Podcast appearances and mentions of bristol zoo

Alfred the gorilla was an icon of Bristol Zoo, known and loved around the world and when he died his body was put on display at the Bristol City Museum. One morning in 1956, staff arrived at the museum to find his body had been stolen! Who would do such a thing? Find out on this episode recorded live at The Tobacco Factory Theatre in Bristol. This is a comedy/history podcast, the report begins at approximately 05:49 (though as always, we go off on tangents throughout the report).For all our important links: https://linktr.ee/dogoonpod Check out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/Who Knew It with Matt Stewart: https://play.acast.com/s/who-knew-it-with-matt-stewart/Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader ThomasDo Go On acknowledges the traditional owners of the land we record on, the Wurundjeri people, in the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders, past and present. REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/mar/04/bristol-alfred-gorilla-theft-mystery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_the_Gorilla https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/acBlyEkETBKkpOIII5QdvQ https://collections.bristolmuseums.org.uk/stories/alfred-the-gorilla/#:~:text=A%20mysterious%20disappearance&text=In%20March%201956%20the%20curator,caretaker%2C%20and%20was%20later%20returned. http://www.factfiend.com/alfred-turd-throwing-hero-gorilla-bristolhttps://epigram.org.uk/10-weird-and-wonderful-things-bristol-university-students-did-to-raise-money-for-rag-week/ https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/is-there-truth-behind-the-bristol-zoo-parking-attendant-myth/ https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/there-truth-behind-urban-myth-4941098 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi friends, I'm Scott and this is What a Weird Week, a show about the weird stuff in the news. See shownotes.page for a transcript of the podcast episode. To subscribe to the podcast or for social media and more links, you can get everything at www.shownotes.page. These are the shownotes for Season 5, Ep 44 first published on Friday Nov 1st 2024. Here are this week's stories... Idaho man reclaims world record for sorting Peanut M&M's by color in under a minutehttps://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/10/29/Guinness-World-Records-David-Rush-Peanut-MMs/4591730219106/ Firefighters rescue a parrot and a human from a tall tree in Californiahttps://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/10/25/parrot-tree-teenager-Buena-Park-California/3641729872928/ Saskatchewan town of Kyle and the mayoral election with no candidateshttps://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/10/24/canada-Kyle-Saskatchewan-no-mayor-candidate/7321729801603/Bat escapes German zoo by hiding in visitor's jackethttps://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/10/24/germany-Karlsrule-Zoo-bat-escape/6841729800843/Bristol Zoo seeks help identifying "mysterious winged and horned creature" caught on camerahttps://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/10/24/Bristol-Zoo-mystery-creature/4421729791251/New Zealand airport sets a 3-minute limit for farewell hugs in the drop-off zone to ensure smooth traffic flowhttps://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/10/21/nz-Dunedin-Airport-hug-time-limit/1701729524986/ Dog walking world record https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/10/18/canada-Guinness-World-Records-walking-dogs/9901729277436/Werther's Original Launches Limited-Edition 'Werther's Original Pocket Denim' Jeans with 30 Tiny Pockets for Caramelshttps://www.foodmanufacturing.com/consumer-trends/news/22923962/werthers-original-unveils-werthers-original-pocket-denimBritish "King Conker" Cleared of Cheating Allegations at World Championshipshttps://www.huffpost.com/entry/conkers-champion-cleared_n_6716498ce4b0b4263c8afd85 Bangladeshi woman sets Guinness record for eating 37 grains of rice in one minute using chopstickshttps://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/10/23/bangladesh-Guinness-World-Records-rice-chopsticks/4021729697928/Standing Desks: Not the Health Booster We Thought? Study Reveals Risks of Prolonged Standing...https://studyfinds.org/standing-desks-bad-for-health/Melbourne Train Stations Flooded Due to Amorous Couple Dislodging Sprinkler https://www.huffpost.com/entry/train-station-floods-australia_n_6710e3eae4b0b6831a11cf7f

One of the many places you might visit in Bristol is the zoo... 

Neil Wilkins talks to Beth Gallichan, Head of Development at Bristol Zoo about the exciting vision the Zoo has for the future. Beyond being a visitor attraction, Bristol Zoo embraces a conservation-centric, purpose-driven ethos that drives everything it does and the partnerships and projects it delivers. In this interesting insight into the workings of how a zoo should be, we learn about how businesses can utilise the connections and resources of the likes of Bristol Zoo to help them deliver their ESG strategy. For more details, visit https://bristolzoo.org.uk For more content like this, visit http://neilwilkins.online Contact Beth Gallichan, https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethany-gallichan-ciof-dip-a3392b82/

