Nice set of photos of Chester's latest new exhibit. The enclosure appears to be lushly planted and fairly naturalistic, two things which I adore. Is the pool quite large for the otters?
There are two pools that are connected by a waterfall and it covers quite a considerable area of the enclosure. It is flanked by a couple of mud wallows for the babirusa and a rocky outcrop for the otters. From this photo, the larger pool is hidden behind the group of trees to the right of the shot
Thanks Jimmy. Once again Chester is leagues ahead of its British compadres in the zoo world, and I love the idea of this mixed-species exhibit. Otters are popular with visitors, babirusa are mainly unheard of but cool to look at, and your multiple photos show what appears to be a totally naturalistic, nicely planted landscape. Kudos to Chester.
As I mentioned in the thread for this exhibit, the otters themselves make a terrific exhibit because they are inseperable at the moment and chase each other from pool to pool which is entertaining for the visitors. The babirusa seemed to keep to themselves, but people were very interested in them (and were actively looking at the info signs if they were unsure what it was!). Also of note, Chester use the pig/small active mammal combo in some of their other exhibits as well (red river hogs with yellow mongoose and warthog with banded mongoose). It must be a successful formula...
