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General Discussions => Other Zoos => Topic started by: Troglodytes on June 11, 2011, 08:26:08 am


Title: Chester Zoo
Post by: Troglodytes on June 11, 2011, 08:26:08 am
Had a great visit yesterday.

When I did keeper for the day the lemurs were shut in and not very interested so the keeper I did it with said to come back some other time & do it properly. Sadly (or maybe not ) they just have a bachelor group as all the females & babies have left. But boy lemurs are nice people :)

I had the bucket of food, a lemur on each shoulder, one hanging off the bucket and a row lined up on the branch. They were very gentle taking the food although a little hand would come & try to pull my hand & the grape into their mouth as I was trying to give it another.

The baby roan antelope is very sweet and was being embarrassed by his mum washing his bum very thoroughly. The antelope equivalent of spitting on a hanky!

Emma the Sumatran orangutan was very nice & came to say hello when I went before home time. I don't think her sister likes me but she was outside so couldn't blank me! Utara, Emma's daughter seemed to be spending the day with her Aunt.

The Bornean babies spent the whole day wrestling, they are very sweet. The B's have not entirely denuded their new enclosure.

The chimps were shut in all day because of some work being done but did catch Boris enjoying a hearty breakfast and some of them has just gone out at home time. Sadly the one who might have been pregnant isn't :(

I never come away without feeling I missed loads of stuff.

As we were being ushered out of the RotRA a man said to me 'It doesn't seem fair, we had to shelter from that downpour, you'd think they'd stay open longer than 5.' Seriously? Britain would ground to a halt if you had to extend opening hours when it rains, it's not as though there are not indoor houses at Chester where you can shelter whilst watching animals!

Exciting news is that the tuatara have laid eggs, I love these since we saw semi-wild ones in New Zealand. It'll be a year before they know if they are going to hatch. It's a good sign though because apparently they are young!
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: mazzy on June 11, 2011, 12:27:13 pm
lovely report Simon what a lovely day you had , id imagine its quite a nice life living in a lemur all boy group xxx
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: mazfc on June 11, 2011, 06:41:58 pm
Super report Simon. Sounds a fab day.

Have the keepers collected the tuatara eggs or left them in exhibit?
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Joan on June 11, 2011, 07:50:22 pm
That was a fantastic experience, the lemurs sound captivating.  Yes people can watch the animals whilst sheltering from a downpour, or have a restorative cuppa.

Fingers crossed the tuatara eggs will hatch safely.





Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Troglodytes on June 12, 2011, 12:37:11 am
It says in the members magazine that they were in a properly dug nest which they think is a good sign. I asked yesterday where they were but the lad I asked didn't know.

I'll be quite delerious if they hatch. Hopefully even though they are so rare in zoos they should not be too difficult to breed, they breed in windy Wellington and the climate is not that special!
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Troglodytes on June 21, 2011, 04:50:21 pm
Very exciting news, Kirana Chester's Sumatran tiger who is very young has had a cub and seems to be caring for it very well. They are not confident it will survive but looking good so far.
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Troglodytes on June 22, 2011, 10:46:00 pm
Well Kirana and baby still seem to be doing well.

http://bit.ly/iAKIKq (http://bit.ly/iAKIKq)
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Joan on June 22, 2011, 11:06:21 pm
Absolutely gorgeous, good that they are doing well.  The male Sumatran tiger in Dublin zoo came from Chester and has excellent social skills, being both a great mate and father.

Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: LesleyM on June 29, 2011, 03:38:12 pm
Sad news on their Facebook page, Kirana's cub has been found dead this morning, poor thing.
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Troglodytes on June 29, 2011, 04:02:11 pm
Yes, very sad. Hopefully the fact that she looked after it bodes well for next time.
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Jomni on July 07, 2011, 07:41:37 pm
Horrible news. But, as Simon says, she was looking after her cub, so hopefully next time things will be better.
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: mazzy on July 10, 2011, 12:08:41 am
had a really lovely time at chester yesterday with Simon and Mr mazzy , was a special night with a BBQ , guided keeper tour and charity auction for EAZA   ape campaign ! me and Simon got some lovely goodies , there was some really great quirky things on auction with great historical connections to the zoo , also came away with some chimp art by the one and only Boris im well happy ! :D

chester chimps were great fun , as were the ellys and orange folk , and i love the new african hunting dog exhibit xxx
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: LornaMcA on July 10, 2011, 06:15:23 pm
Sounds great! I saw your boris painting on Facebook. He's a talented lad!
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Joan on July 10, 2011, 08:28:02 pm
Sounds really interesting, the Chester chimpanzees are fascinating.  Lovely painting by Boris, as good as and better than a lot of the exhibits in the Tate Modern.
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: hev7575 on July 17, 2011, 11:32:52 pm
The tuatara are still too young to breed. The eggs were infertile.
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: mazfc on July 22, 2011, 07:35:54 pm
The tuatara are still too young to breed. The eggs were infertile.