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is  Kelly Molson, Founder of Rubber Cheese.Download the Rubber Cheese 2022 Visitor Attraction Website Report - the first digital benchmark statistics for the attractions sector.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcast.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcastCompetition ends July 31st 2023. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references: https://bristolzoo.org.uk/https://www.wildplace.org.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-coe-mba-943a7985/ Mike Coe (MBA), Commercial Director: Mike has over 20 years' experience working in commercial and leadership roles within both charity and the private sector. Mike joined the Society in December 2021 and is responsible for the commercial and public engagement strategy.  Previous to joining the Society he was CEO at the Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum developing funding strategies and vision delivery in conservation, education and participation at the National Arboretum.  Before that Mike was also CEO of Arnos Vale, leading the successful restoration and sustainable financial transformation programme within the iconic heritage and wildlife estate. Mike also led the relaunch of the Bristol Aquarium alongside leading successful consultancy projects supporting organisational change and delivery within the visitor economy. Transcriptions:  Kelly Molson: Mike, thank you so much for coming on to Skip The Queue today. It's lovely to see you. Mike Coe: Thanks, Kelly. Kelly Molson: We are recording on a very snowy March day, but Mike and I are inside in the warm, so we're quite happy. Mike Coe: Yeah, well, still got a bit of snow outside at Wild Place. We had loads yesterday and had to try and shovel that all off and get the site open, ready for the visitors. Our visitor services team were out moving water around the site and shoveling snow, but it's all pretty much melted away now, so it's still quite wintry looking out there, but, yeah, not so slippery. Kelly Molson: There you go. The visitor experience team, they're the heroes of the day. Right, Mike, we're going to start off with some icebreakers, so I want to know if I could gift you a month off tomorrow and you could travel anywhere in the world. I know, right, please, let's put that out of the universe. Where would you go? Mike Coe: So when I left university, I actually travelled around Southern Africa. So I spent some time in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa. Really enjoyed my time there. I was teaching there and working in a rhino sanctuary and did a number of things out there and always wished, always wanted to go back. I'll be back all the time, but actually, I never got the opportunity to head back there and then had children. You need a length of time to get out there. So, yeah, if I had a month, I would definitely go back and sort of retrace those steps and just see how much things have changed over that time period, from sort of 2000, 2001 to sort of where we are now, sort of 20 odd years later. Mike Coe: So, yeah, I think I'd love to be able to do that and take my time and travel those areas. I'm a massive fan of the culture over there, but also, as you're probably not surprised, the wildlife over there, so it'd be a great chance to see how that's changed and transformed. Kelly Molson: Amazing. Would you go on your own or would you take kids? Mike Coe: I think I'd probably go on my own. Kelly, boy, I think as much as I'd love it, my little boy loves an adventure. Charlie I just think, yeah, sometimes, you know what I mean? It's having to think about them while you're trying to discover the place. Might be getting away a bit. Kelly Molson: Yeah, I hear you. It's funny because we've always said if we were lucky enough to have children, they would be part of our travel adventures as well. Now I'm like, yeah, maybe not. I changed my mind on that.Mike Coe: Keep your eyes on them, as well as what's going on. Kelly Molson: Great. Okay, if you were in a karaoke booth, what is your karaoke go to song? Mike Coe: Probably Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer. You can imagine that after a few drinks, microphone on hand, thinking you're a Rock Gods, melting that one out. It's a classic. Classic's spud a goody.Kelly Molson: I feel like if you're going to do karaoke, you've got to do a crowd pleaser that everyone knows the words too and then they carry you along, Mike. Mike Coe: Absolutely, you can't go into karaoke singing a song that you can sing. It has to be something that you literally can't hit any note on. And that's definitely one of those for me. Kelly Molson: We could do karaoke together. We're on the same level of karaoke skill here. Right, last one. Can you share with me one of your irrational fears? Mike Coe: Oh, cool. That's a good one. Actually, mine is always I would say it's about people letting people down. So I think when you sort of move up and you're in leadership roles, you're aware of what you can do. But it's always that sense of or fear of, have I done something? Have I let other people down? I can let myself down, but it's that letting other people down. So I do think I take great pride and passion in supporting teams, and if I feel I've let them down, I think that's the thing that hits me the hardest, if I'm honest.Kelly Molson: Would you say, because this is one of my biggest challenges, because I think I'm like a certified people pleaser. So one of the things that took at the beginning of this year was I need to be careful about things that I say yes to, because I put myself under a massive amount of pressure when I do that, because I don't want to let people down all the time. So I've started to kind of just take a bit of a step back and go, “Can I do this? I really want to do this. But do I have the capacity for this? What pressure is this going to put on me this year?” But that is one of my biggest things, is a fear of letting people down because of that. Mike Coe: Yeah, and I'm the same. And you do have to end up setting boundaries, and it's only you have to set those boundaries because by saying yes too much and doing too much, ultimately you are going to let people down. You just don't have the capacity to do a good job. And I think we're all guilty, everyone's guilty of taking too much on because you just want to do a good job. But actually, it's that setting those boundaries and actually understand that it's okay to say no as long as there's a reason for that. Kelly Molson: Yeah, absolutely. Boundary is the word of the year, I think. Thank you for sharing that. Right. What is your unpopular opinion that you've prepared for us? Mike Coe: I know, and I didn't know where to go with this one, to be honest, because I've got quite a few. And this one, and I'm going to apologise now because I've got many Parisian friends. We work with some here as well. But I just think that Paris is a little bit overrated, Kelly. And I know, like I said, I've got so many friends from France and Parisians, and they've tried to convince me. I've been there a few times, but for me, it's just expensive. I always seem to end up with bad service there. I had my wallet stolen there once. I suppose that set me off on a bad foot. Mike Coe: And then seeing some of those sort of images, the sites that you've been expecting, and reading books when you're younger, and then when you get there, they're just not quite for me and for me, just wasn't quite what I had expected. So, yeah, it's going to be an unpopular decision and an popular thing to say, but I just don't get Paris and the romanticism around Paris, and maybe I'll be convinced as I go in later into life, and somebody will take me there and I'll see it for what I should. But, yeah, Paris is overrated, Kelly.Kelly Molson: Paris is overrated, statement. I really like this one. I don't know how unpopular this is going to be. Interesting. I just got back from a conference, actually, where there was a Parisian speaker who was really funny. He does a comedy show in Paris about Parisians and their culture. And he said, “Yeah, we are rude. We are openly rude, and we celebrate in being rude.” And I thought, “Well, okay, yeah, at least own it.” Mike Coe: Yeah, maybe I don't get that. Maybe I should just accept that they are rude and just live with that. Kelly Molson: Yeah, go with that expectation. Again, that's a very sweeping statement, and that may not be my opinion. Just putting that out there. That was what the comedian was telling me. Mike Coe: I will add to it to any Parisian friends of mine watching this, I love you all. Kelly Molson: Mirabelle from Convius will be listening to this, I'm sure. And I adore you. This is, again, not my unpopular opinion. Thank you. That was a good one. Well, let me know what you think, listeners. Let me know if you're sharing Mike's, how do we get Mike's unsatisfactory opinion of Paris? Mike Coe: Yeah, my one star TripAdvisor review of Paris. Kelly Molson: Okay. Right. I'm really glad that you've come on the podcast today, Mike, because we are going to talk about something that we've never talked about on the podcast before and that's about actually the decision to close an attraction. Sometimes we're talking about attractions opening and all of the amazing things that they're doing, but this time we're going to talk about an attraction closing. So tell us a little bit about your background and then we can start to talk about what your current role entails and how you got to that decision. Mike Coe: Yeah, I've been in visitor attractions now since around about 2010 and then earlier through my studies, I studied leisure and tourism as well, but really got back into visitor attractions after a break, actually, with BP in their graduate scheme for a while. And I launched or relaunched Bristol, well, what was then Blue Reef Aquarium, but rebranded and relaunched Bristol Aquarium in Bristol, which was a great one for me, to be honest with you, launching a new product, new brand and a really nice new attraction for Bristol. So, yeah, growing and developing new attractions, certainly for me. And then on there, I was brought in chief executive of Arnos Vale, which is actually a cemetery in Bristol, but we was scheduled to close and we got some Heritage Lottery funding to reopen that as a heritage site, events as well going on there. Mike Coe: So were the first people doing events in a cemetery as a heritage site, as a museum, and we found a sustainable model for it financially to actually make it pay for itself. So this heritage site would save, secured, rebuilt with the Heritage Lottery Fund money and really a great success story of developing another new visitor attraction in Bristol as well. Then over to Westonbirt the National Arboretum, supporting Forestry England in the development and growth of Westonbirt the National Arboretum and some great new developments there. So always growing new commercial opportunities within visitor attractions. And then this opportunity with Bristol Zoological Society, which is very different, of course, because I hadn't closed a visitor attraction before. Mike Coe: But, yeah, that was what I moved over to Bristol Zoological Society to which, although I say it's about closing Bristol Zoo, it was a lot more than that, of course. So it's the closure of Bristol Zoo Gardens after 186 years, but actually the future and the positivity for the society that brings, because we also own an attraction called Wild Place Project. And the sale of the proceeds from the sale of Bristol Zoo Gardens that's going to be moved into, ploughed into the Wild Place Project with a brand new zoo for Bristol in effect and really reimagining what the zoo of the future should be. So, yeah, that's where it's gone from growing new visitor attractions to closing one and developing another one. Kelly Molson: Yes. So it's come full circle, isn't it? We started off that quite negatively, didn't we? But actually there's some really incredible opportunities that are coming from this experience. So we're going to start kind of at the beginning part of it, though. So, like you said, Bristol Zoo closed in September 2022 after 186 years. Got absolutely phenomenal. What was the decision behind it? What was the reason for that happening? Mike Coe: Yeah, it's one of those decisions, I think if you were to ask the Trust now, they probably should have taken earlier, in my view. So for a number of years, Bristol Zoo Gardens had been its revenues have been reducing and then in decline. So it had been losing money for a number of years over the decade before it. And it's a bit like that Region Beta Paradox. Have you heard of that?  And actually, what the Region Beta Paradox says is essentially a theory that sometimes the worse things are, the better the final outcome will be because you actually act on it and you actually make a change and you do something about it. So the recovery can be a lot quicker from a much worse situation. That worse situation, of course, was COVID. Mike Coe: So that really hits the charity reserves, in effect. And really, at that point, that decision had to be taken that they could no longer take the losses from Bristol Zoo Gardens and the site itself was crumbling. So the amount of investment that would have been required to restore Bristol Gardens as a visitor attraction, that wasn't falling effectively, the infrastructure was crumbling, so it would have taken a huge amount of investment to keep the site going in a space that had reduced visitor numbers year after year after year. So that was kind of the financial and commercial decision to close it. But the other thing, of course, is that Bristol Zoo Gardens was a twelve acre site, so quite a small inner city zoo. Mike Coe: Welfare standards amongst animals have changed from where they were 186 years ago into what size enclosures animals need for their welfare now. And Bristol Zoo Gardens, great space, but unfortunately just was too small to be able to provide the levels of welfare standards that are required now in zoology. So we're over here at Wild Place, ten times bigger than the sites at Bristol Zoo Gardens and the ability to develop enclosures far bigger than we were able to be, able to do at Bristol Zoo Gardens. So it wasn't just this commercial decision that we had to close the zoo. It's also, quite rightly, an animal welfare situation. Mike Coe: And what we can offer here is much better space and the chance with the money from that, the chance to develop a brand new type of zoo over here at Wild Place, a zoo of the future, where animals that we work with are involved in our conservation projects around the world. So it's not just about putting animals in for entertainment, it's about actually the purpose of those animals in terms of conservation and their conservation status. Kelly Molson: Let's talk about that then, because I'd love to know kind of what the vision is for what you're now kind of building on and that kind of positive aspect of it. Mike Coe: Yeah. And I think we start off it is about the animals that we have in the New Bristol Zoo. And the New Bristol Zoo will be developed with the sale of Bristol Zoo Gardens over the course of the next five to ten years. And the enclosures that will be here at first are much bigger, so the animals are in a more natural environment. So almost as you're walking through the gates, you're arriving somewhere other that you're almost on an on foot safari. So, you know, the traditional type of zoo. And another controversial thing I'll say is I'm not a big fan of traditional zoos, so I'm not a massive zoo fan. Certainly the modern zoos and the way we look at it is certainly the way to move. Mike Coe: And that's making sure that there's much bigger enclosures, that you're stumbling on those animals, you're not just looking from fence to fence that you actually have to do a bit of work while you're here to see those animals on foot. So this “on foot safari”, that's going to be a theme that sort of overrides what goes on here. The species of animals that we have here are going to be involved in the conservation projects that we have around the world, be that Africa, Philippines, we have a number of projects around the world and we're going to have the species here are the species that we're involved in those conservation projects. So actually, this is just going to be an insight into the world of field conservation, our in situ work. Mike Coe: So in situ means the work you do out in the field on those projects. So this is going to be an extension of those in situ field projects that we have out there, working with the same species of animals. We're also going to have a conservation campus. So within that campus, we're going to have university students who are involved in direct conservation work. They're going to be here on site, so our visitors are going to be able to walk through that campus as part of the visitor journey. So those students are going to be there interacting with our visitors. It's going to have a breeding centre, so they're going to see the breeding work that we do both here that supports the conservation work around the world. Mike Coe: So it's that whole what we do in the field, what we do here, and the breeding centre, linking that all together on this on foot safari. So something completely different to a standard zoo, I would like to think. Kelly Molson: What a phenomenal experience for the guests that's coming along as well. Because the opportunity that they could bump into students that they can talk to about their education path and what they're doing and the conservation aspects of there, that makes that visit even better than it would be just if you are just going to visit a standard zoo. Mike Coe: Exactly that. And what we realise is that if we want to save wildlife, and our vision at Bristol Zoological Society is to save wildlife together, we realise that we can't do that in isolation on our own. It has to be together, it has to be changing behaviours of the people that come onto the site. And a large proportion of those people that come on site are young people. We attract young people. So it's changing the behaviours of those young people for them to make correct, positive conservation decisions. And you're right, you talk about them engaging with those students as they're on site. We want them to become adventurers for the day when they walk in, so they almost become a conservation hero as they leave the gates. They come in as a visitor, become an adventurer and leave the gates as a conservation hero. Mike Coe: And that's what we want to do. We want everyone to come away with this impression of what they can do at home to make real world changes. You're going to come and visit. Kelly Molson: You absolutely sold that into me. Like, I'm there. I want to be an adventurer. Mike Coe: We'll get everyone wearing those Indiana Jones style hats as they come in, so they feel the part. We'll get our public engagement team coming up with some really exciting ways to make them feel like they're suddenly out on their in situ adventure. Kelly Molson:  Perfect. I can absolutely rock that hat. And I'm sorry I interrupted you mid flow, but I was like, “Gosh, yes, I'm really feeling this”. And I was like, the buzz that there is around this is quite tantalising. Mike Coe: Exactly. And it all relies once we get the sale of Bristol Zoo Gardens, then we can really start to make this vision and become a reality. And it's much bigger than just Bristol. It's this global conservation emergency that we're in that we'll feel like we're a part of and it's great that it's in our city. Bristol is known for being quite different in the way it looks at things. We're a great city, we're an ingenious city, and it's going to be great to have a zoo that does things a little bit differently, a bit like Bristol tends to like to do. Kelly Molson: Definitely, yeah. The ethos of Bristol is definitely different. This is amazing. So an incredible vision that you have there. Genuinely, there is an excitement there. I can feel it as you talk about it and the passion for it. I just want to go back a little bit, though, because I guess it's been quite a difficult decision to make from a financial perspective, anyway. And from a heart perspective, you're going to have a lot of team that have worked at Bristol Zoo for many years. And I know you weren't there from the start of this decision making process. But how did you go about communicating these decisions to the team and what was their reaction? Mike Coe: Yeah, like I said, I wasn't there when the initial announcement that the zoo would be closing. I know that it was an incredibly difficult decision, both making that decision, but also how that was communicated with staff. And the staff are clearly the first to be told before it was made public. And you think you've got a number of staff who have been there 30, nearly 40 years at that time. So it's dealing really sensitively with all the staff, especially those that have been there that time. And then you've also, unlike, I guess, other attractions, where you probably don't have as much attachment to the product, not that I'm calling the animals a product in a museum, you don't quite have that same attachment. Mike Coe: You've got keepers that have been working, say, with the gorillas for a decade, so they've seen them grow up and work with those. So you can understand how gut wrenching it must have been at the time for those stuff and how sensitively this had to be dealt with, because it was a decision that clearly nobody wanted to take, but ultimately had to take. And it was communicating that now. I was there when the actual final dates of a date closure for Bristol Zoo Gardens was announced, the 3rd of September being the last day. So I was there and we brought everybody into a big town hall and told all the staff that 3rd of September was going to be the final day. Mike Coe: And you go through this curve of emotion, this acceptance cycle, and that first stage is real despair amongst a number of the staff there and working and developing those through that, then there's that acceptance and then realisation of how we do that. Clearly there are as we move from two zoos to one zoo, there were some people that had to move on, unfortunately. But the good thing is we managed to do most of that through voluntary redundancies. So there's very talking ones or two where people were actually made redundant. The voluntary scheme meant that a lot of people made those decisions themselves, luckily. I guess we're kind of still just on the rise of that curve now. Mike Coe: So even now, although there's this great positivity around the future, there's still people still trying to get used to having moved over from Bristol Zoo Gardens and over to the Wild Place. And we'll continue to work with those people as well to make them see the vision of the new Bristol Zoo in effect. Kelly Molson: Yeah, because my next question is general public and what their reaction was, and I guess it's a very similar reaction.Mike Coe: I think, absolutely. When you're a zoo which is at the heart of a city or a society that's a heart of a city, then you're right. It's not just that the staff that work there. Visitors have been visiting the zoo. I remember I was there throughout the final closing weeks and we had people travelling from not just around the country, literally from around the world, to say their goodbyes from Bristol Zoo Gardens, people that have been visiting for 70 years. I had one talking to and just, I guess, more stoic understanding the reasons why it was closing. But still that sense of nostalgia, and that's what came out in those last few weeks, that sense of nostalgia, what the zoo had done for the city, really, and these people as well. Mike Coe: But actually what I did get was this overwhelming sense of people understanding actually what it is time for Bristol Zoo Gardens to close. It is too small in terms of welfare and these animals and these enclosures that ultimately were just too small for them. And people got the sense that actually time moves on. And what was right for a city centre zoo back in the 18 hundreds is now not what's right for the modern world. So there was that great sense of acceptance at the end. The good thing is that Bristol Zoo Gardens will, within our plans, be reopened as a development, which will still have the parks and gardens open, so people will still be able to come and enjoy the parks and gardens. I think that's the most important thing is what people said. Mike Coe: "We still want to be able to see some of the old monuments, we still want to be able to see some of the old park." Well, they were going to be able to do that, which is really exciting. They'd be able to see the old monkey temple. A number of those items are listed. The entrance building itself is listed as well. So the entrance building is going to be turned into something called the Clifton Conservation Hub. So there'll still be conservation work. We do a lot of conservation work around the Avon Gorge and Downs wildlife project. So Avon Gorge and Downs is a site of scientific and conservation interest, while the hub of that is going to be within the entrance building when the developments finish. Mike Coe: So conservation work and wildlife conservation will still go on at Bristol Zoo Gardens, in parks and gardens, and then in the wider Avon Gorge and Downs. Kelly Molson: It's really good to hear that as well. And I guess one of the things that we always talk about from an attraction perspective is how many memories are made at a visitor attraction, regardless of whether it's a zoo or a heritage, a park, et cetera. So it's lovely that the reaction from people is we still want to be able to see these places because they've got great memories for us. We've taken our children there, we'd love to be able to go back there ourselves, and that's wonderful. And I think, on the other hand, as well, what's really good is that the message around conservation and welfare of animals is obviously a very positive one and very clear one that you've been pushing out, because that's what people have accepted about the change that's going to happen now. Kelly Molson: So that's a real positive that feeds into the vision for the new attraction. Mike Coe: Absolutely. Like I said, we ran a campaign at the end called The Zoo and You or You and the Zoo, I think it was, and it was really just people sharing all those memories and all those pictures. Like I said, understanding that actually walking with an elephant or whatever they used to do is not something they can do now, but celebrating that as something that was done in our past and being a part of that, but understanding that actually we do have to move on. Kelly Molson: Yeah, talking about moving, actually, while we're on that subject. So we've talked about the kind of the financial and the emotional decisions that have gone around this, and we've talked about communicating to the people and how from a team perspective and from the general public, let's talk about the animals, because I can only imagine that this is a logistical nightmare. How do you move a zoo? How do you move a giraffe down the road? How does it even happen? Mike Coe: Yeah, we'll come back to how do you move a giraffe, I guess. But the first off, there are literally thousands of individuals at Bristol Zoo Gardens and a number of those animals are coming with us, but the majority of those are going to other institutions. So I think the first thing to explain, and I get this asked a lot, I'm still relatively new to zoo, so it's something that I'm still learning and it's that we don't actually within zoological societies around the country, in Europe and the world, we don't own our animals, they don't belong to us. They're coordinated through a network of institutions, European Institute of Zoos and Erza have EP coordinators. Those coordinators coordinate those animals all the time between institutions because they're involved in breeding programmes. Mike Coe: So you'll get breeding recommendations and the animals will be coordinated by those coordinators from the receiving donating Zoo to the receiving zoo because of breeding recommendations that have been flagged up. So animals are always moving in between institutions anyway, those member institutions, so we don't own those animals. That said, of course, this was a number of animals moving all in one go, or a lot of animals moving won't go. Some of those animals are still remaining at Bristol Zoo Gardens while we build their new enclosures at Wild Place, and we'll move directly from Bristol Zoo Gardens over to Wild Place. So the gorillas, for instance, will be at the Bristol Zoo Gardens for a little while longer yet, and so we've built their enclosures. Mike Coe: So once those coordinators have got those recommendations of where those animals go there's, then the paperwork has to be done, those medical inspections, certain animals, depending on the size. Have to be trained for a move. So we have to train those animals before they can move, to be able to go, if they're going into crates, to be able to comfortably go into those crates and the trains to be able to do that. So there's actually, arguably, at the closure of a zoo, there was more work for the keepers than ever before. And the coordinators doing all of that work, moving them on. And we've moved on a large proportion, literally thousands of individuals. Admittedly, some of those thousands of individuals are insects and fish and things like that. That kind of bumps the numbers up a bit. Mike Coe: But you can understand there's still an incredible amount of work that has to go on between both the society giving and the one receiving the animal, between those. So all of that work goes on in the background of paperwork. Brexit god love it. Does mean that if you're moving something over to Europe, instead of having just to do one piece of documentation and paperwork, each country around Europe would require its own documentation.  So the paperwork minefield that we now have to do if we're moving them out of the UK. So a lot of ours we've tried to keep within the UK, just for those reasons as well. Mike Coe: And then, obviously, the medical checks on those animals, you can't move them if they're not healthy to move as well, the medical stuff. So I guess when you say, how do you move a giraffe? I guess then that adds even more logistical implications. What are a giraffe? About five metres tall. So I guess avoiding low bridges on a giraffe would be the most important one. But also, again, even with a giraffe, that same process of the coordinators finding the right breeding recommendations, you've also then got to have the right transport. So specially licensed transport companies that are licensed to move animals would have to be found, I guess. I've seen the crates that they moved. I think our giraffes here at Wild Place, they came from Amsterdam, I think. And the crates that they obviously move in, especially designed crates for giraffes. Mike Coe: There's probably not many of those out there that you have to try and coordinate as well. So, yeah, those big crates and the animals have to be trained to go into those crates comfortably and those moves happen. One of our animal team does have a presentation on how to move a hippo, and it is the most interesting presentation of logistics that you can possibly imagine. Kelly Molson: We need to see this presentation, pop it in the show notes. Mike Coe: How to move a hippo. Kelly Molson: That blew my mind. I've got so many thoughts about that. I hadn't actually considered how many animals would be involved in breeding programmes. So I think my mind always goes to Pandas, because it's one that's talked about quite a lot on the news. We always talk about panda breeding programmes, but yeah, I hadn't really considered the fact that the zoo, it cares for those animals, but they're not the owners of those animals and there's so many different places and variables involved in where they go and what they do next. It's crazy. Mike Coe: Yeah, and we also, obviously, I mean, our keepers have to visit those institutions that those animals are going to make sure that they're happy as well, so it's not just the coordinator. So we visit all of those centres and we review and check and make sure everything is right for those moves as well. We wouldn't let animal go unless were absolutely confident that the receiving institution had everything in place for them. Kelly Molson: Percentage wise, how many animals are coming across to the Wild Place and how many are kind of going off and going to different places. Mike Coe: So as a percentage, it's quite high, but that's because within our breeding centre, a lot of the ectotherms, insects, lizards, fish are coming across into the breeding centre, so obviously that makes a large proportion of those. And it's interesting when people think of animals, they always think of the large, cute, those iconic, charismatic animals, but actually that's a very small proportion of the numbers that are held in zoo. So of those animals so we've really only got the gorillas, I guess you would say, moving across immediately over to Wild Place. And largely because, as I said right at the start, we want to be working with those species that were involved in our conservation projects around the world. Mike Coe: So a lot of the animals that come to Wild Place will be from other institutions where they're animals that we're working in, those areas that are critically endangered, that actually have a conservation value to be in zoos. They're not just there for entertainment purposes, like I said. So very few of the animals, the gorillas being the prime example of one where we are working with those in the field and endangered, so we are bringing those across. So a lot of them will not come from Bristol Zoo, but from elsewhere. Kelly Molson: I guess you need the time to be able to build the enclosures as well for them in a responsible way. And this is the final kind of piece of the puzzle, is planning for the development, like, how are you kind of developing the existing Wild Place site to accommodate all of the new things that you want to do? Mike Coe: And it is like a massive jigsaw with 100,000 moving parts of trying to make sure that we move the right things at the right time, open up the right areas at the right time to make sure that the visitor flows work. That the infrastructure that's required because obviously, as we open up large areas of Wild Place, we know there'll be an influx of visitors. You need things like car parking, toilets, cafes, all of those sort of secondary things that make sure that the visitor can have a great day. It's not just about building enclosures as well. So it's been a really big piece of work. We're currently doing some master planning work. We're into more detailed design on that master plan now, which really starts to map out all of these sorts of things, visitor flows, the conservation model of where everything's going. Mike Coe: Our species list has already been defined, so we know which species are coming across and we've published those. So things like within the Central African Forest, which will be our first area. The reason we clearly need to put the Central African Forest area in first is because we got the gorillas that we need to move across. They need a home to go to. Conservation campus is something we really want to get in the early stages as well, because we want to get those students here and engaging and with the breeding centre in there as well, to get those animals all off site from Bristol Zoo Gardens as well. So some of this is dictated by the logistics of it and some of it is dictated by the need to improve the infrastructure to deliver the visitors. Mike Coe: One of our core visions is to be sustainable, revenue sustainable, so we have to be able to have the secondary spends from the visitors coming through, because that's the money that's ploughed back into the conservation work in the field. And we do give a proportion of that money to our direct conservation in those countries and our native work as well. One of the big pieces of work we do is native conservation. So crayfish is a big part of the work. We're doing invasive species another one. So a lot of native work. And the great thing about Wild Place, unlike Bristol Zoo, it has semi ancient woodland, it's got wetlands, so we've got the chance to talk about native woodland and communicate native woodland in a way that we didn't maybe we didn't know so much of it at Bristol Zoo Gardens. Kelly Molson: It's such an exciting opportunity. I was thinking earlier when you were talking about the animals and the logistics and the paperwork and all of those things, I was thinking, there's going to be attractions, professionals that are listening to this going, "I don't want Mike's job. I'm going to stick to my theme park. I'm going to stick to my heritage site. I'm going to stick with my museum artefacts, because that all seems a lot simpler." But actually, when you started to talk about the planning and the master planning and how you're having to plan things, you have to think about things now that might not be developed for like five or ten years down the line and how that all works together. That's really exciting. Mike Coe: It is exciting. I was brought in to work on the commercials of closing the zoo and looking at some of the future stuff. And I'm sure there'll be the more detailed planning paperwork stuff. We've got teams working on that, so it's definitely not me. There's a number of people, the animal teams, they've done an incredible job with these animal movements. I wouldn't even know where to start with some of the things that they've been doing. They've been absolutely incredible, the whole team. So, yeah, I'm a very small cog in a very big machine here.Kelly Molson: A very important cog, though, Mike, for sure. Don't play it down. Thank you. I've loved understanding about this process and I feel real, genuine excitement about what you're developing down there at The Wild Place. I think that's going to be an absolutely phenomenal opportunity for the whole of the region to come and get involved, and I'll definitely be travelling down and seeing how that's developing over you. So thank you for coming on to sharing on the podcast today, we always ask our guests if they have a book that they'd like to recommend our listeners.  Kelly Molson: It can be anything, it can be something that you love from a personal aspect. We've had all sorts of suggestions recently from marketing books. We had a marketing book on the last podcast and we had cook books from Abbey at Castle Howard. So, yeah, what have you got for us? Mike Coe: Yeah, it's funny you asked this question. I'm not a massive reader of books, so I was doing my MBA about three, four years ago and I was thinking, when you asked that question, which management book? And even when I was doing the management course, all the management books and theories that are out there, porter's theory, you got 1 minute manager how to influence people. And whilst I was doing that, I was thinking of the book whilst I was doing the MBA that I read and thought to my child, Charlie, who was about six or seven at the time, and I remember reading it and thinking, "You know what, this is possibly the best management advice that I've ever given."Mike Coe: And I'm reading it from a children's book to my seven year old child, and that's a book that we'll all know, and it's over Oh, The Places You'll Go, which is a Doctor Seuss book. Do you remember it? Yeah. And I was just thinking, like even when I was reading out some of the quotes to Charlie and thinking," Actually, this is what management books are trying to summarise, but never seem to do it." Try 300 words to do it. Quotes like, you're on your own and you know what you know, and you are the one who will decide where you'll go, that you're in charge of your destiny. And things about that tells you to make mistakes, except you don't, because sometimes you won't. Mike Coe: I'm afraid that sometimes you'll play lonely games too, games you can't win because you'll play against you, but actually you're going to be the one holding you back in that as well. So there's loads of amazing management advice in other places you'll go, and it's something that I recommend that everybody gives to their child when they're going off to secondary school or even off to university as well, because there's some incredible quotes in there. You've got brains in your head, you've got feet in your shoes, you can steer yourself in any direction you'll choose. And I think that's kind of how I've lived my career up to date, is through the advice of other places you'll go and making those decisions yourself and sticking by those decisions, and the world is there to explore. Mike Coe: So it comes back to your thing about, where would I like to spend a month while Africa and going back there? Because that's the place I'd love to go again. Kelly Molson: But you're not taking Charlie with you? Mike Coe: No, he'll have read the book and be on his own journey by then, bless him. Kelly Molson: What I really liked is that you were quoting that book, so I know how many times you've reread that book to your son, which is lovely, and I was smiling. It's actually brought a little bit of a tears while because one of my really good friends has bought that book. She bought that book for my daughter when she was born. We've not read my daughter's 18 months old, it's not going to go in so much. Sitting on her shelf next to her bed, and I look at it every night. It's kind of the last thing that catches my eye before she goes in the cot. And when you said that book, I was like, “Oh, yes, that's just such a great book.”Kelly Molson: Listeners, as ever, we give a copy of this book away, so if you would like to win a copy of it, head over to our Twitter account, retweet Twitter this episode announcement and you could be in with a chance of winning. Mike's, fantastic book. Mike Coe:  That could be my controversial opinion that, Oh, The Places You'll Go! is the greatest management book ever written. Kelly Molson: I think maybe more people who would agree with you that on a pat than Paris one a slightly less controversial. Thank you for coming on and sharing that. It's been wonderful to talk to you. Where's the best place to find out all about what's happening? Mike Coe: Yeah. So if you go on to either our websites for Wild Place and the Old Bristol Zoo Gardens website is still there, and look at our vision and our future, and all of the information on the master planning work that's going on there and the vision in the future are there, and please come and visit us and see us here. We're right at the start of the journey, but over the next five to ten years, we're going to really transform this place.Kelly Molson: I don't think you're going to have any problem getting any of our listeners to come and visit. Mike, thanks again for joining us. Mike Coe: Thanks, Kelly.Kelly Molson: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip The Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast.

