Bristol Zoo

On Monday July 11th 1836, the public were admitted to the gardens for the first time, a decade before the London Zoo was to open its gates to paying visitors. The 'Clifton Zoological Gardens' as they were then known, soon became known simply as the 'Clifton Zoo', and thus the word 'zoo' found its way into the English Language. Besides being a place where the citizens of Bristol could see exotic creatures for the first time ever, the zoo also became a centre for fashionable recreation. By the end of the century the Society was earning more than half its income from I amusements', and a list of these reads like a carnival poster. There were, at various times, elephant and camel rides, boat trips, hot air balloons, flower shows, musical concerts, penny-farthing races, mock battles and gymnastic displays. There was tennis, croquet, archery, and even golf. At times there were firework displays, agricultural shows and fetes. Altogether it was a recipe for success that was destined to establish the zoo firmly as an essential part of Victorian society.

For a century and a half, Bristol has had a zoo with an enviable reputation. Many notable firsts were achieved here. The first chimpanzee ever conceived and born in captivity made his appearance in 1934. The first black rhinoceros ever to be born in Britain (and the first of five to be born at Bristol) arrived in 1958, the first okapi in 1963, and the first lowland gorilla in 197 1. The zoo has achieved a string of successes with primates, and now regularly breeds lion-tailed macaques, Diana, de Brazza, and colobus monkeys. Success too came in the field of public relations, and for years the zoo featured regularly in television's 'Animal Magic' which made animals like Dotty the ring-tailed lemur famous throughout the country.

Bristol Zoo no longer offers the carnival atmosphere that made it so popular in Victorian times, but the zoo is still popular with its regular visitors. Newcomers, however, might find the zoo rather disappointing in view of its larger than life reputation. Twelve acres, unfortunately, may no longer be sufficient for the educated and discerning public of the nineteen nineties, and Bristol Zoo now suffers from the legacy of design left by Richard Forrest of Acton. Very few of the zoo's acres are actually given over to animals at all, with the majority taken up by the gardens, lawns, and lake. There is a feeling of pleasant urban parkland about the place, very much like a walled park or arboretum. Trees are very much in favour and are well labelled. There are limes, sweet chestnut, rowan, Corsican pines, and tall deodar cedars among many others.

The animals are largely distributed in houses around the walls. The first you might encounter are the big cats, in cages rather too small. The Ape House is no more encouraging. Outside the apes have an artificial rocky slope, and indoors glass-fronted dens with concrete moulded trees and steps. The gorillas and orangs look invariably bored in this rather sterile concrete environment.

The Reptile House is better. Built in 1980, it is dedicated to Reginald Greed who was director of the zoo for forty five years until 1974, and who was the father of the present director. It is an imaginative house, housing huge pythons and Nile crocodiles.

The new 'World of Water' opened in 1989 is a welcome addition to the zoo. It brings the concept of the aquarium very much up to date, combining five large 'landscaped' tanks with a 'walk-through' coral reef tank and a number of smaller tanks.

One of Bristol's highlights is the nocturnal house, said to be the first ever opened at any zoo. It shows quite a variety of night time animals including African fruit bats in a realistically designed cave.

The monkey house is perhaps the best feature of Bristol Zoo. Although fairly small in area, it holds only a few species, but holds them well, in twenty foot high well branched outdoor enclosures, in family groups. The monkeys include the extremely endangered lion-tailed macaques, rarely seen entellus langurs, and lovely silvery leaf monkeys. Next door is a run of mannoset cages with some rarely seen species.

Probably the one feature at the zoo that has attracted more than its fair share of adverse publicity, was the polar bear pit. Bears have bred here, but the pit itself was just that; a pit. The last two polar bears at Bristol, Misha and Nina, were put down in January 1992. The zoo has no plans to replace them. Two further pits have now been filled in, and the new sandy enclosure that results holds endangered Arabian gazelles.

For many years Bristol Zoo was known best for its okapis. The Society has now relinquished their control of these animals in the best interests of a cooperative breeding programme involving other zoos, but there are still okapis at Bristol in a short hardstanding. Pygmy hippos also have a long association with the zoo, and they occupy a 'designer' compound with a small concrete pond and a periphery pool. The elephant house is adequate, although the compound is entirely concrete. The house is shared with giraffe, which have a successful history at Bristol.

The seal pool looks as if it was once designed for shows, but now holds a group of endearing southern fur seals. There are small paddocks with tapirs, zebras and kangaroos, and several aviaries including one rather effective circular aviary home to several birds of prey.

One of the most curious enclosures at Bristol is the Monkey Temple, built in 1928 when monkeys were associated in the popular mind with Kipling's ruined temples. A concrete temple stands on top of an octagon of six high concrete steps, and the whole is sunk into a circular walled pit around which visitors can congregate. The temple holds a group of around thirty crab-eating macaques in an active, if bizarre troupe. It has been suggested that all the monkeys in the pit have lost the very tips of their tails. It is a consequence, apparently, of the flip-flap doors of the temple which occasionally catch the end of the tail as a monkey nips through. If true, it may give some reason for second thoughts about the monkey temple.

A building in the centre of the park houses the main offices, and a tropical bird hall. Outside there is a small children's area with guinea pigs, rabbits, sheep, goats and calves - but not to touch.

There is a small penguin pool, with a variety of species, and a curious compound which holds penguins, marmots, and mara. The final exhibits at the zoo, if you proceed clockwise around the park, are the grey gibbons and black and white Eastern colobus in splendid high enclosures, and an attractive new lemur house which in glass fronted runs features both black and brown lemurs, mongoose lemurs, and red and white fronted lemurs.

The newest enclosures at Bristol are a series of islands set in the large central lake. The £250,000 islands are home to ring tailed lemurs and marmosets, and they also hold new aviaries. A new gibbon enclosure is also on the islands.

Altogether Bristol Zoo is a slightly uncomfortable survivor from the Victorian age. It has been a great pioneer in animal management techniques, and there has been a great history of success. The Society seems to take seriously its conservation obligations, and the gardens are attractive and well tended. But somehow this is not quite enough. In 1966 the Society purchased a large estate eight miles north of Bristol, The Hollywood Tower Estate, and the intention was to use it as a new country site for the zoo. For various reasons the plans floundered, and Bristol Zoo remains in Clifton. How much better might it have been for the reputation of the zoo however, if a bold decision had been made, and the zoo had been moved. In 1990 a twenty-year plan was announced for the zoo to gradually move away from keeping larger animals. The perimeter exhibits will all be linked with a covered walkway, making them more accessible during the winter months; the monkey temple is to be redeveloped as an enclosure for Sumatran tigers. This should in time help to preserve the reputation of the zoo. Nevertheless, Bristol still remains popular with a huge number of annual visitors, it contributes soundly to species management schemes, and recent additions to the zoo, like the reptile house, the monkey house, and the splendid aquarium, mean that it will probably continue to attract visitors just as it has now for 160 years.