new exhibits in British zoos

new exhibits in British zoos
26-08-2007

there has been a lot of new exhibits recently the s america area in the clore and the gorilla kingdom in london, realm of the red ape at chester, siamang and asian animals and the encounter area at marwell, the new monkey house at bristol, a new monkey house also at dudley, a new walk through aviary at twycross, the primates seem to be getting well looked after at the moment, with the new £5 million budongo chimpanzee exhibit at edinburgh nearing completion along with the lifelinks centre for south american species and a new walk through aviary for rainbow lorikeet with the option for feeding them due to open soon. Other major exhibits planned include a new aquarium at chester, a new tropical house at belfast, a crocodile house at paignton, an orang utan exhibit with se asian animals at colchester, new giraffe houses at banham and cotswold wp, there also plans for a gorilla exhibit at marwell, a new house for indian rhino at whipsnade, new enclosures for amur tiger, snow leopard and palls cat and a new red panda enclosure at the highland wildlife park. the British zoo scene at the moment is thriving with all this investment, things are looking good.

26-08-2007

Thats really good news to hear they are pouring so much money into upgrading exhibits and new plans for other species

28-08-2007

I saw the building site for Paignton's new crocodile exhibit last weekend - it is going to be huge!

28-08-2007

I was told something about a chinese area at Chester, near where the otters and Vasa parrots are.

There is also a new Parrot aviary near the off show one. It's brilliant.

28-08-2007

I was at Edinburgh on Saturday. The Budongo project looks as though it is at or nearing structural completion. The external rope and timber climbing apparatus has been erected. It looked as though the contractors were preparing earthworks for the moat. Should be a very impressive facility when it opens next spring.

The Rainbow Landings building looks complete from the outside, apart from landscaping. Unfortunately it looks like a fairly ugly, bog-standard industrial shed. Hopefully the landscaping will include some means of 'beautifying' the building which at the moment is a bit of an eyesore compared to the rest of the zoo.

The Living Links building is architecturally more interesting and is beginning to take shape with cladding and landscaping works now taking place.

28-08-2007

Here's two more to add to the list:

Madagascar exhibit at Cotswold WP
Reptile House at Welsh Mountain Zoo

29-08-2007

jonathon any ideas on species for the chinese area

29-08-2007

I've no idea, but two keepers mentione it. A walk througha viary or something like that. That would also mean that the vasa parrots, Derbyan parakeets and the small parrots, finches and doves in the nearby aviaries would have to be relocated.

The otters may be moved to Realm of the red ape. I went behind the scenes withe the members, and it was brilliant. I have to say, that I can now appreciate how much space the orangs now have compared to their old house, which I've also been behind the scenes in.

29-08-2007

Hornbill,

I would expect Derbyan Parakeets to stay. They are endemic to China. This seems like an evolution of the Himalayan area which was proposed a few years ago.

Already the rock garden has been refurbished as a Chinese garden. Chinese Red Pandas and Red-crowned Cranes are already in residence, (as was a Golden Pheasant until earlier this year).

Chris79,

Do you know anything about the new reptile house at Colwyn Bay?

29-08-2007

isn't the chester zoo twinned with the chengdu panda breeding centre in wolong, china so maybe just maybe a couple of giant pandas (i think i know the answer to this one).

29-08-2007

The answer is 99.9% no. No giant pandas, but the zoo does support Chengdu.

29-08-2007

Would the otters need to move. I know they're usually considered a South East Asian species really but I thought they had a fairly large range- could they be considered a chinese species?

I'd have guessed the same as you with cranes, red pandas and derbyans staying as all are already in the area close to the chinese garden. Do you think the bongos may be relocated (perhaps to the buffalo area near okapis or something) to make way for a chinese ungulate? Takin'd really complete the area!

29-08-2007

They do support the work of one of the giant panda breeding centres, but as to acquiring a couple of panda's it is very unlikely in my opinion, esp with the superzoo plans being tendered for and i believe the tender has been awarded.

29-08-2007

Chester does not support wild takins, But they do support chinese laughing thrushes so they could go in this aviary. I imagine that the bongo will move to a different part of the zoo in the near future.

30-08-2007

Small-clawed Otters do live in China, as does the Eurasian Otter. The Chester enclosure would not be suitable for the latter.

The present bongo paddock could be used to house Asian deer, it was originally built for the wapiti. Besides takin there are serow and kiang which could also go into this exhibit. If I could chose an new species of endangered bird for the aviary I would go for crested ibis.