Your Personal Vision for Chester » Chester Zoo

Hey

I know Chester has got the 2020 Masterplan, but after a bit of free time today I had a think about what I would do if I was in charge of the decisions based on the current zoo site...

(yes, i was bored! )

I'm not sure if all of these are possible (size, congestion, incompatibility etc)

- Move the congo buffalo up to the bongo paddock.
- Renovate the congo buffalo house and paddock for pygmy hippos.
- Open up the old rhino house and turn it into an Africa house containing warthogs, mongoose and aardvarks in the first two stalls and an aviary could also be built in one. Then one of the outdoor areas and part of the indoor area could be renovated for a species of baboon. (A moat and higher fence could be built outside and glass windows built inside)
- A giant anteater exhibit could be built on the lawn outside Spirit of Jaguar
- Clear the children's farm area and build a small mammal house on that land adjoining the marmot enclosure.
- Increase the number of sealions in the current pool.
- In the mongoose enclosure next to the kangaroos, replace the mongoose with wombats (would they be too big? obviously renovations need to happen) and then implement an Australian theme.

What do you think?

What would you personally like to see happen at Chester? (doesn't have to be 100% realistic, just a bit of fun)

Jimmy

My MANY improvements:

In the old Rhino house, remove the walls separating the pens, and make it a large african house, with the current mongooses and warthog, but I'd add sections for Hyrax, African pygmy eagle and free flying supreo starling, Oxpeckers, turacos and tinkerbirds.

Here's me being a bit bird curator-ish: The aviaries in the tropical realm would change, so that the first houses writhed hornbills, the second Bulwer's pheasant, the Third (now split, but would be joined together again) rufous necked hornbill and the last blue billed curassows. The very large hornbill aviaries would keep rufous and Helmeted hornbill. Upstairs, the old congo peafowl aviary would be changed to keep Thick billed ground dove and ornate lorikeets, and the congo peafowl will move into the African house (mentioned below). The other aviaries would house:

1. Visayan Tarictic hornbill
2. Mindoro bleeding heart and Montserrat oriole
3. Salvadori's pheasant and Edward's fig parrot
4. Sulu bleeding heart and White rumped Shama
5. White crested turaco and Green naped pheasant pigeon
6. Timor Zebra finch and emerald dove.

The African house would be built where the giraffes are, and there would be the current Okapi house, with the extension over into the Warty pig enclosure (they've moved too!) The Okapi would be mixed with Zebra duiker. The Old buffalo house still keeps the buffalo, but with Debrazza's guenons. Where the pigs could come inside, there are some enclosures for small mammals and birds such as Great Blue Turaco, Rwenzori turaco, Congo peafowl, Rhinoceros viper and Black and rufous elephant shrew. Where the giraffes used to be is an exhibit for Bongo, schmidt's spot nosed guenon and yellow backed duiker.

The chimp colony has been removed, and a group of bonobos has replaced it.

The Picnic Lawn with the Aviaries for the Satyr Tragopans and Himalayan monals has been remodelled into a rainforest house, with the theme being 'same but different'. It is showing how all rainforests are similar but at the same time are different. There are the Green and emerald boas. The Rhinoceros hornbills from the Tropical realm are here, as are a pair of Keel billed toucans. There are many other examples of Convergent rainforest evolution shown in this exhibit.

There is also a chinese area near the red Pandas. There are Sclater's and Chinese monals, Grey peacock pheasant, the satyr tragopans from the picnic lawn near the Jags, Derbyan Parkeets, red pandas and Sichuan Takin. The Red crowned cranes have been swapped for Black crowned cranes, and they are living with a pair of golden pheasants. The old Bongo exhibit houses the takin. Most of the birds are housed in a large walk-in aviary, with aviaries around the side for the Monals (as they are so rare). In this walk-in aviary, there are also Oriental white and Painted storks and Asiatic waterfowl.

The canal is remodelled for the zoo's sealions, and the islands on it are coverted to a larger enclosure for a pair of Tamaraw. this will fit in with the nearby Philippine exhibit, or the Tamaraw will anyway (hehe)

The Onagers and Camels (along with the persian goitered gazelles) are moved to an exhibit where the Grevy's zebra are now. The zebra are moved out of the collection, as are the Scimitar oryx. The Old oryx enclosure houses a large herd of Saiga, making this area of the zoo fit in with the zoo's mountain theme, as the Bears and tapirs are nearby.... The ostriches and Sitatunga swap enclosures with the Prezwalski's horses and the miniature monkeys exhibit is demolished for a Mountain tapir exhibit.

