Dudley Zoo Chimpanzees. » Dudley Zoo

09-11-2007

Yes it will be indoor and outdoor the indoor been theold Polar Bear enclosure and the outdoor been the present Bear enclosure.

09-11-2007

Okay, I can see how that might work okay, though I'd still prefer a purpose built house.... I thought they had a huge amount of cash to spend now?

I suppose they will be allowed to redocorate the 'indoors'-Polar Bear enclosure to make it more suitable, and add climbing equipment etc. I can see how it could be made quite acceptable. Maybe the 'pool' area could be filled in with woodchip flooring etc? The outdoor would be easy to landscape etc. Lets hope they do a good job on it.

12-11-2007

I still think a sunken, concrete pit will be expensive to heat, and not nearly as suitable as a purpose-built house. The orangs at dudley kind of really deserve better having languished for so long in the current monstrosity....and the chimpanzees may get housing inferior to the current enclosure unless the zoo is actually going to be allowed to knock through and alter some of the existing tecton buildings and walls....the current tiger enclosure really doens't seem like the most obvious option. If the bear/tiger paddocks are themselves roofed giving tall cage-like structures it would be promising, but I'm assuming the outside ape enclosures will be open air?

If the plan all along was to sell that part of the zoo off as housing, why on earth are two very recent exhibits on the land there?

13-11-2007

Does anyone have any pictures of the current ape developments or old pictures of the mentioned exhibits (polar bear, tiger)?

22-09-2008

Plans have been submitted to Dudley council for a £750'000 new enclosure, to be built on the site of the tecton carnivore building.
Zoo’s £750k scheme for new chimp enclosure : Express & Star:

24-09-2008

I didn't realise this was at the planning application stage only. I had thought it was definate already. Where they talk about 'redevelopment of the land' e.g. where the chimps are now, I'm presuming they actually mean its being sold off?

There's no mention of plans for a new Orangutan enclosure in this so I'm wondering what the situation with that is- will they stay as they are?

12-10-2008

Does anyone know if they've managed to get a new male or males into the group as its been just a group of 7-8 females for at least 2 yrs now

13-10-2008

To my knowledge , no. This group has been females only for several years now, since the death of the old male Pepe (original Dudley male) The females all came from ZSl but no babies have been born since they came to Dudley.

I presume there must be a reason why they don't reorganise a proper sex ratio in this group.

14-10-2008

Or to look at it from another angle, are there any suitable candidates from other collections? Pertinax, any ideas on where they could acquire suitable male chimps from?

14-10-2008

Twycross- very near Dudley and they, of course, have a large collection of chimps. I should have thought they might have a couple of males they could make available. Whipsnade have several males and only one breeding female in their small group- why not an exchange to balance up the two groups? Two males is better to balance this all female group and its preferable if they're ones that are already 'friends'. (Only one needs to be a breeder though). A single male would have a hard time standing up to 7/8 females and be socially isolated too.

Other possibles might be Monkeyworld or the Welsh Primate Sanctuary but they probably won't let chimps go to regular zoos even if its a good home. I'm sure Dudley could find a couple of males somewhere in the Uk, even if not from the one source.

14-10-2008

Pertinax, all good candiates.

I doubt tywcross have that many spare as there two main groups are quite small and should not really be split.

All other chimps there are probably too old to stablise things.

14-10-2008

Agreed that if you discount all Twycross's old 'teaparty' chimps (as being too old and probably totally unsuitable socially) it doesn't leave so many normal ones. And Dudley need a couple of adult or subadult males from reasonable social backgrounds to make the group work.

I'm sure the reason Dudley haven't got another male/s isn't because there aren't any available anywhere though.

14-10-2008

Am sure they shouldn't have two much trouble sourcing a few males.

Whipsnade seems the est option to source a couple of males.

14-10-2008

Do you think its fair to say that zoos are reluctant to move their Chimpanzees? They seem to be the least 'trafficed' spieces that I know of. And theres no doubt that Dudley should have acquired a new male or two after the old male died. A group of 7-8 females would not have gone 2-3 years without acquiring a new alpha male.

Actually, just thought of something. If you move the number 2 male from a breeding group to establish him as an alhpa male in another collection, does that not weaken the group he has just left?

With regards to Monkey Worlds male chimps, its doubtful whether any of them would be capable of leading a breeding group in another collection, because of their socially deprived upbringings. One of the Alpha males, Hananya (he took over from the ex-Windsor safari park Rodney), came from isreal as a result of the pet trade, and he initially had trouble establishing his dominance over the group, although I believe he is doing a good job now.

14-10-2008

I wouldn't move one of the top ranking males out.

Any chimps being removed would slightly alter the group, but a well estblished group should be able to handle a few lower ranking males being moved out.