Monsoon Forest, Islands, Mkomazi National Park Painted Dogs Conserve, Elephants of the Asian Forest, Realm of the Red Ape, Tsavo Black Rhino Experience, Spirit of the Jaguar
Chester Zoo is a zoo in Upton-by-Chester, Cheshire, England. Chester Zoo was opened in 1931 by George Mottershead and his family.[3] The zoo is one of the UK's largest zoos at 51 hectares (130 acres)[4] and the zoo has a total land holding of approximately 160 hectares (400 acres).
Chester Zoo is operated by the North of England Zoological Society, a registered charity founded in 1934. The zoo receives no government funding and is the most-visited wildlife attraction in Britain with more than 2 million visitors in 2019.[5] In 2007 Forbes described the zoo as one of the fifteen best zoos in the world.[6] In 2017 and more recently, 2024, the zoo was named as the best zoo in the UK and as also regarded as the third best in the world by TripAdvisor.[7]
History
Early history
Plaque in a garden at the zoo as a memorial to the founder, George Saul Mottershead.Polar bear exhibit, 1967.
The Mottershead family's market garden business was based in Shavington near Crewe. George Mottershead collected animals such as lizards and insects 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 the First World War 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 Manor in Upton-by-Chester, which was a country village then but now is a suburb of Chester. He bought Oakfield Manor for £3,500 in 1930.[8] The house had 9 acres (3.6ha) 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.[4] The first animals were displayed in pens in the courtyard.[8]
An Ordnance Surveyinch-a-mile map published in 1936 shows the area around as farmland and villages and marks the present Zoo area north of Oakfield as "Butter Hill".
Rapid expansion followed after the Second World War, 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.[8] "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 Victorian iron bars to cage the animals.[9] He was influenced by the ideas of Carl Hagenbeck, who invented the modern zoo concept and by Heini Hediger, a pioneer of ethology.
At Chester, Mottershead took Hagenbeck's idea for moats and ditches as an alternative to cage bars, and extended their use throughout the zoo, often with species that Hagenbeck had not considered. For example, when chimpanzees were released into their new enclosure at Chester in 1956, a group of grassy islands, they were separated from visitors by no more than a 12-foot (3.7m) 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 January 2009, Chester Zoo unveiled Natural Vision, a £225 million plan to transform itself into the largest conservation attraction in Europe. The first phase of the plan was to be a £90 million, 56-hectare (140-acre) enclosed African-rainforest-themed sanctuary containing a band of gorillas and a troop of chimpanzees, as well as okapi and a variety of tropical birds, amphibians, reptiles, fishes, and invertebrates, moving freely among lush vegetation. It included a water ride to take visitors through the exhibit. Natural Vision was to eventually include a 90-room hotel, a Conservation College, and a revamped main entrance that would link the zoo to a marina to be developed on zoo land, all to be completed by 2018.[12] Plans went before the public for comment in June 2009.[13]
The projected Heart of Africa bio-dome, along with plans for the hotel, were shelved in 2011 due to the loss of £40m potential funding when the North West Regional Development Agency was abolished.[14]
In December 2012 planning permission was gained for a later phase of the Natural Vision masterplan. One of the largest zoo developments in Europe, Islands at Chester Zoo is a £40 million redevelopment project to extend the zoo's footprint and recreate six island habitats of Southeast Asia.[15] As of 2017 it is now open.
A 600,000 square foot nature reserve was opened in April 2018. The reserve sits outside the boundary of the main zoo and is free for people to enter.[16]
In October 2018, two Indian elephant calves (Nandita Hi Way, age 3 years, and Aayu Hi Way, age 18 months), died of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). From 1995 on this virus disease has caused many deaths of Indian elephants across the world in zoos and in the wild.[17]
On 15 December 2018, an electrical fault[18] caused a fire to break out at the Monsoon Forest Habitat. The zoo had to be evacuated and was closed. Fifteen fire crews attended the zoo along with two rapid response units and an ambulance. All mammals were accounted for and one person was treated for the effects of smoke inhalation.[19]Some birds, frogs, fish and small insects were killed in the blaze.[20] The zoo reopened on Sunday 16 December 2018.
Chester Zoo monorail was an internal transport system for visitors from 1991 to 2019, but was closed as it had become unreliable and covered less than half the zoo due to the zoo's expansion to over 125 acres (51ha).[21][22] Land from the monorail will be used for a new attraction called Heart of Africa, an open African savannah habitat and vulture aviary. The zoo are also at the same time developing The Reserve Hotel project, a collection of 51 lodges, restaurant and access into the zoo.[23]
Management structure
The Oakfield, gastropub serving visitors and the community of Chester outside normal operating hours.
