Chester Zoo
Encyclopedia
Chester Zoo is a zoological garden at Upton-by-Chester, in Cheshire
, England
. It was opened in 1931 by George Mottershead and his family, who used as a basis some animals reported to have come from an earlier zoo in Shavington. It is one of the UK's largest zoos at 111 acres (44.9 ha). The zoo has a total land holding of approximately 400 acres (161.9 ha).
Chester Zoo is currently operated by the North of England Zoological Society, a registered charity founded in 1934. The zoo receives no government funding. It is the most-visited wildlife attraction in Britain with more than 1.3 million visitors in 2007. In the same year Forbes
described it as one of the best fifteen zoos in the world.
business was based in Shavington near Crewe
. George Mottershead collected animals such as lizard
s and insect
s that arrived with exotic plants imported by the business. A visit to Belle Vue Zoo
in Manchester
as a boy in 1903 fuelled his developing interest in creating a zoo of his own.
Mottershead was wounded in World War I
and spent several years in a wheelchair. Despite this, his collection of animals grew and he began to search for a suitable home for his zoo. He chose Oakfield House in Upton
, a suburb of Chester
, which he purchased for £3,500 in 1930. The house had 9 acres (3.6 ha) of gardens and provided easy access to the railways and to Manchester and Liverpool
. There were local objections, but Mottershead prevailed, and Chester Zoo opened to the public on 10 June 1931. The first animals were displayed in pens in the courtyard.
Rapid expansion followed after World War II
, despite the difficulty of sourcing materials. Mottershead had to be resourceful; the polar bear
exhibit (1950) was built from recycled wartime road blocks and pillboxes
. "Always building" was the zoo's slogan at 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.
iron bars to cage the animals. He was influenced by the ideas of Carl Hagenbeck
, who invented the modern 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 cage bars, and extended their use throughout the zoo, often with species that Hagenback had not considered. For example, when chimpanzee
s were released into their new enclosure at Chester in 1956, a group of grassy islands separated the ape
s from visitors by no more than a 12 feet (3.7 m) 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
.
s are available near the main entrance, as is locker and buggy hire.
The zoo is bisected by a public bridleway, Flag Lane. For many years, a single bridge (now called Elephants' Bridge), drivable by zoo vehicles and powered wheelchairs, near the elephant exhibit was the only crossing place within the grounds. A second crossing, passable by pedestrians and mobility scooter
s, called Bats' Bridge, opened in April 2008 near the Twilight Zone, has improved the ability of visitors to circulate.
There are other ways to travel around the zoo:
Visitors must pay extra for using the monorail and the water bus.
Chester's catering facilities include the Café Bembé near the main entrance which opened in 2006. June's Pavilion is in the middle of the zoo. The Oakfield Restaurant, 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 around the zoo. A second pedestrian entrance is located in the southeast corner of the zoo behind Oakfield House.
For a long time the public entrance was at the east end. In recent years the public entrance has moved to the north side, west of Flag Lane, near the elephants, and the old car parks at the east end are being built over with service and educational buildings.
The zoo owns land outside the public area, and uses that land to grow food for its herbivorous animals.
A monorail
system was built and installed by Computerised People Mover International at a cost of $4 million and then opened by Katharine, Duchess of Kent in 1991. The system is 1 mile (1½ km) long and travels on an elevated guideway to give views of the park grounds — the track crosses Flag Lane twice on its one-way circular shape. The two halves of the park are connected by the system and there is one station in each part, near lion and monkey enclosures respectively. Each train on the system holds 24 passengers between its four cars and a full tour takes around fifteen minutes.
The system is a straddle beam monorail. The layout has a separate depot and control room and carries approximately 2,000 passengers per day. During 2009 improvements to the monorail's drive system and electrics were made by T&M Machine Tool Electronics, including the laying of over 25 miles (40.2 km) of new cabling bringing the total cost of the improvements to £300,000. The monorail was re-launched by music producer Pete Waterman
during a visit on 23 July 2009, when Waterman drove the first loop of the new system.
and 155 were classified as threatened species
. 134 species were kept as part of a managed captive breeding programme. The zoo manages the studbooks for Congo buffalo
, jaguar
, blue-eyed cockatoo
, Madagscan tree boa, gemsbok
(all ESB species), black rhinoceros
, Ecuadorian Amazon parrot, Mindanao writhe-billed hornbill
and Rodrigues fruit bat (all EEP
species). In addition, Chester holds 265 threatened plant species.
Asian elephant
s 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 eight elephants, The current herd is composed of two males and six females - 16-year old breeding male Upali, aging females Maya and Jangolie, the 'grandma' of the herd, Thi, her two daughters, Sithami and Jamilah, and Sithami's offspring, Sundara and Nayan. The elephant house also used to house African elephants, rhinos
, hippo
s and tapir
s. Motty
, a hybrid African-Asian elephant calf was born in July 1978, but died in infancy.
A GBP
2 million breeding facility modelled on an Assam
(India
) rainforest
called Elephants of the Asian Forest opened in Easter 2006, as a major alteration of the zoo's previous elephant house. Inside the elephant house, other indigenous Asian species are exhibited, including great Indian hornbills
, azure-winged magpie
s, green peafowl
, red-billed blue magpie
, red junglefowl
, Derbyan Parakeet
s,, spiny turtle
s, and monitor lizard
s. There is an aquarium for Pla Eesok, pig-nosed turtles, clown loach
and Asian arowana
fish.
. The exhibit is split into four sections. The two inside are modelled on a rainforest and a dry savannah
, and the two outside contain rivers and pools so that the cats can exercise their swimming skills. There are currently five jaguar
s, four spotted and one Black panther
. 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
. In 2008, an amphibian based exhibit with Surinam toad
s, caecilian
s and poison dart frogs was opened, and the exhibit will undergo further work in late 2011.
3.5 million extension to the existing orangutan house, home to Bornean
and Sumatran orangutan
s, 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 can be viewed from a first floor public gallery and feature mesh roofs supported by tree-like structures which act as climbing frames for the apes. A further enclosure houses a group of four lar gibbon
s. On 29 January 2008, the zoo celebrated the birth of new baby Sumatran orangutan.
Animals and plants from Indonesia
are exhibited inside Realm of the Red Ape in a rainforest-themed setting. Birds on display include the Timor sparrow
, chestnut-backed thrush
, and orange-headed thrush
. The crocodile monitor
, reticulated python
, red-tailed racer
, king ratsnake
, White's tree frog
, emerald tree monitor
and green tree python feature among the reptiles. Asian Tree Toad
s, giant walking sticks
, jungle nymphs and leaf insects
complete the lineup.
Located next to Realm of the Red Ape is an enclosure for Europe's first breeding pair of Babirusa
and Oriental Small-clawed Otter
s.
(who also used the title Countess of Chester
) and is home to 26 common chimpanzee
s. This is the largest colony of chimps in Europe, housed in the Roundhouse, a conical indoor enclosure linked to an outside moated island. The island is planted with many bushes and has large poles 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.
exhibit, modelled on the Tsavo National Park
in Kenya
, was opened in 2003 at a cost of GBP2 million. The zoo has a successful rhinoceros breeding programme and currently keeps 8 animals. Meerkat
s and Aardvarks are kept in a small enclosure nearby, and a nearby paddock is home to banded mongoose
and warthog
.
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 varied collection of other species including Madagascar hissing cockroach
es, Turkish spiny mice
and blind cave fish.
, mandrill
s, lion-tailed macaque
s and Sulawesi crested macaques
. Campbell's guenon
s and porcupine
s were formerly housed with the mandrills. 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.
s with two male pygmy marmoset
s, and the second is shared by three Emperor Tamarin
s and three golden-headed lion tamarin
s. Azara's agouti
, Geoffroy's Marmosets, pied tamarin
s and black lion tamarin
s have also been housed here in the past but have been moved out for various reasons.
s 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 non-breeding group of ring-tailed coatis
. Nearby are paddocks housing vicuña
(wild relatives of the llama
), capybara
, Brazilian tapirs and common rheas.
Guanaco were previously housed with the rhea.
. Initially two males were kept, Dicky arrived from Marwell Wildlife in 2005 and Mbuti came from Bristol Zoo
in the same year. In 2006 Dicky left for London Zoo
to make way for a female named Stuma from Germany
. In 2009 Mbuti and Dicky were swapped back with Mbuti going to London after being advised not to breed with Stuma and Dicky coming back to Chester. Other animals that can be seen here include the Gambian pouched rat
, several species of cichlid
from Lake Barombi Mbo
in Cameroon
, Gaboon viper, Mount Kulal spiny mouse
and Mesic four-striped grass mouse
.
for the zoo's Komodo dragon
s, 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. The exhibit is built on the site of the zoo's former bird house. In 2007 several young baby Komodo dragons were put on display after one of the zoo's two females had a virgin birth through parthenogenesis
, the first such case recorded in this species. The exhibit was revamped in 2009 to house Caribbean Iguana
s in one section of the building.
Islands in Danger also houses various Indonesia
n and Philippine rainforest birds, such as Red Birds of Paradise
, Palawan Peacock-pheasants, Pheasant Pigeon
s and Victoria Crowned Pigeon
s. Recently added was a small group of Mindanao Bleeding-heart
s which have successfully bred. Birds formally species formerly kept in the exhibit include Visayan Tarictic Hornbill, Socorro Dove
, Papuan Lorikeet
and St. Lucia Amazon.
s, this area used to be a petting farm, but was closed due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease
. The petting farm is now a picnic lawn and a former Kune Kune Pig enclosure has been demolished in favour of a food stall.
Mongoose Mania, which houses dwarf mongooses features tunnels beneath the enclosure which allow children to crawl through, popping up their heads into plastic domes to give them a mongoose's eye view of the world. The zoo's Peafowl
are often seen here.
s went on show for the first time on 26 March 2010. The zoo plans to try and breed the species in the near future.
In the neighbouring enclosure a large breeding group of over 40 Humboldt Penguin
s have their own pool, and visitors can watch the birds from an underwater viewing window.
s, various species of starling
s and ground birds such as Roul-roul Partridges
.
Aviaries and vivaria are arranged around the sides of the building; those on the upper level were originally designed for birds of paradise and the Hornbill
aviaries were originally made for Gorilla
s . The aviaries currently house birds such as the Great Indian Hornbill, Rhinoceros Hornbill
, two pairs of Tarictic Hornbill
(one pure-bred and one hybrid), Writhed-billed Hornbill
, Wrinkled Hornbill
, Red-crested Turaco
, Palawan Peacock-pheasant, Congo Peafowl
, Bali Starling
, Blue-crowned Pigeon
, fairy-bluebird
, White-rumped Shama
, Montserrat Oriole
and Red-billed Curassow
.
The Tropical Realm is also the centre of the reptile collection. The crocodile
pools (which formerly housed West African Dwarf Crocodiles
, American Alligator
s and Philippine crocodile
s) are currently empty. Near the entrance is an enclosure for tuatara
s. This lizard-like species from New Zealand
is the last surviving sphenodont
, a prehistoric group of reptiles, and Chester is the only British zoo to exhibit them. There were many varieties of snakes and lizards in the past (many had to depart as a result ; Rhinoceros ratsnake
, Garter Snakes and Eyelash Vipers now being the only remaining. The lizard collection is now made up of beaded lizard
s, Caiman lizard
s, and a Parson's Chameleon
.
Tortoise
s are represented by the Galápagos
and radiated
, whilst other species include poison dart frogs and invertebrates such as a Death's Head Cockroaches, Tailless Whip Scorpions and a salmon pink bird-eating spider
.
enclosure. It houses a variety of European birds, including the European Black and Griffon Vulture
s and the rarer of the two European storks, the Black Stork
. There are spoonbill
s, ibis
and egret
s 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
.
s, who have since parent-reared a chick for the first time. It is now also home for the American black vulture
from the Americas
and several species of waterfowl. The aviary is dominated by a large sandstone waterfall, and a fake llama skeleton is used at feeding time. The enclosure is built on the site of the zoo's former brown bear
enclosure.
s, Red-vented Cockatoo
s, Palm Cockatoo
s, Short-billed Black Cockatoos, Red-and-Blue lories
, Yellow-backed Chattering Lories
, Mount Apo Lorikeet
s and Blue-and-yellow Macaw
s. 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 Realm of the Red Ape.