Welcome back to 'ReZOO: The Zoo Review Podcast'! Today, Jack & Jodi are hosting the first ever ReZOOie Award Show. This special episode will celebrate excellence in zoos, with categories recognising their incredible conservation work, visitor experience, habitat design and overall brilliance! This has been a dream since we started the podcast a year ago and we are so excited that we are able to celebrate some amazing organisations now! We also recap our favourite moments of the year. This includes visiting the baby polar bear at the Highland Wildlife Park, The Chester Zoo Youth Symposium and Jodi standing in the P Zone... Make sure to stay all the way to the end because we also let you know what to expect from the future of ReZOO! Useful Links Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok & Instagram! We are @PangolinPodcast

Did Sarah Ann Henley's billowing skirts save her life when she fell from the Suspension Bridge in 1885? Is there any truth in the infamous tale of the Bristol Zoo car park attendant who scammed his way to happy retirement? And was a lost child really found in the Mall Cribbs Causeway with a bottle of hair dye and a new change of clothes?These are questions explored in episode 77 of the Behind the Headlines podcast, where we hear from author and journalist Eugene Byrne on the gruesome, miraculous and ridiculous Bristol urban legends heard in the pub, at bedtime story time and Mumsnet.

Welcome back to another episode of 'ReZOO: The Zoo Review Podcast'! As you may have heard, Bristol Zoo recently closed it's gates for the very last time. However, that is not the end of the story. Bristol Zoological Society also own the Wild Place Project, an exciting new development on the outskirts of Bristol! This time, Jack & Jodi are going to be giving their thoughts on this new development, as well their hopes for the future of this conservation heavyweight. This episode features discussions about species including Giraffes, Elands, Zebras, Geladas, Cheetahs, Lemurs, Lynx and Meerkats! We also spend a lot of time talking about the importance of theming, the necessity of a good map and the sites newest development, Bear Wood! Special shout out to Connor & Steph, whose passion for conservation inspired this episode!

This week Parsons and Emslie have some more animal based fun (in a normal way) at Bristol Zoo for a very special 2 parter. If you want to support us on our endeavours, please support our Patreon where some special content will be uploaded: https://www.patreon.com/parsonsandemslieFancy a one off donation? Well jump on to https://ko-fi.com/billyjoematesAnd finally if you want to see Parsons do his hit show at the Pleasance in London find more details here: http://www.josephparsons.co.uk

Part 2 of Bristol Zoo with Parsons and Emslie! If you want to support us on our endeavours, please support our Patreon where some special content will be uploaded: https://www.patreon.com/parsonsandemslieFancy a one off donation? Well jump on to https://ko-fi.com/billyjoematesAnd finally if you want to see Parsons do his hit show at the Pleasance in London find more details here: http://www.josephparsons.co.uk

Send us a textIf you work in promoting or bringing life to town and city centres, visitor attractions or have a dream of working for a creative organisation, you're going to love today's podcast.  In this episode I'm joined by the wonderful Kate Statham and Hannah McGavin, Directors of Bristol-based and award-winning theatrical events company Bakehouse Factory. Their work takes them all over the country, working in shopping centres, town and city centres and different types of venues. The Bakehouse team brings these places alive with their magical theatrical performances and ‘wow' factor installations.  One of their most recent projects was to create an experience to mark and celebrate the closure of Bristol Zoo in Clifton (that's sure to be an award-winner!). On the show, we talk about the type of work Bakehouse does and how they work with so many stakeholders in delivering town or city-wide messages. We also chat about how art and culture can bring places to life, telling stories through theatre and music. For those wanting to work in the creative events industry, Kate and Hannah share tips about how to approach a company like Bakehouse and how it takes a multitude of talent, from carpenters to professional actors, project managers and musicians, to create great events. There's lots to take away from this episode – I hope you enjoy it.  Find out more about Bakehouse:Website: www.bakehousefactory.co.uk LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/bakehouse-factoryInstagram: www.instagram.com/bakehousefactoryTo share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories.

If you work in promoting or bringing life to town and city centres, visitor attractions or have a dream of working for a creative organisation, you're going to love today's podcast.  In this episode I'm joined by the wonderful Kate Statham and Hannah McGavin, Directors of Bristol-based and award-winning theatrical events company Bakehouse Factory. Their work takes them all over the country, working in shopping centres, town and city centres and different types of venues. The Bakehouse team brings these places alive with their magical theatrical performances and ‘wow' factor installations.  One of their most recent projects was to create an experience to mark and celebrate the closure of Bristol Zoo in Clifton (that's sure to be an award-winner!). On the show, we talk about the type of work Bakehouse does and how they work with so many stakeholders in delivering town or city-wide messages. We also chat about how art and culture can bring places to life, telling stories through theatre and music. For those wanting to work in the creative events industry, Kate and Hannah share tips about how to approach a company like Bakehouse and how it takes a multitude of talent, from carpenters to professional actors, project managers and musicians, to create great events. There's lots to take away from this episode – I hope you enjoy it.  Find out more about Bakehouse:Website: www.bakehousefactory.co.uk LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/bakehouse-factoryInstagram: www.instagram.com/bakehousefactoryHuge thanks to podcast sponsor Noble Performs. Noble provide Unstoppable digital marketing to maximise your performance. From SEO to Paid Social and more, we have the tools you need.Find out more about host Kelly Ballard and the Visitor Elves here.Subscribe to the Visitor Elves newsletter, to receive the latest podcast releases and inspirational tips to help you with your visitor economy business. To comment and ask questions about the episode, head over to: InstagramLinkedIn If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories.

Welcome back to 'ReZOO: The Zoo Review Podcast'! As you may have heard, Bristol Zoo recently closed it's gates for the very last time. Therefore, Jack and Jodi wanted to memorialise this wonderful collection and celebrate the joy it brought them. However, to make this extra special they are going to be doing things a little bit differently! Instead of covering the usual topics, to start off the episode Jack is joined by the fantastic Connor Davies, one of Bristol Zoos Engagement and Learning presenters! This dynamic duo discuss the importance and history of this amazing zoo, and Connor's memories with this incredible place. Then, Jodi returns to give her two stars and final thoughts! Bristol Zoo was home to some amazing creatures, including Gorillas, Lions, Bats, Seals, Penguins and Red Pandas; and at 186 years old, it was the 5th oldest zoo in the world. We hope this send off brings you as much joy as Bristol Zoo brought us. So, raise your cups and let's say one final farewell to the fabulous Bristol Zoo! Huge thanks to Connor for his amazing contributions to this episode

Once again Jack is joined by Connor Davies, a member of the Chester Zoo Youth Board! He is here to tell us all about youth governance, inclusivity in conservation, and the important work and aspirations of the Chester Zoo Youth Board! The pair begin with a recap of Connor's last appearance on the show where he discussed Bristol Zoo and volunteering. They then jump into the topic of inclusivity and how the Chester Zoo Youth Board promotes the voices of under-represented groups. They also take a whistle-stop tour through the Youth Boards greatest achievements (including their Youth Symposium and Accessibility work) and discuss two of Connor's favourite under-represented species, the somewhat bizarre aardvark and the unfortunately nicknamed scrotum frog! Useful Links: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @PangolinPodcast Follow Connor on Twitter: @Connorljd Learn more about Bristol Zoo: https://bristolzoo.org.uk Learn more about Chester Zoo: https://www.chesterzoo.org/ Learn more about the Chester Zoo Youth Board: https://www.chesterzoo.org/corporate-information/governance/chester-zoo-youth-board/ You can contact the Chester Zoo Youth Board by emailing: youthboard@chesterzoo.org.uk Learn more about 'Dobby' the Aardvark here: https://www.chesterzoo.org/news/first-aardvark-born-at-the-zoo-in-90-years/ Learn more about the Scrotum Frog here: https://www.chesterzoo.org/news/frogs-on-the-edge-of-extinction-go-on-display-at-chester-zoo/ Music Credits: "Cambodian Odyssey" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ At The Shore by Kevin MacLeod, Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3389-at-the-shore License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Monkoto by Kevin MacLeod, Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4072-monkoto License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ AngloZulu by Kevin MacLeod, Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3372-anglozulu License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Savannah (Sketch) by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4323-savannah-sketch- License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

In aflevering 164 duiken we in het heden, verleden en toekomst van Bristol Zoo. ➤ Reageer op deze podcast: zooinside.nl/contact of info@zooside.nl ➤ Volg Zoo Inside op Twitter: twitter.com/Zooinsidenl ➤ Volg Zoo Inside op Instagram: www.instagram.com/zooinside_podcast

Today Jack is joined by Connor Davies, one of Bristol Zoo's Engagement and Learning Presenters. He is here to chat about youth empowerment, volunteering, and his pathway in to conservation. First, the duo share some of the perks of being a volunteer and discuss the various doors that these experiences open. They then discuss Connor's current role in the Bristol Zoo education team; the future of Bristol Zoo & the Wild Place Project; and Connor's favourite under-represented species, the Desertas wolf spider – a somewhat spooky, but incredibly beautiful and unique creature! Other animals mentioned include Lions, Tapirs, Cockroaches and Rats! It is also worth noting that this is the first part of a two part special and next week Connor will be back to discuss his work with the Chester Zoo Youth Board. Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss out! Useful Links: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @PangolinPodcast Follow Connor on Twitter: @Connorljd Learn more about Bristol Zoo: https://bristolzoo.org.uk Learn more about volunteering at Bristol Zoo: https://bristolzoo.org.uk/zoo-information/volunteering Learn more about the Chester Zoo Youth Board: https://www.chesterzoo.org/corporate-information/governance/chester-zoo-youth-board/ Learn more about the Desertas Wolf Spider: https://bristolzoo.org.uk/save-wildlife/conservation-and-research/desertas-wolf-spider-project Music Credits: "Cambodian Odyssey" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ At The Shore by Kevin MacLeod, Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3389-at-the-shore License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Monkoto by Kevin MacLeod, Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4072-monkoto License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ AngloZulu by Kevin MacLeod, Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3372-anglozulu License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Savannah (Sketch) by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4323-savannah-sketch- License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Christoph chats with Ciarán about his journey to becoming a zoo director, from his early childhood interest in animals, his experiences while in Madagascar studying lemur monkeys and his time spent at Bristol Zoo. They take a stroll through Dublin Zoo, discuss the difference between former east and west German zoos and how zoos have changed over the centuries, moving towards conservation organizations and trying to have a positive influence on animal welfare in the wild. We hear about lemur monkeys, the topic of Christoph's Phd, gibbons, elephants, sea lions and that zoos today also are campaigners on sustainability with a positive impact on society through education and consumer power. The main culinary delight from Germany Christoph misses is Bergische Waffeln. Christoph is a self confessed zoo nerd and he gives a fascinating insight into how these institutions care for animals on a day to day basis and how zoos can be catalysts for positive change in the future.

Today is International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2022, and who better to talk to than the Chief Science Officer of Wild Planet Trust?! In this episode Jo and Ollie will be talking to Dr. Kirsten Pullen, the Chief Science Officer of Wild Planet Trust. Kirsten was previously the Director of BIAZA (that's the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquaria), as well as a Research Officer at Paignton Zoo, and the Head of Primates at Bristol Zoo. That's certainly a storied career from zoo keeper to influencing policy for zoo across the UK! Kirsten went from A levels, to Applied Biology at Greenwich University, before going on to her MSc in Ecology at Bangor University. After studying at degree level Kirsten did City and Guilds qualification - an earlier version of the DMZAA (Diploma in Management of Zoo and Aquarium Animals), while zoo keeping. Then to cap that all off she finished her PhD in Animal Behaviour while at Paignton Zoo. Visit Our Zoos: https://www.paigntonzoo.org.uk/ https://www.newquayzoo.org.uk/ Wild Planet Trust: https://www.wildplanettrust.org.uk/ Support us through our Amazon Wishlists: Paignton Zoo: https://amzn.to/327HJeb Newquay Zoo: https://amzn.to/3tDeWty

