Chester Zoo

53°13′36″N 2°53′3″W

Chester Zoo
File:Chester-zoo-logo.png Chester Zoological Gardens
53°13′36″N 2°53′3″W
Date opened	1931
Location	Chester, Cheshire, England
Land area	111 acres (0.449 km²)
No. of animals	7602 (2006)
No. of species	424 (2006)
Major exhibits	Elephants of the Asian Forest, Realm of the Red Ape, Tsavo Black Rhino Experience, Spirit of the Jaguar
Website	http://www.chesterzoo.org.uk

Chester Zoo is a Zoological Garden located in the North of England. It was opened in 1934 by George Mottershead and is the UK's largest zoo at 111 acres. The zoo has a total land holding of approximately 400 acres.

The zoo is currently operated by the North of England Zoological Society, a registered charity founded in 1934. The zoo receives no government funding. The current zoo director is Gordon McGregor Reid.

History

Early history

The Mottershead family market garden business was based in Shavington, Crewe. George Mottershead would collect the animals - lizards and insects - that arrived with exotic plants from abroad to the market garden. In 1903 his interest in creating a zoo was further developed by a visit to Belle Vue Zoo in Manchester.

Mottershead was injured in World War I and spent several years in a wheel chair. Despite this, his collection of animals grew and he began to search for a suitable home for the zoo. He chose Oakfield House in Upton, a suburb of Chester. The house had nine acres of gardens and provided easy access to the railways and to Manchester and Liverpool. There were local objections, but Mottershead prevailed, and Chester Zoo had its public opening in 1931.

Rapid expansion followed after World War II. Always Building was the zoo's slogan of the time. Mottershead received the OBE, an honorary degree of MSc, and served as President of the International Union of Zoo Directors. He died in 1978 aged 84.

Zoo design

Mottershead wanted to build a zoo without the traditional Victorian iron bars to cage the animals. Mottershead was influenced by the ideas of Carl Hagenback, who invented the modem zoo concept, and by Heine Hediger, a pioneer of ethology.

At Chester Mottershead took Hagenback's idea for moats and ditches as an alternative to ironwork, and extended their use throughout the zoo, often with species that Hagenback had not considered. For example, when chimpanzees were released into their new enclosure at Chester in 1956, a group of grassy islands separated the apes from visitors by no more than a 12 foot (3.6 metre) strip of water. Nobody knew then if chimps could swim. It turned out that they could not, and today the chimp islands are a centrepiece of Chester Zoo.

In 1986 the zoo was enclosed with a fence in line with the Zoo Licensing Act 1981.

Management structure

The zoo is split into three separate directorates under the management of the Director General, Gordon McGregor Reid:

• Conservation and Education
• Corporate Services
• Commercial Services

Species and animals

The following information is valid at the end of 2006

	Number of species	Number of animals
Mammals	69	1553
Birds	166	1118
Reptiles	55	258
Amphibians	20	571
Fish	84	2902
Invertebrates	30	1200
Total	424	7602

Animal exhibits

Elephants of the Asian Forest

Chester was the first zoo in the UK to successfully breed Asian elephants in captivity. The most famous of these was "Jubilee" (1977-2003), so named as he was born in 1977, the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. The zoo has a breeding herd of ten elephants, including three calfs: Tunga (male, born 2004), Sundara (female, born 2004) and Raman (male, born 2006). Another recent arrival to the herd was of female Birma in 2006. The Elephant House also used to house African Elephants, Rhinoceros, Hippos and Tapirs. A Hybrid between the African and Asian elephants was born but died soon after birth.

A £2 million breeding facility modelled on an Assam rainforest called Elephants of the Asian Forest opened at Easter 2006. In the elephant house other indigenous species are exhibited, including great Indian hornbills, azure-winged magpies, green peafowl, Red billed blue magpie, Red Junglefowl, Prevost's squirrels, red-bellied squirrels, spiny turtles and northern tree shrews. There is an aquarium for Pla Eesok, Pig-nosed Turtles Clown Loach and Asian arowana fish.

