Chester Zoo Chester Zoo 2017 Review

This is my Chester Zoo 2017 review. This review will be slightly different from my other reviews because, after a visit to Chester, I always write a review on it about what I thought of the exhibits and animals and everything. It is a rather long review, as I love writing, especially about zoos, so it will be split up into separate posts which I will write as time goes on.

One thing that I must make clear first is that I only visit Chester Zoo annually. This is so that each visit feels very special. It is also because I do not have a lot of time to visit the zoo and I live quite far away. Anyway, here is the first part of my review:

 

Chester Zoo Review 2017

So, this year I visited the zoo with my dear friend Komodo99. As this was the first time visiting Chester Zoo with Komodo, it was a truly special visit, though it involved a lot of Komodo Dragons, as Komodo is especially fond of them (as you can probably guess from the username). Despite that, we managed to make our way around the whole zoo in good time. It was a very hot day, though it was rather quiet, despite a few schools that were there.

Elephants

Elephants of the Asian Forest was the exhibit that we visited first when we visited the zoo, as it traditionally is. Although we had to wait for a while for the elephants to come out (we arrived at the zoo just before 10:00), we took a moment to appreciate what an amazing exhibit it is. The paddock is large and spacious, and has a rather tough terrain, giving the exhibit a nice natural feel. There are tall poles with hay-nets hanging from them, allowing the elephants to feed in an enriching way; and a large water pool fed by a waterfall for the elephants to bathe in (as well as several cheeky ducks). When the elephants finally came out, we saw the huge bull male of the herd, and the three youngsters, two of which are only a few months old. I think that it is really clever of the zoo to put the elephants right by the entrance, as it gets you all excited the very moment that you enter the zoo.

Elephants of the Asian Forest

As soon as the elephant house was opened to the public, we went in straight away. As we walked into the building we passed an aviary which held a couple of species of Asian Magpie. On the way in, I definitely saw an Indian Red-Billed Blue Magpie. As we came out, I am quite sure that I saw some Asian Azure-Winged Magpies as well. This aviary was thick with foliage and was rather long, giving the birds quite a bit of flying space.

Inside the house was a large aviary for a Sunda Wrinkled Hornbill. This spectacular aviary was so thick with foliage that we couldn’t find any trace of the hornbill anywhere.

As usual, we didn’t see the tree-shrews but Komodo managed to spot the Northern Luzon Cloud Rats in their nesting box. These small mammals have a very well done exhibit, with lots of branches for them to climb on, giving them plenty of enrichment.

Last time that I visited the aquarium it was home to four species of Asian fish. Today, however, it was home to some Roti Island Snake-Necked Turtles. It is very nice to see these turtles again at the zoo and in such a fine aquarium as well.

On the way out, there was an enclosure for some Sumatran Prevost’s Squirrels. These swift little rodents were jumping all over the place. The exhibit that they were in was rather concealed behind the shrubbery, so if we didn’t already know that it was there, we may as well have just walked straight past it. What has happened to the Derbyan Parakeets? Have they left the zoo now, or gone off-show?

Warthogs

We didn’t get a good look at the warthog paddock today because the Bembe café was closed off due to a lawyer event that was going on, but I managed to catch a glimpse of the warthogs on the way out. So there won’t be much to say about the warthogs this time, so my apologies folks!

African Wetland Aviary

This is the old Pelican Lake at the zoo. I admit that the aviary has not been the same since the pelicans left the zoo, but there were still some rather interesting species in there. We saw a pair of Black Storks in the aviary, and when we went into the bird hide we saw many fascinating species. The only birds that I remember seeing though are the White-Headed Ducks, Ruddy Shelducks, White-Faced Whistling Ducks, and the Marbled Teals.

This aviary is absolutely spectacular. The water space is quite large and the banking is fairly high as well. Some of the birds have dug holes and built nests along the banking which is brilliant.

Kirk’s Dik-Diks

We didn’t see the dik-diks this year anywhere around the zoo, which is a shame but at least I was able to see them last year. The dik-dik paddock is wide and spacious and rather hidden by the shrubbery, giving the small antelope some privacy.

Lesser Kudu

This paddock was wide and spacious giving the kudu lots of roaming space. The grass was thick for grazing and there were trees in the paddock, allowing the kudu to browse. Last year, I didn’t see the Kudu because I missed their exhibit but I managed to see them this year so I was thrilled.

