Heck's Macaques at Howletts » Howletts Wild Animal Park

16-08-2008

Did the gorilla at the Schmutzer centre come from Howletts? There is an interesting photo gallery of some of the primates they hold:

Macaque de Heck

I wonder if howletts decide to pair up some of their banded langur subspecies....just before the Indonesian forest fires of the late 90s, they were down to single sex groups of two banded langur subspecies, and made the decision to interbreed from them due to natural hybrid zones occurring in the wild. I was sure they recieved further banded langurs from Indonesia that were rescued from the fires, (along with the grizzled leaf monkeys), but these could possibly be of the nominate race and the only pure group of bandeds at the park with both males and females.

16-08-2008

I remember about 10 years ago Howletts sent 4.0 surplus gorillas to the Schmutzer primate centre at Ragunan, i don't know if they were in exchange for groups of grizzled and banded langurs that came from the Ragunan zoo, but the langurs i know were rescued as opposed to being donated as they were in a terrible state when they arrived in the UK.

16-08-2008

thanks kiang!

Howletts Gorilla accomodation
16-08-2008

Gentle Lemur- did you notice which Gorilla group was in which enclosure in the 'original'(kitchen garden) area? Last time I went Djanghou's group- the newest-
was in the oldest run of cages and looked very cramped, whereas Bitam's 'gorillarium' was occupied by just his three surviving females(Juju, Mouila, Baby Doll) and his small son- four animals. Have they swapped them around since then?

Also have there been any new Primate enclosures built in the last twelve months or so? the newest I saw was for the Liontailed macaques at Howletts.

18-08-2008

Hi Pertinax, I should have answered this question with my first post, because I know you've asked it before.
Yes, they have moved the gorillas around as you suggested. Djanghou's group are in Kibam's old enclosure (the far one in the walled garden for anyone who knows Howletts) - his females are Kwimba, Sanki, Kimba II, Tamidoll & Kidiki with infant Masindi and I think 2 more who haven't got their names on the boards yet (I didn't make notes, I just took a photo of the boards )
The old females are in the small house with the divisions between the runs, with a juvenile as you describe, but there were no name boards for them or for Kouillou's group in the adjoining enclosure - I didn't see any of the keepers to speak to, but I'm sure I'm right on this one. I don't know if they ever run the old ladies with any of the group.
The only new enclosure is the one sooty mangabey has mentioned here already. The cage nest to the entrance, which used to be for black and white ruffed lemurs, before they moved them into the walk-through, is now for black and white colobus and there is a new one for geladas across the path from the Pallas' cats (which I actually saw for the first time - they have 2 kittens). The square field in between these 2 enclosures has been hotwired and planted up as an open area for both of them. It's quite a big area, but there are about a dozen colobus and they are making a mess of some of the planting, unfortunately it doesn't have big woodland trees like the colobus & de Brazza's enclosure at Port Lympne.

Alan

__________________
When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

18-08-2008

These were two ungulate paddocks housing nilgai/bongo/kudu at varying times.

18-08-2008

Many thanks for the update. I thought they must swap them over eventually as the space requirements were completely up the creek. The three old females are JuJu, Baby Doll & Mouila and they are now back living in the enclosure they lived in after first arrival at Howletts. The juvenile is a male(name is maybe Bitanu?) and he is Bitam's last son (mother Juju). I think you'll find they are never put with another group since he died and are effectively in retirement.
There never seem to be any name boards for those oldest cages, but there are for Kioullou's group, they are on the wall of their indoor building.

A couple of questions about Port Lympne for you;

1. Are the Drills still living as a single group in the old cage near 'Palace of the Apes' and how many did you see- is it six?

2. Any noticeable changes or improvements to any Monkey groups at Port Lympne?

3 Are the batchelor gorillas still living in the same two groups as before?

Many thanks.

19-08-2008

No major changes at PL. The basic gorilla groupings are the same, although I think they will have to move some of Djala's elder sons out of the breeding group before much longer. Only 5 bachelors came out for the afternoon feed from the larger group (Bonz & co) - there were six names on the paddock, but Djimu's name was missing from the house - but I think he was there. There were two in the other paddock (Oumbi and Ujiji?) and two more in the adjoining house with the tall cage and the further cage on top (Djumbah and Bubu?). The keeper was busy with a 'keeper for the day' man, so I didn't have the chance to speak to her.
There were 6 drills, but only 1 adult female now I'm afraid, they are still in the same enclosure. There has been a bit of musical cages, the golden-bellied magabeys have been moved up to the roadway above the rhinos (almost opposite the dhole), the male looks very old and stiff and he has a lot of white hair. Their old cage has dianas (if I remember rightly). The western gentle lemurs have been moved in with the sifaka.
The other development is that there are only a couple of male Guinea baboons in the 'front window' cage. The main group are in their new house in the rhino paddock, which has nice glass windows for viewing. They also have access to a typical PL 'drum' as an outdoor cage - but all the fencing around the paddock has been fitted with insulators, so it will obviously be hot-wired in the near future. The baboons can see the rhino now, and I guess the rhino can smell them when the wind's in the right direction

Alan

__________________
When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

19-08-2008

Thanks for the update on Port Lympne too. I'm pretty sure in the larger bachelor Gorilla group one is permanently seperated which is why only five came out for the feed. In the smaller 'group' they aren't a group anymore- more like two 'pairs' and I don't think they will be able to combine them again. Also I believe Boulas who used to be 'head boy' in this group and then went to Belfast, won't come back here but will join a European bachelor group instead. It seems these older males are not all proving compatable by any means. What happens if they need to add anymore younger males from the breeding groups I'm not sure, maybe add more to each existing 'pair'?.

The Guinea baboon idea is interesting- free range with the rhinos. Which paddock will this be in?

The Golden bellied Mangabeys seem not to have bred- the male(Sancho?) was old and crotchety looking even when they arrived(from I think Bucharest or Budapest) Not sure why they obtained just a single pair, as with the Hecks macaques, and Geladas at Howletts more recently. It doesn't seem enough to hope they can build up groups from.

Drills at PL.
19-08-2008

There has only ever been one adult female(Bubindi) at Port Lympne, the breeding pair are Gorbi(male) & Bubindi. Also in the group of 5 that came from Stuttgart were two partly grown daughters of these (born at Stuttgart) plus an unrelated but castrated young male. Last february(2007) I believe Bubindi gave birth to a (3rd) female young, the first born at PL. That totals six animals. Then I also heard one of the elder daughters was being sent to a European group- either that hasn't happened yet or Bubindi has had another baby this year, to bring the tally back to six again.

19-08-2008

That's the explanation - I could have said that's the drill. I knew one of the females had gone, and there is a fairly young one, not a babe in arms but I'd say a good deal less than a year old.

I think we're agreed about the gorillas and mangabeys.
The paddock that the rhinos and baboons will share is the triangular one. The baboon house is in the SE corner, opposite the veterinary centre at the top of the path past the bachelor gorilla paddocks. The south boundary is on the other side of the path from the open colobus & de Brazza enclosure and the west boundary is the path from the corner of the red panda exhibit up to the mansion (the staff car park is on the other side). The third side of the triangle is one of the safari bus paths with another rhino paddock on the other side.

Alan

__________________
When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

19-08-2008

drills- according to ISIS they have 2.4. one of which was born 'in last 12 months'. IF this is up to date Bubindi must have had another(also female) baby this year but with the usual birth interval that one would still have to be pretty small?