. Not that I'm against it... just don't understand the differing view.
     
  15. bongorob

    bongorob Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Access to the drill enclosure is now through the walk through flamingo aviary
     
  16. vogelcommando

    vogelcommando Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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  17. Clunes

    Clunes Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    I've posted the same thing in the Wild Place thread but it may get more of a response here...
    Just an idea, don't shoot me down...
    Wild Place wants to develop but needs funding. It is a huge site that could be something really special. Bristol Zoo is old, somewhat tired in places and is constrained on all sides by roads. Do you think the idea would ever be entertained to relocate the animals at the Zoo to Wild Place and sell the Zoo site for development. 12 acres in Clifton could be worth a small fortune. Does Bristol really need 3 zoos (if you include Noah's Ark)? It's a nice old zoo but is there any place for sentimentality when it comes to conservation?
     
  18. IanRRobinson

    IanRRobinson Well-Known Member

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    Well, it is VERY old. 1835, to be precise. Older than any zoo on the continent except for Vienna and Paris, older than any in the UK or Ireland except for London and Dublin. Not a history to be taken lightly, I'd suggest.

    And there's a great deal that can be done on 12 acres IF you accept that you exclude large land mammals. Cold Coasts works and looks good, and the gorilla set-up works. Add onto that a good aquarium, arguably the best nocturnal house in the country, an interesting collection of reptiles and beautiful gardens, and I would say that there is great deal to be treasured, preserved and enhanced.

    Intelligently managed, Bristol and Hollywood Towers (please can it be renamed "Bristol Wildlife Park"?)should complement each other, not act as rivals. Others can comment on Noah's Ark.....:rolleyes:
     
  19. Shorts

    Shorts Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I'd agree with all Ian's said and add:

    The main financial problems I could see with this:

    1. The Clifton site would need to obtain planning permission to build houses before being offered for sale;
    2. The price obtainable might not be as high as one would think as the site would costs a small fortune to clean up and demolish;
    3. The cost of developing a new site from scratch (enclosures and visitor infrastructure) would cost way, way more than the money obtainable than selling the Clifton site.

    Finally, the Clifton site currently serves the local population well (especially "young families") and generates a profit surplus which can be used to develop Wild Place over time -why mess with that?

    Very finally (and more emotively), it's an evil, sacrilegious, idea to destroy such a beautiful, historic, wondrous place.
     
  20. PamP

    PamP New Member

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    Gorillas

    I am trying to find the names of the gorillas at Bristol Zoo in May 1990?

    I have searched the internet and emailed the zoo but with no luck.

    Any help appreciated.

    :)