Chester Zoo Chester Zoo 2017 Review

Sorry. Changed it.

 

Never bothered with feeding time but not too fussed about seeing the Brazilian Tanager, I saw them earlier this year at London Zoo

Intresting that the Jay has been moved into here, I only saw ever it in the neighbouring parrot enclosure

As far as I am aware, the lemurs aren't there yet. An new indoor shed has been built on the islands, just needed some ropes and the lemurs should be on it. Although, they may still have just the one male unless a new female has been bought in.

 

Oh. That's probably why I couldn't see it

 

In which case, write "one of only a few"!

 

The "new" penguin enclosure was opened on 1st July 1981 by the late Patrick Moore, the TV astronomer. I was present at the formal opening ceremony. For the first three years it also housed black-footed penguins.

Humboldt Islands? Which map have you been looking at ?

Europe on the Edge is the former polar bear enclosure and the old waterfowl pond which lay to the north of the bear exhibit.

Flamingos have been on that site since 1971, previously the paddock wa sused for penguins, waterfowl and pelicans.

The Cattle House opened in 1950 and the Giraffe House in 1952. The oldest building in use for animals at the zoo is the brick house in between the round enclosure and the male Pudu enclosure, last used for giant anteaters.

The zoo doe snot plan to use the Malayan Tapir paddock for anything else after they leave, the building is very old and is difficult to maintain.

The site of the Monal aviary was at one time an outdoor tuatara enclosure.

Tropical house amphibians. I wish more zoos would take this fascinating order more seriously.

Hyacinth Macaws used to share their aviary with blue-throated conures, but the conures were removed because they were harrassing the larger macaws.

The Rainbow Avairies are very nicely done.

I would like to point out that the Common Crows in Realm of the Red ape are butterflies and not corvids.

There is only one each of white-lipped tree viper and Thailand Water Dragon.

 

Go for it.

 

So what was this 2009 incident which resulted in the reptile collection being reduced?

(I have a vague - but only vague - recollection)

 

And some of us old fogies recall Pygmy Hippo where the Aye-Aye now reside!

 

the back corridor was closed because of health and safety issues.

 

I am afraid that I failed geography as well as maths. Falkland Islands. My apologies.

 

No worries, not like anything important has ever happened there
(Btw don't mean to be controversial it's just a little joke I'm sorry if you take offence to the subject)

 

Still incorrect however, as the humbolt penguin lives on the other side of South America

 

I guess but it still works though.

 

Darn it . If anyone needs me I will be staring at a map for the next few hours.

 

My review is now up if anyone would like to read it.It is long though.Plus can anyone tell me when the White Lipped Tree Viper arrived at the zoo and how long has it been on show?

 

There was in October last year; but I think that may have been because they were breeding them at the time?

 

Part 9: The Last Few Exhibits

Oriental Small-Clawed Otters

Komodo and I often have a debate about whether “small-clawed” or “short-clawed” is the more appropriate term. The one that I prefer is “Small-Clawed”, whilst Komodo is all for the latter. These otters used to have an old enclosure in the South-East Area but it got demolished and they got moved to a new exhibit beside the orangutan house and they were until recently housed with a breeding pair of babirusa. It is actually a relief to my mind that the babirusa have moved out now and those naughty otters are now left on their own. The otters have a large enclosure with a stream that runs through it till it empties into one big pool at the end for the otters to swim in.

Spirit of the Jaguar

This is my favourite big cat exhibit at the zoo. What I love most about it though, is the huge tropical aquarium that is in there called “Amazonas Aquarium”. This spectacular aquarium was built in 2011 and it is my favourite aquarium at the zoo. It is home a vast array of fish such as Discus Fish, Bristlenose Catfish, and many tetra species including Black Neon Tetra, Fire Neon, Penguin Tetra, X-ray tetra, Red-Eye Tetra, and my favourite aquarium fish – the Cardinal Tetra; as well as some Yellow-Spotted Amazon River Turtle. The downside of this aquarium is the signage. They use them “stringy signs” and they are very awkward to read. Over the aquarium there is built an enclosure for Linnaeus’s Two-Toed Sloths. The sloths are able to climb around the whole roof-top and are given sticks and ropes to limb on. They have now also been given access to an outdoor enclosure which the Azara’s Agouti is due to move into as well.