Thanks for checking out episode 34 of Drum For The Song podcast featuring Gareth 'Snoz' Lawrence, drummer of upcoming Welsh rockers Valhalla Awaits and previously drummer for The Blackout.In this episode, we talked about many of Gareth's experiences on tour with The Blackout who toured with huge bands such as Metallica, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and Blink 182. He tells many great stories about meeting some of his heroes like James Hetfield on tour in Australia, fowling Liverpool FC legend Ian Rush in a charity football match, getting to soundcheck Limp Bizkit drummer John Otto's drum kit, braking his collar bone trying to race a cheetah at Bristol Zoo, raising money for a Blackout album via Pledge Music and why he loves Michael Jackson. We also talked about his new band Valhalla Awaits, their excellent new single 'Skin And Bone' and forthcoming EP.I hope you enjoy this free episode, please subscribe to the podcast via your podcast provider & YouTube, like and review where you can and share with anyone else who might be interested.If you've enjoyed any of my episodes, please consider joining my Patreon community via Patreon at http://www.patreon.com/drumforthesong/ for access to exclusive content, group video calls, competitions, giveaways plus 20% discount at http://www.motorhead-beer.comI'd like to give a special thanks to my top-tier 'Groove Master' Patrons for their extended support. Cheers to Dean S Monahan, Rudi Pauly, Dan Hurst, Gareth Richards, Steve Hancock, Paul W. Grasmehr, Charley Farley, Kenny Kendrick, Jari Väisänen, Paul Hutchings, Mark Porter, John Lang, Andrew Mansell, Mark Porter & John Carley.If you'd prefer not to commit to monthly payments you can still support me and the podcast by making a donation via Paypal:https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=RMXSZGD7CTXY4Any donations, no matter how big or small will be massively appreciated and will help me to continue making these podcasts during these tough times.Facebook:www.facebook.com/drumforthesongwww.facebook.com/groups/drumforthesong/Instagram:www.instagram.com/drumforthesongwww.instagram.com/dane_drumsTwitter:www.twitter.com/drumforthesongwww.twitter.com/dane_drumsTikTokwww.tiktok.com/drumforthesongMerch:https://drumforthesong.bigcartel.com/Official website:www.drumforthesong.comSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/drumforthesong. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we delve into the world of cons, scams and fraud. Stream or download us today to hear the following (and a lot lot more!): Hear us discuss a wide variety of Scams from the advance fee scam to the fake tech query con How a contestant scammed his way to the top prize on a British game show How one Portuguese man caused an economic crisis in his bid to con people Hear about the footballer who signed for many clubs - but never played a game We also have a mystery to solve as to whether there really was a man who pretended to be a car park attendant at Bristol Zoo and dissappeared with a fortune........ As always please do leave a review if you like the episode and please do subscribe and share. If you'd like to get in touch to comment on an episode, suggest a topic or just to say hi, you can get as at the following: Castingviewspod@gmail.com Twitter Instagram TikTok PodPage Linktree Intro/Outro - Smooth Tail by Nature's Eye Cover Art - Casting Views

