I think the architect who designed the new giraffe house should be congratulated it is brilliant, but does anyone know where the giraffes are coming from ? I understand they are hybrid's surely a breeding group would be better especially with such a wonderful house like they have got now. In the old days the keepers new what they were doing Colin Ward, Craig Lymm and Sarah Roffe but they would not fit in now. Changing the subject I think that Twycross Zoo needs someone that knows about business and has a business background. I mean they charge a high entrance fee people complain so what are they doing now that's right 1 child free with 2 paying adults at Easter, and where the hell are they going to put this brilliant water park for the children I mean last year they couldn't even organise the beach bag of builders sand a paddling pool and a large deckchair, I hope they know they might need lifeguards what is Twycross is it a Zoo or a Theme Park ? the water will need chemicals and need to be kept clean unlike the penguin pool, and finally where the hell are they going to put the Chimpanzee Eden. Mrs Boardman used a lot of space with the waterways which probably doesn't get used as much if at all and the zoo doesn't get loads of income from it either.
Firstly yes I agree looking at the photos kindly furnished in the gallery by Mr. Zoo giraffe that the new giraffe house does indeed look very good. Interesting to hear that it will be occupied by hybrids not pure bred, I wonder from where these animals will be sourced, how many, what sex? As for letting one child in free with two paying adults over the Easter period, again I do not agree with offering freebies during periods of high season, with the giraffes coming at Easter that in my humble opinion should be sufficient to draw the crowds.
Giraffes. Having seen the site I should point out that the outdoor area is not huge, not a lot bigger than the previous one in fact. IMO it is just sufficient, but no more than that. Regarding hybrids v. purebreds, it may be a case of 'needs must' i.e. a hybrid group is relatively easier to obtain so they can guarantee having Giraffe in situ at the desired time or they have been asked by EEP to house hybrids as more are available, or maybe its a bit of both. Chimpanzee Eden. If you refer to the other recent Twycross thread and the links to local newspaper reports(sorry, not good at links) e.g. the Coventry newspaper, it has a 'gallery' of plans. The Chimpanzee Eden is shown as positioned adjacent to the boundary south(?) of the new Giraffe building. It is described as the first phase of new builds for all the Apes. If the later phases for the other Apes really do happen, then from what I could decipher they would fill the space between this and the existing Lemur walkthough area.
Interesting that you have actually seen this new giraffe house "in the flesh" and in your opinion the outside enclosure is not much bigger than the old house and is just sufficient, well I value your opinion very much and if that is what you think I believe that to be the case, thanks.
I was thinking that they would have been better increasing the size of the old giraffe enclosure (as they have), but keeping giraffe in there instead of the zebra and nyala, then the money that has gone on the new giraffe enclosure could have been used elsewhere. That being said, I can't remember the exact circumstances of them going out of giraffe originally, but I seem to remember it being quite sudden - perhaps there was no time to plan something like this.
While this brand new house will undoubtedly be an improvement on the old one, as new houses usually are, I also wondered if it is really worth the expenditure, given the old building could have been modernised and the outdoor area extended as they have done, but for Giraffe, rather than Zebra and Nyala. Originally I was under the impression the new enclosure would give Giraffes a large amount more space, but it doesn't really. Certainly not comparable with e.g. most larger wildlife parks. I think the original Giraffe area plus the extended area is probably bigger than their new outside area. The Zebra and Nyala do look a bit out of scale in that tall building too which largely seems to be just a storage area apart from doubling as their inside(offshow)area.
I was told names and a few bits of info the other day. They are getting 3 males. 2 hybrids, who's names I forget. 1 from Colchester and one from Fota Wildlife Park in Ireland. The third they are getting is Brad, a pure Rothschild from Flamingo Land. They'll all be arriving next week, if all goes according to the zoo's plan!
The Colchester male is a pure Reticulated (just one that isn't compatible with the mixed species exhibit at Colchester) The Fota male is also likely to be a pure Rothschild (they relocated their last hybrids several years ago) This would have been a good opportunity for Marwell to relocate their hybrid females... At the moment they are unable to bring in a another Rothschild bull for the pure females for breeding due to having no space. Moving the hybrids to Twycross would have solved this
I think it's a great idea, Easter is a time when families visit many attractions and anything to help them out they will be very appreciative of. Remember zoos make money through restaurants and gift shop also, in Easter they will make plenty of money through other means and families will be more likely to go thanks to the offer.
Ok it is true they get money from food and the gift shop but the price of things in both the gift shop and the food are all quite expensive which is another area where they are going wrong.
Most zoos have expensive items for sale in their gift shops, for exame Chester have/had a wooden Noah's Ark on sale for 500 pounds when I last went in there! As for food prices, every tourist attraction tends to make the most out of their food outlets!
Yes I agree most zoo gift shops are expensive, I have always regarded making a purchase in one as a donation to a reputable charity zoo as well as actually buying something, although I will be perhaps be regarded as having my rose coloured glasses on the Twycross gift shop was always reasonably priced when the ladies ran the show, although to be honest these days I find very little in these places of interest, not like years ago when I used to spend my pocket money on those marvellous Britains Zoo animals by the bag load, they should still be making them in my opinion!. Also remember Twycross catering in now contracted out to a private company so they are out to make a profit as well, hence perhaps higher prices these days, again the old café was reasonably priced in the old days. I also think it should be remembered that zoo enthusiasts may visit on there own, so are just catering for one, a family of four can easily do a good three figures on a day out at the zoo, worth every penny of coarse if they enjoy it and consider it to be value for money.
Of course, considering the fact that this was some decades ago, I suspect that the effect of inflation and the economic downturn in the meantime will be the main reason for prices at Twycross' gift shop increasing - in the mid-1990's I would imagine most if not all zoo gift shops were significantly more reasonably priced than they are now, for this reason I definitely agree that there is precious little of interest in zoo gift shops these days, though - certainly the range of books is heavily skewed towards the child market though even as a child I would have distinctly preferred a nice in-depth tome about zoology aimed at adults!
If a zoo wants to become a giraffe holder, the EEP requires them to start with a same-sex group because the need for zoos that take hybrid females as non-breeding groups and bull groups for mixed and pure males is so big. Twycross can`t do both at the same time. I`m just happy the giraffes are coming back so quickly!
I agree it is good that the giraffes are coming back in fact they should never have been sent away in the first place
Very few books on sale for adult zoo enthusiasts in any zoo gift shop I would say, you could/can still get the odd one at London, that's about it.
For once we agree on something about Twycross,in fact if they hadn't gone out of them when they did I suspect they would have already had a potential breeding group of Retics by now!
Yes it is a positive step for the zoo to have the giraffes returning, one of the main complaints from visitors was that they, sea lions, lions and tigers are no longer held. I agree they should not have left the collection in the first place in the Autumn of 2012, what the hell was going on there at this time.? The old giraffe house was looking dated but it could have been refurbished, paddock extended, walkway erected probably for less than what this new one has cost, but that was in the past,hope all goes well and they get plenty of visitors coming to see them.