As for the Jaguar exhibit, it is my favourite big cat exhibit at the zoo, and the best jaguar exhibit that I have ever come across. The indoor enclosure is wide and foliaged and has a waterfall and stream in it to keep the humidity levels high. The outdoor exhibit is even more spectacular and has a huge waterfall (which wasn’t active when we got round to it) and I have seen jaguars swimming in the pool at the bottom of it before.

Before I finish, no trip to Spirit of the Jaguar is ever complete without stopping to look at the fascinating little Leaf-Cutter Ants. The ants are able to travel across a thin log to get to get to a stump which has leaves on it for them to collect. What is most spectacular is that you can see into the nest and see the secret life of ants.

Sun Bears

The sun bears used to be in the old tiger enclosure but they were moved into the Savannah half of Spirit of the Jaguar for reasons that I do not know. The bears are due to move into Islands soon where they will share an enclosure with the binturongs. We saw both bears but just in the distance so I guess that the day was quite bearful after all.

Pudu

I cannot write about this exhibit because the coffee house was closed when we came to it so we couldn’t look through the viewing window.

Off-Show Canal Paddocks

As far as I understand, these paddocks beside the giraffe house are home to okapi and babirusa. When we passed them, I saw nothing because I think that the animals in there had been moved inside because it was just before closing time.

Butterfly Journey

Usually I don’t go into the butterfly house because when I was younger I had a fear of things fluttering in my face; but now I am older I am not bothered by the butterflies at all. In fact I am very fond of them now. I love the butterfly house. What I like most about it is that it reminds me of the old butterfly house at Moss Bank Park’s Animal World which closed down not too long ago. The building is home to many different species of butterflies and moths which fly around you freely. Unfortunately this exhibit too uses the stringy signs which are very awkward to read, especially when there is a butterfly resting on one of the cards. The exhibit also has a little invertebrate area which is home to several phasmid species, flower beetles, cockroaches and a Brazilian Salmon Pink Bird-Eating Tarantula. Unfortunately the old whip spider exhibit has now gone, which was my favourite invertebrate in the zoo. There is also a new enclosure for three Panther Chameleons.

European Black Vultures

The old Condor Cliffs aviary has now been remodelled into a new Europe on the Edge Aviary. It was formerly home to Andean Condors and an American Black Vulture but now it is home to the European Black Vultures. The other birds from Europe on the Edge are due to visit soon but I fear that a lot of the waterfowl species may have to depart.

Asian Steppe

When I was younger, this was the old zebra paddock but now it has been remade into an exhibit for Onagers and Bactrian Camels. The enclosure is built to represent a Mongolian desert and it depicts it very well in my opinion. We saw both ungulate species upon our visit.

Indoor Canal Primates

These enclosures are currently home to Cotton-Topped Tamarins, White-Faced Sakis and Black Howler Monkeys. I didn’t get a good look at them because at this time we were rushing to see everything because the zoo was due to close in like ten minutes. Despite how desperate I was, I saw none of the primates.

 

And that concludes my visit this year. This was my first time visiting with @Komodo99 and it was a very nice experience to visit the zoo and spend it with someone who appreciates animals (even if it is mostly reptiles and big cat ). This is probably the only one of my Chester reviews that I will upload onto this site but I am glad that I did and that I was able to share this special visit with zoo-enthusiasts such as myself.

Before I visited the zoo, I planned out a route that would take us around all of the animals without having to back-track at all, and also to avoid crowds, and see everything at the right time of day. I may upload an image of the route that we took later.

Did I forget anything on my visit or in my review please be sure to let me know. And don't forget to take a look at Komodo's review which can be seen here:

Chester Zoo 2017 by Komodo99