, Blue-winged Macaw
, Blue-throated Macaw
, Golden Conure
, Golden-capped Conure
, Blue-throated Conure
, Red-crowned Amazon and Red-tailed Amazon
. The first aviary was opened in 2001 and the remainder in 2004. A single Azara's Agouti
also forms part of the exhibit.
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 seahorse
s and achieved the first captive breeding of the freshwater motoro stingray
.
Other notable fish include the electric eel
, African lungfish, tropical reef fishes (such as Clownfish
) and various Lake Malawi
cichlid
s. Amphibians include the Japanese fire belly newt
and axolotl
. Invertebrates such as Starfish, Sea Urchin
s and several coral
and Shrimp
s
Can be housed with the fish.
and Burmese brow-antlered deer
, the exhibit has recently been extended to include new enclosures for Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros
and Cheetah
.
The male rhino was joined by a female in 2008 to form a pair which the zoo hoped would breed. Sadly in November 2009 the male Indian rhino "Patna" was put down due to a longstanding leg injury. The zoo obtained a replacement male from Edinburgh Zoo
in March 2010. Since they were closely related the previous female departed for a zoo in Spain
shortly after, and the zoo are in the progress of creating a breeding situation - Baabu has now been exchanged for 'Beni' from Pilsen Zoo. The paddocks formerly housed barasingha
, Ankole cattle and sitatunga
.
Other paddocks on the west side of the zoo support grazing herds of Grevy's zebra
, sitatunga, Kirk's Dik-dik
, scimitar-horned oryx, gemsbok
, Red Lechwe and Roan Antelope
. The sitatunga share their paddock with ostrich
, and the Red Lechwe and Roan antelope also share an exhibit.
Przewalski's horse
s have recently left the collection to make way for the new African hunting dog enclosure. Also formely housed here were Père David's Deer
, red-necked wallaby
and emu
s
s and Rock Hyrax are nearby. Yellow Mongoose
are also due to join the display.
s, okapi
, jaguar
, condor
s and Tropical Realm, there are enclosures for Congo buffalo
, Warthogs and red river hog
s. Nearby is a large paddock for the zoo's six Rothschild giraffe
s. Chilean Pudú and Giant Anteater
can be seen across the canal at the back of the giraffe house. Buffy-headed capuchins
are housed near the exit of the Tropical Realm as well as a group of native sand lizard
s, midwife toad
s and a mixed enclosure for Red-knobbed Curassow and Blue Jay
s.
The empty enclosure formerly housing maned wolves
has been replaced by a heated butterfly
house called Butterfly Journey, which is based around the life cycle of a butterfly, featuring free-flying butterflies and moths (The exotic species on show include Blue Morpho
s, Giant Owls
, Glasswings
, Swallowtails
and the Atlas Moth), a cabinet of cocoon
s, and an area with caterpillar
s.
Animals formely displayed in forest zone include maned wolves, babirusa, visayan warty pigs, ring-tailed coatis and bactrian camels.
s, Chester Zoo keeps lion
s, tiger
s and cheetah
s in its big cat
collection. The lions
are the Asiatic subspecies
found only in the Gir Forest in India
in the wild. The zoo's former resident male Asoka was joined by a female, Asha, from Rome
in 2006. The pair have bred on three occasions, but so far their only offspring to survive has been a male cub, Tejas, born and hand-reared in 2007. His upbringing was featured prominently in the first series of Zoo Days. Tejas left Chester Zoo for Besancon
early in 2008 as part of the European breeding programme for this subspecies. Asoka left the zoo in early 2010, he was moved to Rome Zoo as part of the European breeding programme. His replacement is 3-year-old Iblis, who arrived from Planckendael Zoo in Belgium
. In late summer 2011, Asha retired to Santillana and was replaced by four year females Kiburi and Kumari.
In 2007, a male Sumatran tiger
called Kepala arrived from Dudley Zoo
to join the two resident female Bengal tiger
s, who left in 2008. The same year, the zoo acquired a female tiger named Kirana, but unfortunately it was discovered that the pair were related. Kepala departed to Dublin Zoo
and a new male named Fabi was brought in to form a breeding pair of Sumatrans, a critically endangered subspecies in the wild. Kirana and Fabi bred have so far bred on two occasions; a single cub was born on 18th June 2011, but died aged eleven days. A litter of three cubs was born 21st October 2011, and made their public debut in November 2011.
The zoo welcomed its first ever cheetah cubs in June 2011. Female cheetah Kinky-Tail gave birth to a litter of four on June 21, 2011. The cubs were given their first health check on the 19th August, which revealed that there are 2 females and 2 males. The female cubs have been named Kinza and Shendi, whilst the males have been named Rufaa and Juba.
and onager
in a large paddock in the centre of the zoo, formerly the zebra exhibit. A paddock which was only visible from the monorail but can now be seen from the Bats' Bridge holds a group of Philippine spotted deer
, alongside Negros Island Warty Pigs next door.
In 2009, a walk-through bird safari with African bird species opened. It currently houses hornbills, lilac-breasted roller
s, weaver birds and a variety of waterfowl amongst other species.
Bordering the paddocks is a waterway running north-south along which the water bus travels, past island groups of Geoffroy's Marmosets, Alaotran gentle lemur
s, red ruffed lemur
s and a pair of anoa
. Cottontop tamarin
s were formerly housed on the Geoffroy's Marmoset Island, whilst the Gentle Lemur exhibit was formerly home to Black-and-white ruffed lemurs.
In the southeast corner of the zoo are enclosures housing an assortment of animals including Eastern bongo
s, Yellow Mongooses, bush dog
s, red panda
s, Serval
s, southern cassowaries
, red-crowned crane
s golden pheasant
, and in the near future, Giant Anteaters.
Near the Rare Parrot Breeding Centre is an aviary currently housing spectacled owl
s and formerly home to macaws and kea
s the remainder of the zoo’s owl
collection are seen nearby. The owl aviaries were recently modified.
Aviaries for snowy owl
s, rhinoceros hornbill
s and Mauritius kestrel
s are located behind the Children's Fun Ark. Flocks of Chilean
and Caribbean flamingo
s live in shallow water alongside a large island housing a group of ring-tailed lemur
s. New indoor accommodation for the flamingos was completed in 2007. Pelican
s, stork
s, crane
s and a variety of waterfowl
are housed in large pens alongside Tsavo. Chester also has free roaming Peafowl
, and harvest mice
.
From 1 July 2011 to 9 October 2011 a little southeast of the Komodo Dragon
s is a display of animatronic dinosaurs: Triceratops
, Edmontosaurus
and its eggs and hatchlings, Dilophosaurus
(which squirts water from its mouth), Allosaurus
, Rugops
, Omeisaurus
, Apatosaurus
, Baryonyx
, Dimetrodon
, Tyrannosaurus
rex.
The project – given the working title Natural Vision – will involve a £90 million first phase which will include the only domed ecosystem in the United Kingdom.
Called ‘Heart of Africa’, the bio-dome will be an African rainforest-themed sanctuary for a band of gorilla
s, a large troop of chimpanzees, okapi (rare giraffe-like creatures), and a wide variety of tropical birds, amphibian
s, reptile
s, fish
es and invertebrate
s, moving freely among lush vegetation.
The first phase – planning permission for which will be sought later this year (2009) – will also include a 90-bed hotel, a conservation college, a key element of which is the ‘Futures’ education centre, and a revamped main entrance linking to a marina development on zoo land beside the Shropshire Union Canal
.
The rest of the Natural Vision project will be completed by 2018, thus creating one of the largest wildlife attractions in the world and providing a major boost to the Northwest
economy. This will showcase and financially support the zoo’s national and international conservation work, which already spans 50 countries.
The zoo currently occupies 50 hectares of land but owns a further 200. The completed Natural Vision project will cover 80 hectares including new access roads and parking.
The project is the culmination of years of planning and design and is being carried out in conjunction with a number of agencies, notably including the Northwest Regional Development Agency
(NWDA) which has provided funding to enable the project to progress to the planning stage.
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 "Natural Vision" project.
free of charge for a year. Every three months, members and adopters receive Z magazine, which provides updates and information about what is happening at the zoo.
filmed at Chester for the documentary series Zoo Days, a behind the scenes look at the day-to-day running of the zoo, narrated by Jane Horrocks
. British broadcast rights were sold to Five and the first 20-part series began airing on British terrestrial TV on 8 October 2007, transmitting on weekday evenings in a regular 6:30pm slot. A second 20-part series of Zoo Days was swiftly commissioned and began airing on 3 March 2008. The third 20-part series was broadcast from Colchester Zoo
, before returning to Chester for the fourth 20-part series on 10 November 2008.
In February 2009, "The History Of Chester Zoo" was a contestant's chosen subject on Mastermind
.
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It was opened in 1931 by George Mottershead and his family, who used as a basis some animals reported to have come from an earlier zoo in Shavington. It is one of the UK's largest zoos at 111 acres (44.9 ha). The zoo has a total land holding of approximately 400 acres (161.9 ha).
Chester Zoo is currently operated by the North of England Zoological Society, a registered charity founded in 1934. The zoo receives no government funding. It is the most-visited wildlife attraction in Britain with more than 1.3 million visitors in 2007. In the same year Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
described it as one of the best fifteen zoos in the world.
Early history
The Mottershead family's market gardenMarket garden
A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. It is distinguishable from other types of farming by the diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically, from under one acre ...
business was based in Shavington near Crewe
Crewe
Crewe is a railway town within the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683...
. George Mottershead collected animals such as lizard
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...
s and insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s that arrived with exotic plants imported by the business. A visit to Belle Vue Zoo
Belle Vue Zoo
Belle Vue Zoological Gardens was a large zoo, amusement park, exhibition hall complex and speedway stadium in Belle Vue , Manchester, England, opened in 1836...
in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
as a boy in 1903 fuelled his developing interest in creating a zoo of his own.
Mottershead was wounded in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and spent several years in a wheelchair. Despite this, his collection of animals grew and he began to search for a suitable home for his zoo. He chose Oakfield House in Upton
Upton, Cheshire
Upton by Chester is a civil parish and a large suburb on the outskirts of Chester, in the Borough of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire in England. It includes the villages of Upton and Upton Heath. At the 2001 Census the population was recorded as...
, a suburb of Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
, which he purchased for £3,500 in 1930. The house had 9 acres (3.6 ha) of gardens and provided easy access to the railways and to Manchester and Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. There were local objections, but Mottershead prevailed, and Chester Zoo opened to the public on 10 June 1931. The first animals were displayed in pens in the courtyard.
Rapid expansion followed after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, despite the difficulty of sourcing materials. Mottershead had to be resourceful; the polar bear
Polar Bear
The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...
exhibit (1950) was built from recycled wartime road blocks and pillboxes
British hardened field defences of World War II
British hardened field defences of World War II were small fortified structures constructed as a part of British anti-invasion preparations. They were popularly known as pillboxes by reference to their shape.-Design and development:...
. "Always building" was the zoo's slogan at 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 VictorianVictorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
iron bars to cage the animals. He was influenced by the ideas of Carl Hagenbeck
Carl Hagenbeck
Carl Hagenbeck was a merchant of wild animals who supplied many European zoos, as well as P.T. Barnum. He is often considered the father of the modern zoo because he introduced "natural" animal enclosures that included recreations of animals' native habitats without bars...
, who invented the modern zoo concept and by Heine Hediger, a pioneer of ethology
Ethology
Ethology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology....
.
At Chester, Mottershead took Hagenback's idea for moats and ditches as an alternative to cage bars, and extended their use throughout the zoo, often with species that Hagenback had not considered. For example, when chimpanzee
Chimpanzee
Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
s were released into their new enclosure at Chester in 1956, a group of grassy islands separated the ape
Ape
Apes are Old World anthropoid mammals, more specifically a clade of tailless catarrhine primates, belonging to the biological superfamily Hominoidea. The apes are native to Africa and South-east Asia, although in relatively recent times humans have spread all over the world...
s from visitors by no more than a 12 feet (3.7 m) 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
Zoo Licensing Act 1981
The Zoo Licensing Act 1981 was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom.The main effect of the Act was to regulate zoos by requiring them to be licensed by local authorities. The Act did not extend to circuses or pet shops. The Act does not extend to Northern Ireland.-References:*Whitaker's...
.
Management structure
The zoo is split into three separate directorates under the management of the Director General, Mark Pligrim:- Conservation and Education
- Corporate Services
- Business Operations
Layout and facilities
Mobility scooterMobility scooter
A mobility scooter is a mobility aid equivalent to a wheelchair but configured like a motorscooter. It is often referred to as a power-operated vehicle/scooter or electric scooter as well.-Description:...
s are available near the main entrance, as is locker and buggy hire.
