Monkey Islands Aerial Shot

The exhibit for the Mandrills was really impressed me as well (lush vegetation, dense forest impression), it was so hard to spot the animals in their enclosure. It was my first visit to Chester: I was sticked a bit in this section of the zoo, so I missed a lots of other exhibits, but it was really great to see how did the specimens interact each other (grooming, food searching, mating as well, etc ... ). Brilliant exhibit for them.

The visitor pressure was having a negative impact on the behaviour of the Mandrills. An observation at Chester Zoo showed that the use of plants between the viewing windows and the zoo visitors resulted reduction in the stress-related behaviours expressed by the animals.

I've only visited Chester once but managed to see the mandrills, lion-tailed macaques and spider monkeys in their outdoor exhibits. The macaques were out first thing in the morning and were climbing up and down the poles on the island (first photo) and the mandrills were moving around as a group but the island is so lush that I only got one clear photo of a single individual (second photo).

I think the monkeys now use the islands rather more than they did previously - but they do have free choice, so it cannot be guaranteed that visitors will see them there (they are always visible inside the house). The other point to make is that the groups of each species are large, about 8 spider monkeys and roughly twice that for the mandrills and macaques.

Alan

I haven't been since all the poles were added, but the Monkeys, apart from the Sulawesi macaques, were rarely outside on my previous(admittedly rare) visits. Mostly they just sat in the porthole entrances to the indoors and looked out.
I think as with Gorillas, the Monkey species in this house at Chester are all either rainforest canopy or ground dwellers so they tend to shun open areas a lot of the time.

A few comments generally;

1. Climbing apparatus. I wonder why they didn't add interlinking ropes or poles to all the uprights- is it because they would lose the vertical aspect and it would look more ugly as a big framework?

2. Exterior barrier. I like the islands and the house interior but would prefer to see glass walls instead of those wide watermoats, which increases the viewing distance for the public. Outside the Monkeys are some considerable distance away so much less interesting to watch.

3. Choice of species. I have never quite understood why they keep two such similar species as the Liontailed and Sulawesi Macaques, when there are so many other less similar and more colourful species such as Guenons or Mangabeys available. As it is, with the Black spider Monkeys, the Mandrills are the only species they have that aren't black!

The distance between the public and the edge of the islands varies between ~20-24 feet, so they're not far away, and clear viewing is much preferable to glass barriers. Certainly the monkeys might be closer, but the moat arrangement makes for a far better connection with the animals.

This would be a great idea for the mandrill island (the middle one on the left for anyone who isn't familiar with Chester Zoo) because it is a long, narrow island and it can only be viewed from the shortest side. So, unless they are right up the front, the mandrills are almost impossible to see.

I really like the moats. On the mandrill island there are sightlines through the trees to the middle of the island (although they can get overgrown this late in the year). There is a clear area in the centre (hardly visible in the overhead shot here) which is a favourite place for the mandrill group and I am sure they feel secure there. Glimpsing the animals interacting through the trees can be memorably immersive (to use my least-loved zoospeak word). Equally memorable are the times when JC and the other adults come up to the moat to view the spectators (it does happen, check the Chester Gallery).
Plus the moats are home for tufted duck, a variety of dragons and damsels (flies, of course) and water voles (at least I hope they are still there).

Alan

I haven't seen these islands since the extra apparatus was added and I must agree from this aerial that the Mandrill one in particular now looks very well 'forested' so is obviously a pretty naturalistic exhibit nowadays, as you describe. I still think the use of the water moats is a disadvantage though. At Colchester, with an admittedly uglier fence and verandah style viewing you can get right 'up close and personal' (that's my least favourite zoo-speak!) to their big Mandrill group and see what they are doing. Nothing like as attractive or natural as an enclosure maybe, but IMO its more satisfactory viewing-wise. The same with the new electrified-fence Primate enclosures at Howletts/PL e.g. Howlett's Lion-tail Macaques- you can really watch what they are doing.

Having said all that, I think the conversion of the old 'postage stamp collection' Monkey House into this display was very well done overall and made good use of the existing building.

There's nothing stopping anyone from walking inside the house to do exactly that.