news at Paignton zoo » Paignton Zoo

Pileated Gibbons
27-07-2008

I've just read that the pileated gibbons had a baby in 2006 but it died.

27-07-2008

Well, either that or ISIS is incorrect(not unheard of) If she has gone I'd be very interested to know where - if you can put on your deerstalker hat once more....

27-07-2008

Undoubtedly. I just think it was a bit of a lost opportunity to do something even better. Have you ever seen Howlett's/Port Lympne new primate enclosures? Basically they have hotwired chunks of secondary woodland or areas with several mature trees and built the enclosures around them, and the monkeys can access(virtually) everything. They are really excellent.

I felt Paignton could have done similar as there is undeveloped woodland in the zoo though not in a central location.

27-07-2008

I'd have expected them to have had another by now then...

27-07-2008

I take your point about Monkey Heights. Maybe putting monkeys in the woods was a bit too ambitious for them. They had a large space when the old stables were demolished and presumably the old monkey house was next on the list to be replaced.
It's not easy to view the pileated gibbons. Their house is behind the barriers that contain queues for the train, so unless you join the queue in the summer or go past a 'no entry' sign in the winter, you miss them. Looking through the annual review for 20004/2005, I see that Cosmo, a 43 year old pileated gibbon, died in that year. He would have been one of the gibbons in the old monkey house. He never bred.
Deerstalker at the ready but I don't know if I'll get away with the pipe

27-07-2008

Yes, I realised that Monkey Heights was to replace the old stable block. I actually thought it was going to be more a general 'Mammals' House whereas it turned out to be a Monkey House with just a few small mammals.
The indoor displays and walkways are fine, it is the outside enclosures that are rather a disappointment to me. I presume the Monkeys still can't access the Plane trees?

Sounds like Cosmo was the Pileated gibbon I used to see in the old house and they've since aquired a new pair.

best forget the deerstalker and cape- too obvious among the throngs of holidaymakers.

27-07-2008

I'll try to catch the Meet the Keeper session at Monkey Heights on my next visit and stalk the mandrill and gibbon keepers.
It's a bit too warm for the cape and hat at the moment!

Cosmo the pileated gibbon
28-07-2008

Cosmo came to Paignton from Penscynor where he lived for many years . Much of the time he lived tethered at the waist attached to a chain in a tree with a small shelter - hope that description of the set-up makes sense . I seem to remember other gibbons lived like that also . Anybody else remember this ?

28-07-2008

I think in the 70s penscynor had primates all over the place, I have a guidebook from when I visited in the early 80s which showed 'cosmo' on a leash being fed by the owners, as well as them playing with free-ranging woolly monkeys. They also had a free-flying great hornbill until it was killed by a badger. I assume the practice of free-roaming primates was ended by th time I visited. However, they have just built an 'alpine toboggan slide', and this was advertised using a child sliding down it holding a juvenile chimpanzee.

Cosmo
28-07-2008

I'm not familiar with Penscynor. How did Cosmo end up in Paignton?

28-07-2008

I guess when it closed some years ago? The chimps went to cefn yr erw obviously. I expect most of the other more delicate species had long gone by the time Penscynor closed.

Cosmo the pileated gibbon
29-07-2008

I am not sure if Cosmo departed before the final closure as he was unrelated to the zoo population and I assume wild-caught . Penscynor was originally the private bird collection of Idris Hale , a local builder . He started by occassional open days for charity before developing a bird gardens open daily .Cosmo was the first mammal , a family pet , I think a woolly monkey was also an early resident .

The big group of woolly monkeys arrived with owner Herbert Dornbrach (?) who became curator for a time . He had previously been at Banham with his monkeys then moved on possibly to Coombe Martin . I don't know what happened after that but wonder if these woolly monkeys were the original stock at Apenheul - anybody help with that ?

Quite a few chimps were born at Penscynor and mostly hand-reared , a bit like the situation at Twycross here . They were treated as pets and would be exercised on the lawns in the walled garden in the afternoon .

Penscynor displayed a good variety of primates over the years - they had a House with many groups of marmoset and tamarins , Diana and De Brazzas , breeding colobus , lar gibbons , the large group of sooty magabeys , brown capuchins , vervets , amongst others I can't recall now .

G.I. Hornbills in UK
29-07-2008

That explains a Pensynor 'multi-view' postcard I have which includes a Great Hornbill sitting on a 'keep of the grass' notice.

I've just looked on ISIS and was surprised that only 3 UK zoos are now listed with this species; Chester 1.2. Burford(Cotswold) 1.1. and Dublin 1
Formerly there were a larger number of UK zoos & bird gardens exhibiting this impressive bird. Are there any others that aren't listed I wonder?

Red River Hogs
30-07-2008

A new pair of Red River Hogs has arrived. They look very lively.

Orangutans
30-07-2008

All three female orangutans could be pregnant - yet to be confirmed.