Roan Antelope

The Roan Antelope herd was very nice to see as well. Their paddock was much like the Kudu paddock so I think that it would be safe to agree that the paddocks at Chester Zoo are very well done.

Grevy’s Zebras

The zebra paddocks are still just as brilliant as the previously mentioned paddocks. These paddocks were rather wider which is a good thing since these are the largest animals in the paddock section of the zoo. I could tell that the paddocks were rather old by looking at the walls around them. Does anyone know how old exactly the paddocks are?

Visayan Warty Pigs

The warty pigs have a fantastic enclosure. It was deep with substrate for them to forage in, which we saw one of them doing. It was one of the piglets that were born not too long ago, although Komodo managed to spot the others not too far away. A very wide and spacious enclosure. I really liked it.

Southern Cassowary

The cassowaries have another fantastic enclosure. It is thickly foliaged and swampy and has a fairly deep pool for them to wade in. The enclosure also has plenty of space in it. It took us a long while to spot the cassowaries but we managed it in the end thanks to Komodo’s fantastic ‘Sniper Eyes’. It was resting behind a bush in the shade.

Bali Starling Temple

This was a brilliant little aviary. It isn’t as big as the Tsavo aviary, and has less bird species in it, but it is no bigger than it needs to be. The design of the enclosure is made to look like a ruined temple that has been overrun by birds. The main feature of the aviary, as the name suggests, is the Bali Starling. These beautiful white birds have one of the most beautiful bird songs that I have ever heard. The aviary was also home to a flock of Java Sparrows and Pied Imperial Pigeons but we were unable to spot the latter. Round the side of the aviary was a separate enclosure for a noisy pair of Yellow-Backed Chattering Lories.

Javan Banteng

The Banteng were lying down in the shade right near the wall of the enclosure. This superb paddock was wide and spacious and had a wide pool in the middle for the cattle to drink from and cool down in. There was also a young calf in the enclosure which was born not too long ago.

Sumatran Tigers

The tigers have a very nice large enclosure, and it is much bigger and better than their old one. To be honest there was so much space in the enclosure that we couldn’t spot the tigers anywhere. We even tried talking to a volunteer but we still had no luck. Apparently, it is not possible to view the whole tiger enclosure due to all of the construction work that is going on in Islands. What a pity.

Sumatran Orangutans & Silvery Gibbons

We only managed to see one of these orangutans during our visit and it was out in the sun with a sack-cloth over its head. We also saw one of the gibbons when we were inside. The orangutans and gibbons have outstanding enclosures, and one of the best enclosures that I have seen in my life-time. There are ropes and climbing apparatus galore, and they go quite high as well. It is always so phenomenal to see one of these amazing apes swinging from rope to rope and showing off their amazing acrobatic skills.

Javan Rhinoceros Hornbills

This species of hornbills are my most favourite birds in the world. The reason for this is because of their vast size, their long bills and the trumpeting noise that they make. I also just find them to be really fascinating animals. The enclosure that they have in Monsoon is quite good. The aviary is thick with foliage and it gives the birds lots of hiding places. The hornbills also have access to an outdoor enclosure but I have never seen them use it once.

Tripa Forest Research Station

Even though crocodilians are my favourite animals, the Tripa Forest Research Station is my favourite part of the Monsoon Forest. I love the vast array of invertebrates that they have on-show. One highlight of this part was that they have finally put the Emerald Cockroach Wasps on-show. A lot of the phasmid species I work with so I find it interesting to see what enclosure they have. I am not too fond of the new buffalo leech enclosure though.

There is a decent-sized aquarium in here, though I found it quite hard to see anything, except for a Neon Green Rasbora. The Tentacled Snake aquarium is really good as well, and we saw it with a few shrimps along its back.

Monsoon Forest

I thought that this large rainforest building was really good. The building is really thick with exotic foliage and free-flying birds. Out of the free-flying birds I definitely saw Emerald doves, Superb Fruit Doves, Victoria Crowned Pigeons, and Scissor-Billed Starlings.

The herp exhibits are quite decent, again thick with foliage and water pools for the animals. The first one was home to some pitcher plants for some bizarre reason, but the others were home to various lizards and frogs. Out of these, I definitely saw Gariau Forest Dragons and Green Crested Lizards.

For the first time I managed to see a False Gharial from the balcony. Usually I cannot see over the darn thing, but I managed it this time though it was not a great viewing area. We only saw one of the False Gharials today, but we did manage to see two Bornean River Turtles. We saw the Painted Batagurs as well. Both enclosures are very well done, though the over-head viewing is still terrible.

