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Maguari

Chimp Exhibit at Monkey Park, 09/11/10

Many of the primates were begging for the monkey food sold at the entrance.

Chimp Exhibit at Monkey Park, 09/11/10
Maguari, 27 Nov 2010
Ahmed Omran likes this.
    • Maguari
      Many of the primates were begging for the monkey food sold at the entrance.
    • DavidBrown
      @Maguari: What was your impression of this place? Begging chimps in a cage makes it look pretty bad, but they seem to have a very conservation-oriented collection with drills, Cuban crocodiles, etc. Do they have any apes besides chimps and gibbons?
    • Maguari
      It's an odd place, definitely the least impressive of the three larger Tenerife animal attractions, but not unenjoyable. It's built around a central contradiction - the major animal welfare issues I saw were due to the fact they sell bags of 'monkey food' (assorted grains, peanuts, primate pellets) to feed the primates with - so the chimps and guenons beg and the lemurs in the wlakthrough have a tendency to look tubby. But I suspect without that attraction the place may not have a lot going for it in a competitive tourist area.

      It seemed to me to be one of those zoos that have a 'core' collection (they were very strong on callitrichids) but pad it out by taking cast-offs from other collections - they only had one male Drill, and a collection of species that in Europe have 'fallen by the wayside' - Campbell's and White-throated Guenons, talapoins etc.

      Not a bad way of passing a morning, but nothing too remarkable, the the enclosures were generally basic. I understand I didn't miss there being a jaguar here by much - that would have been interesting to see.

      My trip species list, which is posted in this thread (post #6): http://www.zoochat.com/671/solitary-lory-loro-parque-08-11-a-188205/, has a full list of what was on show here. There were no other great apes besides the chimps.
    • Norwegian moose
      I am still doubting whether or not to visit this zoo. In a way it looks tempting to get close contact with lemurs, but to see begging guenons and macaques in ugly cages seems less tempting. And, I would not like my mum to get a too negative impressions of zoos, by just visiting one substandard facility. Can anyone give me advice, if it would be worth a visit?
    • Maguari
      It's a tricky one - it's not really an awful place by any means, but it's certainly not a first-class example of a zoo either. There were a few nice species when I was there but otherwise not too much to shout about.
    • Norwegian moose
      Thanks @Maguari!
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  • Category:
    Tenerife Zoo Monkey Park
    Uploaded By:
    Maguari
    Date:
    27 Nov 2010
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    Comment Count:
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