Aardvark Burrow at Colchester 29/11/09

I wouldnt put it past disney to surpass this exhibit in superficiality they are absoloute masters in hyper reality, why the hell dont disney just stick to anthromorphic philanthropist mouses and fairy tale animation adaptions anyway , although their animal kingdom impressed my young son it didnt do very much for me

alot of stiff competition to be sure reduakari , especially coming from the USA

I think it's worth pointing out that all this photo really shows is the barrier and the doorway to the indoor viewing. Once again I am astounded by how much vitriol is directed when it should be obvious that most of the exhibit cannot be seen.

Let's be clear: this is not a 'Great' exhibit. But there's nothing wrong with it (apart from the dodgy mock rock over the door which I will make no attempt to defend). You can scarcely see the actual animal area at all in this photo, as most of it is obscured by the entrance to the den. The walkway from the doorway runs off the left by some metres before reahcing the dens, and the outdoor exhibit tuns the length of the other side of this.

As Maguari said, Colchester has a successful breeding record with their aardvarks. The "favoured" and incongurous fake rock notwithstanding I can't agree this would win the title of the world's most "hideous" exhibit. Per-leeee-ase ...... hideous is surely more aptly applied to exhibits which meet few, if any, of their occupant's needs .... and no, not all of those falling into that category were built in the 19th Century when people didn't know any better !

I accept that the best kind of zoo is one where an animal's needs are met and where visitors can contentedly gaze upon beautifully landscaped exhibits, but in the real world, available space and/or money often restrict aesthetics. The important thing is that the animals are content and well cared for. This extension allows the zoo to provide better and easier care for the aardvarks which is a good thing.

I didn't want to offend any Disney Fan here,
but i don't agree to turning zoos into amusement parks.
Spending money on kitsch and theme-park issues is useful to attract more people,
but it can also degrade the creature itself.
The more naturalistic isn't the only way but nobody needs a kind of "ardvark adventure " or something like this,...

Funny thing is I actually don't even notice the fake rock that seems to offend so many people!

I walked past this new burrow last wedneday (2/12/2009) and didnt even notice the rock over the entrance lol They were roofing the burrow in thatch and all I can remember thinking when looking at the burrow was how lovely and big it was now and how brilliant it is going to be that they don't have to put the male off show EVERY time Colchester has ANOTHER baby Aardvark!

I have been visiting Colchester for nearly 40 years (seen it go through may changes) and until Pertinax pointed out the music played in various exhibits I had only ever heard it at the tigers lol THANKS PERTINAX I heard it everywhere on Wednesday now I knew it was there!

You really need to visit Colchester to put all these photos on here into perspective, it certainly isn't a disneystyle theme park lol And if its not your cup of tea you won't visit anyway, there plenty of people that do!!

I go to look at the animals, which are very well cared for and as happy in there enclosures as I have seen at any zoo, with or without fake rock. The visitor information about the animals is brilliant with activites and information for all ages!

Surely the animals are the main thing and the window dressing/enclosure names etc is just for the visitors!

I agree with Karen - the extension really does seem much larger. The aardvarks at any rate seemed to like it when I was there just over a week ago ..... we saw 2 of them outside which is pretty much unheard of and they were burrowing for quite a while in the deep layer of bark and leaf mould.

(My 6 year old therefore took great delight in correcting the train driver whose script stated that you have to go inside to see them etc !!)

Agree totally. I feel you should really visit Colchester rather than degrade it on Zoochat. And if you go you really have to see the whole zoo to see how much more improved it is than years ago. Old exhibits seem to show rather un needed fake rock but for example the new amur leopard enclosure looks great with it. Heres another view near to when the new part was added:

I have visited Colchester more times than I care to remember,but I`m sorry but the zoo has a great collection animals which I think is great,but as far as I`m concerned it`s all ruined by how the zoo is designed,most of the enclosures are perfectly ok but none of them are realy groundbreaking in design.That said I remember many of the Colchester regulars having ago about the new Orang exhibit on here,so when I visited earlier in the year I was expecting to dis-like the exhibit,only to find that the outside wasn`t as bad as people were saying and that it was actually pretty good,but it was let down by the amount of WASTED space inside the house!

I agree re: the wasted space inside the Orangutan Forest ......... perhaps as it's an enclosed exhibit (albeit that you can go outside to the church bit, what I mean is there's only one way in and out of the area), this may have been a health and safety issue in the event of large numbers of visitors, eg. on summer weekends.

I also agree that none of the enclosures are 'ground breaking' but I'd have thought that at least part of the reason for this could well be a lack of available space. The zoo certainly has a crammed in feeling in many areas with comparatively narrow paths and it's hard to see how many of the enclosures could be upgraded to groundbreaking standard (which would often include being made larger) without sacrificing adjoining displays. For example, the new leopard area has taken out the old Pallas Cat (and more recently, Geoffroy's Cat) area.

(By the way, does anyone know where the Geoffroy's cat has disappeared to because I'm damned if I can find it ?!)