On the way out there was also a nice long enclosure for some Brown Tortoises. In my opinion, this is probably the best tortoise exhibit in the zoo due to the amount of space in it, though many may disagree with me.

Sulawesi Crested Macaques

The Crested Macaques are another of my favourite primate exhibits at the zoo. The shear height of the enclosure and the amount of climbing apparatus really does it for me. We managed to see one of the baby monkeys with its mother. Despite the warm day, all of the monkeys were inside.

Lowland Anoa

I like this paddock far better than the old one that the anoa had on the canal islands. This is mainly because I can actually spot the anoa in there. I never saw them once on the old canal island. But unfortunately, my anoa spotting luck had returned to me and I did not see a single anoa in the enclosure. I didn’t even see any in the new paddock in the Bats Bridge.

North Sulawesi Babirusa

Of all of the babirusa paddocks, this one is by far my favourite. The enclosure design is very naturalistic and the given space is very good. The babirusa was resting in the shade on our visit, as it was a very hot day. Only one babirusa was seen throughout the whole day.

Upon exiting Islands, we passed what seemed to be an off-show enclosure. We also saw a keeper going in there with disinfectant and blue-roll so there is definitely something in there. I wonder what it could be…

 

Part 2: From Bongos to Rhinos to Rhinos

Eastern Bongos

The bongos have been moved to the old scimitar-horned oryx paddock. They were in the paddock across from it last time that I visited (I swear that the paddocks change round on every visit I make). I think that the bongos looked a lot more settled in this new paddock. It was grassy and spacious and seemed to meet all of their needs. I thought I would do @bongorob a favour and count them for him and I counted a total of six bongos. Wait… it might have been five. No I am quite sure it was six. Hang on, it might have been seven, actually. Never mind, I can’t remember…

Western Sitatunga

The sitatunga paddock is probably one of the only animal enclosures at the zoo that I dislike. Though the paddock has loads of space and grass for them to graze on, sitatunga are a wetland species and need to live in a watery environment. The least the zoo could do is add a water pool to the exhibit but I am afraid that it doesn’t look like it will be happening anytime soon.

Aardvarks

The aardvark exhibit that the zoo has is quite a decent exhibit. The one in Blackpool is alright, but the Chester one is better because the aardvark don’t have to share with them pesky meerkats (they did use to but then they swapped with the porcupines). The aardvarks were not in their enclosure when we visited so I don’t know what is going on there.

African Wild Dogs

The painted dog enclosure is one of the newer exhibits at the zoo. The enclosure is fantastic and has lots of space for the dogs to run around in, and it has a fantastic sandy substrate. As for the indoor area, like Islands, it is very research centre themed. Personally, I am not bothered about the research station themed part of the exhibit. I am more interested in the animals and the enclosures the standards of the enclosures that they have.

Rock Hyrax

Chester is currently the only zoo that I have visited that holds Rock Hyraxes. The zoo has two enclosures for them, and they are quite decent exhibits. We only saw one hyrax sun-bathing. I think that the others must have all been hiding in the shade.

Cranes

I didn’t really get a good luck at the crane pens but I did see both species of crane. Chester has three species of crane, and the crane pens are home to two of these species: Eastern Grey Crowned Crane, and Wattled Crane (Komodo thought it was a stork ). The crane pens are also home to a pair of Dik-Dik but we didn’t see them.

Eastern Black Rhinos

The Tsavo Black Rhino Experience has got to be one of the best rhino exhibits I have ever seen. It consists of several different paddocks (don’t make me count them) all devoted to Eastern Black Rhinoceroses. Some of the paddocks are rather hilly and some have pools in them, but all are wide and spacious enough for these terrific pachyderms. We went into the rhino house and saw the recently born calf. Part of the exhibit had been blocked off but I am guessing that this is to give the rhinos some privacy.

Meerkats and Porcupines

Unfortunately, just like every other collection, Chester has meerkats. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with meerkats mainly due to how consistent they are in zoos, and how people just adore them to pieces. What bugs me more is that the zoo labelled them as ‘Slender-Tailed’ Meekats, when really there is only one kind of meerkat. Despite my meerkat hate, I think that Chester’s exhibit is a fairly sized enclosure, and it is also home to a pair of porcupines. They were asleep as usual and the meerkats were being active.