Mobility scooter
A mobility scooter is a mobility aid equivalent to a wheelchair but configured like a motorscooter. It is often referred to as a power-operated vehicle/scooter or electric scooter as well.-Description:...
s, called Bats' Bridge, opened in April 2008 near the Twilight Zone, has improved the ability of visitors to circulate.
There are other ways to travel around the zoo:
- A transportation system, now generally known as the monorailMonorailA monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles traveling on such a beam or track...
, with a station near the elephants and a station near the lions. It runs in a circle. - A water bus operates on a canal network within the zoo in peak season, but it stops at only one place.
Visitors must pay extra for using the monorail and the water bus.
Chester's catering facilities include the Café Bembé near the main entrance which opened in 2006. June's Pavilion is in the middle of the zoo. The Oakfield Restaurant, 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 around the zoo. A second pedestrian entrance is located in the southeast corner of the zoo behind Oakfield House.
For a long time the public entrance was at the east end. In recent years the public entrance has moved to the north side, west of Flag Lane, near the elephants, and the old car parks at the east end are being built over with service and educational buildings.
The zoo owns land outside the public area, and uses that land to grow food for its herbivorous animals.
Monorail
Monorail
A monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles traveling on such a beam or track...
system was built and installed by Computerised People Mover International at a cost of $4 million and then opened by Katharine, Duchess of Kent in 1991. The system is 1 mile (1½ km) long and travels on an elevated guideway to give views of the park grounds — the track crosses Flag Lane twice on its one-way circular shape. The two halves of the park are connected by the system and there is one station in each part, near lion and monkey enclosures respectively. Each train on the system holds 24 passengers between its four cars and a full tour takes around fifteen minutes.
The system is a straddle beam monorail. The layout has a separate depot and control room and carries approximately 2,000 passengers per day. During 2009 improvements to the monorail's drive system and electrics were made by T&M Machine Tool Electronics, including the laying of over 25 miles (40.2 km) of new cabling bringing the total cost of the improvements to £300,000. The monorail was re-launched by music producer Pete Waterman
Pete Waterman
Peter Alan Waterman OBE is an English record producer, occasional songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast. As a member of the Stock Aitken Waterman songwriting team he wrote and produced many hit singles...
during a visit on 23 July 2009, when Waterman drove the first loop of the new system.
Species and animals
Chester Zoo holds a large and diverse collection. At the end of 2007, over half the species at the zoo appeared on the IUCN Red ListIUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
and 155 were classified as threatened species
Threatened species
Threatened species are any speciesg animals, plants, fungi, etc.) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future.The World Conservation Union is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories,...
. 134 species were kept as part of a managed captive breeding programme. The zoo manages the studbooks for Congo buffalo
African Forest Buffalo
The African Forest Buffalo is smaller than the Cape Buffalo, with horns that curves out backwards and upwards. Usually weighing , they are reddish brown in color. Its native habitat is the equatorial forest found in central and western Africa, and its diet consists primarily of grasses, twigs, and...
, jaguar
Jaguar
The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
, blue-eyed cockatoo
Blue-eyed Cockatoo
The Blue-eyed Cockatoo, Cacatua ophthalmica, is a large, approximately 50 cm long, mainly white cockatoo with a mobile crest, a black beak, and a light blue rim of featherless skin around each eye, that gives this species its name....
, Madagscan tree boa, gemsbok
Gemsbok
The gemsbok or gemsbuck is a large antelope in the Oryx genus. It is native to the arid regions of southern Africa, but formerly some authorities included the East African Oryx as a subspecies...
(all ESB species), black rhinoceros
Black Rhinoceros
The Black Rhinoceros or Hook-lipped Rhinoceros , is a species of rhinoceros, native to the eastern and central areas of Africa including Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Angola...
, Ecuadorian Amazon parrot, Mindanao writhe-billed hornbill
Mindanao Wrinkled Hornbill
The Writhed Hornbill , also known as the Mindanao Wrinkled Hornbill, is a species of hornbill in the Bucerotidae family.It is endemic to humid forests on the Philippine islands of Mindanao, Dinagat and Camiguin Sur...
and Rodrigues fruit bat (all EEP
European Endangered Species Programme
The European Endangered Species Programme or EEP is the most intensive type of population management for a species kept in European Association of Zoos and Aquaria zoos...
species). In addition, Chester holds 265 threatened plant species.
| Group | Number of species | Number of animals |
|---|---|---|
| Mammal Mammal Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young... s |
79 | 1864 |
| Bird Bird Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from... s |
155 | 1138 |
| Reptile Reptile Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors... s |
52 | 230 |
| Amphibian Amphibian Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods... s |
24 | 577 |
| Fish Fish Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups... |
80 | 3829 |
| Invertebrate Invertebrate An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group... s |
32 | 1381+ |
| Total | 422 | 9019+ |
Elephants of the Asian Forest
Chester was the first zoo in the UK to successfully breedBreed
A breed is a group of domestic animals or plants with a homogeneous appearance, behavior, and other characteristics that distinguish it from other animals or plants of the same species. Despite the centrality of the idea of "breeds" to animal husbandry, there is no scientifically accepted...
Asian elephant
Asian Elephant
The Asian or Asiatic elephant is the only living species of the genus Elephas and distributed in Southeast Asia from India in the west to Borneo in the east. Three subspecies are recognized — Elephas maximus maximus from Sri Lanka, the Indian elephant or E. m. indicus from mainland Asia, and E. m....
s 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
Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II
The Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II marked the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other Commonwealth realms...
. The zoo has a breeding herd of eight elephants, The current herd is composed of two males and six females - 16-year old breeding male Upali, aging females Maya and Jangolie, the 'grandma' of the herd, Thi, her two daughters, Sithami and Jamilah, and Sithami's offspring, Sundara and Nayan. The elephant house also used to house African elephants, rhinos
Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....
, hippo
Hippo
A hippo or hippopotamus is either of two species of large African mammal which live mainly in and near water:* Hippopotamus* Pygmy HippopotamusHippo may also refer to:-Given names:...
s and tapir
Tapir
A Tapir is a large browsing mammal, similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile snout. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, Central America, and Southeast Asia. There are four species of Tapirs: the Brazilian Tapir, the Malayan Tapir, Baird's Tapir and the Mountain...
s. Motty
Motty
Motty was the only proven hybrid between an Asian and an African elephant. He was named after George Mottershead, who founded the Chester Zoo in 1931...
, a hybrid African-Asian elephant calf was born in July 1978, but died in infancy.
A GBP
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
2 million breeding facility modelled on an Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
(India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
) rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
called Elephants of the Asian Forest opened in Easter 2006, as a major alteration of the zoo's previous elephant house. Inside the elephant house, other indigenous Asian species are exhibited, including great Indian hornbills
Great Hornbill
The Great Hornbill also known as Great Indian Hornbill or Great Pied Hornbill, is one of the larger members of the hornbill family. Great Hornbills are found in the forests of Nepal, India, the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, Indonesia. Their impressive size and colour have made them important in...
, azure-winged magpie
Azure-winged Magpie
The Azure-winged Magpie is a bird in the crow family. It is 31–35 cm long and similar in overall shape to the European Magpie but is more slender with proportionately smaller legs and bill. It belongs to the monotypical genus Cyanopica.It has a glossy black top to the head and a white throat...
s, green peafowl
Green Peafowl
The Green Peafowl or Javan Peafowl, Pavo muticus is a large Galliform bird that is found in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia...
, red-billed blue magpie
Red-billed Blue Magpie
The Red-billed Blue Magpie, Urocissa erythrorhyncha is a species of bird in the crow family Corvidae. It is about the same size as the European Magpie but has a much longer tail, the longest tail of any corvid. It is 65-68 cm long and weighs 196-232 grams .-Description:The head, neck and breast...
, red junglefowl
Red Junglefowl
The Red Junglefowl is a tropical member of the Pheasant family. They are thought to be ancestors of the domestic chicken with some hybridisation with the Grey Junglefowl...
, Derbyan Parakeet
Derbyan Parakeet
The Lord Derby's Parakeet , also known as Derbyan Parakeet, is a monotypic parrot species, which is confined to small pocket of moist evergreen forest in the hills of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Chinese province on its border. The species suffers from poaching for the illegal...
s,, spiny turtle
Spiny Turtle
The Spiny turtle inhabits lowland and hill rainforest, usually in the vicinity of small streams, mainly in hill areas up to 900 m...
s, and monitor lizard
Monitor lizard
Monitor lizards are usually large reptiles, although some can be as small as in length. They have long necks, powerful tails and claws, and well-developed limbs. Most species are terrestrial, but arboreal and semiaquatic monitors are also known...
s. There is an aquarium for Pla Eesok, pig-nosed turtles, clown loach
Clown loach
The clown loach, Chromobotia macracanthus, is a tropical freshwater fish belonging to the Cobitidae family. It is the sole member of the Chromobotia genus. It originates in inland waters in Indonesia on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo...
and Asian arowana
Asian arowana
The Asian arowana comprises several varieties of freshwater fish in the genus Scleropages. Some sources differentiate these varieties into multiple species, while others consider the different strains to belong to a single species, Scleropages formosus...
fish.
Spirit of the Jaguar
Spirit of the Jaguar was opened in 2001 and is sponsored by Jaguar carsJaguar (car)
Jaguar Cars Ltd, known simply as Jaguar , is a British luxury car manufacturer, headquartered in Whitley, Coventry, England. It is part of the Jaguar Land Rover business, a subsidiary of the Indian company Tata Motors....
. The exhibit is split into four sections. The two inside are modelled on a rainforest and a dry savannah
Savannah
Savannah or savanna is a type of grassland.It can also mean:-People:* Savannah King, a Canadian freestyle swimmer* Savannah Outen, a singer who gained popularity on You Tube...
, and the two outside contain rivers and pools so that the cats can exercise their swimming skills. There are currently five jaguar
Jaguar
The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
s, four spotted and one Black panther
Black panther
A black panther is typically a melanistic color variant of any of several species of larger cat. Wild black panthers in Latin America are black jaguars , in Asia and Africa they are black leopards , and in North America they may be black jaguars or possibly black cougars A black panther is...
. 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
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
including butterfly goodeid
Ameca splendens
Ameca splendens, a bony fish from the monotypic genus Amecaof the splitfin family , is commonly known as the Butterfly Goodeid or Butterfly Splitfin. It was formerly found throughout the Ameca River drainage in Mexico; the type locality is Rio Teuchitlán in the vicinity of Teuchitlán, Jalisco...
. In 2008, an amphibian based exhibit with Surinam toad
Surinam toad
Surinam toads, also called star-fingered toads, are members of the frog genus Pipa, within the family Pipidae. They are native to northern South America...
s, caecilian
Caecilian
The caecilians are an order of amphibians that superficially resemble earthworms or snakes. They mostly live hidden in the ground, making them the least familiar order of amphibians. All extant caecilians and their closest fossil relatives are grouped as the clade Apoda. They are mostly...
s and poison dart frogs was opened, and the exhibit will undergo further work in late 2011.
Realm of the Red Ape
Realm of the Red Ape is a GBPPound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
3.5 million extension to the existing orangutan house, home to Bornean
Bornean Orangutan
The Bornean orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus, is a species of orangutan native to the island of Borneo. Together with the slightly smaller Sumatran orangutan, it belongs to the only genus of great apes native to Asia....
and Sumatran orangutan
Sumatran Orangutan
The Sumatran orangutan is one of the two species of orangutans. Found only on the island of Sumatra, in Indonesia, it is rarer and smaller than the Bornean orangutan. The Sumatran orangutan grows to about tall and in males...
s, 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 can be viewed from a first floor public gallery and feature mesh roofs supported by tree-like structures which act as climbing frames for the apes. A further enclosure houses a group of four lar gibbon
Lar Gibbon
The lar gibbon , also known as the white-handed gibbon, is a primate in the Hylobatidae or gibbon family. It is one of the better-known gibbons and is often seen in zoos.-Range:...
s. On 29 January 2008, the zoo celebrated the birth of new baby Sumatran orangutan.
Animals and plants from Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
are exhibited inside Realm of the Red Ape in a rainforest-themed setting. Birds on display include the Timor sparrow
Timor Sparrow
The Timor Sparrow, Padda fuscata also known as Timor Dusky Sparrow is a small, approximately 14cm long, plump dark brown songbird with a large silvery-blue bill, white cheek, pink feet and creamy-white belly. Both sexes are similar....