Spirit of the Jaguar

Spirit of the Jaguar was opened in 2001 and is sponsored by Jaguar cars. The exhibit is split in four sections. The two inside are a rainforest, and a dry and arid savannah, and the two outside contain rivers and pools so that the cats can exercise their swimming skills. There are five jaguars - four spotted and one black. A male and female named Salvador and Sophia had cubs in 2005 that died soon after birth. As well as jaguars, the exhibit also contains a colony of leaf-cutter ants, poison arrow frogs, emerald tree boas and numerous rainforest fish including butterfly goodeid.

Realm of the Red Ape

Realm of the Red Ape is a £3.5 million extension to the existing orangutan house, home to Bornean and Sumatran orangutans, and is the most expensive capital project in the zoo's history. The exhibit opened to the public on 26 May 2007 after a two-year construction period. It comprises a new two-story building linked to the existing orangutan house with three indoor and two outdoor enclosures, providing accommodation for a larger number of apes. The outdoor areas have a mesh roof supported by tree-like structures which act as climbing frames for the orangutans. Two outdoor enclosures can be viewed from a first floor public gallery as well as from other outside vantage points. Inside, the exhibit has been themed as an Indonesian rainforest and also houses a wide variety of invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals such as a family of four lar gibbons as well as indigenous plants, trees and shrubs. Reptiles on display include the crocodile monitor, mangrove monitor, reticulated python, red tailed racer, emerald tree monitor and green tree python. Birds include the Timor sparrow, Chestnut-backed Thrush, and orange-headed thrush. Others include surplus male tree shrews from the elephant house, White's tree frogs, giant walking sticks, leaf insects, giant orb-weaving spiders and king ratsnakes.

The Chimpanzee Breeding Centre

This pavilion was opened in 1989 by HRH the Princess of Wales and is home to 30 chimpanzees. This is the largest colony of chimps in Europe, housed in a conical indoor enclosure (the Roundhouse) linked to an outside moated island. The island is planted with many bushes and has large pole for the chimps to climb on. The inside area has a climbing frame that allows the chimps to stay close together on several levels of platform. There are seven interconnected off-show dens. Dylan is the current dominant male of the Chester Zoo colony.

The Two Okapis at the zoo

Tsavo Rhino Experience

The zoo's black rhinoceros exhibit, modelled on the Tsavo national park in Kenya, was opened in 2003 at a cost of £2 million. The zoo has a successful rhinoceros breeding programme and currently keeps a herd of 7 animals. Meerkats are kept in a small enclosure nearby, and the surrounding paddocks are home to red lechwe, banded mongoose and warthog.

Twilight Zone Bat Cave

Twilight Zone Bat Cave is the largest free-flying bat cave in Europe. The cave holds three species of bat: Rodrigues fruit bat, Livingstone's fruit bat and Seba's short-tailed bat. It is also home to a various collection of other species which are freshwater fish, Madagascar hissing cockroaches, Turkish spiny mice, and blind cave fish.

Monkey Islands

Monkey Islands was opened in 1997 (replacing the old monkey house) and is currently home to five monkey species: Colombian black spider monkeys, mandrills, lion-tailed macaques, Sulawesi crested macaques and Campbell's guenons. Porcupines were housed with the guenons and mandrills until 2001. Visitors enter the monkey house and view the animals from a central corridor. Each species has a glass-fronted indoor enclosure with climbing apparatus and an outdoor enclosure, moated and heavily planted.

Miniature Monkeys

Miniature Monkeys, opened in May 2004, is a walk-through exhibit consisting of two enclosures. The first is home to a female pied tamarin and the second is shared by a family of Geoffroy's marmosets and a pair of black lion tamarins. The Marmosets have successfully breed. Until 2006 a male Azara's agouti was also housed here. The zoo plans to bring in a new pair of Pied Tamarins.