That's a real shame, but I'm sure they will get there soon
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Troglodytes on July 29, 2011, 08:32:56 pm
Richard Gibson who did the excellent reptile & amphibian tour we recently attended said there's a small husbandry issue that he's hoping will sorted soon which should give the tuatara a much better chance of succeeding in future. Funnily enough he is going to work at Auckland Zoo soon and a large part of the job is with native species. Very jealous!

On a very positive note Chester's cheetah KT had 4 babies in June, she's a great mum and they have now gone out for the first time this week, and I'M GOING TO BE A CARNIVORE KEEPER NEXT MONTH!!!!!!!
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: mazfc on July 29, 2011, 08:42:52 pm
Haven't you heard? Cheetahs have been reclassified as hoof stock!  ;)  ;D
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Troglodytes on July 29, 2011, 08:51:54 pm
I'll sue! :)
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: mazzy on July 29, 2011, 10:40:41 pm
psst i think someone is a tad excited  ;D ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Joan on July 30, 2011, 08:59:19 pm
Excellent that will be a great day to get so close to 4 adorable cheetah cubs.

Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Troglodytes on September 06, 2011, 12:58:27 pm
Apparently Scorch the aardvark has gone fro Colchester to Chester but will be off show for some time, before presumably getting a mate.
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: AmyB on September 06, 2011, 08:52:01 pm
He went last week. He's such a cutie! I'll really miss him. I'm off to Col on Friday, possibly with a friend and her two very small children
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Elly on November 24, 2011, 11:03:25 pm
Sad news from Chester today, the two female cheetah cubs have passed away. Mum KT and the two male cubs are still undergoing veterinary treatment for the same illness.

There's also good news, Kirana the Sumatran tiger has had three cubs. I managed to catch a brief glimpse of them last weekend, but mum was keeping them well hidden.
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Troglodytes on November 24, 2011, 11:53:04 pm
Very sad about the cheetahs, cowpox apparently.

Looking forward to seeing Kirana's cubs! Glad it's going well this time,

They have another male aardvark, also Col I think!
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Joan on November 25, 2011, 08:17:47 am
That's sad, saw them in the summer and they were little cuties.  Good that Kirana is keeping her new cubs well hidden like she would in the wild, hope all goes well this time for her.

Hope to get to Chester next weekend on the way back to Dorset, the chimpanzee group is fascinating and the whole zoo is very impressive.

 
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: LornaMcA on November 26, 2011, 01:42:22 pm
Sad to hear about the cheetah cubs, I also saw these adorable animals when they were tiny.  I hope that KT and the other two cubs pull through. 

I've seen pics of the tiger cubs on FB, they are so cute!
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Joan on December 21, 2011, 04:39:20 pm
Visited Chester Zoo on Monday en route to Ireland and got drenched to the skin.  There was a 6th form visiting but lots of people with kids too, felt sorry for them.

Attended the elephant talk, they have 10 keepers dedicated solely to the elephants and it takes 2 years to learn the job.  All the elephants were out in the paddock including the bull Upali and didn't seem to be affected by the torrential rain and they didn't look high maintenance at all but there is a lot of training and preventative procedures such as pedicures.

Most of the animals were indoors and offshow, the apes and monkeys were shut in but on show and seemed to be fine, the macaques, mandrills and spider monkeys were having a ball while the chimpanzees and orangutans were chilling out. 

The lions didn't seem to mind the weather but they were the only cats around. 

So not a great day to see the animals unlike MW where you can still see everybody no matter how bad the weather, but it's still a good place to visit.



Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Troglodytes on December 21, 2011, 05:35:22 pm
Great news that the two remaining cheetah cubs and mum KT are recovered and back on show. They boys have grown a lot!

I love their ellie herd and particularly Upali. Sad that he'll be going next year.
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Troglodytes on January 10, 2012, 08:56:18 pm
Sadly one of the tiger cubs has died, hopefully the other two will be OK.
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Joan on January 12, 2012, 09:59:31 pm
That's very sad for them, but hopefully her sisters will be fine, Marwell lost their female snow leopard cub and she was taken ill very suddenly too.

Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: hev7575 on February 21, 2012, 09:17:52 pm
The red ruffed lemurs have been replaced by black howler monkeys.
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Troglodytes on March 15, 2012, 01:40:00 pm
Went to Chester a couple of Saturdays ago. Can't believe how busy it was.

Probably the worst orang experience there ever, they had broken a window in two of the indoor enclosures so only one in action, got a glimpse of Utara, Puluh's back and outside Emma and Indah were just disappearing. The Bornean babies and mums were out (Martha missing) but the windows were really steamed up so couldn't really see them. There were some people who'd come from Bristol and particularly wanted to see the orangs, at least I could point them back to the Borneans which they'd missed because they are not obviously a separate group.

Went to the chimps and Boris responded to my greeting and came over and settled himself down for a chat, the man next to me was dead impressed but quite quickly a commotion developed and B had to go and check it out. He is so lovely, he looks a bit slow but otherwise really good! I also saw Heidi whose 'artwork' I bought, she has had cataract surgery and always seems to sit by the door. Nicky who is a nice, huge lad was sitting with Heidi when one of the kids came up behind him, he turned round and started to run away giving Nicky a swift kick as he did, it was so like a naughty human, Nicky went after him and it seemed to end amicably as they came back together. Tina, the youngest chimp was being teased by one of the older ones who stole the rope she'd used to swing across to the bars, she ended up using him to climb down instead. They are a lovely group.