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is  Kelly Molson, MD of Rubber Cheese.Download our free ebook The Ultimate Guide to Doubling Your Visitor NumbersIf you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcastIf you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this episode.Competition ends April 29th 2022. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references: https://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/https://www.rzss.org.uk/support/https://www.highlandwildlifepark.org.uk/we-are-open https://twitter.com/Lisa_Robshawhttps://twitter.com/EdinburghZoohttps://twitter.com/HighlandWPark David Field, Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) CEO, returned to RZSS in 2020 having been a section moderator at Edinburgh Zoo early in his career. David's previous roles include chief executive of the Zoological Society of East Anglia, zoological director of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), curator of ZSL Whipsnade Zoo and assistant director of Dublin Zoo. An honorary professor of the Royal Veterinary College, David has served as chairman of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquaria (BIAZA) and is the current president of the Association of British and Irish Wild Animal Keepers. Lisa Robshaw is a visitor attraction marketing specialist with 20 years' experience of working in the tourism and hospitality industry after studying International Tourism at the University of Lincoln. She joined the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS)  in August 2019 after a brief stint agency side. Prior to this she has worked for Historic Environment Scotland, Continuum Attractions and British Tourist Authority (Now Visit Britain).As Head of Marketing and Sales at RZSS, Lisa leads the teams responsible for the wildlife conservation charity's marketing, sales activity, membership, adoptions, events and experiences . No day is ever the same and what she enjoys most is sharing the amazing experiences Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park have to offer and telling people about the important work RZSS does to protect threatened species in Scotland and around the world .  When she's not working, Lisa can usually be found chasing after her young family and planning visits to the south coast of England from where she originally hails! Transcription:Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host Kelly Molson. Each episode I speak with industry experts from the attractions world. In today's episode, I speak with David Field, CEO, and Lisa Robshaw, Head of Marketing and Sales, at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. We discuss the zoo's experiences over the pandemic, highs, lows, and why you really can't furlough a penguin. If you like what you hear, subscribe on all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue.Kelly Molson: Lisa and David, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. I'm really looking forward to speaking to you both.Lisa Robshaw: Yeah, looking forward to speaking to you. It should be good fun.Kelly Molson: Well, let's see how we get on with the icebreaker questions, and see how much fun it is going to be.David Field: Yeah. I'm dreading this.Kelly Molson: I've been quite kind to you both, actually, I feel because we've got two of you today and we've got a lot to cram in. So what is the worst food you've ever eaten and why isn't it peas?Lisa Robshaw: Oh my God. I think it was snails for me. And it was when I was 12, in France. So that probably doesn't help. So we're talking like 1990, giving away my age now. And we're in this awful school canteen on this French exchange trip, we were forced to eat these snails. We weren't rude to our hosts. I don't actually think they were cooked particularly well because I think some of us were ill afterwards.Kelly Molson: Oh gosh.Lisa Robshaw: The texture, the smell, the whole experience.David Field: Yeah. I adore snails and I adore peas. I'm not sure your listeners would particularly want to hear about my adventures when we've been out on ... doing field work in Indonesia, some of the things that we had out there. But we did have to eat animals which were hunted and caught, and we ate. And they were kind of animals, which suffice to say, had a very strong aroma about them. So you're in the jungles, you're surviving, and it was not nice. But it was the aroma of their scent glands which permeated the meat.Kelly Molson: Oh Gosh. Yeah. I'm getting a really lovely ... a lovely image of that, David. Thank you.David Field: It makes celebrity in the jungle thing a walk in the park.Kelly Molson: You were the real celeb. Get me out of here.David Field: I really wanted to get out of there.Kelly Molson: Okay. Brilliant. Thank you. Okay. To both of you, if you could have an extra hour of free time every day, how would you use that free time?David Field: I would do more moth hunting. I like trapping moths and counting moths. And I never get a chance in a morning to do that. So that's what I would do, every single day if I could.Kelly Molson: Moth hunting, can we just elaborate on this? So this is a hobby of yours?David Field: Yeah. Yeah. You just hunt ... and butterflies. It's amazing. It's the best thing in the world. And you just ... every night you set at this light trap and moths are attracted to it at night. And then you get in there in the morning, first thing in the morning, and you've got all these hundreds of different species of moths, and it's just the most beautiful thing. They are the most gorgeous thing that we never think about that just roam our gardens. And I'd do that every day if I could.Kelly Molson: Oh wow. I honestly have never heard anyone have that as a hobby before. That's something completely new for me. How lovely.David Field: Yeah. Try it.Kelly Molson: This is why I ask these questions. You never know what you're going to get. What about your unpopular opinions?Lisa Robshaw: Harry Potter books should not be read by adults. They are a children's book.Kelly Molson: Oh. I mean, no one can see my face because this is a podcast. So if you're not watching the video it's ... Gosh.Lisa Robshaw: But I don't know what it is. I remember when Harry Potter came out. Again, I'm aging myself here. I was at university and I didn't understand why people were going mental. And then I think right about the time of ... in the middle of it all, they re-released the same book with a different cover to appeal to adults. And I was like, that is wrong. You're ripping people off. It's a children's book. That's what I talk about. No, no, no.Kelly Molson: I am quite shocked by that. I love the Harry Potter books.Lisa Robshaw: I'm sure they're great. I've tried reading them. I just ... they're not for me.Kelly Molson: What about the films? Fan? Not bothered?Lisa Robshaw: I kind of class those as a sort of Boxing Day, fall asleep in front of it after a few glasses of red wine type of film. Anything that keeps the kids' kids quiet for two and a half hours. You know what I mean? It's that kind of thing. But I just don't ... I mean, this is ironic that I've been to a Castle and done the broomstick riding three times and my kids, and it's a brilliant experience. But like grown adults losing their minds over it, I just don't get it.Kelly Molson: Oh my God. Well, David, I don't know, can you top that for an unpopular opinion? I'm not sure.David Field: Well first off, who's Harry Potter?Kelly Molson: What are you doing to me, David?David Field: So perhaps this segues a little bit into talking about the visitor attractions and that type of stuff, but mobile phones should be banned at visitor attractions because it's about family time.Kelly Molson: Oh, that's a bit serious.David Field: I really do think they should be banned from visitor attractions.Kelly Molson: I can see where you're going with that. Yeah. Like being present, not on your phones, not looking for the opportunity to be on your phone, but just being present with your family. I get that.David Field: Yeah. Yeah.Kelly Molson: Oh, this is ... isn't it really interesting though. But from the perspective of being a CEO of an attraction, wouldn't you want people to be engaged with the stuff that you have there so that they share that on social media, so that then drives more people to come?David Field: They can do that when they go home. They can do that on their way there. They can do that every time. When they're in, and particularly when they're in the zoo, we want them to be engaged with nature, we want them to be there in front of them, not encasing them in some sort of cloak of electronic gadgetry, putting these barriers between them and nature and putting the barriers between them and their family. Live in the moment, not on your phone.Kelly Molson: Oh, what a great quote. Okay. Listeners, I really ... well, I want to hear what you've got to say about both of those unpopular opinions. Thank you for sharing. Okay. I was going to ask you what you do in your roles. But I think from your job titles, it's probably pretty obvious to people, especially the people that are listening to this. So I thought I'd actually ask you if each of you could tell me what your favourite thing is about the zoo or the wildlife park?Lisa Robshaw: It's like choosing a favourite child, isn't it?Kelly Molson: I've only got one, so it's really easy.Lisa Robshaw: Yeah. Highland Wildlife Park. For me, it's the expanse and the fresh air. I mean, I'm a city girl. I'm originally from Portsmouth. I've lived in New York and all this kind of thing, and I've lived in Edinburgh for 20 years now, but ... or 15 years. But when you get up to Highland Wildlife Park in the beautiful Cairngorms and it's just the fresh air and the space, and even when the park's busy, it's almost still silent. Do you know what I mean? It's just this sort of really relaxing place. When I get the chance not to be sitting in meetings all day, as is the danger sometimes when you're on the kind of hamster wheel of working and that kind of thing. So I love getting up there and just spending time and relaxing and enjoying the surroundings.Kelly Molson: Great answer.Lisa Robshaw: That's my professional point of view. I mean, the animals are amazing, and asking me to pick my favourite animal is always a difficult one. Red panda, but ... penguin. Now see, that's the problem. But yeah, that's mine.Kelly Molson: I love it. David, what about yours?David Field: So, as part of my job ... and I've been knocking around this zoo world since I was 12 years old. So for me, it really is about the animals and the beauty and that connection with the animals. And as part of my job now, I insist that I have a couple of hours ... an hour or so in the day that I go pottering around the zoo. And zoo directors need to potter around their zoo. Because every day, every different hour of the day, every season, there is something different going on. There's a different animal, doing something different, something exciting. And my favourite animal changes each day. But I go out and because the zoo and the wildlife park are so different, every single time you go around, that's what makes them so amazing and beautiful and inspiring and glorious, and why I've been doing this for 30 odd years.Kelly Molson: Oh, perfect answer. I love that you're just pottering around, just having a little walk around your zoo, just checking out the animals. It's really nice. I'd like to do that. There you go. And I'd like to spend my hour pottering around the zoo if I got my extra hour. Thank you both. So the title of this podcast episode is You can't furlough a penguin. Experiences from the last 19 months at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.Kelly Molson: Now, I was at the Visitor Attractions Conference a little while ago, back in October and you can't furlough a penguin was something that I heard Bernard Donoghue say while he was given one of his very fantastic talks, as always. And I thought, that's a great podcast title. I'm going to use that when I get Lisa to come on this podcast.Kelly Molson: I want you to take us back to kind of Feb., March time 2020, when coronavirus was something very new and nobody in the UK had ever heard the word furlough before. I can very vividly remember what it was like for me with a team of seven thinking, gosh, we've got to pack up, we've got to work from home. Is anyone actually going to buy anything from us for the next ... I've got no idea what's going to happen. I can only imagine what was going through your heads, having a team of people that you were both thinking about and thousands of animals that you have to care for, that you're responsible for. What was that even like?David Field: Well, I think every day you are looking back on that time and hindsight's an amazing thing, to look back on how you handled it, how many hours you spent lying, awake thinking about it. But then, in some respects, we were no different to others. And everybody was facing a crisis in so many different ways. And this has been one of the most important sort of most significant kind of social impacts in our lives. Hopefully we'll never get anything like this. My parents, my grandparents had world wars and stuff like that to deal with. We just had to deal with a bit of a pandemic, which quite frankly, we should all have been prepared for. It was coming. And the next one will come.David Field: For me, it was very odd because just February, March, I was leaving my previous job, ready to come up to Edinburgh to start a new job. So I was having to sort of resolve the issues in one zoo and leave it in a good enough state, ready to come to Edinburgh, where my board, etc. at the time were already trying to deal with the organization that at the time, we didn't have a CEO in place then, did we? You just had to react. You just had to understand that you had so little information that you had to be incredibly dynamic and react to situations.David Field: And the crucial nature, before anything else, was just securing money, was securing funding, just so that you could make sure that you could stay open. And the difference in dealing with governments in the UK as compared to governments in Scotland, were miles apart. And so that was the crux. And you were so focused into that, that other things did disappear. Once you could get the money, once you could get the bank loans, once you got that, then you could start some sort of planning. So that was the crux. It was money, money, money all the way, just so you could stay open. Now, as good charities, we all had some reserves, but we just didn't know what the endpoint was going to be. And so securing funding was the be all and end all.Kelly Molson: And I guess, so David, were you ... I mean, you talked a little bit there about the challenges dealing with English government, Scottish government. What were the differences? What was difficult about that process?David Field: Access, getting people to listen to you. Now look, we know the governments had so much on the plate that wanting to listen to the zoo director down the road was probably fairly low down the list. But it was trying to get the message across that you couldn't, not so much furlough a penguin, but you couldn't furlough a penguin keeper. And just trying to get those individual messages through. But being able to get that through to Scottish government made life so much easier, having people that would listen made so much easier for you. To be fair, DEFRA were excellent, but it was trying to get to the ministers. The civil servants, hats off to them, amazing. But try and get through to ministers who actually make the decisions, was nigh on impossible.Kelly Molson: Yeah, I can completely imagine. And Lisa, so where did this leave you? Because I guess you then have to think of different ways to drive donations. You have to think about how you're engaging with the audience who aren't able to come to your venues. You've got to engage with them on social media, online, and virtually in some way. How did you even ... how did you start that process and where did some of the ideas ... and what did you do? Where did they come from?Lisa Robshaw: I mean, for me, it was a massive learning curve. I'm a visitor attraction marketer by trade. I'm not a fundraiser. And it's obviously a different discipline. Although we're talking to the same people, we're having to talk to them in a slightly different way. So I mean, back to that week in March, it was a sense of disbelief of what was going on. All of a sudden, I had to put a different hat on and I was learning a new trade almost from our sort of development team, and all that kind of thing. We put a lot of people on furlough, which meant we all had to wear different hats and support people in a different way. I suddenly became a web developer and yeah, I'm a digital marketeer, I'm not a web developer.Kelly Molson: You want a job because it's really hard to find web developers right now.Lisa Robshaw: I don't think anyone would want to employ me, to be honest. I gave that part of my career up as soon as I could. But very quickly, it was long hours, long days, adapting our messaging. Because to be fair, Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park, visitor attractions first, almost kind of ... in terms of individual giving, it was such a small part of our charitable income at that stage that we just had to completely do a 360. So in terms of fundraising, it was really just making sure that our development team were well supported in making sure our messages got out, and working with the comms teams to make sure the messaging was appropriate, emotional enough to elicit that donation.Lisa Robshaw: And then it was working with kind of our discovery and learning team, I think there was only one after we'd furloughed everybody, on how are we going to engage with people virtually? So obviously we were looking at the great work that other zoos were doing. Chester, for example, with their Friday kind of online videos and Facebook lives and all this kind of thing. Almost, okay, what can we do, which is really Edinburgh or Highland Wildlife Park-esque? You know? And all this kind of thing.Lisa Robshaw: And one of the light bulb moments, I think in think in lockdown two, when we were all getting really quite professional at lockdowns, professional lockdowners, all this kind of thing, was thinking about how we can do virtual birthday parties and take that experience into people's homes, and do something different to what other people were doing. That's what we wanted to do. And that's how we honed our kind of skills, I guess, and how we developed, and how we all evolved during the two lockdowns. It was incredible.Lisa Robshaw: But the outpouring of support from people we had. I mean, I was very much the same as David, how ... and other attractions, not just zoos, but other attractions, how are we going to keep the money coming in while we're closed? How am I going to sell a membership to somebody when the zoo's closed and they not having the experience? It's things like making sure the membership didn't start until we reopened, so people felt, we'll get them the money at that point, but their membership wasn't starting. They were getting the added value when we opened. And our membership, the support we had from our members and our new members was just incredible during lockdown. It really was. And that just ... yeah, it was a massive learning curve.David Field: I mean, that support Lisa, that you talked about, was huge, was overwhelming. It was remarkable. And certainly Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park, certainly the zoo, hadn't had that level of support previously. The level of support that we received from the community was incredible. But I think that came because the authenticity of our message. We were very, very transparent with what was going on. We spoke to everybody and anybody, whether they wanted to do a podcast, whether they wanted to do a newspaper piece, whether they wanted to talk to us on the phone. We spoke to anybody. And it was the honest truth of what we were putting out there, that we didn't know what was happening day to day. We didn't know about the future of some of these animals. There was questions about our pandas. There was questions about our penguins. But we went out there and talked. We opened our hearts, we opened our zoos to information and messages, and the response that we got was incredible.David Field: Do you know, I think Edinburgh fell in love with its zoo again. They began to value what they might just miss. And it was about the ... I truly believe it was the authenticity of our message and what people saw and heard from our zookeepers, from our conservation teams. And that work with the D and L team, the Discovery and Learning team, was incredible, because they didn't just put material online. They made it just a zoo visit online. They made it so interactive. They made it one on one. It was remarkable. It was just so exciting.Kelly Molson: I love what you said there about Edinburgh realises what they could potentially miss if the zoo wasn't ... if it didn't exist anymore. Have you seen, since the zoo has reopened, that you are getting a lot more kind of people ... a lot more local visitors? Have you seen that that's kind of increased, that people ... they are really loving Edinburgh Zoo again?David Field: I think so. I mean, Lisa might ... you might be able to give a bit more of the kind of stats and facts of it all. I look at it from a more emotive sense and you do just get that level of feeling that people believe in what we're doing and they're really supporting what we are doing. But I think one of the most remarkable things for me was when we did reopen and you saw people coming back into the zoo for the first time. And it was also a time when the families were probably meeting each other for the first time again, because we were one of the few places that were open, one of the few places where people could meet. And suddenly the emotion of people meeting in a place like the zoo, it was remarkable. And