Bears of the Cloud Forest

Bears of the Cloud Forest opened in 2004 and is home to a pair of spectacled bears and other South American animals. The purpose-built exhibit is designed to mimic the bear's natural habitat by providing trees and a rocky terrain. Sharing the bears' enclosure with them are a group of ring-tailed coatis. Nearby are paddocks housing vicuña and guanaco (wild relatives of the llama), capybara, Brazilian tapirs and common rheas.

Secret World of the Okapi

Formerly the camel house, this enclosure was remodelled in 2006 to house okapi. Initially two males were kept, but one has since left and been replaced by a female as part of a breeding programme. Other animals that can be seen here include the giant pouched rat, African dormouse, several species of cichlid from Lake Barombi Mbo in Cameroon, gaboon viper and Mesic Four Stripped Grass Mice.

Islands in Danger

The fountain and gardens in front of Islands in Danger

This exhibit is primarily a herpetarium for the zoo's Komodo dragons, originating from the Lesser Sunda Islands. It was opened in 1998 and extended in 2003 to include an outdoor enclosure used by the dragons in the warmer summer months. In 2007 several young baby Komodo Dragons were put on display after one of the zoos two females had a virgin birth.

The Islands in Danger exhibit also houses various Indonesian and Philippine rainforest birds, such as red birds of paradise, Palawan peacock-pheasants, Pheasant Pigeons and Victoria crowned pigeons. Recently added was a small group of Mindanao bleeding heart doves which have successfully bred. Chester has also recently acquired 8 pure bred tarictic hornbill, two pairs of which were displayed in here. One pair has now moved to Avifauna, while the other pair, the one living in the Old St Lucia amazon parrot aviary, has bred one chick.

Childrens Farm and Marmot Mania

This includes a collection of domestic animals such as goats, rabbits, pigs, sheep, guinea pigs and poultry to be met and petted. The nearby Marmot Mania houses black-tailed prairie marmots, and features tunnels beneath the enclosure which allow children to crawl through, popping up thir heads into plastic domes to give them a marmot's eye view of the world.

Sea Lion Beach and Penguins

The pool for California sea lions was recently restyled Sea Lion Beach. There is now a larger 'beach' area, more naturalistic planting and softer barriers. In the summer of 2006 a pup named Sophia was born.

In the neighbouring enclosure a large group of breeding Humboldt penguins have their own pool, and visitors can watch the birds from an underwater viewing window.

Tropical Realm

Chester's Tropical Realm is Britain's largest tropical house at over 26,000 cubic metres. Opened in 1964, most of the interior is an open-plan space extending to roof level and themed with pools and mature tropical plants, with pathways for visitors through the undergrowth. The top row of aviaries were designed for housing Birds of Paradise in the 1960's. Here, more than 30 species of birds are free-flying, including Nicobar pigeons, various species of starling and ground birds such as roul-roul partridges. Aviaries and vivaria are arranged around the sides of the building.

The aviaries are on two levels and house birds such as the great Indian hornbill, rhinoceros hornbill, Two pairs of tarictic hornbill one pure and one hybrid, writhed-billed hornbill, wrinkled hornbill, red-crested turaco, Palawan peacock-pheasant, Congo peafowl, Bali starling, blue crowned pigeon, white-rumped shama, Montserrat oriole and red-billed curassow.

The Tropical Realm is also the centre of the reptile collection. There are West African dwarf crocodiles in the jungle pools. Close to the entrance and with access to an outside pen, are the tuatara from New Zealand. This lizard-like animal is the last surviving species of sphenodont, a prehistoric group of reptiles. There are also many varieties of snake; anaconda, boa constrictor, snouted cobra, rat snake, Jamaican boa and green mamba to name a few. Lizards include the rhinoceros iguanas, gila monsters and various species of monitor and gecko. News species to the reptile collection are Caiman Lizards.

Tortoises are represented by the Galápagos, pancake, radiated, Egyptian and yellow-footed species. There are more than ten kinds of poison dart frog and the highly unusual Puerto Rican crested toad, plus invertebrates such as the partula snail.