The red pandas were both on the ground eating bamboo, it's the first time I've ever seen them being so active.

Saw both bears, they are currently separated and have been for months, Sangay came very close (melon may have played a part).

Iblis the lion is looking much more mature, there was lots of roaring going on and he was chasing one of the females.

Sadly the cheetah cubs are still off-show, fingers crossed for Adaze who has been mated recently.

The tiger cubs woke up when there was a rain/hail storm. One was trying to lick Fabi's (dad) back dry, he was looking very resigned! The other laid out in the rain but go dried off by Kirana. It's amazing how drying cats licking can be. They are growing fast, watch out Fabi, they'll be a handful!

The other baby is a tapir, she was not visible when I first went by so I sacrificed my late visit to the orangs to see if I could catch her. I was lucky, the keeper was just bringing food and Talia emerged from the capybara house where she has decided to live. It's so cute "This door is just my size, I'll live in here". She won't be able to get in for much longer. I have a mental picture of her and the capybara up all hours, playing on playstation, eating junk food whilst Mr & Mrs tapir are asleep in the tapir house!

They've refurbished the jaguar house, didn't see Pele the black jag outside which I'd hoped to, he didn't used to be able to go out but now he and Sophia go out and make a spectacular sight - him black and her spotty! They have a new HUGE fish tank and some sloths which were doing what sloths do best up in their tree.

It's such a big place I always leave thinking I've missed loads!
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Joan on March 15, 2012, 07:53:46 pm
Great visit, though disappointing about the orangutans, wonder why they broke 2 windows, it's a bit anarchic.

That is a wonderful chimpanzee group at Chester, they seem very united.  It's fantastic that they can do cataract surgery on primates makes a huge difference to their quality of life.  Romina - one of the adult female gorillas at Bristol - had her life transformed after getting her cataracts removed and lens replaced in both eyes as she was quite blind.

Yes it is a massive place, you need a whole day to just walk around, let alone spend any length of time at each enclosure.

Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Troglodytes on March 19, 2012, 10:12:21 pm
Some photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lolamon/sets/72157629249358076/with/6994020439/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lolamon/sets/72157629249358076/with/6994020439/)
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Joan on March 20, 2012, 08:11:00 pm
Lovely photos, the rock hyrax is so cute and of course the chimpanzees look great, fantastic group.

Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Troglodytes on March 20, 2012, 10:13:45 pm
I forgot I caught the baby anteater too, it was out and about because it was a nic day. Weird creatures.
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Troglodytes on April 09, 2012, 02:52:06 pm
We had a nice visit to Chester. Boris was great, he seems to realise he has a duty to the public to show up for the chimp talk and gaze round with a benign expression.

We reported one of the Sumatran orangs who was trying to smash a newly replaced window with a rock. At one point we could see 6 out of the 7 of them and the gibbon out in the waterfall enclosure, Utara now has more amazing hair than ever!

Martha was out with all the other Borneans (except Tuan). It's lovely to see her, she's the oldest orang in the UK (I think). Her two daughters had a bit of a stand-off, well a sit-off, Leia was using Latifah as an 'orang-shield' but Iznee the little male was totally oblivious to the tension and just bounced around. Leia ws giving the two young ones lessons in dismantling things. Iznee tried to pinch my glasses when I did keeper for the day and he still seems fascinated, I was waggling them in an Eric Morecambe kind of way and he was fascinated!

The young elephants obliged and took a swim in the pool. Jamilah still seems to like pushing other people in!

Finally I got to see Pele the black jaguar outside for the first time, he looked beautiful in the sun.

As we were leaving we had a 'missing tiger cub' scare, only one cub was out and about and Kirana was making some noises that could have been interpreted (by non-experts) as distress. Missing cub was discovered inside chomping away on a big bone, phew!
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: hev7575 on June 14, 2012, 12:39:01 am
The tuatara are still too young to breed. The eggs were infertile.

That's a real shame, but I'm sure they will get there soon

Apparently one egg was fertile and a tutara hatched.it did not survive. It is thought to be the first hatching outside New Zealand.
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: hev7575 on September 16, 2012, 11:37:31 pm
There are now three male red-fronted lemurs on the lemur island.
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Troglodytes on September 17, 2012, 10:11:38 am
Sadly Sumatran orangutan Budi has left Chester but on the plus side both adult females are pregnant.

As are the okapi, 3 elephants, 3 rhino...
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Troglodytes on September 17, 2012, 10:12:57 am
There are now three male red-fronted lemurs on the lemur island.

Are the red-ruffed lemurs still on there? I've lost track.
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: hev7575 on December 22, 2012, 03:40:24 pm
Not seen any lemurs on the island for a while but the ruffed lemurs are still labelled.
Title: Re: Chester Zoo
Post by: Troglodytes on December 27, 2012, 11:35:45 am
I saw the ringtails sitting up in the trees in the sunshine about 3 weeks ago.