Bristol Zoo Project, formerly known as Wild Place Project, is a wildlife conservation park in North

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, 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. The park has been designed to link specific ecosystems and conservation programmes around the world, and was originally intended to be split into biomes, representing species found only in specific habitats. 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 South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Kingswood, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke. The southern p ...

Council for the development of a new 135 acre (55 hectare) park. The park officially opened on 22 July 2013. The original submitted plans suggested a development cost of circa £70 million. Bear Wood, an environment designed to mimic England in 8,000 BC opened in July 2019.

Animals

Bristol Zoo Project is home to 25 species of animals, including 19 mammals and 6 birds. Giraffe at Bristol Zoo Project 2024 2

Mammals: * Alaotran gentle lemur *

Black-and-white ruffed lemur The black-and-white ruffed lemur (''Varecia variegata'') is an endangered species of ruffed lemur, ruffed lemur, one of two which are endemic to the island of Madagascar. Despite having a larger range than the red ruffed lemur, it has a much sma ...

* Blue-eyed black lemur *

Common eland The common eland (''Taurotragus oryx''), also known as the southern eland or eland antelope, is a large savannah and plains antelope found in East Africa, East and Southern Africa. An adult male is around tall at the shoulder and can weigh up ...

(a male, Arron) *

Eurasian lynx The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is one of the four wikt:extant, extant species within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. It is widely distributed from Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe to Cent ...

(Zone and Loka) *

Eurasian wolf The Eurasian wolf (''Canis lupus lupus''), also known as the common wolf,Mech, L. David (1981), ''The Wolf: The Ecology and Behaviour of an Endangered Species'', University of Minnesota Press, p. 354, is a subspecies of grey wolf native to Euro ...

(brothers Forty, Socks, Loki and Faolin) * European brown bears (brothers Neo and Nilas and brother and sister Albie and Gemini) * Gelada (a troop of 6, including family group Kito, Kidame, Harshit and Hobbit with father and son Leena and Takeze) * Grant's zebra (Peter and Florence) *

Meerkat The meerkat (''Suricata suricatta'') or suricate is a small mongoose found in southern Africa. It is characterised by a broad head, large eyes, a pointed snout, long legs, a thin tapering tail, and a brindled coat pattern. The head-and-body ...

(a mob of 5 males) *

Mongoose lemur The mongoose lemur (''Eulemur mongoz'') is a small primate in the family Lemuridae, native to Madagascar and introduced to the Comoros, Comoros Islands. These arboreal animals have pointed faces, long, bushy tails, dark-brown upper parts, pale be ...

* Philippine spotted deer (Eugene and Pandora) *

Pygmy goat The American Pygmy is an American breed of achondroplastic (dwarf) goat. It is small, compact and stockily built. Like the Nigerian Dwarf, it derives from the West African Dwarf group of breeds of West Africa. Between 1930 and 1960, animals ...

(Toby and Joe) *

Red panda The red panda (''Ailurus fulgens''), also known as the lesser panda, is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzz ...

(Nilo) * Red river hog (Ekundu and Laña) *

Reticulated giraffe The reticulated giraffe (''Giraffa reticulata'' or ''Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata'') is a species/subspecies of giraffe native to the Horn of Africa. It is differentiated from other types of giraffe by its coat, which consists of large, p ...

(Tom, Tico and Dayo) *

Ring-tailed lemur The ring-tailed lemur (''Lemur catta'') is a medium- to larger-sized strepsirrhine (wet-nosed) primate and the most internationally recognized lemur species, owing to its long, black-and-white, ringed tail. It belongs to Lemuridae, one of fiv ...

Southeast African cheetah The Southeast African cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus jubatus'') is the nominate subspecies, nominate cheetah subspecies native to East Africa, East and Southern Africa. The Southern African cheetah lives mainly in the Kalahari Basin, lowland areas a ...

(brothers Jake and Oscar) *

Wolverine The wolverine ( , ; ''Gulo gulo''), also called the carcajou or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species, member of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The w ...

(Alice and her triplets, Scottie, Ingrid and Otto) Birds: * European turtle dove * Mauritian pink pigeon * Mindanao bleeding-heart dove *

Ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds. Two living species are recognised, the common ostrich, native to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa. They are the heaviest and largest living birds, w ...

(Mary and Drummer) *

Village weaver The village weaver (''Ploceus cucullatus''), also known as the spotted-backed weaver or black-headed weaver (the latter leading to easy confusion with ''Ploceus melanocephalus, P. melanocephalus''), is a bird species in the family Ploceidae ...

* 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 the animals moved to the Wild Place Project site close to the

M5 motorway The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...

. * The

Western lowland gorilla The western lowland gorilla (''Gorilla gorilla gorilla'') is one of two Critically Endangered subspecies of the western gorilla (''Gorilla gorilla'') that lives in Montane ecosystems#Montane forests, montane, Old-growth forest, primary and sec ...

s, Collared mangabeys, African grey parrots, Slender-snouted crocodiles,

okapi The okapi (; ''Okapia johnstoni''), also known as the forest giraffe, Congolese giraffe and zebra giraffe, is an artiodactyl mammal that is endemic to the northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa. However, non-invasive gen ...

s and

mandrill The mandrill (''Mandrillus sphinx'') is a large Old World monkey native to west central Africa. It is one of the most colorful mammals in the world, with red and blue skin on its face and posterior. The species is Sexual dimorphism, sexually ...

s will be in a new central African rainforest area. * The Eastern black rhinoceroses and

es would join the

giraffe The giraffe is a large Fauna of Africa, African even-toed ungulate, hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa.'' It is the Largest mammals#Even-toed Ungulates (Artiodactyla), tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on ...

zebra Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), the plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. ...

, elands, Red river hogs and

cheetah The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large Felidae, cat and the Fastest animals, fastest land animal. It has a tawny to creamy white or pale buff fur that is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots. The head is small and rounded, wit ...

s in the Benoue National Park area. The new conservation breeding centre would include Annam leaf turtles, Lesser Antillean iguanas, Pancake tortoises, Radiated tortoises, Roti Island snake-necked turtles, Indochinese box turtles, Lemur leaf frogs, Mountain chicken frogs, Marshall's pygmy chameleons, Turquoise dwarf geckos, Blue-spotted tree monitors, Leaf-tail geckos, Deserta Grande wolf spiders, Polynesian tree snails, Lord Howe Island stick insects, two species of Madeiran land snail ( Discula lyelliana and Geomitra grabhami),

Socorro dove The Socorro dove or Grayson's dove (''Zenaida graysoni'') is a dove species which is extinct in the wild. It was endemic to Socorro Island in the Revillagigedo Islands off the west coast of Mexico. The last sighting in its natural habitat was i ...

s, Visayan tarictic hornbills, Sumatran laughingthrushes, Philippine cockatoos, Javan green magpies, European turtle doves,

Mindanao bleeding-heart The Mindanao bleeding-heart (''Gallicolumba crinigera''), also known as Bartlett's bleeding heart dove, Barlett's bleeding heart pigeon and the hair-breasted bleeding heart, is a species of bird in the Columbidae, pigeon family (biology), family. ...

s, Negros bleeding-heart pigeons, pink pigeons, 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.

References

External links

Bristol Zoo project website
{{authority control Tourist attractions in Bristol Grade II listed buildings in Bristol Zoos in England Zoos established in 2013