Apenheul - Gorilla indoor exhibit

One of the smaller rooms that make up the indoor exhibits for gorillas in Apenheul, the Netherlands. Nasty little bedrooms that stands in a sharp constrast to the brilliant outdoor exhibit.
July 2008

There are definitely some shocking contrasts between the brilliant outdoor and ghastly indoor exhibits at Apenheul. I just hope that the primates get to spend the vast majority of their time outside!

I believe they do but there is the problem of the Dutch winter

You need to see this to really get an idea of the contrast. As much as 3 months in here.

I knew the indoor areas were very primitive even before I visited, but when I saw them they were smaller and shabbier even than I expected! Of course Apenheul is noted for the excellent outdoor Gorilla island, not their indoor quarters. But they must spend several months in here each winter and possibly in bad weather at other times too.

I am very surprised that as the group expanded up to about 20 animals at one stage(its been reduced again more recently of course) they did not upgraded the indoor area- the other Apes, Bonobos and Orangutan have far superior and modern indoor areas. I think it was talked about but didn't happen.

As far as I have understood, Apenheul is located in a protected wildlife area so building legalizations is not something that is easily aquired. You can't just build something there even if you have the money.

However, they do need to upgrade the indoor area. The contrast is amazingly sharp between the bedrooms and the island and I don't think that there is a better outdoor exhibit for gorillas in the world (seen from the animals' perspectives).

i would certainly agree with that. But even if building regulations prevent a building on a larger scale I'm sure they could improve the existing one. Now the group is smaller again maybe if they modernised it section by section(bedroom by bedroom) it would be a huge improvement. I'm mystified they still have this shabby old building for the Gorillas.

WOW!!..that surprised me,was never expecting to see such awful indoor conditions at Apenheul..hope its changed before long.

Kinda reminds me of Blackpool..large outdoor area,pathetically cramped conditions indoors

Sticking my chin out here a bit, but I don't believe that the indoor quarters are that bad. They might look horrible to the eye, and that certainly is something that might be bad for numerous reasons, but to the animals the exhibit is actually quite good. It has several rooms and all rooms have more then one exit/entry. This allows the gorillas to choose whom they wish to spend time with or whom to be in close proximity to. They might look really bad, like Howlett's outdoor exhibits, but they can be very good for the animals anyway.

Not saying that they can't be improved, but you need to look beyond what is attractive to the human eye.

Setting aside the attractiveness issue, they are still very small areas for the sizeable group of Gorillas, especially as they must spend a lot of time here in the winter.