Tsavo Bird Safari

I think that this is my favourite outdoor aviary at the zoo. Chester has really done well with this exhibit, and made it into a large, African themed aviary with lots of foliage and a small lake in the centre of it. It also has a small hide for you to observe the birds without getting pooped on. I didn’t get to spend too much time in here, but I definitely saw Vulterine Guineafowl, Hamerkops and Weaverbirds. I missed the Hornbills and the Lilac-Breasted Rollers again.

Monkey Islands

Also casually known as the ‘Monkey House’ this monkey exhibit is home to four different species of monkeys: Colombian Black Spider Monkeys, Lion-Tailed Macaques, Mandrills, and since the crested macaques moved out, Buffy-Headed Capuchins. The outdoor monkey islands are fantastic and heavily foliaged for the primates to climb on, as well as several bits of climbing apparatus. The indoor exhibits also have lots of space in them and climbing apparatus. When we arrived here, the spider monkeys were being fed. Whilst people were busy taking pictures of the monkeys, I went over an old waterfall (which I swear hasn’t been active for about 15 years, can anyone clarify?) and noticed that there was a huge lizard on it, and it scared the life out of me! I then realised that it was fake, as Komodo kindly pointed out to me.

Asian Plains

This is another brilliant rhino paddock. This one is home to Indian Rhinoceros and Brow-Antlered Deer, which we saw in the distance. The rhinos, however, were hiding inside when we visited and only poked their heads out every now and again. The paddock has a dry grassland theme for the rhinos, and it also has a mud pool for the rhinos to soak in. A very impressive exhibit.

 

I thought Chester had 4 crane species... Have the blue cranes or the black crowned cranes left?

 

The blue cranes have left.

 

Very interesting Water Dragon.

blue cranes left in 2015.

The entrance has only been next to the elephants since 1995, the previous entrance stood opposite the aquarium, and the original zoo entrance was next to the gatehouse, the building visible behind the Chinese Garden.

Overgrown aviaries are fine in the breeding season, but overgrown enclosures are becoming a problem at Chester zoo.

Derbyan Parakeets are in the offshow house behind the male onager paddock in east zoo.

Kirks's dik-dik are ogten locked inside in their enclosure in west zoo. those with the okapis are more easily seen.

The zebra paddocks were built in 1972 for Grevy's zebras. The site has been in use for ungulates since 1968.

Rhinoceros Hornbills often go outside, you are just unlucky when you visit.

The bongos seem to be more settled in the new paddock, the most I've seen this year is 4.

I agree with you comment about the sitatunga enclosure lacking a pool.

the aarvarks sometimnes go behind the house, and when they do they cannot be seen from the path.

Yellow mongoose are sometimes known as Yellow meerkat, hence the name 'slender-tailed meerkat'

 

I wouldn't be definite of it going by the fact Chester having Kenya Crested Guineafowl in Tsavo rather than Vulturine

 

Part 3: Bats, Bears and Bridges

Fruit Bat Forest

This is my favourite part of Chester Zoo which is quite unusual for me, as when I visit a zoo, it is normally the tropical houses that are my favourite parts. The night before I went, I saw the post from @gentle lemur saying that the bat house was closed. When I saw that post my heart just dropped and I was so gutted. However, when we arrived at the zoo, it turned out that the bat house was open again. My heart leaped with joy. The reason that the bat house is my favourite part is because of the atmosphere that is set in there. I don’t even mind the smell that is in there (which someone told me is just stale fruit). The feeling of the bats flying about me is just so magical like I can’t describe. The stuffed bat at the beginning creeps me out though. We also managed to see one of the tenrecs up and active at the beginning. The Omani Blind Cavefish tank was empty though; as was the one in the aquarium, so maybe this species has left the zoo?

On the bat side of things, the main hall is quite dark and has a lot of foliage in it for the bats to roost in. Branches also hang from the ceiling, giving more roosting space and enrichment for the bats. There is also a cave were a lot of the Seba’s bats like to fly around in. The walls of the room are designed to look like cave walls and the bats are able to roost from them. There is also a river fed by two waterfalls on each end of the room, I think. The old whip spider exhibit is still empty though.

Upon leaving Fruit Bat Forest, I tried to look for the Narrow-Striped Mongooses but I had no luck, and saw nothing other than a few keepers.

Lowland Tapirs

I think that the tapirs were all inside today because we didn’t see them. We couldn’t see through the glass either, due to a mass of school kids hogging the glass all to themselves. We did see a capybara in the outdoor paddock though.

