Wild Place Project

Bristol Zoo Project
51°31′50″N 2°36′44″W / 51.5305°N 2.6122°W / 51.5305; -2.6122
Date opened	22 July 2013
Location	Zoo Project, Blackhorse Hill, Bristol, BS10 7TP
Land area	136 Acres[1]
Annual visitors	192,306 (2018)[2]
Owner	Bristol Zoological Society
Website	www.wildplace.org.uk

Bristol Zoo Project, formerly known as Wild Place Project, is a wildlife conservation park in North Bristol, United Kingdom. It is run by Bristol Zoological Society (BZS) and was the sister site of Bristol Zoo Gardens until closure of that site in 2022. In summer 2023, Wild Place Project rebranded as "Bristol Zoo Project" following the transition of Bristol Zoo Gardens from their Clifton site.^[3]

The park has been designed to link specific ecosystems and conservation programmes around the world,^[4] and was originally intended to be split into biomes, representing species found only in specific habitats.^[5] Current areas include: Bear Wood, Benoué National Park and Discover Madagascar.

History

Bristol Zoo Project is located on Hollywood Estate, a grade II listed estate. The estate was gifted to Bristol Zoological Society in the mid 1960s by the White family. From the 1960s to 2013 the site was used as an off show area for breeding and quarantine. The site also housed the society's nurseries and to this day grows a third of the food for the animals at Bristol Zoo Project.

In 2008 Bristol Zoological Society announced plans to submit plans to South Gloucestershire Council for the development of a new 55-hectare park.

The park officially opened on 22 July 2013.^[6] The original submitted plans suggested a development cost of circa £70 million.^[7]

Bear Wood, an environment designed to mimic England in 8,000 BC opened in July 2019.^[8]

Animals

Bristol Zoo Project is home to 25 species of animals, including 19 mammals and 6 birds.

Mammals:

• Alaotran gentle lemur^[9]
• Black-and-white ruffed lemur^[9]
• Blue-eyed black lemur^[9]
• Common eland (a male, Arron)^[10]
• Eurasian lynx (Zone and Loka)^[11]
• Eurasian wolf (brothers Forty, Socks, Loki and Faolin)^[12]
• European brown bears (brothers Neo and Nilas and brother and sister Albie and Gemini)^[13]
• Gelada (a troop of 6, including family group Kito, Kidame, Harshit and Hobbit with father and son Leena and Takeze)^[14]
• Grant's zebra (Peter and Florence)^[15]
• Meerkat (a mob of 5 males)^[16]
• Mongoose lemur^[9]
• Philippine spotted deer (Eugene and Pandora)^[17]
• Pygmy goat (Toby and Joe)^[18]
• Red panda (Nilo)^[19]
• Red river hog (Ekundu and Laña)^[20]
• Reticulated giraffe (Tom, Tico and Dayo)^[21]
• Ring-tailed lemur^[9]
• Southeast African cheetah (brothers Jake and Oscar)^[22]
• Wolverine (Alice and her triplets, Scottie, Ingrid and Otto)^[23]

Birds^[24]:

• European turtle dove
• Mauritian pink pigeon
• Mindanao bleeding-heart dove
• Ostrich (Mary and Drummer)
• Village weaver
• Visayan tarictic hornbill

Plans for 2022 to 2024

Bristol Zoological Society announced on 27 November 2020 that its historic Bristol Zoo Gardens site in Clifton would close, with animals moved to the Wild Place Project site close to the M5 motorway.^[25]

• Western lowland gorilla, Collared mangabey, African grey parrots, Slender-snouted crocodiles, Okapi and Mandrill will be in a new central African rainforest area.
• The Eastern black rhinoceros and Ostrich would join the Giraffe, Zebra, Eland, Red river hog and Cheetah in the Benoue National Park area.

The new conservation breeding centre would include Annam leaf turtle, Lesser Antillean iguana, Pancake Tortoise, Radiated tortoise, Roti Island snake-necked turtle, Indochinese box turtle, Agalychnis lemur, Leptodactylus fallax, Marshall's pygmy chameleon, Lygodactylus williamsi, Varanus macraei, Uroplatus, Hogna ingens, Polynesian tree snail, Lord Howe Island stick insect, two species of Madeiran land snail (Discula lyelliana and Geomitra grabhami), Socorro dove, Visayan tarictic hornbill, Sumatran laughingthrush, Philippine cockatoo, Javan green magpie, European turtle dove, Mindanao bleeding-heart, Negros bleeding-heart pigeon, pink pigeon, Malagasy cichlids, Malagasy rainbow fish and powder blue panchax, Pupfish and goodeids and White clawed crayfish.

Finally, there was to be a new entrance with a new café, new gift shop, and new entry exhibits.

In 2021 it was announced that new features at Bristol Zoo Project resulting from the move from Clifton were to include a conservation breeding centre with climate-controlled enclosures, a learning centre and a conservation medicine centre.^[26]

References

External links

• Bristol Zoo project website

51°31′47″N 2°36′58″W / 51.52959°N 2.61601°W / 51.52959; -2.61601

This page was last edited on 19 May 2024, at 11:43