The Capybara are moved to the Philippine spotted deer enclosure with Baird's Tapir, while the old Capybara enclosure houses Vicuna, brazilian tapirs and Mara. Any young Capybara will be placed in here.

The monkey's from Miniature monkeys are given an almost identical exhibit on the picnic lawn directly in front of the Jags, not the one near Arara, the one just near the door.

The Philippine exhibit is built on the old asian steppe exhibit, and is basically my exhibit (the bird one that there is a plan of on the gallery) with a few minor Changes. The Writhed hornbills are Changed for Visayan wrinkled hornbills, the Rufous hornbills are swapped for the Sulu hornbills and here are some exhibits for Philippine mammals too. There is a mixed exhibit for the spotted deer herd and the warty pigs and as mentioned above, there is the Pair of Tamaraw on the Island in the Canal. The old Lemur enclosure have been Changed into Philippine parrot aviaries, to fit in with the theme. There are Mount Apo Lorikeets, with another pair of Palawan peacock pheasants and the are Mindoro hanging parrots and a small house for a pair of Tarsier.

The lemurs have all moved onto the Lemur island with the Ring tails. All except the Aloatrans, which have been put in the New rainforest house on the Arara picnic lawn.

In Realm of the red Ape, there are some minor Changes. In the Timor Sparrow aviary are Bornean peacock pheasants, chestnut capped thrush and still the little timors.

The cassowaries are Changed for Bennett's, and the mongoose enclosure houses numbats. The Pudu are Swapped for the Babirusa, and the Old Kea aviary houses Kakas.

There is also an extension to the penguin exhibit, now the sea lions have gone and there are groups of Royal penguins and King penguins.

A quick Part at The islands of Danger, Trying Mixes Wilson's BoP with the reds, and put Stella's lorikeets back in the pigeon aviary.

The Flamingoes are moved to the Old Maned Wolf enclosure, and the species are Changed to Andean and Jame's. The Old Flamingo area, is Changed into two exhibits. An asian bird aviary, and a Falklands one. The asian one will go with the realm of the red ape, keeping Storm's and Milky storks, various ducks, Kingfishes and Pigeons.

The Falklands aviary will fit in with the redeveloped penguin exhibit and will keep steamer ducks, Cormorants, Inca Terns, Boobies and other seabirds.

I THINK that I'm Done.....PHEW!!

__________________
Jonathan Beilby-www.zooscene.co.uk

(Join the hornbill group-www.zoobeat.com/group.php?groupid=2)

Wow that was very thorough!

I'm may just re-do mine, but with more effort

I think I'd redevelop the area between the staff entrance, the parrot breeding centre and the lion enclosure (to the front and sides of Oakfield house). That would mean moving the bongos and kangaroos and redeveloping most of the other enclosures - I think I'd leave the cassowaries, the Manchurian cranes and the red pandas as their enclosures are modern and pretty good.
I'd also leave the lawns and gardens and all the mature trees alone; but I'd like to see more aviaries and small mammal exhibits including a new otter pool. I'm sure it isn't in the masterplan, but I think a quiet area for smaller animals is important to the character of the zoo. It's too close to the road and the neighbouring houses for anything big or dramatic, so I'd keep everything on a fairly small scale.
The sort of animals I'd like to see are

• the bushdogs, rehoused
• one or two species of small cats or viverrids or foxes
• spot-necked otters (or some other less usual species)
• the Vasa parrots & Derbyan parakeets, rehoused
• some softbills and pheasants

Alan

__________________
When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

saiga, zebra backed duiker and mountain tapir! very nice! i'd throw in some malayan tapirs mixed with the orangs to make you up to all 4 species!

Yes, was going to POP them in the realm, but I thought that there's not enough space....

__________________
Jonathan Beilby-www.zooscene.co.uk

(Join the hornbill group-www.zoobeat.com/group.php?groupid=2)

Alright here's my second attempt...