, chestnut-backed thrush
Chestnut-backed Thrush
The Chestnut-backed thrush is a ground thrush species endemic to Lombok, Timor and the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia. The species is rapidly declining and it is already extinct on Lombok and possibly on Lesser Sunda...
, and orange-headed thrush
Orange-headed Thrush
The Orange-headed Thrush is a bird in the thrush family.It is common in well-wooded areas of the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Most populations are resident...
. The crocodile monitor
Papua monitor
Varanus salvadorii is a monitor lizard found in New Guinea. It is also known by the common names Salvadori's monitor, Crocodile monitor, Papua monitor, and Artellia. The largest monitor lizard in New Guinea, it is believed to be one of the longest lizards in the world, reaching up to . It is the...
, reticulated python
Reticulated Python
Python reticulatus, also known as the reticulated python is a species of python found in Southeast Asia. Adults can grow to over 8.7 m in length but normally grow to an average of 3-6 m . They are the world's longest snakes and longest reptile, but are not the most heavily built...
, red-tailed racer
Gonyosoma oxycephalum
The Red-tailed Green Ratsnake is a species of snake found in Southeast Asia. It is a thin snake with powerful and rough scales on its belly, ideal for climbing and moving in trees...
, king ratsnake
Elaphe carinata
The King Ratsnake or Keeled Ratsnake Elaphe carinata is a species of Colubrid snake found in Southeast Asia.-Description:The other common names "stink snake" or "stinking goddess" refer to this species' highly developed post-anal glands which, when the snake is picked up, are frequently emptied,...
, White's tree frog
White's Tree Frog
The Australian Green Tree Frog, simply Green Tree Frog in Australia, White's Tree Frog, or Dumpy Tree Frog is a species of tree frog native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand and the United States. The species belongs to the genus Litoria...
, emerald tree monitor
Emerald tree monitor
The Emerald Tree monitor , or the Green Tree monitor, is a small-to-medium-sized arboreal monitor lizard. It is known for its unusual coloration, which consists of shades from green to turquoise, topped with dark, transverse dorsal banding. This coloration helps camouflage it in its arboreal habitat...
and green tree python feature among the reptiles. Asian Tree Toad
Pedostibes
Pedostibes is a genus of true toads endemic to South India, Malay Peninsula to Borneo and Sumatra. These species are characterized by horizontal pupils, elliptical tongue, entire and free behind, webbed fingers and toes, tips which are dilated into regular discs and united outer...
s, giant walking sticks
Phobaeticus serratipes
Phobaeticus serratipes is a species of stick insect that at one time was the longest known insect, with one female specimen recorded as being 555 mm long - note, however, that this includes the legs fully extended front and rear, and the actual length of the body alone is considerably shorter...
, jungle nymphs and leaf insects
Phylliidae
The family Phylliidae contains the extant true leaf insects or walking leaves, which include some of the most remarkable leaf mimics in the entire animal kingdom. They occur from South Asia through Southeast Asia to Australia...
complete the lineup.
Located next to Realm of the Red Ape is an enclosure for Europe's first breeding pair of Babirusa
Babirusa
The North Sulawesi babirusa, Babyrousa celebensis, is a pig-like animal native to northern Sulawesi and the nearby Lembeh Islands in Indonesia. It has two pairs of large tusks composed of enlarged canine teeth. The canines in the maxilla penetrate the top of the snout, curving back toward the...
and Oriental Small-clawed Otter
Oriental Small-clawed Otter
The oriental small-clawed otter , also known as Asian small-clawed otter, is the smallest otter species in the world, weighing less than 5 kg. It lives in mangrove swamps and freshwater wetlands of Bangladesh, Burma, India, southern China, Taiwan, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines,...
s.
The Chimpanzee Breeding Centre
This pavilion was opened in 1989 by Diana, Princess of WalesDiana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
(who also used the title Countess of Chester
Earl of Chester
The Earldom of Chester was one of the most powerful earldoms in medieval England. Since 1301 the title has generally been granted to heirs-apparent to the English throne, and from the late 14th century it has been given only in conjunction with that of Prince of Wales.- Honour of Chester :The...
) and is home to 26 common chimpanzee
Common Chimpanzee
The common chimpanzee , also known as the robust chimpanzee, is a great ape. Colloquially, the common chimpanzee is often called the chimpanzee , though technically this term refers to both species in the genus Pan: the common chimpanzee and the closely related bonobo, formerly called the pygmy...
s. This is the largest colony of chimps in Europe, housed in the Roundhouse, a conical indoor enclosure linked to an outside moated island. The island is planted with many bushes and has large poles 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.
Tsavo Rhino Experience
The zoo's black rhinocerosBlack Rhinoceros
The Black Rhinoceros or Hook-lipped Rhinoceros , is a species of rhinoceros, native to the eastern and central areas of Africa including Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Angola...
exhibit, modelled on the Tsavo National Park
Tsavo National Park
Tsavo National Park may refer to:* Tsavo East National Park, a national park in Kenya on the eastern side of the A109 road.* Tsavo West National Park, a national park in Kenya on the western side of the A109 road....
in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, was opened in 2003 at a cost of GBP2 million. The zoo has a successful rhinoceros breeding programme and currently keeps 8 animals. Meerkat
Meerkat
The meerkat or suricate, Suricata suricatta, is a small mammal belonging to the mongoose family. Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan"...
s and Aardvarks are kept in a small enclosure nearby, and a nearby paddock is home to banded mongoose
Banded Mongoose
The Banded Mongoose is a mongoose commonly found in the central and eastern parts of Africa. It lives in savannas, open forests and grasslands and feeds primarily on beetles and millipedes. Mongooses use various types of dens for shelter including termite mounds...
and warthog
Warthog
The Warthog or Common Warthog is a wild member of the pig family that lives in grassland, savanna, and woodland in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the past it was commonly treated as a subspecies of P...
.
Fruit Bat Forest
Fruit Bat Forest is the largest free-flying batBat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
cave in Europe. The cave holds three species of bat: Rodrigues fruit bat, Livingstone's fruit bat
Livingstone's Fruit Bat
Livingstone's Fruit Bat Livingstone's Fruit Bat Livingstone's Fruit Bat (or Livingstone's Flying Fox; (Pteropus livingstonii) is a megabat in the genus Pteropus. It is found only on two islands in the Comoros. It is the largest bat of all Comorian species. Its preferred habitat is montane forest,...
and Seba's short-tailed bat
Seba's Short-tailed Bat
Seba's Short-tailed Bat, Carollia perspicillata, is a common and widespread bat species from South and Central America.C. perspicillata dwells in both moist evergreen and dry deciduous forests, usually below 1,000 meters altitude, typically roosting in groups of 10-100 bats in caves, hollow trees,...
. It is also home to a varied collection of other species including Madagascar hissing cockroach
Madagascar hissing cockroach
The Madagascar hissing Cockroach , also known as the Hissing Cockroach or simply Hisser, is one of the largest species of cockroach, reaching 2–4 inches at maturity. They are from the island of Madagascar off the African coast, where they can be found in rotting logs.Unlike most cockroaches, they...
es, Turkish spiny mice
Spiny mouse
The term spiny mouse refers to any species of rodent within the genus Acomys. Similar in appearance to mice of the genus Mus, spiny mice are small mammals with bare, scaled tails...
and blind cave fish.
Monkey Islands
Monkey Islands was opened in 1997, replacing the old monkey house, and is currently home to four monkey species: Colombian black spider monkeysColombian Spider Monkey
The Colombian spider monkey , is a subspecies of the Black-headed spider monkey, a type of New World monkey, found in Colombia and Panama...
, mandrill
Mandrill
The mandrill is a primate of the Old World monkey family, closely related to the baboons and even more closely to the drill. Both the mandrill and the drill were once classified as baboons in genus Papio, but recent research has determined they should be separated into their own genus, Mandrillus...
s, lion-tailed macaque
Lion-tailed Macaque
The lion-tailed macaque is an Old World monkey that is endemic to the Western Ghats of South India.-Physical Characteristics:...
s and Sulawesi crested macaques
Celebes Crested Macaque
The Celebes crested macaque , also known as the crested black macaque, Sulawesi crested macaque, or the black ape, is an Old World monkey that lives in the northeast of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi as well as on smaller neighboring islands.-Description:Its skin and hairless face is, with the...
. Campbell's guenon
Campbell's Mona Monkey
Campbell's mona monkey , also known as Campbell's guenon and Campbell's monkey, is a species of primate in the Cercopithecidae family...
s and porcupine
Porcupine
Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that defend or camouflage them from predators. They are indigenous to the Americas, southern Asia, and Africa. Porcupines are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and the beaver. Most porcupines are about long, with...
s were formerly housed with the mandrills. 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, consists of two enclosures. The first is home to a pair of black-tailed marmosetBlack-tailed Marmoset
The black-tailed marmoset is a species of New World monkey from central South America, where ranging from the south-central Amazon in Brazil, south through the Pantanal and eastern Bolivia, to the Chaco in far northern Paraguay...
s with two male pygmy marmoset
Pygmy Marmoset
The pygmy marmoset or dwarf monkey is a New World monkey native to the rainforest canopies of western Brazil, southeastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, and northern Bolivia. It is one of the smallest primates, and the smallest true monkey, with its body length ranging from...
s, and the second is shared by three Emperor Tamarin
Emperor Tamarin
The Emperor Tamarin is a tamarin allegedly named for its resemblance to the German emperor Wilhelm II. It lives in the southwest Amazon Basin, in east Peru, north Bolivia and in the west Brazilian states of Acre and Amazonas....
s and three golden-headed lion tamarin
Golden-headed Lion Tamarin
The golden-headed lion tamarin is a lion tamarin endemic to Brazil. It is found only in the lowland and premontane tropical forest fragments in the state of Bahia, and therefore is considered to be an endangered species. It lives at heights of . Its preferred habitat is within mature forest, but...
s. Azara's agouti
Azara's Agouti
Azara's Agouti, Dasyprocta azarae, is a South American agouti species from the family Dasyproctidae. It is found in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. It is named after Spanish naturalist Félix de Azara.-Behaviour:...
, Geoffroy's Marmosets, pied tamarin
Pied Tamarin
The pied tamarin is an endangered primate species found in a restricted area in the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest.- Range :...
s and black lion tamarin
Black Lion Tamarin
The black lion tamarin also known as the golden-rumped lion tamarin is a lion tamarin endemic to the Brazilian state of São Paulo, almost exclusively at the Morro do Diabo State Park. The lion tamarins are of the rarest of the New world monkeys and for this reason, so little is none about them...
s have also been housed here in the past but have been moved out for various reasons.
Bears of the Cloud Forest
Bears of the Cloud Forest opened in 2004 and is home to a pair of spectacled bearSpectacled Bear
The spectacled bear , also known as the Andean bear and locally as ukuko, jukumari or ucumari, is the last remaining short-faced bear and the closest living relative to the Florida spectacled bear and short-faced bears of the Middle Pleistocene to Late Pleistocene age.The spectacled bear is a...
s 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 non-breeding group of ring-tailed coatis
Coati
Coatis, genera Nasua and Nasuella, also known as the Brazilian aardvark, Mexican tejón, hog-nosed coon, pizotes, crackoons and snookum bears, are members of the raccoon family . They are diurnal mammals native to South America, Central America, and south-western North America...
. Nearby are paddocks housing vicuña
Vicuña
The vicuña or vicugna is one of two wild South American camelids, along with the guanaco, which live in the high alpine areas of the Andes. It is a relative of the llama, and is now believed to share a wild ancestor with domesticated alpacas, which are raised for their fibre...
(wild relatives of the llama
Llama
The llama is a South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since pre-Hispanic times....
), capybara
Capybara
The capybara , also known as capivara in Portuguese, and capibara, chigüire in Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador ronsoco in Peru, chigüiro, and carpincho in Spanish, is the largest living rodent in the world. Its closest relatives are agouti, chinchillas, coyphillas, and guinea pigs...
, Brazilian tapirs and common rheas.
Guanaco were previously housed with the rhea.
Secret World of the Okapi
Formerly the camel house, this enclosure adjoining the giraffe house was remodelled in 2006 to house okapiOkapi
The okapi , Okapia johnstoni, is a giraffid artiodactyl mammal native to the Ituri Rainforest, located in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Central Africa...
