News at Chester » Chester Zoo

22-07-2008

Yes it is the current exhibit i`m refering to,part of the problem was the Mandrills,the other was a mangement problen with the Porcupines.

22-07-2008

Yes it is the enclosure you are talking about.

chester zoo canal boats
29-07-2008

On a recent visit I overheard keepers discussing that the boats were going (they didn't actually say at Chester I guess it could have been elsewhere - Longleat maybe) to be replaced with motorised ones on a lake.
Anyone know anything about this?
Ta Susan

29-07-2008

Chester may be losing there boats but it would only make sense if they were planing to replace them with something else.

I havn't heard anything I on this

Longleat will definitely not be getting rid of theirs.

29-07-2008

Does anybody know what the specific problems were. I know that rodents and primates can be a tricky mixture even though it is commonly done. There is an American report done quite a few years ago which looked specifically at mixed exhibits with callithricids (probabaly not the correct spelling) with larger primates, birds, other large mammals and reptiles with very mixed results. Where the porkys to blame or the mandrills?

So far as the mandrills with the other primates, again it seems it to depend on the individual personalities. Gorillas and orangs have been mixed with colobus, guenons, macaques and gibbons with varying shades of success. Sometimes it is one odd event that causes the problem. And of course Taronga did experiment with jackals/patas monkey with their chimps... it didn't end well.

29-07-2008

I would say it depends at least as much on the number ratios between the species involved.

30-07-2008

... and space too.

30-07-2008

Would the Sulawesi crested macaque island be big enough for a mixed exhibit with the babirusa or anoa?

30-07-2008

Yes, it's certainly large enough. The outdoor monkey islands are a lot large than they appear from ground level.

30-07-2008

Couple of snippets from a wander on Sunday -

- rodents in the Okapi house at the moment are the puched rat, the Mount Kulal Spiny Mice and the zoo's still-unidentified Acacia Rats (Thallomys sp.) in with the rat in the large enclosure. No sign of dormice, grass rats or grass mice at the moment.
- although still labelled, there was no sign of the Pere David's Deer so these may have moved as noted elsewhere
- and the Philippine Crocs are little beauties!

30-07-2008

I feel that maybe mixed exhibits of monkeys plus another (compatable) non-primate species would be more successful than two primate species...

For a start grazers would reduce the tall grass/jungle effect which I think makes the monkeys very difficult to see outside, and there would be something using the islands instead of them looking so empty when the monkeys are indoors. The main problem is housing for the non-primate species- small low-level shelters along the back wall?

really think they are asking for trouble trying to keep groups of primates together in the restricted indoor areas....

30-07-2008

yes, if the cold-weather area is the same space for all the species, it really won't be long before serious fighting occurs. I don't understand why porcupines are ever mixed with primates? Although normally placid, I can't imagine the stress for a young primate if it comes into conflict with a porcupine, and the subseqent removal and treatment for injuries.

30-07-2008

Small deer like Muntjac or Hog deer might work okay- they need something that would graze the islands'neatly' so you can see the Monkeys(when they are out) at ground level, but non aggressive also. Babirusa/pig species might work but would plough up the soil leaving a far less attractive exhibit in the longterm. But at the moment I feel Chester's primate islands are largely just so much wasted space most of the time as the Monkeys are rarely outside.( as with gorillas, are they too open with no overhead cover?)

30-07-2008

Just on the point of the monkeys being outside, the spider monkeys and sulawesi macaques seem to be outdoors on most of my visits, whereas the lion-tailed macaques are occaisonally outside and i've only ever seen the mandrills outdoors once!

I don't think it's a similar situation to gorillas, as all of the islands are heavily planted and provide cover for the monkeys. I think the monkeys just prefer the indoor heating.

30-07-2008

yes, I should have modified that- I too have seen the Monkeys using the outsides in similar ratios- Spider monkeys are always very active in any zoo anyway. Sulawesi macaques likewise seem happy outside also in virtually all zoos I've seen them in.

Regarding cover, I'm talking about overhead cover really. At Chester the Liontails and Mandrills go out far less than the other two species and both live in dense rainforest in the wild- does that have something to do with it though? (Colchester's Mandrills alternatively are always outside but have no choice as they are SHUT out)