-Elephants:attempt to grow grass in the paddock again. Build second grassed paddock on opposite side of house.
-Asian Plains: keep the same. Warty Pigs moved in with spotted deer.
-Monkey Islands and Miniature monkeys remain the same
-Twilight Zone: Turn part of the lobby into an area for aye-aye
-Cloud Forest: Stays the same apart from Condor aviary built.
-Paddocks: Keep Lechwe by meerkats. Get eland into the paddock behind tsavo café. Rhino numbers are reduced. Move emus and wallabies out. Swap preswalski horses with zebra. Move oryx into old pere davids deer paddock. Keep gemsbok, sitatunga and ostrich the same. Camels moved into paddock next to prezwalski horses. Move Warthogs, mongoose and possibly porcupines into the old emu and wallaby paddock.
-Pelicans moved out of the collection. Replaced by the flamingoes.
-Tsavo: Keep the same
-Old Rhino house: re-open. Add aardvarks in the first indoor pen and the current warthog outdoor area. Add a mesh netting over the 2nd indoor pen and add a variety of African aviary birds e.g. ground hornbills. Add floor to roof glass panels on the 3rd indoor pen and add a floor substrate similar to Monkey Islands to keep a species of baboon (Olive, Hamadryas?). Turn the second outside area into a dense bush forest for the baboons but carve out a moat and raise the fence (glass panels?)
-Condor Cliffs: move the condors into a new aviary behind spectacled bears. Add glass panels to the lower viewing area. Reinforce the boundaries and extend into the old maned wolf enclosure for the arrival of gorillas. Gorilla house can be built in north end of wolf paddock (possibly extending into car park). Andean garden replaced by African forest garden.
-Coatis: moved to the spectacled bear enclosure. Replaced by Diana Monkeys. A house similar to Miniature Monkeys is built adjoining the old coati island.
-Giraffes: Remain for time being, when space is available they will be moved over to an extended paddocks area. The paddock will then be split between Bongo and Cape Buffalo and it will be replanted. The house will be split between them. De brazza's monkeys added.
-Okapi: stays the same, but Zebra Duiker added.
-Cattle and Antelope house: Visayan Warty Pigs moved in with Philippine spotted deer. Buffalo section turned into Pygmy Hippo area. Larger pool built outside. Small pool built in one of the old buffalo stalls. Warty Pig area turned into indoor/outdoor aviary for African rainforest birds.
-Chimps: remain the same.
-Tropical Realm: stays largely the same, however vivariums for small rainforest mammals are included in the area had been closed off, but is now re-opened. Red river hogs and capuchins remain outside. Galapagos tortoises moved out.
-Demolish sand-lizard enclosure, move the lizards off-show.
-Spirit of Jaguar: Jaguars remain in rainforest half, Ocelots move into savannah section which becomes planted as rainforest. The lawn directly outside is turned into a giant anteater enclosure. Anteater indoor quarters are inside the savannah drum of spirit of the jaguar. Macaws are moved to off-show parrot house, replaced by various Toucan species.
-Arara picnic lawn: Bush dogs and pudu moved down here.
-Realm of the Red Ape: remains largely the same, Babirusa enclosure built on RoRA lawn.
-Flamingo Islands Converted into Malayan Tapir and Proboscis Monkey mixed exhibit. (Unlikely I know)
-Lemur Islands: Both ruffed lemur species moved onto ring-tail island. Gentle Lemurs remain on their island. Anoa remain on their island. Sifaka move onto old ruffed lemur island.
-Cheetahs, Onagers all remain.
-Penguins stay the same
-More sealions added to their pool.
-European aviary stays the same.
-Larger Lion and Tiger houses built.
-Red Pandas: remain in a Chinese themed area, with nearby aviaries. Pudu moved to arara lawn. Old bongo paddock turned into Chinese ungulate mixed species exhibit containing Chinese water deer, and Pere Davids Deer. Oriental short clawed otters remain. Crane exhibit turned into mixed species aviary including golden pheasants.
-Old bush dog and pudu enclosures turned into wallaby enclosure and wombat enclosure respectively. Numbats in the old mongoose enclosure. Area has an australian theme.
-Childrens farm demolished and replaced by Coyote enclosure.
-Islands in Danger has a Galapagos tortoise extension on opposite side to the komodo extension. (i.e. extends onto the lawn)

Sorry for the length, i think i got carried away

I had a think, but I cannot compete with Hornbill and CZJimmy. Here's my offering for what it's worth.