. Initially two males were kept, Dicky arrived from Marwell Wildlife in 2005 and Mbuti came from Bristol Zoo
Bristol Zoo
Bristol Zoo is a zoo in the city of Bristol in South West England. The zoo's stated mission is "Bristol Zoo Gardens maintains and defends biodiversity through breeding endangered species, conserving threatened species and habitats and promoting a wider understanding of the natural...
in the same year. In 2006 Dicky left for London Zoo
London Zoo
London Zoo is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study. It was eventually opened to the public in 1847...
to make way for a female named Stuma from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. In 2009 Mbuti and Dicky were swapped back with Mbuti going to London after being advised not to breed with Stuma and Dicky coming back to Chester. Other animals that can be seen here include the Gambian pouched rat
Gambian pouched rat
The Gambian pouched rat , also known as the African giant pouched rat, is a nocturnal pouched rat of the giant pouched rat genus Cricetomys. It is among the largest muroids in the world, growing up to about long including their tail which makes up half their length...
, several species of cichlid
Cichlid
Cichlids are fishes from the family Cichlidae in the order Perciformes. Cichlids are members of a group known as the Labroidei along with the wrasses , damselfish , and surfperches . This family is both large and diverse. At least 1,300 species have been scientifically described, making it one of...
from Lake Barombi Mbo
Lake Barombi Mbo
Lake Barombi Mbo or Barombi-Ma-Mbu is a lake in the Southwest Region of Cameroon. It is located in the Cameroon volcanic chain, and is the largest volcanic lake in this region. It is one of the oldest radiocarbon-dated lakes in Africa...
in Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
, Gaboon viper, Mount Kulal spiny mouse
Spiny mouse
The term spiny mouse refers to any species of rodent within the genus Acomys. Similar in appearance to mice of the genus Mus, spiny mice are small mammals with bare, scaled tails...
and Mesic four-striped grass mouse
Rhabdomys
Rhabdomys is a small muroid rodent that is widespread and abundant in the southern African subregion...
.
Islands in Danger
This exhibit is primarily a herpetariumHerpetarium
A Herpetarium is usually a building at a zoo or private collection which displays different species of reptiles and amphibians.- References :...
for the zoo's Komodo dragon
Komodo dragon
The Komodo dragon , also known as the Komodo monitor, is a large species of lizard found in the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang and Gili Dasami. A member of the monitor lizard family , it is the largest living species of lizard, growing to a maximum length of in rare cases...
s, originating from the Lesser Sunda Islands
Lesser Sunda Islands
The Lesser Sunda Islands or Nusa Tenggara are a group of islands in the southern Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make up the 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. The exhibit is built on the site of the zoo's former bird house. In 2007 several young baby Komodo dragons were put on display after one of the zoo's two females had a virgin birth through parthenogenesis
Parthenogenesis
Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction found in females, where growth and development of embryos occur without fertilization by a male...
, the first such case recorded in this species. The exhibit was revamped in 2009 to house Caribbean Iguana
Iguana
Iguana is a herbivorous genus of lizard native to tropical areas of Central America and the Caribbean. The genus was first described in 1768 by Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in his book Specimen Medicum, Exhibens Synopsin Reptilium Emendatam cum Experimentis circa Venena...
s in one section of the building.
Islands in Danger also houses various Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n and Philippine rainforest birds, such as Red Birds of Paradise
Red Bird of Paradise
Red Bird-of-paradise , is a bird-of-paradise in the genus Paradisaea, family Paradisaeidae.- Description :...
, Palawan Peacock-pheasants, Pheasant Pigeon
Pheasant Pigeon
The Pheasant Pigeon is a large terrestrial pigeon found in the primary rainforests of New Guinea and nearby islands. It ranges primarily over hilly and lower mountain areas, but can also be found in lowlands....
s and Victoria Crowned Pigeon
Victoria Crowned Pigeon
The Victoria Crowned Pigeon, Goura victoria, is a large, bluish-grey pigeon with elegant blue lace-like crests, maroon breast and red iris. The bird may be easily recognized by the unique white tips on its crests. Both sexes are similar. It is on average 74 cm long and weighs 2,384 grams...
s. Recently added was a small group of Mindanao Bleeding-heart
Mindanao Bleeding-heart
The Mindanao Bleeding-heart is a species of bird in the pigeon and dove family . It is endemic to the Philippines. It is so named because of a red blotch on its breast....
s which have successfully bred. Birds formally species formerly kept in the exhibit include Visayan Tarictic Hornbill, Socorro Dove
Socorro Dove
The Socorro Dove is a dove that is extinct in the wild. It was endemic to Socorro Island in the Revillagigedo Islands off the west coast of Mexico. The last sighting in its natural habitat was in 1972. There are not more than 200 and probably fewer than 100 purebred birds in captivity...
, Papuan Lorikeet
Papuan Lorikeet
The Papuan Lorikeet, also known as Stella's Lorikeet and Mount-Goliath Lorikeet is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family.It is found in West Papua, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea....
and St. Lucia Amazon.
Mongoose Mania
Located near the tigerTiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
s, this area used to be a petting farm, but was closed due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease
Foot-and-mouth disease
Foot-and-mouth disease or hoof-and-mouth disease is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic and wild bovids...
. The petting farm is now a picnic lawn and a former Kune Kune Pig enclosure has been demolished in favour of a food stall.
Mongoose Mania, which houses dwarf mongooses features tunnels beneath the enclosure which allow children to crawl through, popping up their heads into plastic domes to give them a mongoose's eye view of the world. The zoo's Peafowl
Peafowl
Peafowl are two Asiatic species of flying birds in the genus Pavo of the pheasant family, Phasianidae, best known for the male's extravagant eye-spotted tail, which it displays as part of courtship. The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen, and the offspring peachicks. The adult female...
are often seen here.
Giant Otters and Penguins
In early 2010 the Californian Sealions left the collection. Over the late winter the pool was converted to house a new species to the zoo. The Giant OtterGiant Otter
The giant otter is a South American carnivorous mammal. It is the longest member of the Mustelidae, or weasel family, a globally successful group of predators. Unusually for a mustelid, the giant otter is a social species, with family groups typically supporting three to eight members...
s went on show for the first time on 26 March 2010. The zoo plans to try and breed the species in the near future.
In the neighbouring enclosure a large breeding group of over 40 Humboldt Penguin
Humboldt Penguin
The Humboldt Penguin is a South American penguin, that breeds in coastal Peru and Chile. Its nearest relatives are the African Penguin, the Magellanic Penguin and the Galápagos Penguin...
s 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. Here, more than 30 species of birds are free-flying, including Nicobar PigeonNicobar Pigeon
The Nicobar Pigeon, Caloenas nicobarica, is a pigeon found on small islands and in coastal regions from the Nicobar Islands, east through the Malay Archipelago, to the Solomons and Palau. It is the only living member of the genus Caloenas....
s, various species of starling
Starling
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The name "Sturnidae" comes from the Latin word for starling, sturnus. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, are called mynas, and many African species are known as glossy starlings because of their iridescent...
s and ground birds such as Roul-roul Partridges
Crested Wood Partridge
The Crested Partridge also known as the Crested Wood Partridge, Roul-roul, Red-crowned Wood Partridge or Green Wood Partridge is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds...
.
Aviaries and vivaria are arranged around the sides of the building; those on the upper level were originally designed for birds of paradise and the Hornbill
Hornbill
Hornbills are a family of bird found in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and Melanesia. They are characterized by a long, down-curved bill which is frequently brightly-colored and sometimes has a casque on the upper mandible. Both the common English and the scientific name of the family...
aviaries were originally made for Gorilla
Gorilla
Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
s . The aviaries currently house birds such as the Great Indian Hornbill, Rhinoceros Hornbill
Rhinoceros Hornbill
The Rhinoceros Hornbill, Buceros rhinoceros, is one of the largest hornbills, adults being approximately the size of a swan, 110-127 cm long and weighing 2-3 kg . The Rhinoceros Hornbill lives in captivity for up to 35 years...
, two pairs of Tarictic Hornbill
Tarictic Hornbill
The Tarictic Hornbill is a hornbill found in rainforests on the islands of Panay, Negros, Masbate, and Guimaras, and formerly Ticao, in the Philippines...
(one pure-bred and one hybrid), Writhed-billed Hornbill
Writhed-billed Hornbill
The Walden's Hornbill , also known as the Visayan Wrinkled Hornbill, Rufous-headed Hornbill or Writhed-billed Hornbill, is a critically endangered species of hornbill living in the rainforests on the islands of Negros and Panay in the Philippines...
, Wrinkled Hornbill
Wrinkled Hornbill
The Wrinkled Hornbill or Sunda Wrinkled Hornbill is a medium-large hornbill which is found in forest in the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo...
, Red-crested Turaco
Red-crested Turaco
The Red-crested Turaco, Tauraco erythrolophus, is a turaco, a group of African near-passerines. It is a fruit-eating bird endemic to western Angola...
, Palawan Peacock-pheasant, Congo Peafowl
Congo Peafowl
The Congo Peafowl is a species of peafowl. It is the only member of the monotypic genus Afropavo.The male is a large bird of up to in length. Its feathers are deep blue with a metallic green and violet tinge. It has bare red neck skin, grey feet, and a black tail with fourteen feathers...
, Bali Starling
Bali Starling
The Bali Starling , also known as Rothschild’s Mynah, Bali Myna, or Bali Mynah, locally known as Jalak Bali, is a medium-sized , stocky myna, almost wholly white with a long, drooping crest, and black tips on the wings and tail. The bird has blue bare skin around the eyes, greyish legs and a yellow...
, Blue-crowned Pigeon
Western Crowned Pigeon
The Western Crowned Pigeon, also known as the Common Crowned Pigeon or Blue Crowned Pigeon, Goura cristata, is a large, blue-grey pigeon with blue lacy crests over the head and dark blue mask feathers around its eyes. Both sexes are almost similar but males are often larger than females...
, fairy-bluebird
Fairy-bluebird
The two fairy-bluebirds are small passerine bird species found in forests and plantations in tropical southern Asia and the Philippines. They are the sole members of the genus Irena and family Irenidae, and are related to the ioras and leafbirds.These are bulbul-like birds of open forest or thorn...
, White-rumped Shama
White-rumped Shama
The White-rumped Shama is a small passerine bird of the family Muscicapidae. It was formerly classified as a member of the Thrush family, Turdidae, causing it to be commonly known as the White-rumped Shama Thrush or simply Shama Thrush.-Distribution:They are native to South and Southeast Asia, but...
, Montserrat Oriole
Montserrat Oriole
The Montserrat Oriole, Icterus oberi, is a medium-sized black-and-yellow icterid ....
and Red-billed Curassow
Curassow
Curassows are one of the three major groups of cracid birds. Three of the four genera are restricted to tropical South America; a single species of Crax ranges north to Mexico...
.
The Tropical Realm is also the centre of the reptile collection. The crocodile
Crocodile
A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...
pools (which formerly housed West African Dwarf Crocodiles
Dwarf Crocodile
The dwarf crocodile is an African species of crocodile. It is also the smallest extant crocodile species in the world. Recent sampling has identified three genetically distinct populations...
, American Alligator
American Alligator
The American alligator , sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator, is a reptile endemic only to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two living species of alligator, in the genus Alligator, within the family Alligatoridae...
s and Philippine crocodile
Philippine crocodile
The Philippine crocodile is a crocodile found in the Philippines. It is also known as the Mindoro crocodile and the Philippine freshwater crocodile. In the Philippines, it is strictly prohibited to kill a crocodile, but its status is critically endangered from exploitation and unsustainable...
s) are currently empty. Near the entrance is an enclosure for tuatara
Tuatara
The tuatara is a reptile endemic to New Zealand which, though it resembles most lizards, is actually part of a distinct lineage, order Sphenodontia. The two species of tuatara are the only surviving members of its order, which flourished around 200 million years ago. Their most recent common...
s. This lizard-like species from New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
is the last surviving sphenodont
Sphenodontia
Sphenodontia is an order of lizard-like reptiles that includes only one living genus, the tuatara , and only two living species...
, a prehistoric group of reptiles, and Chester is the only British zoo to exhibit them. There were many varieties of snakes and lizards in the past (many had to depart as a result ; Rhinoceros ratsnake
Rhinoceros Ratsnake
Rhinoceros Ratsnake also known as Rhinoceros Snake, Rhino Rat Snake, Vietnamese Longnose Snake, Green Unicorn, found from Northern Vietnam to Southern China, has a prominent, distinctive, scaled protrusion on the front of its snout which has led to its common naming after mythical unicorns and...