we tend to forget the social value of our visitor attractions for quality family time. And that period of just as we were starting to reopen, just emphasized it perfectly of how important the zoo was as a family place, a place for real quality time.Lisa Robshaw: Yeah, absolutely. I completely agree. And the amount of people that were coming back that were saying, "I haven't been for years, and I'd forgotten how wonderful it was or it is." You still get that in the school playground, anecdotally, the mums going, "Oh my God, I can't believe you work at Edinburgh Zoo. You've done so much amazing work during lockdown. The kids have loved the films and all this kind of stuff." And you just go, wow, that social value is an absolute, really good point. And yeah, anecdotal evidence is that everyone did fall in love with the zoo again. It's incredible.Kelly Molson: And they're coming back in droves to show you that love now as well.Lisa Robshaw: Absolutely, yeah. Our visitor numbers this year have been amazing, better than ... I think summer 2020 was better than summer 2019. But we have to make ... or '21, sorry, was better than 2019. But we have to remember 2019's a pretty bad summer weather wise as well. But I do ... so couple the bad weather with this new affection and the fact that people haven't been able to go anywhere else, I mean, it's ... yeah. We're reaping the reward and the challenge is going to be keeping the momentum going into next year when we've got so more competition.Kelly Molson: Yeah.David Field: Absolutely. We've got to seriously up our game for the ... when the period sort of as we were reopening and lockdowns were being lifted, so people just wanted to get out and be local, there was a benefit there. People started to see, as Lisa said, actually this is a pretty, pretty great place. Look at all this exciting stuff that's going on. But now we've got to just keep going and maintaining that excitement and that wonderful visitor attraction element, which drives our charity mission, is essential. So it's challenging going forward.Kelly Molson: It is. And actually one of the questions I was going to ask you is about how you kept your team motivated through the pandemic. Because, like you said earlier, it's not just, you can't furlough a penguin, it's you can't furlough the penguin keeper. So you had a lot of people that were still coming into work during the pandemic because there was a need for them. They had to be there. But I guess an extra question to that is how do you now keep your team motivated to keep that excitement and keep that enthusiasm going, to keep drawing the people in again? So two different questions, or same question, but for two different situations there.David Field: Yeah. I think there's ... it's a really, really tough time for the staff. They're absolutely shattered. Staff such as the ... say the keeping staff, and I mean ... were coming through during the pandemic to work. So they weren't getting time off particularly. And even now our other teams, which are so crucial to making the place work and be great place to visit, there's so much going on that people can't take their ... are struggling to take their holidays because of the momentum that's going on. So people are tired.David Field: And then with the challenges that we are getting there with trying to recruit new people, where there is nobody to recruit, it is putting pressure on people. But it's humbling to work for a team like team RZSS, because they just step up and go above and beyond constantly. And it's the belief in what we do. It's the love of the animals. It's the love of the institution, that people step up to such an extent. And it's remarkable. But they are tired. And we would like to recruit more staff so that they could actually recover.Kelly Molson: We have Kate Nichols on from Hospitality UK, speaking with her next week about the recruitment challenge. So if you do have any questions that you'd like to pose to her, feel free to send them in, because I know that this is widespread right now. And if I'm honest, it's not just the attractions industry. We're struggling ourselves. Like I said, no joke society, if you have got web development skills hit me up. It is a huge challenge right now. And like you said, people are really, really tired. So there's still a long way to go to get everyone motivated and to keep everyone going. I really hear you on that.Kelly Molson: Lisa, I want to talk a little bit about what you said earlier about the birthday parties and some of the things that you did in terms of engaging with your audience while you couldn't open the zoo. Will you still carry on some of those things? And if so, are there any new things in development or anything that's coming up that you're quite excited about that you'd like to share with us?Lisa Robshaw: Yeah. I mean, the demand for the virtual birthday parties has obviously waned now. And actually they'll always be secondary to trying get these groups of kids into the zoo so they can actually, like David say, get close to nature and sort of be around the animals. That's our number one reason for being really, in terms of engagement. But that was great, to see the reactions and all that kind of thing. Not only because we tested it on my own six year old who had a second lockdown birthday, but also just the demand, and people by that point were wanting something different for their kids. That was great.Lisa Robshaw: I mean, one of the things I loved were the amount of companies that came out and actually wanted to work with us, and companies that traditionally the zoo have worked for ... worked with kind of on a sort of cursory ticket selling level. So hotels, for example. We had so many hotels that wanted to come and work with us in a completely different way. So one hotel wanted to do a giraffe themed bedroom, and a certain portion of percentage of the room rate would come to the hotel ... to the zoo. So I mean, I'm under no illusion, a lot of that was for PR and unusual ideas. But never before have we had hotels being that actively courting us.Lisa Robshaw: The big one is the Waldorf Astoria, the five star Waldorf Astoria Hotel, more sort of known as the Cally here in Edinburgh. And they did a zoo themed afternoon tea. Five pounds from every afternoon tea that they sold came to the zoo with an option to top up it to another five pound donation. And I think it was three and a half months that was for sale with, just as we were coming out of lockdown. So you could get home delivery or you could get the whole Waldorf Astoria experience. And they raised eight and a half thousand pounds.Kelly Molson: Wow.Lisa Robshaw: So you work out how many they sold. And that was a partnership we would never have had the opportunity to do had lockdown and COVID and the pandemic not happened. So that was fantastic. So moving forward, I'm really looking forward to working with loads of other different companies, in the next couple of ... next year or so. We've started that initiative with our art trail that we're doing next year, called Giraffe About Town. So this is one of the Wild In Art trails. You might remember things like Cow Parade. Here in Scotland we have the Oor Wullie Bucket trail, but they're popular all around the country. I think there's been Elmer Elephants in Luton, that were involved with. All this kind of thing.Lisa Robshaw: So we're going to have our own herd of 40 sponsored eight foot giraffes around the city of Edinburgh next summer. And at the moment we're going out and talking to companies about sponsoring those giraffes. And what ... this is a complete unknown of a project for me. I've never been involved in something like this to this scale before. But what is really heartening is that a variety of companies that are coming out and actually wanting to support their zoo, from big house builders to a company, a sort of a one man band who does synthesizer things for electric guitars and bands. It's just so random, but it's so amazing to see the outpouring of support that's happening.Lisa Robshaw: And also the public are really excited about ... Every time we talk about Giraffe About Town, there's people making arrangements to come to the city and have a weekend break so they can find all the giraffes. That's kind of our way of giving back to the city as well. So that's a really exciting initiative. Alongside the day job, it's quite hard work, but it's going to be so exciting. And the whole process is a whole new thing for me, from talking to sponsors, to people who create concrete plinths and these things to sit on and then looking at venues for auctions at the end to raise money for our wildlife conservation projects around the world. So yeah, that's a really exciting initiative and that would never ... we would never have taken that type of project on if it wasn't for the pandemic and have the confidence to do it.Kelly Molson: That's amazing, isn't it? That that's something so fabulous that has actually come out of something so horrendous.Lisa Robshaw: I'm going to have a lot of gray hair by the end of it. It's great that I am already. But already. I get quite emotional thinking about what the end result's going to be, and from people ... sort of companies actually getting a lot of extra PR and marketing value out of working with us, to people having a great time around Edinburgh and exploring parts of the city they've never explored, trying to tick off all their giraffes, to the impact they're going to make at auction with real money for charity. It's quite exciting.Kelly Molson: It feels like people want to take ownership of an experience in some way. They want to be part of it, not just come to visit. They want to be part of that for a longer period. Do you know what I mean? Like you come and visit the zoo and then you might adopt an animal, but actually being part of the walking trail, that's really kind of embedding yourself into that experience. Something that Gordon and I discussed actually, when we had it on, was the desire for more personalised experiences, that people want to do things that are not just the norm now. They want something that's really kind of tailored to them. Have you seen an increase in demand for your zoo experiences this year?Lisa Robshaw: Yeah. Massive. Massive demand, to the point where we're getting so booked up in advance. It's great, but you almost get to a situation where we can't fulfill some of them. So we're having to manage that really carefully to make sure that we don't lose the sale, but we're also managing people's expectations. But people want that experience. And if nothing else, the pandemic sort of reignited that passion. People don't just want a tangible kind of gift. It's this thing where ... that experience that people really want, which is ... we are just made for that kind of experience.David Field: I think that is really interesting with the need for personalised experience, but deeper and more emotive experiences. And I think that's a way ... not everybody who comes to the zoo can possibly have a personalised experience. We don't have enough animals. There's not enough time in the day. For all different reasons. I'm very lucky. I get that kind of contact with animals constantly. And people need that in their lives. They cry out for this contact with nature, and it makes people better.David Field: And somehow we got to deliver within the zoo more and more of these emotional experiences. We've got to get people to not just look at an animal from a distance, but when they go into the giraffe house now at the zoo, they don't just see animals. They're really, really close. They can smell them, they can hear them, they can almost taste them. That sounds a bit weird, doesn't it? But it's a full multisensory experience. It's a deeper meaning, which is why the zoo experience means so much more than something you just see on screen. It has to be ... we've got to make the hairs on people's necks sort of stand up, get them really emoting, get those emotions running about animals. Then people care about animals more and want to hear our messages about how we can do more to protect them or conserve them. So emotion is huge for us.Kelly Molson: And is that part of how you kind of inspire people to help you now? Because I guess the zoo ... we're heading into winter, so you're going to have less people visiting. I wanted to ask what the kind of shape of the zoo is as you head into winter this year. But I see that you've got the Help the Animals that you Love campaign still running. Is that something that you run all year through? Are you going to be doing a big kind of driver of that to kind of help get through the winter? Like where are you at?David Field: I mean, I think there's a couple of questions there. I mean, in terms of ... we will do various fundraising activities at different times. And there's a recent appeal gone out just for more of our general work. When there's some specific project, we might do other appeals. But I think where we are really trying to get to is that ... and we touched on it before, is that long term relationship with the zoo. And I said, the zoo is different, whether it's winter, summer, spring, autumn morning, noon, evening, it's always something different. So we want people to be able to experience that and really pushing our membership, pushing that long term relationship with the zoo. And really there's a cradle to grave relationship that you can have with the zoo. And that's what we want to achieve because it's more than just a visit.Kelly Molson: Yeah, it is. This is something that I saw Bristol Zoo has just said, that it's going to open its grounds to the public for free after it moves to a new home next year. Circling back to what you said earlier about the zoo being at the heart of the community and people falling back in love with Edinburgh Zoo, do you have any more initiatives to kind of connect with that local community aside from the walking trail that we've just discussed, which I think is an absolutely wonderful way of connecting with the local community? Have you thought about anything long term for the zoo where you get more of the community engaged with it?David Field: Well, I would say kind of watch this space, because we will be launching next year, a major part of our future strategy is about community and it's about using the unique resources of the zoo and the power of animals to do good, to actually build improved wellbeing in individuals and also in the communities where we work, helping to strengthen the communities where we work. That's really powerful for us. When Edinburgh Zoo first opened back in the early 1900s, it was designed by the social architect, Patrick Geddes, so it was a place where communities could come and walk and commune with nature outside of all the industrial areas and built up areas of Edinburgh. And we still appeal to that. That idea appeals to us, so that it is a place of sanctuary. It is a place where people can come.David Field: And we are undertaking a range of initiatives that we can link with the community. We already do that in many ways. We work with different community groups, both in Edinburgh and up at the Highland Wildlife Park. And we want to look at all of those barriers that are cultural, social health wise, which stops people getting to the zoo. We need to work with that. We need to work with local businesses, with local council, with Scottish government, in order that we can become the most inclusive and accessible visitor attraction, not just in Scotland, but in the UK and beyond.Lisa Robshaw: It's probably worth talking about Highland, Wildlife Park as well, the developments that will start next year for the Scotland's Wildlife Discovery Center. We've got HLF funding for some massive new developments at Highland Wildlife Park, which are just around that sort of engaging with the community, the people that would normally be able to have those experiences, getting close to nature and that kind of thing, and really telling the story of sort of Scotland's wildlife heritage as well. And no better place to do that than in the Cairngorms. So we're really excited about that project and that's going to be an absolute game changer for Highland Wildlife Park.Kelly Molson: Oh, can you share a little bit more about what makes it game changing? Or is this top secret information for the time being?David Field: No, not at all. I mean, there's been quite a lot of information out there about it already. And the Scottish Wildlife Discovery Center is ... it's a transformational project, both for the park and for the society because it will be ... in reality, it's a network of hubs that takes you on an expedition across the Highland Wildlife Park. But this expedition exposes you to the people, the place, and the animals of the Cairngorms. It brings the beauty of the Cairngorms and all the knowledge and information that we need the people that will come and visit.David Field: But we will have ... there's a large discovery centre where you can find all this information. There will be hubs, which overlook our wildcat breeding program project, and our peat restoration project. Then there's a wonderful new accessible learning hub, which will be open for the community as well so that we can bring people to the park that would never have dreamed of coming to the park before or wouldn't have been able to come to the park. But they'll be able to come for different events, community outreach. But it is designed so that we can celebrate the Cairngorms and the people, the place, and the animals therein.Lisa Robshaw: What he said.Kelly Molson: What David said. Do you know what's lovely? Is you speak ... there's a real sense of positivity in this interview. Whenever you both speak, there's a real kind of uplift and a real kind of sense of excitement about what's coming next. So it's been really lovely to hear that come through from you both.David Field: Oh, fantastic. Thank you. I mean, we work with animals. It's amazing. You're having a bad day, go and sit with the penguins.Kelly Molson: That is not dreadful, isn't it? Yeah. I mean, the closest I get is to picking up a dog if I'm having a bit of a bad day, but a penguin would top it.David Field: But that is ... it's so important to us. And it's not a trite statement, but we know that people just visiting a zoo, your stress levels just go down. We know that. We know that again, it's that quality social time. It's memories. It's access to nature. All of this is important for us from so many aspects. And the power of animals to do good is just ... it's beyond. They're amazing.Kelly Molson: Couldn't have said that any better myself, David. I totally agree with you. Thank you both for coming on the podcast today. I always like to end our interviews by asking if you have a book that you would recommend to our listeners. So it could be something that's helped you in your career. It could be something that you just ... you absolutely love. It's definitely not going to be Harry Potter. We know that. Hopefully Geoff is not listening to this, our past-Lisa Robshaw: I'm to going to get an invite to the Warner Brothers Studio at any time soon, am I?Kelly Molson: No, it's not happening, Lisa. But yes, I would like to ask you both if you've got a book that you'd like to recommend?Lisa Robshaw: I'll let David go first.David Field: Well, I love my books. Absolutely love my books. The Zoo Quest Expeditions by Attenborough were an inspiration to me. But more recently, it's The Invention of Nature: The adventures of Alexander van Humboldt. Amazing book by Andrea Wulf. Alexander von Humboldt, one of the greatest naturalists, a real kind of polymath that was there. He invented ecology. He saw climate change before anybody else. And it's so beautifully written and a real inspiration in terms of what he achieved. He's one of my scientific heroes.Kelly Molson: Fabulous. That's very topical. All right, that's David's one. Lisa, what about you?Lisa Robshaw: I'm now regretting asking David to go first. Mine is ... I'm not sure I'm allowed to swear on this podcast.Kelly Molson: You can.Lisa Robshaw: The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck.Kelly Molson: Excellent book.Lisa Robshaw: It was given to me, the actual book was given to me by a friend, God, probably about six or seven years ago when I was having a bit of a hard time. And David ... it'll probably make David smile, and my boss, Ben, but I give myself a really hard time over things sometimes. I just want things to be perfect all the time. It's quite topical at the moment. And actually, I just ... sometimes when I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, I just go into this book and it reminds me that I can't control certain things. I just need to give a fuck about the things I can control and let go of the things I can't. I recommend it to so many friends that have found it useful as well. I know Ben, my boss, would probably want it to be like a bit of a marketing book that I'm recommending or something like that, I thought I really let him down with this. This is well worth a read.Kelly Molson: Lisa, I have read that book. It is an excellent book. So basically what we are recommending is grab a copy of that book, head to the zoo, go and sit by the penguins, life will be sweet.David Field: Perfect.Kelly Molson: All right, well, listen, listeners, as ever, you can have the chance to win copies of those books. So if you would like to win a copy of Lisa's book and David's book, then head over to this episode announcement and retweet it with the words, "I want David and Lisa's book," and we will put you ... books even, and we will put you in the draw to win a copy of each of them. Thank you very much. I really like those suggestions and I really am very grateful for you both coming on and sharing your experiences today with the listeners for the podcast. So thank you.David Field: You're more than welcome, Kelly.Lisa Robshaw: Thanks, Kelly.Kelly Molson: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. if you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast. 