The North of England Zoological Society (NEZS) is the organisation that runs Chester Zoo. It was formed in 1931 by the zoo's founder, George Mottershead.[24]
The zoo is managed by a team led by CEO Jamie Christon DL and he reports to the Board of Trustees. Christian is tasked with focusing on the unified strategy which supports the Strategic Development Plan and Conservation Plan. The plan includes the development of Heart of Africa, The Reserve Hotel, new education facilities, The Square wedding venue, and from 2028 the development of African Forests. The executive focuses on education change and DEAI through its people and culture. Chester Zoo leads in public affairs and has influenced heavily at the heart of UK government.[25]
The zoo employs over 650 permanent staff, increasing to over 1,000 during the main summer period, making it the largest zoo in the UK.
Layout and facilities
Bridge over Flag LaneManado Street Kitchen
The zoo is bisected by a public bridleway, Flag Lane (formerly the Millennium Cycle Path). 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 scooters, called Bats' Bridge, opened in April 2008 near the Twilight Zone (now called Fruit Bat Forest), has improved the ability of visitors to circulate.
For a long time the public entrance was at the east end off Caughall Road. In Summer 1995 the public entrance moved to the north side with dedicated access off the A41 Chester By-Pass. A brown sign which gave visitors directions to the new entrance was installed at the junction of the former entrance, and curiously it remained there until the 2010s. Thus the zoo is entered in the 'newer' part west of Flag Lane, near the elephants, and the old car parks at the east end are being built over with service, admin and educational buildings. The new entrance was re-modelled in 2012 to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. The zoo owns land outside the public area, and uses that land to grow food for its herbivorous animals.
Chester's catering facilities include Bembé Kitchen (formerly the Tsavo Cafe) near the main entrance which opened in 2006 to replace the former Oasis Cafe (formerly Mpila Snack Bar until the early 1980s). June's Pavilion (formerly the Jubilee Cafe and latterly the Ark Restaurant) is on the west of the zoo and Manado Street Kitchen is found on Sulawesi in the Islands exhibit. The Oakfield is a restaurant in a Victorian mansion house near the lion enclosure, and along with 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.
The zoo opened Islands at Chester Zoo in July 2015,[27] a project extending the footprint of the zoo by 15 acres and built to the south of the west half of the current site.
Islands showcases areas where the zoo is involved in conservation programmes, including Sumatra, the Philippines and Indonesia.[28] Visitors are able to walk between the islands via a series of bridges and can also view the animals whilst on a boat trip. The project also includes educational exhibits, play areas and a restaurant, the Manado Street Kitchen.[29] The exhibit is opening in phases[30] with phase one including a boat trip around the enclosures for visitors to view some of the zoo's key species from South East Asia, including Visayan warty pigs, southern cassowary, Javan banteng, lowland anoa and North Sulawesi babirusa; plus a walk-through bird aviary featuring the critically endangered Bali starling, as well as Java sparrows, pied imperial pigeons and purple-naped lories .
Chester was the first zoo in the UK to successfully breed Asian elephants in captivity. The most famous of these was Jubilee (1977–2003), so named as he was born in 1977, the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. The zoo has a breeding herd of eight elephants, composed of two males and six females – the breeding male Aung-Bo, ageing female Maya, Thi Hi Way, her daughters Sithami Hi Way and Nandita Hi Way and Sithami's son, Aayu Hi Way who was born in January 2017 and daughter Sundara Hi Way and her daughter Indali Hi Way who was born in December 2016. The elephant house also used to house African elephants, rhinos, hippos and tapirs. Motty, a hybrid African-Asian elephant calf was born in July 1978, but died in infancy.
On 10 February 2011 Sheba, the matriarch of Chester Zoo’s Asian elephant herd, had to be put down because of digestive tract illness caused by inability to chew her food because her last molar teeth were worn to stumps.
Spirit of the Jaguar
Spirit of the Jaguar was opened in 2001 and is sponsored by Jaguar Cars and was designed by McCormick Architecture.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 jaguars can exercise their swimming skills. A new breeding pair of Jaguar, Napo (Spotted male) and Goshi (Black female) arrived from separate French zoos in Spring 2013. Spirit of the Jaguar is also home to a colony of leaf-cutter ants, Azara's agoutis, bush dogs, sloths, and an aquarium featuring numerous rainforest fish such as Discus fish and shoals of tetra. The exhibit went through another makeover in late 2011, and now has a theme focusing on human/wildlife conflict. An outdoor enclosure for two-toed sloths is currently under-going construction.
