The final (205th) post on this blog.
How would i sum up my year in Paignton Zoo?
I must have visited 40 or 50 times – about once a week. There are pics or vids on this blog of at least 87 different animals (excluding the rabbits that hop ubiquitously about, and the hooligan gangs of gulls)
My favs seem to have been: Red Panda’s (9 posts) Baboons (8) Maribou Stork (8) Brown Spider Monkey’s (7)
I’d say to anybody visiting the zoo for the first time don’t spend too much time gazing at the showcase “stars” – the Big Cats, Elephants, Giraffes etc. Most of these bigger animals seem too passively habituated. Even though the zoo has tried to give them more space to roam around in its never going to be enough to excite them into active, instinctive, “big” behaviors.
The “enrichment” programme that goes on is tokenism really; its about “seeming” – as in simulating – rather than authentically stimulating animals into instinctual purposeful activity.
So the rule of thumb is: the bigger the animal is, the less fascinating they are – and the more apathetically, neurotically, habituated – they seem to be.
Better to go look for the smaller species, living together in family groups. You’ll be delighted by the meerkats, marmots, penguins, lemurs, baboons, macaques etc; all that social interaction going on – squabbling and cavorting, sniffing and cuddling, biting, licking, grooming. I’d say these kind of troupes and groups appear to be the least maladapted by a zoo enviroment.
It’s a big sprawling zoo so you’ll have to rush around abit to see it all in one afternoon. The advantage of shelling out £35 for an annual membership is that you can be more recreational and leisurely in your looking. I’ve found, the slower you go, the more you are likely to see; it’s about hanging out with the monkeys or meerkats for a while, taking time to “be with”, waiting patiently for individual characters to show themselves (or show themselves up) Each species, and each animal, has it’s own vibe; to enter into its energy you have to allow yourself to become slowly, and quietly, acquainted with its ambience.
The annual membership gets you into Living Coasts too – which is good, cus paying £10 for a one-off visit isn’t worth it. Living Coasts lacks an “oomph” factor. There’s not loads to see, so you get compensatory kiddy activities or informative interactivities; seemingly endless educational commentaries and videos at the push of a button.
After a while the background to every exhibit feels infiltrated by this pre-recorded noisy material, ruining spontaneity, the coast-like ambience of waves and wind coming up from the sea below drowned out by this overweening anxious need to keep us stimulated. The infotainment soon becomes intrusive and irritating.
Still, Living Coasts has a few redeeming features: Gringo the big blubbery seal and his coterie of females; best is to see them gracefully gliding under water inside their tank; the comical yack yacking penguins; the silent dreamy world of the seahorses (if you can get any silence that is)
Paignton Zoo hasn’t got the charm or the immediacy of it’s smaller sister zoo in Newquay; and it hasn’t got the exotic intimacy of old Budapest zoo (i went there last January) It’s got a workaday everyday quality about it has Paignton – functional, but lacking in character or charisma.
Nevertheless, its much better set out than it was; not so many cages cramped up with monkeys. I think it wants to be known more as an “Environmental Park” than a Zoo – doing its bit to conserve endangered species, applying scientific research towards better – as in more humane – animal husbandry.
The Zoo of old-style boxed in pens, fences and cages you can still detect here and there; the owls and parrots et al are still stuck inside thick wire cages. They’re barely visible – so don’t bother taking pics.
There are other animals that don’t give good digi; the old elephants – Duchess and Gay – are underwhelming; the solitary cheetah looks lonely and bored to death (where can it run to?) the 2 lions look bored to death too; the 2 cassowaries blink and blank at you uncomprehending; the Crocodile Swamp is underwhelming too; again, to compensate for not much to look at you have lots of – too much – noise. Seeing the crocs being fed would be reverse compensation – but the zoo want you to book in and pay extra for that.
Do not – i repeat – do not visit the zoo in August (or July) especially if you’re a local. It’s stuffed to the gills with tourists. Whole hordes of families of overstressed, tired, parents with their hyped up – and soon to be bored and tired – kids. Plus gangs of spoilt foreign students throwing their crap sandwiches at the gangster gulls.
The best time to visit is Spring – when various Alpha males are making babies with their harems of females ; or Autumn, when the marauding hordes have gone and you can appreciate the sweet little animals in peace and quiet. The light is softer for taking pics too.
You’d think reading this that i don’t particularly like the zoo that much. But i have – mostly. As evidence, click on some of these other pages - Video Moments, Memorable Moments, Picture Moments, Quiet Moments – and you’ll see I got value for money out of that membership card!
Paignton Zoo is a mildly diverting – rather than fascinating – place to spend a quiet Sunday afternoon in. And you could take your girlfriend with you. And a flask of coffee. And your digi camera.
But leave the kids at home! (Who decreed that kids and zoos go together anyway?)