Europe on the Edge

This is the zoo's largest aviary, and is one of the biggest in the UK. It was opened in 1993 on the site of the former polar bear enclosure. It houses a variety of European birds, including the European black and griffon vultures and the rarer of the two European storks, the black stork. There are spoonbills, ibis and egrets as well as a selection of waterfowl. Smaller birds include the rock dove, northern lapwing, red-legged partridge and the native but rare red-billed chough.

Condor Cliffs

This aviary was constructed to rehouse the zoo's breeding pair of Andean condors, who have since parent-reared a chick for the first time. It is now also home for the American black vulture from South America and several species of waterfowl. The aviary is dominated by a large sandstone waterfall, and a fake llama skeleton is used at feeding time.

Rare Parrot Breeding Centre

Parrots on display here include blue-eyed cockatoos, red-vented cockatoos, palm cockatoos, short-billed black cockatoos, red-and-blue lories, yellow-backed chattering lories, Mount Apo lorikeets and blue and yellow macaws. Most of the birds were moved to the Rare Parrot Breeding Centre from the old parrot house when it was demolished in 2005 to make way for the Realm of the Red Ape development.

Mythical Macaws

This enclosure consists of several aviaries housing rare and endangered South American parrots and macaws. These include the hyacinth macaw, blue-winged macaw, blue-throated macaw, golden conure, golden-capped parakeet, blue-throated conure, green-cheeked amazon and red-tailed amazon. The first aviary was opened in 2001 and the remainder in 2004. A male Azara's agouti that used to reside in the Miniature Monkeys exhibit has now taken up residence here and been joined by a female. The agoutis have now bred.

Aquarium

The aquarium is a small and traditional building (one of the oldest at the zoo, built by George Mottershead's daughter and son-in-law in the 1950s) housing a varied collection of freshwater and marine fish, aquatic invertebrates and amphibians. It has had notable success breeding seahorses and achieved the first captive breeding of the freshwater motoro stingray.

Other notable fish include the electric eel, African lungfish, tropical reef fishes and various Lake Malawi cichlids. Amphibians include the Surinam toad, Japanese fire belly newt and axolotl.

Asian Plains and Paddocks

In the 1990s the zoo opened a new enclosure called Asian Plains which housed blackbuck, Burmese brow-antlered deer and barasingha, the latter departing in 2003. In 2007 the enclosure was re-modelled and the deer and antelope were joined by a male Indian rhinoceros. This paddock was used before this to house a variety of species such as Ankole Cattle and Sitatunga.

Other paddocks on the west side of the zoo support grazing herds of Grevy's zebra, sitatunga, scimitar-horned oryx, gemsbok, Pere David's deer and Przewalski's horse. The sitatunga share their paddock with ostrich. Australian fauna is represented by emus and red-necked wallabies in a mixed exhibit.

Forest Zone

The north-east area of the zoo is where many forest-dwelling species are kept. As well as the chimpanzees, okapi, jaguar and Tropical Realm there are enclosures for Congo buffalo, red river hogs and endangered Negros Island warty pigs. Nearby is a large paddock for the zoo's six giraffes. Buffy-headed capuchins are housed near the exit of the Tropical Realm as well as a group of native sand lizards. The main coati group is found here as is an empty enclosure formerly housing Maned Wolves.

Lions and Tigers

As well as jaguars, Chester keeps lions and tigers in its big cat collection. The lions are the Asiatic subspecies found only in the Gir Forest in India in the wild. The zoo is currently home to a male and a female which arrived in 2006. This pair of lions has bred on two occasions, one time the cubs were born prematurly and died in the enclosure, and the second time one of the cubs died. The other cub, Tejas is being hand reared.

In 2007 a male Sumatran tiger called Kepala arrived from Dudley Zoo to join the two female Bengal tigers. The zoo hopes to acquire a female within the next year to form a breeding pair of Sumatrans, the rarest subspecies of tiger in the wild. When the female Sumatran Tigress arrives the future of the two Bengal Tigresses is unknown.