I would demolish the warthog enclosure and use the site for a picnic lawn. There can't be a lot of people who will want to sit on red hot tarmac in the height of summer, and the seating at Tsavo seems limited. The warthogs and mongooses would be placed in the adjacent rhino enclosure. The third rhino enclosure would be used for aardvarks (indoors) and baboons (outdoors).

I would put margays on the Jaguar lawn.

I would move some of the monitors and large snakes out of the Tropical Realm and replace them with some of the offshow reptiles, e.g eyelash viper and fiji iguana. Also some of the endangered turtles.

I would move the condors back to a small aviary alongside the canal, they have only bred once in Condor Cliffs.

In Condor Cliffs I would introduce a pair of screamers and add more black and turkey vultures. In the next enclosure I would put the pudu and continue the South American theme. The crane would be housed on the waterfowl section.

I would put the giraffes behind the bears in a new house and the existing giraffe house would become an African primate enclosure with guenons and colobus monkeys. The bongos would occupy the current zebra enclosure. The zebras would move in with the oryx.

I would demolish the bird house and rebuild it as a tropical pheasant and hornbill centre.

The current pudu enclosure would house the babirusa. A new enclosure on the lawn south of the bush dogs to house an endangered muntjac species.

The Parrot Breeding Centre would expand onto the site of the bongo enclosure.

Try to grow grass in the elephants paddock, and possibly build a seond paddock leaving the current paddock for the bulls or maybe mothers + calf.

Place The Red Junglefowl in the elephnat paddock or maybe Gaur in the new paddock

Move Eland and Thompsons Gazelle to join th rhinos in tsavo. Also add some Porcupines to join the lechwe.

Turning half of the entire pelican, crane & waterfowl area into an walk through african aviary for Starlings etc and leaving the other hald for birds such as Ground Horbills, Marabou Storks & Cranes.

Axe the emu and wallabys, same goes for Gemsbok, Bush Dog, Rhea, Guanaco, Pudu, Campbells Guenons & Kangaroos.

The Paddocks for Zebra, Oryx, Ostrich, Deer, Horses etc are all joined together for Giraffes, Zebras, Oryx, Ostrich, Sitatunga, Dama Gazelle & Congo Buffalo.

The Vicunas, Capybaras & Tapirs are moved to the old guanaco and rhea pen. whilst their enclosure is turned into an aviary for Scarlet Ibis and waterfowl.

Diana Monkeys join the Mandrills

Javan Langurs replace the Lion Tailed Macaques whilst Golden Lion Tamarins and agoutis replace the spider monkeys.

Blackbuck and Brow Antlered Deer move to the old Lechwe paddock and are joined by the Nilgai and possibly Banteng. And Persian Gointered Gazelle join the camels and onagres.

The path is extended so that the anoa island can be seen from here. The anoas are moved to the old maned wolf pen. whilst the ruffed lemurs join the ring tails, sifakas move on to the former anoa and lemur islands.

Condors are moved to a new aviary near the bears whilst their former enclosure is re-modelled for Gorillas, Colobus and Red River Hogs. Bongos move to the old giraffe house whilst duikers join the okapi pair.

Visyan Warty Pigs join the spotted deer whilst the cattle house is demolished and a pygmy hippo exhibit is built here. Chimps stay for the time being. Malayan Tapirs and Lion Tailed Macaques join the Orangs and Gibbons whilst the Babirusa move to the lawn.

Jaguar stays as does the Tropical Realm, Capuchins and Mythical Macaws. Another macaw aviary is set up outside the jaguar house whilst the sand lizards are moved off-show.

A Numbe of waterfowl join the flamingoes from their old enclosure near the rhinos, whilst the sealions leave the collection. Their enclosure is joined with the penguin enclosure and King Penguins join the Humboldts.

Demoiselle Cranes move into the Europe On The Edge and the round parrot aviaries are demolished. Lorikeets move back to the Islands In Danger and swapping around with birds in the tropical realm mean that the aviaries outside the islands in danger also house island birds. Aquarium is demolished completly.

Lions leave the collection and the Tigers move into their enclosure. Clouded Leopards move into the tiger pen. Kea move back into their old aviary.

