news at Paignton zoo » Paignton Zoo

30-07-2008

I believe you said they were from Colchester. I'll wager they collected them at the same time as the King Colobus male...

No, I'm wrong. As others have said, Colchester don't have Western Colobus. This new male must have come from either Blackpool or Marwell- probably Blackpool as they have the most. Oddly this species of Colobus seems to be kept just in a few UK zoos and at Duisburg in Germany., and nowhere else...

30-07-2008

It wouldn't surprise me at all- they are all prime aged and now living with a proven breeder...

30-07-2008

Pertinax - sorry to go off topic - but to reply to yr post about great hornbill, I am pretty sure Paulton's and the RSCC both keep this species......

30-07-2008

I would second your comments. I visited the new complex just prior to it being opened and thought the inside pens and viewing to be very good - on par with the similarly designed great ape quarters. The outside pens were dull and uninspiring, certainly given all the hype after knocking down the old primate buildings. More hot air than heights.

30-07-2008

it was my fault for weaving it in here. I might start another thread about them though.

30-07-2008

Yes,they are obviously modelled on the same design but smaller. It is very odd outside though... More 'lows' than 'heights'?

31-07-2008

I wonder how they will accommodate the orangs if they have three successful births together. The females all get on well with Demo but seem wary of each other. Will they put one mother and baby in the show den while the others stay off show? The orangutan half of the Ape House doesn't seem all that well planned. It would have been better with two smaller show dens, I think.

31-07-2008

You are right, it isn't. Obviously they just twinned the indoor accomodation for both Gorillas and Orangs with no forward planning for what they might need in future. Both halves are more suitable for Gorillas in my opinion..

I think the female Orangs are just demonstrating how they live in the wild- this is NOT a social species though they will tolerate each other in captivity but these 'groups' aren't natural. They may be able to keep at least two mothers and infants together, maybe all three- depends on temperament, if they fight etc. Individual mothers and babies have lived together okay at other zoos(e.g. Twycross, Chester, Dublin etc)

I'd like to see a purpose- designed Orangutan house constructed at Paignton, and a breeding group of Gorillas move into in their current housing. Dream on....

02-08-2008

I can forsee problems keeping them together.
From my observations, Gambira's fearful attitude towards more dominant females is down to her experience of living with Chinta, who has few social graces, and watching what happened between her and Gigit, and later with Bulu. And she had her mother to hide behind then. Mali doesn't appear to be aggressive towards Gambira but she still backs away from her. I haven't seen Mali and Chinta together and don't know if it's happened, but I would think Chinta is always going to be the fly in the ointment.
At Twycross, Kibriah, daughter Maliku, son Tiga (when younger) and granddaughter Miri were OK together but had to be kept apart from her other daughter, Theodora. And poor Gigit was mistreated there too.
How about making the whole Ape House and islands orangutan-friendly and moving the gorillas elsewhere

02-08-2008

You know their relationships much better than I do. It depends entirely on that as to whether they'll need to segregate them more and the existing housing doesn't allow for that.

I would do it the other way around as I think the Mary Le Fevre House is more suitable for Gorillas than the orangs which need less ground space but more height, and as you have indicated, possibly some more seperate housing. Outside the large area would probably be better utilised by Gorillas too.

I also think Paignton deserve to be allowed a breeding Gorilla group in future(in addition to the male one) as they have demonstrated they can manage them capably- in fact its the best managed bachelor group I know of....

02-08-2008

I don't think it is a case of not being allowed a breeding group, the curator of mammals there is very highly involved in the great ape TAG. I think they wanted to show other collections keeping all male groups is a nessessary role in the EEP.

02-08-2008

I think they have demonstrated that very well. But the current Ape House is really more suited to Gorillas so it would be good if they had both a male group and a breeding group(or even two male groups?) and the orangutans were given a purpose built enclosure. (Just an idea of course...)

Mandrills.
03-08-2008

Any news on where the incompatible female Mandrill has gone?

03-08-2008

Does anyone know when/why the Paignton group of red-faced black spider monkeys disappeared? They had a fair-sized group in 1994, the last time I saw them, in the old monkey house. London seems to have kept this species going just about, as with twycross, while the Welsh mountain zoo appears to have recieved a pair in the last few years. Did they come from Paignton?

03-08-2008

AL may be able to tell us, he can look background stuff up on ISIS. I remember the Black Spider monkeys at Paignton, virtually from my very earliest visits there, including the one with the 'spectacle' growths on its face, as mentioned t previously. I felt it was a pity they didn't keep them- being such active animals they would have made a better display in the Monkey exhibit than one of the two groups of Colobus.