Chester Zoo Chester Zoo Spring 2015

No you will not as he didn't arrive until after the old House was closed to the public!

 

Fair enough. Did they have a different Bornean male?

 

They did but I am the wrong person to be able to tell you who that would have been,as I just don't do names.

 

Bornean Male Orangutans at Chester Zoo;

Before 'Tuan'- 'Sibu'

Before 'Sibu'- 'Anak'.

In the more distant past. 'Dennis' 'Barry' 'David' (not all kept as adults though). Also 'Kimbu' (came with Martha)- died as young animal.

Sumatran males;

Before 'Puluh'- 'Oscar' (father of Emma & Subis.)

Before 'Oscar'- 'Jimmy' & 'Paul' (one- probably 'Paul' -was the father of hybrid 'Rajang' at Colchester)

 

No, the ramp zig-zagged and the entrance to the nocturnal section was roughly above where the door to the capuchin enclosire is.

 

I don't actually remember the nocturnal section, when did it close? but I do remember the ramp, did you used to be able to go up the ramp to view the alligators?

 

Yes you could see the alligators from the ramp. The nocturnal section closed in 1979. All I can remember of it was seeing Cairo spiny mice, rock Hyrax and Siberian Chipmunks.

 

I spent a lot of time in the Tropical House last Summer especially upstairs. I was amazed at how close some of the free flying birds would get if I sat quietly. I'm resigned to this building going sooner or later and I know that would be the Chester Zoo way. Still disappoints me that they have a fabulous building full of history that with a little TLC could be restored to former glories.

 

I think in its time Chester's Tropical House was as innovative and ground breaking as their 'Islands' development will be (or indeed 'Heart of Africa' if they can ever do it) The first time I ever set foot in there it was a real eye-opener. Gorillas and Orangutans displayed in a warm humid 'tropical' atmosphere, waterfalls splashing, birds zooming all around.

I'm sure these days its a rather tired reminder of its former glories but it will be sad if it does eventually go.

 

Ickbur is quite right. It is the Chester Zoo way to build relatively quickly and cheaply and to accept that their buildings have relatively short lifetimes. I am sure that this a very sensible policy: zoo animal husbandry has developed so much that old-fashioned buildings are often worthless encumbrances - I only have to mention the word 'Casson' to prove that point.
The Tropical House (I try not to use the R-word) is coming to the end of its usefulness: the old chimp dens and the reptile corridor are defunct, the top gallery goes nowhere, the roof is fragile and heating is limited. There is a lot happening off-show, which will have to be moved to new purpose-built accommodation eventually - some of which could be on-show. The site is obviously an important one in the zoo and some of the structure could be refurbished: but I think the concept of a generalised tropical exhibit is out of date now, any new structure will not house tuatara, Galapagos giant tortoises, dart frogs and hornbills together.

Alan

 

I am afraid this is a case of too rosy eyeshades / specs! With all good respect tropical rainforest halls like Leipzig's - Gondwanaland and Arnhem's - Burger's Bush really give the historical / classical Tropical House at Chester Zoo the merry go around! Which to me is no surprise given its age and state of repair of the building.

I am sure that most people at Chester Zoo agree with me that eventually it will go and be replaced with a state-of-the-art new Tropical Hall that can rival some of the above mentioned continental Tropical Halls.

 

Last time I was in there, a few years ago now, it did strike me as 'rather tired' compared to how it used to be. And as GL says, parts of it are now defunct. But that's not say its not still an impressive building and among the highlights of the Zoo.

 

Whats the bird with the brown line surrounding its eye called?

 

It is still both. It is on a completely different scale to Paignton's so I think a lot better because of that. I should have added that it is still a good building.

 

While I dearly love the old TH(R), we do need to bear in mind that talk of Chester building a new tropical house is not hypothetical - one twice the volume of the current house will be opening within the next six months. And I really think the current building is going to look very much the poor cousin once Monsoon Forest is on the scene.

I do like the idea of making it a temperate house - means that heating is not so much of an issue, the tuataras can stay by the entrance and the rest of the house given over to something along the lines of the Szechuan Pavilion at Prague. Just depends how firm the structure is.

 

Does anyone know what happened to the Hyacinth macaw that was being handreared? This was a few months ago. I think they named him/her "Jesse" due to not knowing the sex of the bird. I did ask on the FB page but got no response and other people were interested too.