Possibly one advantage of sending Tara to Blackpool several weeks in advance of the others might be that she will bond with Kate, as she has no other company temporarily. I guess Kate's longer term future at Blackpool will depend on the outcome of whether she is accepted- or ostracised- by the Twycross group after they are reunited.
Went for a stroll (/wade - drainage still very much an issue) around Twycross today. Overwhelming impression was of a bit of a step back from recent progress on the feel of the zoo - basically due to the number of empty exhibits, exacerbated by the fact that where enclosures are open through one of them is often unsigned, so you can't tell if it's in use or not. Overall it feels a bit like the chimp works have put everything else on hold so animals aren't being replaced just yet and as such the collection doesn't fill the zoo available (though I'm sure it's not that simple, of course!). Saw the remaining elephants for what I expect will be the last time at Twycross, and got a great view of the martens. Lemur House was closed all the time I was there with the result that I didn't see a single lemur in that area (only the ones near the entrance). Entirely unscientific, but the few comments I heard from other visitors about empty enclosures were matched by comments about it being 'good value for a tenner though', so the half-term price offer seems to be going down well (indeed, I wonder if this may be an intentional move as there's a lot of movement, gaps and work going on during the first 'busy' week of the year).
Now that post is something this site has been lacking for a while, a Maguari visit report from a UK zoo! Great to read as I like your views in these and it's nice to hear some balanced opinions from one of my favourite (British) travellers!
It is a shame to see so many empty enclosures around the Zoo. But I guess it's inevitable whilst the zoo is such a heightened state of redevelopment, which overall is a good thing. I suspect it will continue to be a recurring theme over the next few years. Especially with the Tiger enclosure receiving planning consent a few weeks ago. So work will no doubt start on that later this year.
A large new enclosure to replace the old Lion and Camel enclosures, plus part of the picnic field. Species currently unknown, but Chessingtons pair of Sumatran are a possibly candidate as they’re getting 4 Armur tigers for their new Tiger Rock attraction from Sweden. And it’s unlikely they’ll want to different species of tigers in drastically different standards of enclosure.
Writing on a mobile and being unable to edit your posts doesn't help. Was meant to say, it's unlikely they'll want to keep two different sets of tigers in two drastically different standards of enclosure. They're planning to keep their existing tiger exhibit alongside the new one initially, but I can see them wanting to re-home the Sumatran tigers in the next few years - perfect timing for when Twycross may be on the look out for some.
I understood what you meant... and agree it does seem unlikely Chessington will keep both sets of tigers.
Not sure if this link has been posted before but some interesting info contained on the page and with an Easter 2018 opening not much longer to wait! New Chimpanzee Habitat coming in 2018 | Twycross Zoo
I'm amazed it will be finished so soon! I went in Feb and it really didn't look anywhere near completion.
Planning application in for 'Elephant to Rhino Conversion' of Elephant Paddock, which looks like it involves the splitting of the house into 2 and a new paddock being created to the right-hand side of the existing sand paddock. Looks like the end is nigh for the old zoo centre!
From what I was told it had rats, cockroaches and lots of ghost, I also remember meeting a Wolf there when the TZA did a talk about wolfs.
First real confirmation that it will be converted for Rhinos, which did seem fairly obvious. Question is which species- I would think all three of Black, White and Indian would be possibilities, though White is probably still the easiest to acquire.