Realm of the Red Ape
Realm of the Red Ape is a GBP 3.5 million extension to the existing orangutan house, home to Bornean orangutans, and was the most expensive capital project in the zoo's history before the construction of Islands. 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 lar gibbons.
The zoo's Sumatran Orang-utans were relocated from Realm of the Red Ape to a new exhibit in the Islands development during January 2016
The Chimpanzee Breeding Centre
This pavilion was opened in 1989 by Diana, Princess of Wales and Countess of Chester, and is home to 26 Western chimpanzees. 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.
Tsavo Rhino Experience
The zoo's black rhinoceros exhibit, modelled on the Tsavo National Park in Kenya, was opened in 2003 at a cost of GBP2 million. The zoo has a successful rhinoceros breeding programme and currently keeps eight rhinos. Meerkats and crested porcupines are kept in a co-habitated enclosure nearby, and a nearby paddock is home to warthogs.
Monkey Islands was opened in 1997, replacing the old monkey house, and is currently home to four monkey species: Colombian spider monkeys, mandrills, lion-tailed macaques and Buffy-headed capuchins. Campbell's guenons and porcupines were formerly housed with the mandrills, and Sulawesi crested macaques were kept here until they moved to 'Islands' in 2015. 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.
Bears of the Cloud Forest opened in 2004 and is home to a pair of spectacled bears and other South American animals. The purpose-built exhibit is designed to mimic the bear's natural habitat by providing trees and a rocky terrain. Nearby are paddocks housing capybaras, giant anteaters, and Brazilian tapirs.
Formerly the camel house, this enclosure adjoining the giraffe house was remodelled in 2006 to house okapi. 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 Zoo and Dicky coming back to Chester. Other animals that can be seen here include Red forest duikers, Gambian pouched rats, butterfly barbs, Gaboon vipers and short-eared elephant shrews. Mount Kulal spiny mice and Mesic four-striped grass mice have also been kept here in the past along with various other small species. The Okapi bred for the first time in 2012, producing a female calf named Tafari. The success was repeated in 2014 with the birth of a new male calf.
Dragons in Danger
This exhibit is primarily a herpetarium for the zoo's Komodo dragons, Jantan and Ora who arrived from Prague Zoo in 2014, 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 laid eggs which hatched although the female had not been mated; this is parthenogenesis, the first such case recorded in this species. The exhibit was revamped in 2009 to house Caribbean iguanas in one section of the building. It now currently houses spiny turtles in one side and the critically endangered Mountain Chicken Frogs with some Caribbean Hermit Crabs in the other.
For some time, this small area on the eastern part of the zoo used to be a children's petting farm until 2001 when it permanently closed due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. The petting farm later became 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. Previously, from opening in 2002 until 2009 the enclosure housed marmots (otherwise known as 'prairie dogs'), which were originally housed in large enclosures near the rhinos (one of which was shared with the tapirs and capybaras) on the western part of the zoo.
Giant otters and penguins
In early 2010, the Californian sea lions left the collection. Over the late winter the pool was converted to house a new species to the zoo. The giant otters went on show for the first time on 26 March 2010. The zoo bred their first pups in 2013.
In the neighbouring enclosure, a large breeding group of over 50 Humboldt penguins have their own pool, and visitors can watch the birds from an underwater viewing window.
Tropical Realm
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 pigeons, various species of starlings and ground birds such as crested partridges.
In the Winter of 2015/2016 the former Yellow Breasted Capuchin exhibit at the rear of Tropical Realm was converted to house a pair of Aye-Aye and a group of Malagasy Giant Jumping Rats.
Madagascar
Opened in 2019 as Madagascar Forest, this development exhibits endangered species from Madagascar. Themed displays also provide visitors with information on field conservation projects supported by the Zoo. The 5,875m2 site is located in the centre of the zoo and was previously occupied by the Sumatran tiger exhibit and a large aviary for European birds (Europe on the Edge). Madagascar comprises three animal exhibits linked by winding visitor pathways. The first and second exhibits house fossa, which bred for the first time at the zoo in 2022, and critically endangered Coquerel's sifaka. The third and largest exhibit is a walkthrough lemur enclosure which houses ring tailed lemurs, red ruffed lemurs, crowned lemurs, red-bellied lemurs and black lemurs.[33][34]
In 2008, Asian Plains received its official opening. Based around a mixed-species paddock featuring Burmese brown-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 cattleblackbuck and sitatunga.
In 2011, a new exhibit housing African painted dogs on the site of the former Przewalski's horse paddock was opened. In the style of an African Research Station with an African Village, the exhibit has a dry landscape with fake kopje stones. A pack of four African painted dogs are the main exhibit, however aardvarks and rock hyraxes are nearby.