, Garter Snakes and Eyelash Vipers now being the only remaining. The lizard collection is now made up of beaded lizard
Beaded lizard
The Beaded lizard is a species of venomous lizard found principally in Mexico and southern Guatemala. Along with its congener, the Gila monster , it is the only lizard to have evolved an overt venom delivery system, and has long been considered the only venomous lizard...
s, Caiman lizard
Dracaena (lizard)
The genus Dracaena , also called Caiman Lizards, belongs to the family of Teiidae lizards. Caiman lizards are found in South America in Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Brazil. These lizards spend a lot of time in the water and they inhabit marshes, streams and flooded forests...
s, and a Parson's Chameleon
Parson's chameleon
The Parson's chameleon is a very large species of chameleon that is endemic to isolated pockets of humid primary forest in eastern and northern Madagascar. It is listed on CITES Appendix II, meaning that trade in this species is regulated...
.
Tortoise
Tortoise
Tortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
s are represented by the Galápagos
Galápagos tortoise
The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise is the largest living species of tortoise, reaching weights of over and lengths of over . With life spans in the wild of over 100 years, it is one of the longest-lived vertebrates...
and radiated
Radiated Tortoise
The radiated tortoise is a species in the family Testudinidae. Although this species is native to and most abundant in southern Madagascar, it can be also be found in the rest of this island, and has been introduced to the islands of Réunion and Mauritius...
, whilst other species include poison dart frogs and invertebrates such as a Death's Head Cockroaches, Tailless Whip Scorpions and a salmon pink bird-eating spider
Lasiodora parahybana
The Brazilian Salmon Pink Bird-eating Tarantula is a relatively large spider originating from northeastern Brazil, hence its common name. This spider typically grows to a leg span of 20 cm , although occasionally exceptional specimens can reach leg spans of 25 cm . Large females can...
.
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 bearPolar Bear
The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...
enclosure. It houses a variety of European birds, including the European Black and Griffon Vulture
Griffon Vulture
The Griffon Vulture is a large Old World vulture in the bird of prey family Accipitridae.The Griffon Vulture is long with a wingspan. In the nominate race the males weigh and females typically weigh , while in the Indian subspecies the vultures average...
s and the rarer of the two European storks, the Black Stork
Black Stork
The Black Stork Ciconia nigra is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It is a widespread, but rare, species that breeds in the warmer parts of Europe, predominantly in central and eastern regions. This is a shy and wary species, unlike the closely related White Stork. It is seen in...
. There are spoonbill
Spoonbill
Spoonbills are a group of large, long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, which also includes the Ibises.All have large, flat, spatulate bills and feed by wading through shallow water, sweeping the partly opened bill from side to side...
s, ibis
Ibis
The ibises are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae....
and egret
Egret
An egret is any of several herons, most of which are white or buff, and several of which develop fine plumes during the breeding season. Many egrets are members of the genera Egretta or Ardea which contain other species named as herons rather than egrets...
s as well as a selection of waterfowl. Smaller birds include the Rock Dove, Northern Lapwing
Northern Lapwing
The Northern Lapwing , also known as the Peewit, Green Plover or just Lapwing, is a bird in the plover family. It is common through temperate Eurasia....
, Red-legged Partridge
Red-legged Partridge
The Red-legged Partridge is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. It is sometimes known as French Partridge, to distinguish it from the Grey or English Partridge....
and the native but rare Red-billed Chough
Red-billed Chough
The Red-billed Chough or Chough , Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax, is a bird in the crow family; it is one of only two species in the genus Pyrrhocorax...
.
Condor Cliffs
This aviary was constructed to rehouse the zoo's breeding pair of Andean condorAndean Condor
The Andean Condor is a species of South American bird in the New World vulture family Cathartidae and is the only member of the genus Vultur...
s, who have since parent-reared a chick for the first time. It is now also home for the American black vulture
American Black Vulture
The Black Vulture also known as the American Black Vulture, is a bird in the New World vulture family whose range extends from the southeastern United States to Central Chile and Uruguay in South America...
from the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
and several species of waterfowl. The aviary is dominated by a large sandstone waterfall, and a fake llama skeleton is used at feeding time. The enclosure is built on the site of the zoo's former brown bear
Brown Bear
The brown bear is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. It can weigh from and its largest subspecies, the Kodiak Bear, rivals the polar bear as the largest member of the bear family and as the largest land-based predator.There are several recognized...
enclosure.
Rare Parrot Breeding Centre
Parrots on display here include Blue-eyed CockatooBlue-eyed Cockatoo
The Blue-eyed Cockatoo, Cacatua ophthalmica, is a large, approximately 50 cm long, mainly white cockatoo with a mobile crest, a black beak, and a light blue rim of featherless skin around each eye, that gives this species its name....
s, Red-vented Cockatoo
Red-vented Cockatoo
The Red-vented Cockatoo, Cacatua haematuropygia, sometimes called the Philippine Cockatoo or Kalangay, is a critically endangered species of cockatoo that is endemic to the Philippines...
s, Palm Cockatoo
Palm Cockatoo
The Palm Cockatoo , also known as the Goliath Cockatoo, is a large smoky-grey or black parrot of the cockatoo family. It is the only member in subfamily Microglossinae and the only member of the monotypic genus, Probosciger...
s, Short-billed Black Cockatoos, Red-and-Blue lories
Red-and-blue Lory
The Red-and-blue lory, Eos histrio is an arboreal parrot endemic to Indonesia. It is classed as endangered, as it is hunted for the pet trade and has lost much of its habitat due to habitat destruction. The Red-and-blue Lory is now confined to the Talaud Islands off northern Sulawesi, Indonesia...
, Yellow-backed Chattering Lories
Chattering Lory
The Chattering Lory, Lorius garrulus is a forest-dwelling parrot endemic to North Maluku, Indonesia. It is considered vulnerable, the main threat being from trapping for the cage-bird trade.The race L. g...
, Mount Apo Lorikeet
Mindanao Lorikeet
The Mindanao Lorikeet or Mount Apo Lorikeet is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family. There are two very similar subspecies, which are both endemic to Mindanao, Philippines....
s and Blue-and-yellow Macaw
Blue-and-yellow Macaw
The Blue-and-Yellow Macaw , also known as the Blue-and-Gold Macaw, is a member of the group of large Neotropical parrots known as macaws. It breeds in forest and woodland of tropical South America from Trinidad and Venezuela south to Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay...
s. 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 Realm of the Red Ape.
Mythical Macaws
This enclosure consists of several aviaries housing rare and endangered South American parrots and macaws. These include the Hyacinth MacawHyacinth Macaw
The Hyacinth Macaw , or Hyacinthine Macaw, is a parrot native to central and eastern South America. With a length of about 100 cm it is longer than any other species of parrot...
, Blue-winged Macaw
Blue-winged Macaw
The Blue-winged Macaw , in aviculture more commonly known as Illiger's Macaw, is a species of macaw found in central and eastern South America. It was previously placed in the genus Ara or Propyrrhura. Blue-winged Macaws have been known to reach an age of 50–60 years.- Description:It has a total...
, Blue-throated Macaw
Blue-throated Macaw
The Blue-throated Macaw is a macaw endemic to a small area of north-central Bolivia known as Los Llanos de Moxos. Recent population and range estimates suggests that about 100-150 individuals remain in the wild. The main causes of their demise is capture for the pet trade and land clearance on...
, Golden Conure
Golden Conure
The Golden Parakeet or Golden Conure, Guaruba guarouba, formerly classified as Aratinga guarouba, is a species of Neotropical parrot. Sometimes known as the Queen of Bavaria Conure, it is the only species in the genus Guaruba.Its plumage is mostly bright yellow, hence its common name, but it also...
, Golden-capped Conure
Golden-capped Parakeet
The Golden-capped Parakeet is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family. It is found in Brazil and Paraguay. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, dry savanna, and plantations. It is threatened by habitat...
, Blue-throated Conure
Blue-chested Parakeet
Pyrrhura cruentata is a species of parakeet known by the common names Ochre-marked Parakeet, Blue-throated Parakeet, and Red-eared Conure in English and Cotorra Tiriba and Perico Grande in Spanish....
, Red-crowned Amazon and Red-tailed Amazon
Red-tailed Amazon
The Red-tailed Amazon , also known as the Red-tailed Parrot, is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family. It is endemic to coastal regions in the south-east Brazilian states of São Paulo and Paraná...
. The first aviary was opened in 2001 and the remainder in 2004. A single Azara's Agouti
Azara's Agouti
Azara's Agouti, Dasyprocta azarae, is a South American agouti species from the family Dasyproctidae. It is found in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. It is named after Spanish naturalist Félix de Azara.-Behaviour:...
also forms part of the exhibit.
Aquarium
The aquariumAquarium
An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...
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 seahorse
Seahorse
Seahorses compose the fish genus Hippocampus within the family Syngnathidae, in order Syngnathiformes. Syngnathidae also includes the pipefishes. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek hippos meaning "horse" and kampos meaning “sea monster”.There are nearly 50 species of seahorse...
s and achieved the first captive breeding of the freshwater motoro stingray
Potamotrygon
Potamotrygon is a genus of freshwater stingrays native to the rivers of South America. As of July 2006, FishBase lists seventeen distinct species. The type species is P. hystrix....
.
Other notable fish include the electric eel
Electric eel
The electric eel , is an electric fish, and the only species of the genus Electrophorus. It is capable of generating powerful electric shocks, of up to six hundred volts, which it uses for both hunting and self-defense. It is an apex predator in its South American range...
, African lungfish, tropical reef fishes (such as Clownfish
Clownfish
Clownfish or anemonefish are fishes from the subfamily Amphiprioninae in the family Pomacentridae. Twenty-eight species are recognized, one in the genus Premnas, while the remaining are in the genus Amphiprion. In the wild they all form symbiotic mutualisms with sea anemones...
) and various Lake Malawi
Lake Malawi
Lake Malawi , is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the Great Rift Valley system of East Africa. This lake, the third largest in Africa and the eighth largest lake in the world, is located between Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania...
cichlid
Cichlid
Cichlids are fishes from the family Cichlidae in the order Perciformes. Cichlids are members of a group known as the Labroidei along with the wrasses , damselfish , and surfperches . This family is both large and diverse. At least 1,300 species have been scientifically described, making it one of...
s. Amphibians include the Japanese fire belly newt
Japanese Fire Belly Newt
The Japanese Fire Belly Newt is a common Asian newt. It is commonly confused with the Chinese Fire Belly Newt due to similarities in coloring and size, and most newts sold as Japanese Fire Bellys are likely to be the more commonly collected Chinese Fire Belly instead.-Description:This newt is...
and axolotl
Axolotl
The axolotl , Ambystoma mexicanum, is a neotenic salamander, closely related to the Tiger Salamander. Larvae of this species fail to undergo metamorphosis, so the adults remain aquatic and gilled. It is also called ajolote...
. Invertebrates such as Starfish, Sea Urchin
Sea urchin
Sea urchins or urchins are small, spiny, globular animals which, with their close kin, such as sand dollars, constitute the class Echinoidea of the echinoderm phylum. They inhabit all oceans. Their shell, or "test", is round and spiny, typically from across. Common colors include black and dull...
s and several coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
and Shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
s
Can be housed with the fish.
Asian Plains and paddocks
In 2008, Asian Plains received its official opening. Based around a mixed-species paddock featuring blackbuckBlackbuck
Blackbuck is a species of antelope native to the Indian subcontinent. Their range decreased sharply during the 20th century. Since 2003, the IUCN lists the species as near threatened....
and Burmese brow-antlered deer
Eld's Deer
Eld's Deer , also known as the Thamin or Brow-antlered Deer, is an endangered species of deer indigenous to southeastern Asia. The species was first discovered by westerners in Manipur in India in 1839. The original scientific name Cervus eldi was coined in 1844 in honour of Lt. Percy Eld – a...
, the exhibit has recently been extended to include new enclosures for Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros
Indian Rhinoceros
The Indian Rhinoceros is also called Greater One-horned Rhinoceros and Asian One-horned Rhinoceros and belongs to the Rhinocerotidae family...
and Cheetah
Cheetah
The cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws...
.
