The baboon pens were constructed in 1964 and were sited where the Sulawesi macaque island is. The cat house was opened in 1965 and was immediately to the south. Now occupying this site is the Miniature Moneys and a small picnic area. The baboon pens consisted of six aviary type enclosures (rather like the spectacled owl exhibit opposite the waterbus). One large enclosure was at the north and south ends, (usually the macaques and baboons were here) and in between were two pairs of smaller enclosures. A picnic lawn was on each side. I remember the baboon pens housing the following mandrill drill babrbary macaque hamadryas baboon lar gibbon Sulawesi crested macaque (not sure on this one) The cat house was very successful for keeping and breeding felines. However it was not very good to look at. There were small enclosures on the southern side, and larger ones on the northern side. The cat house became home to jungle cat * European wild cat Scottish wild cat * ocelot margay * Paraguayan Geoffroy's cat * jaguarundi * first UK breeding leopard cat * pampas cat serval * caracal * northern lynx * canadian lynx * bobcat puma * common leopard * black leopard * north Chinese leopard * (originally thought to have been Amurr leopard) Persian leopard * clouded leopard jaguar black jaguar cheetah ring-tailed coati cape fox golden jackal * denotes bred in the cat house. The pampas cat was a spare male from Kilverstone and it proved impossible to obtain a mate for him. Black-footed cats (2.2) were received from Rotterdam and were kept in the Small Mammal House, (situated where the western end of the elephant paddock is now), a male kitten was reared, but both females died. The black-footed cat is apparently a difficult species. Immediately across the path from the south side of the house, enclosures were built in 1967 to house jaguars (this would be part of the existing guanaco enclosure now) To the south east of the house furthur enclosures were built in 1969 to house surplus cats, but were also used for surplus baboons. These would have been more or less just to the north of the tapir shelter. Furthur enclosures for lions and tigers were built in 1973 and occupied the field where the hippo maze is. These were for a second pride of lions and a second pair of Bengal tigers. In 1983 a Sumatran tiger was also kept here. These had large windows to the dens and I once saw a tigress suckling two cubs. Cheetahs were first kept where the bush dogs now are. In 1974 a second pair of cheetah were placed in the enclosure housing pudu. The cassowary occupies the enclosures built originally for breeding cheetahs. It was not a success, and serval later lived here. Occasionally cheetahs were held in quarantine in the cat house. Serval also lived in the current bush dog enclosure and later the pudu enclosure. A Siberian lynx used to be housed in the above mentioned spectacled owl aviary. This was also used for Müller's gibbons. Other species to have lived in this enclosure are hyacinth macaws, bare-faced curassow and kea parrots. Lions and tigers have always been in their present locations as far as I know.
I thought you'd be able to list all the cats... I can remember some of these, but not all. Concerning the baboon pens, I remember the Mandrills, but not any Drills. I didn't know Chester had ever kept them. The Barbary Macaques later went to MonkeyWorld in Dorset where they gradually died off from old age(maybe the odd survivor still left? I don't remember Sulawesi macaques in those cages either, but that's probably just my memory. In the Monkey House, circa 1968 I can remember the following; Diana/Roloway Monkey lion-tailed Macaque. Pig-Tailed Macaque. Grivet/Vervet monkey? Sooty Mangabey(several) Patas. Black Spider. also two young Orangutans- Martha(still at Chester) and Kimbu. What else..?
I have just remembered about two more primate exhibits. Patas monkeys were once kept on the island where the anoas are, and lar gibbons on the island now housing the ring-tailed lemurs. I remember the orangs in the monkey house, I saw Subis there when she was being hand reared. The Monkey House used to have a huge collection of species, often single specimens and today would be regarded as not acceptable, though I bet in the early 60s it was considered as an excellent place. I remember many different guenons at Chester, including two uncommon species I never got the chance to photograph, these were Preuss' guenon and Moloney's guenon. The female Moloney's produced a few babies with a male Sykes' guenon as the father.
That info is just Fab!! Is the monkey house you're talking about, the one that Monkey islands has replaced? I have a guide showing that house. Someone at School gave it to me. About the cats, Where are the Persian Leopards? The zoo bred many of these and Penny hand reared some of them. I've seen picture of her holding them and then when they were bigger and scratching her in the enclosure. Wonderful animals. They should bring back some more small cats. Has the zoo ever kept Moloch gibbons? I was told that they were kept in the current Spectacled owl enclosure at Some point. ( Used to house keas, but they died of Lead poisoning)
Thanks Bongorob. Very interesting! Any other interesting information of this nature is greatly appreciated. It is fascinating to see how it has developed.
Sorry, forgot about the Persian Leopards. I was with Penny when she had them, and I was able to feed a two day old cub. I also forgot about the Clouded Leopards. The 1965 Monkey House is the building which is now Monkey Islands. The previous monkey house was in Jubilee Square, where the kiosks are now. When that closed a shop was built on the site.
Has the zoo ever had proboscis monkeys? I'll mention you to Penny When I next go to the zoo. If I see her!!!