Forest Zone and Butterfly Journey
The north east area of the zoo is where many forest-dwelling species are kept. As well as the chimpanzees, okapis, jaguars, condors and Tropical Realm, there are enclosures for Congo buffalo, and red river hogs Nearby is a large paddock and house for the zoo's Rothschild giraffe herd. The area between the rear of Tropical Realm and the Spirit of the Jaguar has enclosures for various species including a group of native sand lizards, and a mixed enclosure for red-billed curassows and Inca Jays.
An enclosure formerly housing maned wolves was demolished and replaced in 2008 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[disambiguation needed]s, giant owls, glasswings, swallowtails and Atlas moths), a cabinet of cocoons, and an area with caterpillars. Also featured in this exhibit is an area for a variety of different invertebrates and a mesh enclosure for some panther chameleons.
As well as jaguars, Chester Zoo keeps lions, tigers and cheetahs 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 Zoo 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 tigers, 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 from Prague Zoo to form a breeding pair of Sumatrans, a critically endangered subspecies in the wild. Kirana and Fabi bred and have so far bred successfully on three occasions since 2011.
The zoo welcomed its first ever cheetah cubs in June 2011. The cheetahs are the vulnerable Sudanese subspecies - a second litter was born in 2013.
Asian Steppe
Bactrian camels and onagers 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.
Other exhibits
Bordering the paddocks is a waterway running north-south along which the water bus formerly travelled, past island groups of white-faced sakis, Alaotran bamboo lemurs and howler monkeys. A variety of callitrichids, including cotton-top tamarins, were formerly housed on the Bamboo lemur Island, whilst the howler monkey and white-faced saki exhibits were formerly home to black-and-white ruffed lemurs and red ruffed lemurs. A nearby island viewable from Bats Bridge has previously held lowland anoa and is now holding Babirusia In the southeast corner of the zoo are enclosures housing an assortment of animals including red pandas, Southern pudu, Cabot's tragopans and the wetland bird nursery. The former Cassowary exhibit next to the Anteaters will be redeveloped during 2016 for a new species
Near the Rare Parrot Breeding Centre is an aviary currently housing spectacled owls and formerly home to macaws and keas the remainder of the zoo's owl collection are seen nearby. The owl aviaries were recently modified.
Former exhibits
Europe on the Edge
This was the zoo's largest aviary, and was one of the biggest in the UK. It was opened in 1993 on the site of the former polar bear enclosure. It housed a variety of European birds, including European black vultures and griffon vultures, and the rarer of the two European storks, the black stork. Wading birds also featured, including spoonbills, ibises and egrets as well as a selection of waterfowl. Smaller birds included rock doves, northern lapwings, red-legged partridges and the native but rare red-billed chough. It was demolished in 2019 to make way for Madagascar Forest.
Membership and adoption
The zoo has a service that gives people the option of adopting an animal of their choice, they are also given two complimentary tickets to allow them to visit the animals.[35] They can also become members which allows them to visit Chester and a range of other zoos across the UK free of charge for a year. The zoo has over 145,000 members. Every three months, members and adopters receive the zoo magazine on line, which provides updates and information about what is happening at the zoo.[36]
During summer 2007, television crews from Granada 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 6:30 pm slot. A second 20-part series of Zoo Days was swiftly commissioned and began airing on 3 March 2008.[37] The third 20-part series was broadcast from Colchester Zoo, before returning to Chester for the fourth 20-part series on 10 November 2008.[38]
In 2014 the zoo was the subject of BBC One drama Our Zoo, telling the story of the founding of Chester Zoo by the Mottershead family in the 1930s and featured Lee Ingleby as George Mottershead.[39] During the six-part series, the show reached audiences in excess of five million viewers and was nominated for two national TV awards.[40]
In January 2016, Channel 4 began broadcasting a six-part series, The Secret Life of the Zoo, following the keepers and animals at Chester Zoo and narrated by Olivia Colman from Series 1 to 5 and Tamsin Grieg since Series 6. The first series was a ratings success and was recommissioned for a second series. Series 2 aired at the end of 2016. The show has now run for ten seasons with a compilation series in 2020.
Gallery
Lion at the zoo.
The Thailand Hornbill enclosure.
Baby elephant at the Elephants of the Asian Forest.
Butterfly on one of the many flowering plants at the zoo.
Artwork on a walking path.
Komodo Dragon
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Johns, June (1974). Zoo Without Bars: The story of Chester Zoo and its founder George Saul Mottershead. London: Carousel Books. ISBN9780552540513. OCLC1365486.
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