Henbury's very own TikTok sensation and stand-up comic Abi Clarke is our headline act on this latest episode of the Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast, talking about her rise to social media fame and a new comedy night she is organising at a Clifton pub.We also hear from Jeffrey Johns, better known as Big Jeff, at his solo art exhibition; Dr Justin Morris, the chief exec of Bristol Zoological Society, explains more about the zoo's plans for their historic Clifton site; and Mottli founder Louis Napoletani tells us about the new app that helps you discover the best places to go in Bristol.

What did he learn, regret and achieve during his time as mayor? Why does he hate tall buildings so much? And what is his big vision for the land at Bristol Zoo? Tune into the conversation with Neil and George to find out all this and more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In episode 15 of the Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast, Bristol hip-hop legend K*Ners speaks to Safiya Bashir about his amazing career in the music industry; BoxPark founder, Roger Wade, talks to Martin Booth about his new concept BoxHall opening on Welsh Back in 2022; and Robin Connolly joins Bristol Zoo curator of mammals, Lynsey Bugg, to celebrate the first birthday of hand-reared gorilla, Hasani.If you enjoy listening to our podcasts, sign up to support our independent journalism here:https://my.bristol247.com/join/?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=membership

Anna recently visited Bristol Zoo which made her think about the morality of keeping animals in zoos. In this podcast Clive discusses with her the pros and cons of zoos and whether animals of all types have feelings and emotions. If so are we are treating them appropriately?