Capybaras & Anteaters

As part of the Bears of the Cloud Forest exhibit, this paddock was once home to Guanaco, Vicuna and Rheas, but now all three species have left and it is currently occupied by the capybaras. Does anyone know why they left? Anyway, the capybaras have now been joined by the anteater, Bliss. We couldn’t see the anteater on our visit, nor could we find were the viewing window was. As a paddock, the enclosure is wide and spacious with a pool in it for the capybaras to swim in.

Spectacled Bears

Now, I suppose that you are all wondering whether or not we saw the bear cub on our visit. Here’s your answer: we saw no spectacled bears on our trip . The past couple of visits I have made, were bearful but not this one. The enclosure is another large grassy enclosure, thick with foliage in some areas (maybe a bit too much) and a moat fed by a waterfall for the bears to swim in. Up until recently, the enclosure was also home to a none-breeding group of ring-tailed coatis. Anyone know why these left either?

Miniature Monkeys

Despite being a monkey exhibit, this exhibit I find to be very peaceful at any time of the day (except from when people are playing golf). Normally I don’t visit the Miniature Monkeys but I was able to visit this time, and I am glad that I did because it was very quiet and I am very fond of the exhibits. They aren’t your typical marmoset/tamarin exhibits and they have access to outdoor exhibits thick with trees. They still need to learn how to stop the glass getting steamed up all of the time, though. Komodo and I saw some Pied Tamarins in their outdoor enclosure, and some Eastern Pygmy Marmosets in their indoor enclosures.

Philippine Spotted Deer

I didn’t see these guys this time. I usually always saw them, even before the construction of Bats Bridge. There was a sign up for Anoa where they usually are. Have these replaced the Spotted Deer? It would be a shame if they had.

Sudan Cheetahs

The cheetahs are all together again, in the original paddock. If I remember rightly, this paddock was originally meant to hold Addax, but the zoo’s plans fell through. It is probably better that they got the cheetahs though. I am quite fond of this cheetah exhibit. As well as reptiles, Komodo is a massive fan of big cats and it took me a while to drag him away from it . We didn’t visit the new yurt though.

Whilst I am here, I will also mention the canal islands. The canal islands look very overgrown at the moment. I didn’t see anything on them. In fact I have never seen anything on them, even when they held lemurs. I have seen babirusa in the old anoa island but that is about it, and even that island is now barren and empty.

 

Oops. My mistake. I always get them two species confused. Thanks Magpie

 

Part 4: The South-East Area

Indian Red-Billed Blue Magpie

Now, I understand that a lot of people on this site are not too fond of this “Nissen Hut”, and to be fair, it isn’t the prettiest thing to look at from the outside. But on the inside I was actually rather impressed with it, for such an old exhibit. On my last visit a male Cabot’s Tragopan was held here, but this time it was an Indian Red-Billed Blue Magpie which was in the Owl Aviaries last time. There is a stream and water feature as well as a lot of foliage inside for the bird to perch on. Though, it is debatable whether or not it is an aviary, it seems to do the trick for now.

Bush Dogs

The bush dog pack was as active as usual. They were all busy running around as fast as their little legs could carry them. The bush dog enclosure is quite large and has a decent-sized pool in it. They were a favourite among the school children that were there.

Southern Pudu & Azara’s Agouti

The old serval enclosure (which most recently held the female cheetahs) was signed as being home to Southern Pudu now. We didn’t see anything in there, so maybe they haven’t arrived yet. But first of all, can I just say that the Pudu have always been my bogeyman at the zoo. No matter how hard I try, I am never able to see them. It looked like it was going to be that way today as well, if it wasn’t for Komodo and his infamous “Sniper Eyes”. He managed to spot the outline of little “Bert” in the old kangaroo/anteater enclosure hiding in a shelter, so I was over the moon. I still didn’t see the agouti though. This exhibit, along with the round enclosure at the side, looks like it is one of the older exhibits at Chester. It has held kangaroos in previous years, but the round enclosure has held yellow mongooses, bush dogs and sun bears before in the past. Even though the anteaters have moved out, the false termite mounds are still there.

Nepalese Red Pandas

The red panda enclosure is right next to the Chinese Rock Garden, so I am guessing that it is meant to be giving this part of the zoo a bit of a Chinese theme. The red pandas seem to be a little more active than usual. They were climbing down the trees in their enclosure at the time. The exhibit also has a nice little stream in it, and it is quite foliaged as well.