The male rhino was joined by a female in 2008 to form a pair which the zoo hoped would breed. Sadly in November 2009 the male Indian rhino "Patna" was put down due to a longstanding leg injury. The zoo obtained a replacement male from Edinburgh Zoo
Edinburgh Zoo
Edinburgh Zoo, formally the Scottish National Zoological Park, is a non-profit zoological park located in Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland...
in March 2010. Since they were closely related the previous female departed for a zoo in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
shortly after, and the zoo are in the progress of creating a breeding situation - Baabu has now been exchanged for 'Beni' from Pilsen Zoo. The paddocks formerly housed barasingha
Barasingha
The Barasingha or Swamp deer is a deer species currently found in isolated localities in north and central India, and southwestern Nepal, and is extinct in Pakistan and Bangladesh....
, Ankole cattle and sitatunga
Sitatunga
The situtunga or marshbuck is a swamp-dwelling antelope found throughout Central Africa, centering on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and parts of Southern Sudan as well as in Ghana, Botswana, Zambia, Gabon, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.-Description:Situtunga stand about one and a...
.
Other paddocks on the west side of the zoo support grazing herds of Grevy's zebra
Grevy's Zebra
The Grévy's zebra , also known as the Imperial zebra, is the largest extant wild equid and one of three species of zebra, the other two being the plains zebra and the mountain zebra. Named after Jules Grévy, it is the sole extant member of the subgenus Dolichohippus. The Grévy's zebra is found in...
, sitatunga, Kirk's Dik-dik
Kirk's Dik-dik
Kirk's Dik-dik is a small antelope found in eastern and southwestern Africa. It grows to in length and weighs up to when full grown. It has a reddish-brown head and a tail that is long....
, scimitar-horned oryx, gemsbok
Gemsbok
The gemsbok or gemsbuck is a large antelope in the Oryx genus. It is native to the arid regions of southern Africa, but formerly some authorities included the East African Oryx as a subspecies...
, Red Lechwe and Roan Antelope
Roan Antelope
The Roan Antelope is a savanna antelope found in West, Central, East Africa and Southern Africa.Roan Antelope stand about a metre and half at the shoulder and weigh around 250 kilograms. Named for the "roan' colour , they have a lighter underbelly, white eyebrows and cheeks and a black face,...
. The sitatunga share their paddock with ostrich
Ostrich
The Ostrich is one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member of the genus Struthio. Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species apart from the Common Ostrich, but most taxonomists consider it to be a...
, and the Red Lechwe and Roan antelope also share an exhibit.
Przewalski's horse
Przewalski's Horse
Przewalski's Horse or Dzungarian Horse, is a rare and endangered subspecies of wild horse native to the steppes of central Asia, specifically China and Mongolia.At one time extinct in the wild, it has been reintroduced to its native habitat in Mongolia at the Khustain Nuruu...
s have recently left the collection to make way for the new African hunting dog enclosure. Also formely housed here were Père David's Deer
Père David's Deer
Père David's Deer, Elaphurus davidianus, also known as the Milu , is a species of deer known only in captivity. It prefers marshland, and is believed to be native to the subtropics of China. It grazes on a mixture of grass and water plants. It is the only extant member of the genus Elaphurus...
, red-necked wallaby
Red-necked Wallaby
The Red-necked Wallaby is a medium-sized marsupial macropod, common in the more temperate and fertile parts of eastern Australia, including Tasmania.- Description :...
and emu
Emu
The Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae) is the largest bird native to Australia and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. It is the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. There are three subspecies of Emus in Australia...
s
African Painted Dogs
In 2011, a new exhibit on the site of the former Przewalski's horse paddock was opened. In the style of an African Research Station, the exhibit has a dry landscape with fake kopje stones. A pack of seven African Painted Dogs are the main exhibit, however Crested PorcupineCrested Porcupine
The crested porcupine is a species of rodent in the Hystricidae family.It is extant in mainland Italy, Sicily, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.-Physical Attributes:...
s and Rock Hyrax are nearby. Yellow Mongoose
Yellow Mongoose
The Yellow Mongoose , sometimes referred to as the Red Meerkat, is a small mammal averaging about 1 lb in weight and about 20 in in length...
are also due to join the display.
Forest Zone and Butterfly Journey
The north east area of the zoo is where many forest-dwelling species are kept. As well as the chimpanzeeChimpanzee
Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
s, okapi
Okapi
The okapi , Okapia johnstoni, is a giraffid artiodactyl mammal native to the Ituri Rainforest, located in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Central Africa...
, jaguar
Jaguar
The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
, condor
Condor
Condor is the name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere.They are:* The Andean Condor which inhabits the Andean mountains....
s and Tropical Realm, there are enclosures for Congo buffalo
African Forest Buffalo
The African Forest Buffalo is smaller than the Cape Buffalo, with horns that curves out backwards and upwards. Usually weighing , they are reddish brown in color. Its native habitat is the equatorial forest found in central and western Africa, and its diet consists primarily of grasses, twigs, and...
, Warthogs and red river hog
Red River Hog
The red river hog , also known as the bush pig , is a wild member of the pig family living in Africa, with most of its distribution in the Guinean and Congolian forests...
s. Nearby is a large paddock for the zoo's six Rothschild giraffe
Rothschild giraffe
The Rothschild Giraffe is among the most endangered giraffe subspecies with only a few hundred members in the wild. It is named after the famous family of the Tring Museum's founder, Lord Walter Rothschild, and is also known as the Baringo Giraffe, after the Lake Baringo area of Kenya, or as the...
s. Chilean Pudú and Giant Anteater
Giant Anteater
The Giant Anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla, is the largest species of anteater. It is the only species in the genus Myrmecophaga. It is found in Central and South America from Honduras to northern Argentina...
can be seen across the canal at the back of the giraffe house. Buffy-headed capuchins
Golden-bellied Capuchin
The golden-bellied capuchin , also known as the yellow-breasted or buffy-headed capuchin, is one of several species of New World monkeys....
are housed near the exit of the Tropical Realm as well as a group of native sand lizard
Sand Lizard
The sand lizard is a lacertid lizard distributed across most of Europe and eastwards to Mongolia. It does not occur in the Iberian peninsula or European Turkey. Its distribution is often patchy....
s, midwife toad
Midwife toad
Midwife toads are a genus of frogs in the Discoglossidae family, and are found in most of Europe and northwestern Africa. Characteristic of these toad-like frogs is their parental care: the males carry a string of fertilised eggs on their back, hence the name "midwife". The female expels a strand...
s and a mixed enclosure for Red-knobbed Curassow and Blue Jay
Blue Jay
The Blue Jay is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to North America. It is resident through most of eastern and central United States and southern Canada, although western populations may be migratory. It breeds in both deciduous and coniferous forests, and is common near and in...
s.
The empty enclosure formerly housing maned wolves
Maned Wolf
The maned wolf is the largest canid of South America, resembling a large fox with reddish fur.This mammal is found in open and semi-open habitats, especially grasslands with scattered bushes and trees, in south, central-west and south-eastern Brazil The maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) is the...
has been replaced by a heated butterfly
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
house called Butterfly Journey, which is based around the life cycle of a butterfly, featuring free-flying butterflies and moths (The exotic species on show include Blue Morpho
Blue Morpho
The Blue Morpho refers to several species of Morpho butterfly, including:* Morpho menelaus * Morpho peleides * Morpho rhetenor...
s, Giant Owls
Caligo idomeneus
The Idomeneus Giant Owl, Caligo idomeneus, is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family. The species can be found in the Amazon rainforest and eastern Andes, from Venezuela to Ecuador, and south to the Mato Grosso in southern Brazil. The butterfly is named for Idomeneus, the leader of the Cretan army...
, Glasswings
Greta oto
The Glasswinged butterfly is a brush-footed butterfly, and is a member of the subfamily Danainae, tribe Ithomiini, subtribe Godyridina....
, Swallowtails
Swallowtail butterfly
Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies that form the family Papilionidae. There are over 550 species, and though the majority are tropical, members of the family are found on all continents except Antarctica...
and the Atlas Moth), a cabinet of cocoon
Cocoon
Cocoon may refer to:*Cocoon , a pupal casing made by moth caterpillars and other insect larvae*Apache Cocoon, web development software*Cocoon , a 1985 science fiction film**Cocoon: The Return, 1988 sequel to Cocoon...
s, and an area with caterpillar
Caterpillar
Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...
s.
Animals formely displayed in forest zone include maned wolves, babirusa, visayan warty pigs, ring-tailed coatis and bactrian camels.
Big cats
As well as jaguarJaguar
The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
s, Chester Zoo keeps lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s, tiger
Tiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
s and cheetah
Cheetah
The cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws...
s in its big cat
Big cat
The term big cat – which is not a biological classification – is used informally to distinguish the larger felid species from smaller ones. One definition of "big cat" includes the four members of the genus Panthera: the tiger, lion, jaguar, and leopard. Members of this genus are the only cats able...
collection. The lions
Asiatic Lion
The Asiatic lion also known as the Indian lion, Persian lion and Eurasian Lion is a subspecies of lion. The only place in the wild where the lion is found is in the Gir Forest of Gujarat, India...
are the Asiatic subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
found only in the Gir Forest in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in the wild. The zoo's former resident male Asoka was joined by a female, Asha, from Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in 2006. The pair have bred on three occasions, but so far their only offspring to survive has been a male cub, Tejas, born and hand-reared in 2007. His upbringing was featured prominently in the first series of Zoo Days. Tejas left Chester Zoo for Besancon
Besançon
Besançon , is the capital and principal city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It had a population of about 237,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2008...
early in 2008 as part of the European breeding programme for this subspecies. Asoka left the zoo in early 2010, he was moved to Rome Zoo as part of the European breeding programme. His replacement is 3-year-old Iblis, who arrived from Planckendael Zoo in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. In late summer 2011, Asha retired to Santillana and was replaced by four year females Kiburi and Kumari.
In 2007, a male Sumatran tiger
Sumatran Tiger
The Sumatran tiger is a tiger subspecies that inhabits the Indonesian island of Sumatra and has been classified as critically endangered by IUCN in 2008 as the population is projected at 176 to 271 mature individuals, with no subpopulation having an effective population size larger than 50...
called Kepala arrived from Dudley Zoo
Dudley Zoo
Dudley Zoological Gardens is a zoo located within the grounds of Dudley Castle in the town of Dudley, in the Black Country region of the West Midlands, England...
to join the two resident female Bengal tiger
Bengal Tiger
The Bengal tiger is a tiger subspecies native to the Indian subcontinent that in 2010 has been classified as endangered by IUCN...
s, who left in 2008. The same year, the zoo acquired a female tiger named Kirana, but unfortunately it was discovered that the pair were related. Kepala departed to Dublin Zoo
Dublin Zoo
Dublin Zoo , in Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland is the largest zoo in Ireland and one of Dublin's most popular attractions. Opened in 1831, the zoo describes its role as conservation, study, and education...
and a new male named Fabi was brought in to form a breeding pair of Sumatrans, a critically endangered subspecies in the wild. Kirana and Fabi bred have so far bred on two occasions; a single cub was born on 18th June 2011, but died aged eleven days. A litter of three cubs was born 21st October 2011, and made their public debut in November 2011.
The zoo welcomed its first ever cheetah cubs in June 2011. Female cheetah Kinky-Tail gave birth to a litter of four on June 21, 2011. The cubs were given their first health check on the 19th August, which revealed that there are 2 females and 2 males. The female cubs have been named Kinza and Shendi, whilst the males have been named Rufaa and Juba.
Other exhibits
Other animals exhibited at Chester Zoo include Bactrian camelBactrian camel
The Bactrian camel is a large, even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of central Asia. It is presently restricted in the wild to remote regions of the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts of Mongolia and Xinjiang. A small number of wild Bactrian camels still roam the Mangystau Province of southwest...
and onager
Onager
The Onager is a large member of the genus Equus of the family Equidae native to the deserts of Syria, Iran, Pakistan, India, Israel and Tibet...
in a large paddock in the centre of the zoo, formerly the zebra exhibit. A paddock which was only visible from the monorail but can now be seen from the Bats' Bridge holds a group of Philippine spotted deer
Philippine Spotted Deer
The Visayan Spotted Deer , also known as the Philippine Spotted Deer, is a nocturnal and endangered species of deer located primarily in the rainforests of the Visayan islands of Panay and Negros though it once roamed other islands such as Cebu, Guimaras, Leyte, Masbate, and Samar...
, alongside Negros Island Warty Pigs next door.