City would have taken one helluva beating were it not for another stunning display in goal from Daniel Bentley. As it was Reading ended their win less run and City continued their miserable form against teams in the top half of the Championship. Ian, Mark and Headhunter discuss a disappointing performance all round. We briefly preview QPR away, have a good old moan, discuss job for Cotts and with this week's announcement of the closure of Bristol Zoo we share some childhood memories with Mark reminding us that Johnny Morris's Animal Magic show, teatime viewing on BBC1 in the 60s, was filmed there

In this episode, producer Adam visits Bristol Zoo to try their high-ropes course Zooropia, meet keeper Olivia and walk around some of their world-famous enclosures.  Dan's here is chatting to Sophie all about the National Space Centre in Leicester and how they're catering for people of all ages and abilities – and she's telling us all about  a special chance to win!  We hear what's on across the UK with George and revisit a few of our favourite places there. And then Anna Louise back! She's dishing the dirt on the time a panther escaped from a local zoo and may or may not have ended up in her garden...  Tell us what you’re up to at FunKidsLive.com/ActivityQuest and we might use what you send us in a future episode.  Opening times and prices correct as of recording. Check before you travel and follow local government guidance regarding COVID-19. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you enjoy this podcast, consider buying me a coffee: https://adamstoner.com/support If you read or heard my last update, you will have learned that I moved house on September 3rd. That all feels quite a long time ago now but I am both delighted and relieved to tell you that it went seamlessly. Moving house was objectively the biggest thing I did this past month but I've done so much more since then. In the past seven days alone I've… Created a pilot for an upcoming podcast Visited a top-secret secret underground bunker to see an old Roman wall Gone bouldering and rockclimbing at The Warehouse in Gloucester Met a tamarin monkey at Bristol Zoo with keeper Olivia Done both rockclimbing and animal meeting at the Wild Place Project, just off the M5 near Bristol Here's what else I've been up to this month. Netflix Original Criminal is a good watch. Filmed in just three rooms, you're plonked in the middle of an interogation with suspects ranging from a murderer (S1E1) to a prision inmate who just gets a bit bored (S2E4). When you've exhausted the 7 episodes the UK version has to offer, there's also Spanish, German and French versions all with different stories that you can watch dubbed. Warhol: A Life as Art by Blake Gopnik is a behemoth clocking in at almost 1,000 pages but offers the most comprehensive insight into Warhol's work yet. I tried my hand at screenprinting earlier in the month with a £40 reusable kit from Hobbycraft. It wasn't reusable (the blocking element dried in the screen to the extent that no cleaner would remove it) but I did make lots and lots of prints, some of which I'm quite proud of. If you're going to give it a go, Pēbēo acrylics are beautiful to work with and come in the most flourecent colours you can think of. I've also been reading Selfie by Will Storr and Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age by University of Oxford professor Viktor Mayer-Schonberger. The Social Dilemma is a depressing but important film that's been recommended to me on two occasions. I watched it on the 24th. It features a bunch of technies including the creator of Facebook's Like button and the founder of the Center for Humane Technology talking about social media's effect on the psyche. I think social media is just a moral panic for a connected world but the film presents some valid points especially around the problems of misinformation. For audio friends, freetousesounds.com is selling their entire collection of over a terabtye of sound effects and atmos recordings for just $20. There are sounds from all over the world and there are some real gems in there too… Take a listen to the podcast version of this newsletter to hear a selection of them. Finally, 2017 daily vlogging sensation Casey Neistat is back with more of the same, complete with very 2020 clickbaity titles and thumbnails. I love his style of storytelling and whilst I have no desire to become a daily-anything, I do remember watching a lot of ‘how to vlog like Casey Neistat' videos during university. The one tip I remember was to cut off the end of sentences to make your movie seem more pacy; people can usually work out what you're going to say. As always, my email inbox is always open if you want to chat about anything from what you're watching on Netflix to a location you think I should visit for Activity Quest, or anything else. Rockclimbing tips very welcome. The address is me@adamstoner.com.

Today's episode is quite the menagerie - Luke and Pete hear news on the baby gorilla born at Bristol Zoo and we talk about a Greenland shark who's lived for almost four hundred years. Plus, we've got a discussion about a Satanic peadophile death cult, Luke has some info on the Japanese credit card crisis, Pete tells a story about the Ninja Museum and we hear from a listener who got in some real trouble on his trip to Death Valley!The emails we're getting at the moment are top tier, keep them coming! It's hello@lukeandpeteshow.com.***Please rate and review us on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts. It means a lot and makes it easy for other people to find us. Thank you!*** See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode, the PositiviTEAM is talking about everything from Lego Therapy to one man conquering his fears, to an adorable 6 year old doing big things! They also cover some cute baby animal stories that give hope to endangered species.  PositiviTEA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/positivitea.podcast/ PositiviTEA Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/313626449686521/?ref=share PositiviTEA Email: positiviteapodcast2020@gmail.com Paris Cares Bonfire: https://www.bonfire.com/paris-cares-t-shirts/ Timestamps: 1:38 - Elephant Baby Boom in Kenya  5:16 - Lego Therapy for Senior Citizens  8:32 - Gorilla Born at Bristol Zoo  11:15 - Man Climbs Spire of Church to Overcome Fear of Heights  18:59 - 6 Year Old Starts Non Profit to Feed Homeless  26:48 - Scientists Are Making Biodegradable Flip Flops out of Algae *if you would like a copy of the transcription of this episode please contact us and we will be happy to provide one --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/positivi-tea/message

Phineas Smith was just your typical kid growing up in post war Bristol, England, but when he and childhood friend Billy began running a muck in London that was only the beginning. Did you know that a Parking Lot Attendant could collect so much money?!?! Sources: Liveabout.com Snopes.com Bristolpost.co.uk bristolmuseums.org/uk Bristolpress.com En.wikipedia.org Bbc.com Infationtool.com Interview with BUILD Read The Story: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ExYIu1xwSSSx75qD0azV1OhB7HaHg-93okt5ti1v1jk/edit?usp=sharing --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/madderthanacaterpillar/support

Our guest Peter Taylor suggests that rewilding helps nature and the human soul. He meets Rick at Wild Place, a new outpost of Bristol Zoo. Here brown bears, wolves and lynx can be viewed in a British woodland setting. Peter considers how Eurasian lynx could be re-introduced in Britain but only with support from local communities. Rick and Peter note that spontaneous rewilding has already happened in parts of Britain where large cats are a hidden part of the ecosystem. Watch the video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qseZzVejfyMWords of the week: Intra-guild predation 1 December 2019

If you go down to the woods today … Bristol Zoo are introducing Bear Woods... Tamsin Gatewood explains

Dr Fay Clark is an animal welfare scientist. A self-confessed “zoo geek”, she specialises in the assessment and enhancement of captive animal welfare in traditional zoos, safari parks, sanctuaries and aquariums. She is currently based at Bristol Zoo where she examines how the welfare of large-brained mammals can be enhanced through cognitively challenging activities. In this in-depth conversation, she reflects on how zoos have transformed from a victorian spectacle with “poking sticks” to educational conservations, describes how ring-tailed lemurs can adapt to habitats that differ from their Madagascan roots, and explains how technology is revealing how animals solve puzzles, including when they are playing us at our own game! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Osiris Doumbé has always been a nature fan. Though his favorite animal has changed from a lion when he was young now chimps and giraffes; one thing was always clear- he was going to work with African wildlife. Specifically, wildlife in Cameroon, where his father was from. He grew up in France with a French mother and a Cameroonian father who wanted to impart knowledge, pride, and reverence for Africa in his kids. And though Osiris spent time identifying birds at his grandparent’s farm in France, his heart was already in Africa. With 2 organizations, 2 master’s degrees, a book and now a research and lecture position at the Bristol Zoo studying and protecting Nigeria-Cameroon chimps and Kordofan giraffes.

As the fifth oldest zoo in the world, Bristol Zoological Gardens has been introducing Bristolians to wild animals since 1836. I met with Dr Andy Flack, Teaching Fellow in Modern History at Bristol University, to discuss the origins of the zoo, its role in civic identity and the extent to which our attitude towards animals has (and hasn't) changed over the past two centuries.

In part 2 of this two part GBA special we join my 93 year old dad on the second day of a two day trip to some of the places where he grew up. My dad had wanted to take this trip for a while and me and my little sister (technically my half sister) managed to arrange to take him in February 2017. My 12 year old niece is the last member of the team on this roadtrip adventure. In this episode we visit the Bristol Museum, Bristol Zoo and The Downs. My dad learns why he was attracted to the Museum as a child and how much the city has transformed since he moved through it as a little boy, and bumps into a Gorilla that he used to know. It also includes an interesting moment involving an icecream van, a lack of appropriate ice-cream options for a 12 year old with very specific ice-cream tastes and a spontaneous outburst of Italian. Day 2 of the journey takes us through time, space, memory, dementia, old age, love, family and the ways places and people change. Next week will feature more podcast episodes than usual as I release some audio pieces that celebrate Getting Better Acquainted hitting 300 episodes. Help more people get better acquainted. If you like what you hear why not write an iTunes review? Follow @GBApodcast on Twitter. Like Getting Better Acquainted on facebook. Tell your friends. Spread the word!

更多内容，请关注今天的微信：搜索英语环球NEWSPlusFor students in Tian'ezhou Primary School, singing "Milu, Coming Home" is a happy way to start the day. The song was inspired by a baby milu named Jiaojiao.Cai Jiaqi, head of the Publicity and Education Department under Tian'ezhou Milu National Nature Reserve, introduces the story."We found an abandoned baby milu that had been washed away by a flood. We named it Jiaojiao because it was found in a place called Jiao Zi Yuan. We raised it and sent it back to the wild when it was two and a half years old. Based on the story, Hubei TV Station made a movie called 'Milu, Coming Home' and the theme song had the same title."Teaching students to sing the song is not the only part of the education efforts. The school has also opened a class that focuses on the knowledge of milu and how to protect them. Liu Zhifa, principal of Tian'ezhou Primary School, explains the importance of having such a class."We want to raise students' awareness of protecting milu and the environment. After opening the class, we seldom hear about incidents of catching and killing wild animals in the region anymore. This is because parents' awareness has been raised as well. When milu run into their farmlands and damage their crops, instead of hurting them, parents know they should contact and communicate with the Reserve first."The education has certainly paid off. Pan Ling, a fifth-grade student of the school, knows exactly what to do if a milu runs into her home."First, we should quiet the milu down. Then, we can contact staff in the Reserve to pick it up."Another student named Liu Sheng-rong is also a case in point."We should let more people know about milu. We can tell our family members and neighbors what we know, and they can tell more people. This way, we all help to raise awareness of protecting milu. We can also install monitors in milu's living area. If someone wants to hurt them, the staff of the Reserve would know."Teachers have played an essential role in protecting the endangered deer.Ding Xiangyu with Tian'ezhou Primary School says she often encourages students to talk about their feelings of milu and how to protect the animal after class. She says she wants the children to know no effort is too small."Take the school as an example. If students litter, I tell them not to do that because it would contaminate our environment. And if some students' parents cut trees or burn Chinese bellflowers, I would tell them to persuade their parents not to do that, as it leads to air pollution and damages milu's living environment."Cultivating children's awareness of protecting milu and the environment is also what the Reserve wants to do. Li Pengfei is a senior researcher from the Reserveonce who once studied in Bristol Zoo in Great Britain. He says the most important thing he learned there is that protecting animals should start with the children."Over in Bristol Zoo, they paid much attention to cultivate kids' awareness of protecting animals and the environment. I noticed animals there were not afraid of humans, while in our country, it was a different story. No buying, no killing. When I came back to the Reserve, I wanted our kids to know this as well."Li Pengfei says the Reserve is putting ecotourism on the agenda and plans to invite local children to tell the story of milu to people around the world.He adds that everyone in the region should shoulder the responsibility of protecting milu and the environment, and that's why Tian'ezhou Milu National Nature Reserve is calling on more like-minded people to join them.

Simon Schaffer is interested in the human species in general and one member of it in particular. Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist and zoologist who set out the basic structure of how we name and understand life on earth. In doing so he broached the thorny question of where humans should sit among the species of the earth. A hundred years before Darwin he correctly placed us among the apes. Simon examines that relationship to see the things that mark our similarities and our differences. Simon comes face to face with 'Jock', an adult Gorilla at Bristol Zoo and talks to Prof. Robert Foley about human evolution. He also sees how Linnaeus' ideas were used to support racial science. After all if humans were more like apes perhaps some humans were more like apes than others.

In this lecture, Mr Simon Garrett, Head of Learning at Bristol Zoo, asks the controversial question of how much wildlife we actually need, or even like in this thought provoking insight into the future.

Anna recently visited Bristol Zoo which made her think about the morality of keeping animals in zoos. In this podcast Clive discusses with her the pros and cons of zoos and whether animals of all types have feelings and emotions.  If so are we are treating them appropriately?