Not as far as I know. I also forgot about the Jaguarundis. I've ammended my list. I also don't know of any Moloch Gibbons at Chester. The one you are referring to was a Müller's Gibbon, I think. Gibbons are way too complicated for me.
I only know 3 species well. Siamangs, Lars and the Molochs. Then I'm the same. I lose track completely. Except for Kloss's gibbon. I basically know what they are. Does the zoo plan to get anymore of these cats again? It would seem that Chester is the Expert on breeding leopards and some small cats. Do they plan to get back keas? I love them. It was sad when their enclosure was filled up with something as dull as a pair of Spectacled owls.
No, Chester hasn't had Proboscis. The only Uk zoo to exhibit(and I think possibly breed a few too) was Twycross in the 1970's/80's, but they died out as they always seem to in temperate zoos. Re Persian Leopards. In the 1980's several Uk zoos exhibited these, however they seem to have been replaced by the even rarer Amur Leopard in most of those zoos that still hold leopards. So whose got Amur Leopards, Bongorob? Marwell. Twycross. (Chester?) Cotswold. Cricket St Thomas. ZSL(?) Edinburgh(?) Dudley(?)
Re Gibbons. The 'grey gibbons' are the most confusing- they include Moloch, Muellers and Silvery. The easier ones are Lar, Pileated(my personal favourite) Whitecheeked, Siamang & dwarf. The confusion is made worse by some species having different colour phases for the two sexes e.g. White cheeked & Pileated- in the latter the male is black with white eyebrows, the female is brown with a black chest and cap, and distinctive ear tufts. Young of both sexes look like females(or is it males.....) Then of course the lar/whitehanded has several colour phases(not sex-related) anyway.
Edinburgh as far as I know does not hold Amur leopards. They have Jaguars and golden cats. Don't know about Dudley. Was going to go in a couple of weeks, but instead I decided to go to Blackbrook.
I'm pretty sure now Dudley doesn't have Leopards tho' they have Asian Lions and Sumatran Tigers- the new male Sumatran Tiger at Chester was born at Dudley. Chessington also have Asian Lions and Sumatran Tigers and have bred both- I think they may have Amur Leopard as well. The only Uk zoo I know of with leopard that aren't Amur, is Banham, who have Sri Lankan ones and have bred them.
Chester have never had Amur Leopards. The pair which bred in the 1960s and for which a first UK breeding has been attributed were found out to be North Chinese Leopards. Currently keeping Amur Leopards in the UK are Cotswold 1.1 Cricket St Thomas 2.1 (where I saw them for the first time) Colchester 1.1 Marwell 1.1 Twycross 3.0 I can see in several years time someone in the UK will want Persian Leopards, and there won't be any available. Only Chessington (1.2) and Welsh Mountain (1.3) currently hold them. Banham have 2.2 Sri Lankan Leopards, and West Midlands Safari Park list 0.1 Panthera pardus leopardus which is a West African form. Some people class all African leopards as Panthera pardus pardus though, I'm not sure if the African subspecies are valid. Personally I doubt that so many Asian subspecies exist, but that Africa contains only one. Another cat missing from my list is the Black-footed Cat, they were kept for a short time in the Small Mammal House, this site is now the western side of the elephant paddock. I'll ammend my original post to include it.
Another missing cat species. I only just thought about them. Pumas were kept and bred for many years. Once again, I'll ammend the list.
There's not as many zoos holding Amur Leopard in this country as I thought- I've seen nearly all of these.... I think another zoo where I've seen them is Thrigby Hall near Great Yarmouth, one of their pair is black and was born in a mixed colour litter at Cotswold WP, it is stated to be the first record of melanism in this subspecies. My guess is that like Asian Lions,(and Sumatran Tigers) they will spread to other zoos in time as more successful breeding takes place. Cricket St Thomas and Cotswold have both bred them but most cubs have gone to Europe so far.
I remember the small cat enclosures from a visit to Chester in the late 80s, and even though I was a kid they didn't seem right to me back then. Still, it's a shame they no longer have any small cats. No sign of Persian leopards at the Welsh Mountain zoo when I visited a couple of weeks ago. They now have a pair of snow leopards.
The enclosures in the cat house, sandstone and glass, with mesh rooves and concrete floors were unpopular with the staff and the visitors. Hovever, the cats didn't seem to mind in the least. It would be nice to have some small cats back at Chester. It might be wishful thinking but now that the Spanish Lynx breeding project has begun to produce youngsters, this species would be nice to see at Chester. A few yerars ago Marwell were considering exhibiting them.
Iberian Lynx would be a great addition. I think, and certainly hope, they'll become one of those species that give captive breeding programmes something to brag about. Its funny that you mention the animals being happy in exhibits that didn't appear that good. You always hear stories like that of animals getting really comfy and breeding quarantine enclosures. It was also one of the things that really struck me about Twycross- I couldn't believe they had such a good breeding record for Black and White Colobus in what were essentially just little cages with a few bits of rope in.
B/W Colobus seem able to breed very freely under almost any conditions. A zoo which isn't able to beed them well must be doing something seriously wrong.