In 2009, a walk-through bird safari with African bird species opened. It currently houses hornbills, lilac-breasted roller
Lilac-breasted Roller
The Lilac-breasted Roller is a member of the roller family of birds. It is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula, preferring open woodland and savanna; it is largely absent from treeless places...
s, weaver birds and a variety of waterfowl amongst other species.
Bordering the paddocks is a waterway running north-south along which the water bus travels, past island groups of Geoffroy's Marmosets, Alaotran gentle lemur
Lac Alaotra Gentle Lemur
The Lac Alaotra bamboo lemur , also known as the Lac Alaotra gentle lemur, Alaotran bamboo lemur, Alaotran gentle lemur, or locally as the , is a bamboo lemur. It is endemic to the reed beds in and around Lac Alaotra, in northeast Madagascar. The Alaotran lemur is the only primate specifically...
s, red ruffed lemur
Red Ruffed Lemur
The red ruffed lemur is one of two species in the genus Varecia, the ruffed lemurs; the other is the black-and-white ruffed lemur . Like all lemurs, it is native to Madagascar and occurs only in the rainforests of Masoala, in the northeast of the island...
s and a pair of anoa
Anoa
Anoa, also known as Dwarf Buffalo and Sapiutan, are a subgenus of Bubalus comprising two species native to Indonesia: the Mountain Anoa and the Lowland Anoa . Both live in undisturbed rainforest, and are essentially miniature water buffalo...
. Cottontop tamarin
Cottontop Tamarin
The cotton-top tamarin , also known as the Pinché tamarin, is a small New World monkey weighing less than 1 lb...
s were formerly housed on the Geoffroy's Marmoset Island, whilst the Gentle Lemur exhibit was formerly home to Black-and-white ruffed lemurs.
In the southeast corner of the zoo are enclosures housing an assortment of animals including Eastern bongo
Bongo (antelope)
The western or lowland bongo, Tragelaphus eurycerus eurycerus, is a herbivorous, mostly nocturnal forest ungulate and among the largest of the African forest antelope species....
s, Yellow Mongooses, bush dog
Bush Dog
The bush dog is a canid found in Central and South America, including Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru , Ecuador, the Guianas, Paraguay, northeast Argentina and Brazil...
s, red panda
Red Panda
The red panda , is a small arboreal mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It is the only species of the genus Ailurus. Slightly larger than a domestic cat, it has reddish-brown fur, a long, shaggy tail, and a waddling gait due to its shorter front legs...
s, Serval
Serval
The serval , Leptailurus serval or Caracal serval, known in Afrikaans as Tierboskat, "tiger-forest-cat", is a medium-sized African wild cat. DNA studies have shown that the serval is closely related to the African golden cat and the caracal...
s, southern cassowaries
Southern Cassowary
The Southern Cassowary, Casuarius casuarius, also known as Double-wattled Cassowary, Australian Cassowary or Two-wattled Cassowary, is a large flightless black bird...
, red-crowned crane
Red-crowned Crane
The Red-crowned Crane , also called the Japanese Crane or Manchurian Crane , is a large east Asian crane and among the rarest cranes in the world...
s golden pheasant
Golden Pheasant
The Golden Pheasant or "Chinese Pheasant", is a gamebird of the order Galliformes and the family Phasianidae...
, and in the near future, Giant Anteaters.
Near the Rare Parrot Breeding Centre is an aviary currently housing spectacled owl
Spectacled Owl
The Spectacled Owl, Pulsatrix perspicillata, is a large tropical owl. It is a resident breeder from southern Mexico and Trinidad, through Central America, south to southern Brazil, Paraguay and northwestern Argentina...
s and formerly home to macaws and kea
Kea
The Kea is a large species of parrot found in forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. About long, it is mostly olive-green with a brilliant orange under its wings and has a large narrow curved grey-brown upper beak. The Kea is the world's only alpine parrot...
s the remainder of the zoo’s owl
Owl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
collection are seen nearby. The owl aviaries were recently modified.
Aviaries for snowy owl
Snowy Owl
The Snowy Owl is a large owl of the typical owl family Strigidae. The Snowy Owl was first classified in 1758 by Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish naturalist who developed binomial nomenclature to classify and organize plants and animals. The bird is also known in North America as the Arctic Owl, Great...
s, rhinoceros hornbill
Rhinoceros Hornbill
The Rhinoceros Hornbill, Buceros rhinoceros, is one of the largest hornbills, adults being approximately the size of a swan, 110-127 cm long and weighing 2-3 kg . The Rhinoceros Hornbill lives in captivity for up to 35 years...
s and Mauritius kestrel
Mauritius Kestrel
The Mauritius Kestrel is a bird of prey from the family Falconidae endemic to the forests of Mauritius, where it is restricted to the southwestern plateau's forests, cliffs, and ravines.It is the most distinct of the Indian Ocean kestrels...
s are located behind the Children's Fun Ark. Flocks of Chilean
Chilean Flamingo
The Chilean Flamingo is a large species closely related to Caribbean Flamingo and Greater Flamingo, with which it was sometimes considered conspecific...
and Caribbean flamingo
Caribbean Flamingo
The American Flamingo is a large species of flamingo closely related to the Greater Flamingo and Chilean Flamingo. It was formerly considered conspecific with the Greater Flamingo, but that treatment is now widely viewed as incorrect due to a lack of evidence...
s live in shallow water alongside a large island housing a group of ring-tailed lemur
Ring-tailed Lemur
The ring-tailed lemur is a large strepsirrhine primate and the most recognized lemur due to its long, black and white ringed tail. It belongs to Lemuridae, one of five lemur families. It is the only member of the Lemur genus. Like all lemurs it is endemic to the island of Madagascar...
s. New indoor accommodation for the flamingos was completed in 2007. Pelican
Pelican
A pelican, derived from the Greek word πελεκυς pelekys is a large water bird with a large throat pouch, belonging to the bird family Pelecanidae....
s, stork
Stork
Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family Ciconiidae. They are the only family in the biological order Ciconiiformes, which was once much larger and held a number of families....
s, crane
Crane (bird)
Cranes are a family, Gruidae, of large, long-legged and long-necked birds in the order Gruiformes. There are fifteen species of crane in four genera. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back...
s and a variety of waterfowl
Waterfowl
Waterfowl are certain wildfowl of the order Anseriformes, especially members of the family Anatidae, which includes ducks, geese, and swans....
are housed in large pens alongside Tsavo. Chester also has free roaming Peafowl
Peafowl
Peafowl are two Asiatic species of flying birds in the genus Pavo of the pheasant family, Phasianidae, best known for the male's extravagant eye-spotted tail, which it displays as part of courtship. The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen, and the offspring peachicks. The adult female...
, and harvest mice
Harvest mouse
Harvest mouse may refer to members of two groups of rodents:*Micromys from Eurasia, particularly the Eurasian harvest mouse *Reithrodontomys from the Americas...
.
From 1 July 2011 to 9 October 2011 a little southeast of the Komodo Dragon
Komodo dragon
The Komodo dragon , also known as the Komodo monitor, is a large species of lizard found in the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang and Gili Dasami. A member of the monitor lizard family , it is the largest living species of lizard, growing to a maximum length of in rare cases...
s is a display of animatronic dinosaurs: Triceratops
Triceratops
Triceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur which lived during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, around 68 to 65 million years ago in what is now North America. It was one of the last dinosaur genera to appear before the great Cretaceous–Paleogene...
, Edmontosaurus
Edmontosaurus
Edmontosaurus is a genus of crestless hadrosaurid dinosaur. It contains two species: Edmontosaurus regalis and Edmontosaurus annectens. Fossils of E. regalis have been found in rocks of western North America that date from the late Campanian stage of the Cretaceous Period 73 million years ago,...
and its eggs and hatchlings, Dilophosaurus
Dilophosaurus
Dilophosaurus was a theropod dinosaur from the Sinemurian stage of the Early Jurassic Period, about 193 million years ago. The first specimens were described in 1954, but it was not until over a decade later that the genus received its current name...
(which squirts water from its mouth), Allosaurus
Allosaurus
Allosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period . The name Allosaurus means "different lizard". It is derived from the Greek /allos and /sauros...
, Rugops
Rugops
Rugops is a genus of theropod dinosaur which inhabited what is now Africa approximately 95 million years ago...
, Omeisaurus
Omeisaurus
Omeisaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic Period of what is now China. Its name comes from Mount Emei, where it was discovered in the lower Shaximiao Formation of Sichuan Province.Like other sauropods, Omeisaurus was herbivorous and large...
, Apatosaurus
Apatosaurus
Apatosaurus , also known by the popular but scientifically deprecated synonym Brontosaurus, is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived from about 154 to 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period . It was one of the largest land animals that ever existed, with an average length of and a...
, Baryonyx
Baryonyx
Baryonyx is a genus of carnivorous saurischian dinosaur first discovered in clay pits just south of Dorking, England, and later reported from fossils found in northern Spain and Portugal. It is known to contain only one species, Baryonyx walkeri...
, Dimetrodon
Dimetrodon
Dimetrodon was a predatory synapsid genus that flourished during the Permian period, living between 280–265 million years ago ....
, Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus meaning "tyrant," and sauros meaning "lizard") is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex , commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other...
rex.
Future developments
In January 2009, Chester Zoo unveiled an ambitious £225 million plan that will see it transformed into the largest conservation, animal and leisure attraction of its kind in Europe.The project – given the working title Natural Vision – will involve a £90 million first phase which will include the only domed ecosystem in the United Kingdom.
Called ‘Heart of Africa’, the bio-dome will be an African rainforest-themed sanctuary for a band of gorilla
Gorilla
Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
s, a large troop of chimpanzees, okapi (rare giraffe-like creatures), and a wide variety of tropical birds, amphibian
Amphibian
Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
s, reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s, fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
es and invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s, moving freely among lush vegetation.
The first phase – planning permission for which will be sought later this year (2009) – will also include a 90-bed hotel, a conservation college, a key element of which is the ‘Futures’ education centre, and a revamped main entrance linking to a marina development on zoo land beside the Shropshire Union Canal
Shropshire Union Canal
The Shropshire Union Canal is a navigable canal in England; the Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union system and lie partially in Wales....
.
The rest of the Natural Vision project will be completed by 2018, thus creating one of the largest wildlife attractions in the world and providing a major boost to the Northwest
North West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...
economy. This will showcase and financially support the zoo’s national and international conservation work, which already spans 50 countries.
The zoo currently occupies 50 hectares of land but owns a further 200. The completed Natural Vision project will cover 80 hectares including new access roads and parking.
The project is the culmination of years of planning and design and is being carried out in conjunction with a number of agencies, notably including the Northwest Regional Development Agency
Northwest Regional Development Agency
The Northwest Regional Development Agency is the regional development agency for the North West England region and is a non-departmental public body.....
(NWDA) which has provided funding to enable the project to progress to the planning stage.
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 "Natural Vision" project.
Membership and adoption
The zoo has a scheme whereby people can adopt an animal of their choice, they are also given two complimentary tickets to allow them to visit the animals. They can also become members which allows them to visit Chester and a range of other zoos across EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
free of charge for a year. Every three months, members and adopters receive Z magazine, which provides updates and information about what is happening at the zoo.
Television documentary
During summer 2007, television crews from GranadaGranada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
filmed at Chester for the documentary series Zoo Days, a behind the scenes look at the day-to-day running of the zoo, narrated by Jane Horrocks
Jane Horrocks
Barbara Jane Horrocks is an English voice, stage, screen and television actress, voice artist, musician, and singer. She is best known for her role as "Bubble" in the TV series Absolutely Fabulous as well as her distinctive voice....
. British broadcast rights were sold to Five and the first 20-part series began airing on British terrestrial TV on 8 October 2007, transmitting on weekday evenings in a regular 6:30pm slot. A second 20-part series of Zoo Days was swiftly commissioned and began airing on 3 March 2008. The third 20-part series was broadcast from Colchester Zoo
Colchester Zoo
Colchester Zoo is a zoo in Essex, England. The zoo had 547,495 visitors in 2003 and 464,684 in 2004. It features big cat and primate collections as well as many others.Colchester Zoo is supported by a charitable organisation called Action for the Wild...
, before returning to Chester for the fourth 20-part series on 10 November 2008.
In February 2009, "The History Of Chester Zoo" was a contestant's chosen subject on Mastermind
Mastermind (TV series)
Mastermind is a British quiz show, well known for its challenging questions, intimidating setting and air of seriousness.Devised by Bill Wright, the basic format of Mastermind has never changed — four and in later contests five contestants face two rounds, one on a specialised subject of the...
.