news at Paignton zoo » Paignton Zoo

03-08-2008

yet they seem to have gone back into keeping spider monkeys with the two male Ateles hybridus they have listed on ISIS, from what I have read though, these are critically endangered. Do you know where in the zoo these animals are kept?

03-08-2008

Yes, I was surprised to see that. I believe Gigit said they are in the enclosure which was originally built for the Sulawesi Macaque group- its up behind the Chough & Owl Aviaries if I remember correctly- in rather an out of the way area. Once or twice I've been unable to find it... After the Macaques it held some of the b/w Colobus group. It is a single simple indoor /outdoor enclosure a bit like the Mandrill enclosure.

04-08-2008

I thought the sulawesi macaques were in the large open hotwired area with the anoa near the echidnas? Is this the one you are referring to?

04-08-2008

Was the anoa housed in the Monkey Heights paddock as well as the Sulawesi macaques at any time ? On my visit in May I could see that housing for an ungulate was included in the enclosure but was not in use . The anoa was in the old bison paddock .

The 2 spider monkeys were in the original macaque enclosure opposite the echidnas . One of the echidnas was actually visible in the shelter under a heat lamp .

04-08-2008

I never saw an Anoa in the enclosure. I can't give any better location than before but yes the outside is/was hotwired and slopes downhill a bit. Its miles away from any other Primate enclosure in the zoo.

04-08-2008

I think the ones at Welsh Mountain came from London,not sure where Paigntons went to but i`m 90% certain it is not the Welsh Mountain.

04-08-2008

I guess the anoa were moved to the bison housing once that was vacant, it would make more sense, although not really any tree cover, but there is more scope with the yards to maintain a breeding group if they were to. Anoa seem to be on the decline now, maybe the gene pool has got a little tired? Only galloway seem to have any recent breeding success in the UK, and lots of single animals seem to be staying that way.

The spider monkeys....yes it's a weird one, as they live so long you can never be sure whether a group is still viable or maybe had stopped 15 years before, london have had fairly regular births, and the group has never really been bigger than 4 animals, so it would make sense for at least one to have come from London, maybe the other from Twycross....sorry I'm totally speculating, but yes perhaps Paignton's were all very old animals.

04-08-2008

To find the brown spider monkey house, imagine you've entered the zoo and are on the path with the restaurant to your left and the lake and railway line to your right. Take the first turning on your left and you'll go up a hill past the back of the restaurant. You'll pass a large paddock containing cranes, peacocks, ducks etc on your left. On the right you'll be behind the baboon enclosure. After the saurus cranes, turn left and this is where the spider monkeys are, as well as the red pandas and echidnea.
I can't help on where the red faced black spider monkeys went.
The lone lowland anoa is now living in the old bison house, with adaptations, awaiting a partner. It was intended that they would share the macaque outdoor enclosure in Monkey Heights, and at least one of them did for a while. There was a fence half way up the enclosure so the anoa couldn't reach the top. The macaques can now go in the anoa house - I think food is scattered in there. I know of two anoa births in the past - one still birth and one had a rectal prolapse and died soon after.

Paignton red-faced black spider monkeys
05-08-2008

I have checked back on some Paignton annual reports .

They had 2.1 in 2001 when Sooty the old wild-caught female died - I think she was the odd-looking one . She had arrived in 1959 and was thought to be aged about 44 . A male then died in 2003 and the final female departed in 2004 - the report makes no mention of what happened to her though .

I also noticed that Cosmo the ex-Penscynor pileated gibbon died in 2005 , though they had obtained another male to pair with their female some years earlier . I would not have thought Cosmo was likely to breed .

05-08-2008

What will happen to the elephant house and paddock once Paignton lose their two elephants, they have stated haven't they that they will no longer be keeping elephants, perhaps an extended giraffe enclosure or mixed savannah exhibit?

05-08-2008

The problem might be what to do when one dies leaving the other alone. Send her to a group(of relevant species) somewhere else?
I can imagine the house and paddock being incorporated with the Giraffe section as some sort of mixed species exhibit- unless they gave it over to Black Rhino...

05-08-2008

Pertinax,

I am afraid it is all speculation at this stage. What you and I would hope may never materialise as zoos are generalists and many interests compete for the few spaces available.

It seems rather peculiar to redesign an enclosure for a species that may never live out the exhibit's lifetime and that at some point Paignton will do the decent thing and sent Gay to an African elephant herd and hold onto the Asian cow and bring in some elder Asian cows of similar age. I am confident that the African cow may yet play a leadership role in a young African herd ...

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I ask with kiang to all forumsters in the know on Paignton to go around and try and find out or elicit a response from staff members what will happen after the elephants are phased out (seeing that this is final)???

05-08-2008

Yes it is. I presume these two Elephants could go on living at Paignton for many years to come. I've not heard of any plans to 'phase them out' or change the way they keep them. (incidentally, I am NOT criticising this arrangement despite it being fairly unusual nowadays..)

05-08-2008

I must admit i have no firm evidence they are going out of elephants, i am sure i had read it somewhere last year, i was looking for somebody to confirm it, as you say Jelle somebody in the know, such as gigit?

05-08-2008

I thought that they were going to keep Duchess and Gay until they both passed away as they have lived together for over 20 years,i think that the Elephant side of the house was designed so that it could be changed to house Giraffe when the Elephants have gone.