Wetland Bird Nursery

This aviary used to hold the Blue Cranes but as Bongorob said earlier, they departed in 2015. Since then, it has been a nursery for wetland bird chicks. When I visited last year, it was home to some young flamingos but this year it held Baer’s Pochards and White-Winged Wood Ducklings.

Located next to this exhibit was the old bongo paddock which is currently home to a pair of onagers. It was covered up, so I am guessing that you are not meant to look into it, but I did, and it wasn’t the prettiest thing to look at, as it was all overgrown.

Rare Parrot Breeding Centre

Though it is a good enclosure, I am not very fond of this exhibit as it is very hard to see any parrots except for the model one. As usual, I didn’t see anything in it. It is still a nice exhibit though. It is foliaged with jungle plants and has a small stream in it as well. It is a shame that the zoo has so many amazing parrot species off-show but I guess that it is important that the zoo does it because of conservation purposes, which is what I really like about Chester: it doesn’t just talk conservation – it does conservation.

Owl Aviaries

This is a group of aviaries devoted to several owl species, and if memory serves me well they currently hold: Spectacled Owls, Ural Owls, Northern Hawk Owls, Brown Wood Owls and Great Grey Owls. These are nice little aviaries but since the owls are a nocturnal species, they spend most of their time in their nest boxes. The zoo holds six species of owl and on our trip I saw all of them except for the Great Greys. Tawny Frogmouths used to be held here but unfortunately they have departed from the collection.

 

I am afraid that I failed my one times tables at school so please expect most of my counting estimates to be a bit off .

No seriously, I only had a glimpse at it because I wanted to see the false gharials before the schools got there. You can imagine how awful the viewing would be like with a whole pack of noisy school children in there

 

Yesterday there was an empty tank in the Aquarium with a label saying that it was being prepared for the Omani blind cave fish, so I think they will be back on show soon, although I don't suppose they have many left, as they are very old.

 

That's a relief that they are not gone. How long have they been at the zoo for now?

 

Its pretty much opposite the Tapir indoor viewing window, suprised you missed it

 

although according to a keeper, it does prefer to sleep in the Capybara side of the house out of view
I only learned it had moved there on sunday

 

I do not go into bats precisely because of the smell. A few years ago I was among a small group of zoochatters who entered the bat cave. I'd only done a few steps when I said to Agile Gibbon, "my eyes are watering." Then they began to sting, so I left quite rapidly. A few visits later, during which all seemed well, I felt my eyes begin to water again. I produced so much water from my tear glands that I could not see when I came out of the little cave and instead of turning right to go over the bridge, I carried on and walked into the wall. I had to be rescued by Zoogiraffe

There is only one male pygmy hedgehog tenrec in the Bat House. So you saw them all.

Guanaco left because they were not part of the collection plan, I assume that was also the case with the Greater Rheas. The last female vicuna was exported to South Lakes. Two out of three females died within days of each other, a planned import of more vicuna from France fell through, so she was sent away to live out her life with others of her kind.

Anteater viewing is almost opposite the tapir window. The anteater can also access the long narrow paddock which runs alongside the golf and miniature monkeys. Hard to see if you don't know where it is.

You have answered your own question re: coatis. The last few females left the zoo because they were a non-breeding group, and quite old.

Philippine Spotted deer are living in the old Warty Pig paddock, visible from Bats Bridge, it is more or less opposite their old enclosure.

The Wetland Aviary used to hold Red-crowned Cranes, and a White-naped chick which they fostered one year. I can't remember Blue Cranes being in there, but I can't say they wern't for definite. The occupants change on a regular basis.

The Omani Blind Cavefish arrived at Chester Zoo in 1991. Four specimens were received in a lst ditch attempto breed from them, the survivors of an original import into the UK in 1980. In 1992 they bred over 600 young. The only known captive breeding in the worldd. To the best of my knowledge no one else has successfully bred the species. I don't know the longevity of the species, but the related Garra rufa lives between 3 and 9 years. So Chester's fish are ancient.

 

I am as well, but this may be because Bears of the Cloud Forest was swarming with school children. We pretty much rushed through the whole exhibit.

 

Some very interesting facts there, bongorob. I do tend to get a bit clued up with all the crane species that the zoo has, but it is likely that they were in there for a time.

Poor vicuna...