With Kangaroos, Pudu and Bush Dogs gone their old enclosures are demolished and a snow leopard enclosure is built here. Cassowarrys are moved to the site of the old aquarium. The otters and red pandas get a new mixed enclosure and a new aviary for the Derbyan Parakeets, Red Crowned Crane & Golden Pheasants. The Edwards Pheasants are moved up here as are a new species, White Eared Pheasants.

The Rare Parrot Breeding Centre Is Opened To The Public.

Update on mine:

- Paddocks What is now the zebra, oryx, ostrich, sitatunga and gemsbok enclosures are combined and a giraffe house built. Warthogs, porcupines and mongoose are kept seperate from the larger savannah animals in the old emu and wallaby enclosure.
- Asian Plains a small group of rhesus macaques is added to the Indian rhinos, blackbuck and brow-antlered deer in the asian plains.
- Realm of the Red Ape Sulawesi Crested Macaques move in with gibbons and Orangs. They are replaced by Drill in monkey islands!
- Persian Goitered Gazelles move in with Onagers, replacing the camels
- Colobus Monkeys move in with Gorillas in the old Condor Cliffs

Effectively, i have created:
An African Savannah zone - Rhinos, Baboons, Giraffes, Zebra, Ostriches, Flamingoes, Meerkats, Warthogs et al
An African Rainforest - Gorillas, Monkeys, Okapi, Bongo, Buffalo, Chimps et al
S. American Rainforest - Jaguars, Ocelots, Anteaters, Pudu, Bush Dog
Cloud Forest - Tapir, Capybara, Vicuna, Guanaco, Rhea, Bear, Coati, Condor
S.E.A Rainforest - Orangs, Tapirs, Monkeys, Babirusa etc
Asian plains - Camel + Prezwalski horses, onager and gazelles, the current asian plains + monkeys
Madagascar Islands - Lemurs, Aloatran Lemur, Sifaka
Chinese area - Red Panda, Cranes, Pere David Deer, Otter
Oceania area - Kangaroos, Wallabies, Cassowaries, numbats, wombats and kea (in their old aviary)

I think I've been outbid!
I like MrWH's ideas of tamaraw and doing interesting things with the aviaries inside the Tropical Realm. A bigger, better, greener elephant paddock is another good idea. I also agree that something more has to be done with the reptile collection.
I am less convinced about some of the other suggestions. I don't think Gordon Reid would be happy about demolishing the aquarium (until the new one gets built ). I just can't imagine the elephant paddock occupied by red jungle fowl and why, oh why, replace the rare, ultra-cool lion-tailed macaques with common or garden, ginger Javan langurs?
As I was a little unambitious first time around, I'll add a couple of blue skies suggestions:- a sea duck enclosure for harlequins, long-tails, king eider and surf scoter (with a state of the art filtration system and underwater viewing, of course) matched with a sea otter enclosure. I think that would fill the condor cliffs site nicely, so people could watch the otters from above, and there'd be a nice glass window at the front. Then the sea ducks could use the old maned wolf site. To complete the zone, I'd construct a large circular aviary on the coati site for a pair of gyrfalcons:the white form would show up nicely against an enormous dark slate megalith in the centre, with a few stunted pine trees beside it. I'm beginning to enjoy this game

Alan

__________________
When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

all the bad ideas come from me!!!!

Zoomania, Like me you've got loads of ideas, so they can't all be good or realistic.

__________________
Jonathan Beilby-www.zooscene.co.uk

(Join the hornbill group-www.zoobeat.com/group.php?groupid=2)

yes Zoomania, having a large amount of ideas is good and remember, this is your personal vision so you could turn Chester into a marine park is you wished!

It depends how much new land Chester could get.

My most immediate changes would be a new Sealion pool with underwater viewing.

On new land build a new Tiger exhibit and make the current one suitable for Dhole.

I like the idea of takin where the bongo are to chinese-up that area with bongo going near Red River Hogs, okapi, buffalo etc (on the current giraffe exhibit).

That'd then require brand new giraffe enclosure, perhaps a savannah area for wild dogs too.

Smarten up that area where the mongoose, kangaroo and cassowary are and make that into a proper themed zone, starting from scratch.

__________________
Chris