The Secret Life Of The Zoo

Maybe a daft question to so many Chester people. Maybe not. But do you watch The Secret Life Of The Zoo on Channel 4? We are avid watchers in our household I must admit.

We are also regular visitors to the Zoo, so we do seem to know a fair bit about the Zoo in terms of the layout etc. No, we’re not animal experts by any stretch of the imagination. But being regular visitors it is great to get familiar with the many residents living there.

Case in point, we haven’t visited the elephants enclosure since the deaths of the two babies recently. We remember seeing them only a week or two before they were taken ill enjoying life to the full. It would be quite sad to pop along there and not see them. So, we gave the elephants a miss for our last few visits.

Anyway, about The Secret Life Of The Zoo. Watching the “behind the scenes” well presented and well narrated stories unfold is fascinating isn’t it don’t you think.

The Secret Life Of The Zoo

How good are the zookeepers? It amazes me every time I watch the programme of how knowledgeable and how caring they are. Not only that, how on earth do they recognise each and every animal and remember their names?

For instance, the other week when they were showing a piece on the blue poison dart frogs. The keepers identified each one without any hassle at all. Even though they did say that each frog have their own unique markings, it was still very impressive nevertheless.

I suppose as it is part of the job, there is a way to easily identify the animals that they are responsible for looking after. Still though, it is really impressive how they are so committed and thorough about the roles they play in the smooth running of the zoo.

Getting To Know You

Another impressive part of the programme is how the stories unfold. Take last week for instance. It was fascinating to see the closeness and the affection between giant otters, Icana and Diego. How sad when they had to ship Diego off to another zoo because he wasn’t…..ahem….ahem…how do we say on a family blog? Let’s say, looking to increase the giant otter population.

It was so sad to hear Icana calling for her ‘bessie mate’ in such a seemingly distressed way. Fair do’s though the zookeeper (I think his name was Kieran) was reassuring us that Diego had settled in at his new zoo and that a new partner for Icana was on his way.

These are things you don’t see or get to know about of course as a visitor. For all intents and purposes we see the giant otters and not be aware of the distress Icana suffered. Nor, how happy and…..ahem….ahem….let’s say friendly, she was when her new partner, Tarubu (is that how you spell his name?) arrived.

They hit it off as a couple immediately. It was great to see. And it must be so rewarding for a zookeeper to see a plan coming together. And to see the obvious delight and happiness it brings to the frisky residents.

Drunk Butterflies

Who knew that butterflies would get so hammered? Fair do’s to male butterfly, Peanut, he did over indulge on the fermenting, rotting fruit didn’t he.

So much so, he was cabbaged apparently. So cabbaged he did not even try to look after his partner, Mucucu. It was down to Peanut to play his part in the future appearance of 100 or so caterpillar eggs. But he spent so much time in “The Rotting Melon Arms” he almost failed to ‘do his bit’

That’s something else I didn’t know. Butterflies only have a life expectancy of 105 or 110 days. Is that all butterflies I wonder? Poor Peanut in that case in that he probably wasted a day recovering from his hangover.

Yes indeed The Secret Life Of The Zoo is a fabulous programme. One well worth watching. In case you don’t know when you catch The Secret Life Of The Zoo on the TV, here’s when you can see the next episode, Series 7; Episode 6:

Thursday 14th February – Channel 4 – 8pm; Channel 4+1, one hour later at 9pm. Also, you can catch it again on 4seven at 8pm on Friday 15th February.

Tune in if you get chance if you haven’t seen it before. You will really enjoy it.

Chester Lifestyle

Chester, as local residents and visitors will say, is a beautiful city. To find out more about this website and the city of Chester, take a look HERE.

Things To Do In Chester

Obviously a visit to Chester Zoo is a must if you are visiting Chester. But there is so much more to do than only Chester Zoo. Take a look HERE for more suggestions.

Chester Zoo

For more information on our wonderful zoo, take a look HERE and don’t forget to visit the Chester Zoo website HERE.