Other Exhibits

Other animals exhibited at Chester Zoo include Bactrian camel and onager in a large paddock in the centre of the zoo, this paddock formerly housed zebras. Next to this is an empty paddock which formerly housed the Lechwe before they moved to Tsavo. The paddock currently awaits the arrival of Addax. An off show paddock only visible from the motorbus houses Philippine Spotted Deer.

Bordering the paddocks are waterway running north-south along which the water bus travels, past island groups of Black-and-white Ruffed Lemurs, Alaotran Gentle Lemurs, Red Ruffed Lemurs and a pair of Lowland Anoas. Cotton-topped Tamarins were formerly housed on the Gentle Lemur Island.

In the south east corner of the zoo is a second pedestrian entrance, and nearby enclosures housing an assortment of animals including bongos, Chilean pudú, bush dogs, red pandas, Asian small-clawed otters, western grey kangaroos, southern cassowaries Red Crowned Cranes, Golden Pheasant and an empty enclosure by the kangaroo paddock which over the years has provided home to a variety of animals including Mongooses, Bush Dogs and Bears.

Near the Rare Parrot Breeding Centre are aviaries holding Spectacled Owls, this aviary formerly housed Keas and before that Macaws. A variety of bird species such as Derbyan Parakeets, Kookaburras and the zoo’s owl collection are seen nearby. The owl aviaries were recently modified.

Aviarys for Snowy Owls, Rhinoceros Hornbills and Mauritius kestrels are located behind The Childrens Fun Ark. Flocks of Chilean and Caribbean flamingos live in shallow water alongside a large Island housing a group of Ring-tailed Lemurs. Pelicans, Storks, Cranes and a variety of waterfowl are housed in large pens alongside Tsavo the Rhino Experience.

Future Developments

Chester Zoo is working with consultants and local government on its masterplan for development and expansion called 'SuperZoo', with the aspiration of becoming a world-class visitor attraction. The SuperZoo will be constructed in four phases totalling over £300 million of capital investment, with phase one being in the region of £100 million, and will triple the size of the existing zoo. The plan will divide the zoo into four zones representing African savannah, grassland, forest and island and wetland habitats. The estimated completion date is 2020.

Realm of the Red Ape (expansion of the orangutan exhibit, opened May 2007) and Beginnings (redevelopment of the main entrance, opened Easter 2007) both form part of the long-term SuperZoo project.

Over the next 18 months, Chester will be embarking on its next major development, a new aquarium building called Origins. It is scheduled to open late 2008. Cheetah are due to arrive soon, to be housed in the old Lechwe paddock by the Onagers and Camels. They will be arriving Spring 2008. There enclosure was initially going to be used for Addax however a blue-tongue epidemic in Germany then the UK put a stop to the introduction of this creature. Another development is the addition of Persian Goitered Gazelles and a female Sumatran Tiger. A female Indian Rhino is also set to arrive in December as well as a new pair of Pied Tamarins. A second bridge is also being constructed which will have access to the Anoa island and an elevated path over the cheetah exhibit. The flamingos are recieving new indoor accomodation.

Facilities

Chester Zoo Monorail

The zoo has a monorail transportation system called the Zoofari Railway. A water bus operates on a canal network within the zoo in peak season.

Chester's catering facilities include the Tsavo Café near the main entrance which opened in 2006. The Ark restaurant is located in the middle of the zoo. The Oakfield Restaurant, located in a Victorian mansion house near the lion enclosure, and the Acorn Bar are both used for private functions as well as catering to zoo visitors.

There are children's play areas, shops, kiosks and several picnic lawns sited around the zoo.

Membership and Adoption

The zoo has a scheme whereby people can adopt an animal of their choice. They can also become zoo members. Every three months members and adopters receive the zoo magazine, called Z, which provides updates and information about what is happening at the zoo.

Television Documentary

Through out the summer Television crews from Granada have been filming for the documentary "Zoo Days" which has been sold to Channel Five. It began airing on October 8 2007, and is a 20-part series about day to day life in Chester Zoo.

External links

• Chester Zoo Website
• Goodzoos Website

References

www.zoobeat.com