Orangutan Enclosure - Nov 2012

Indo Malaya Pavilion

What you see is what you get with this terrible enclosure, and it is easily one of the worst ape exhibits in all of North America. Wasn't there a solid plan to either demolish or drastically renovate this all-indoor mess of metal poles and tires?

Wow, this doesn´t look that great. I have read that there´s no outdoor area, and is this all the space they have?

And how many are here, may i ask?

There are still plans to renovate this exhibit, but I'm guessing that it won't be until after the Eurasia and Canada exhibits are built. I agree that it's probably the worst exhibit in the zoo, but at least it isn't tiny. The picture does not show the whole area. It is a tall exhibit and I enjoy watching the orangutans so high up.

When I went to the zoo in early August the orangutans were vey active and one was even working on an enrichment puzzle. Just looking at pictures of this exhibit it seemed to me to be small but when I saw it in person I was surprised as to how large it was and the number of enrichment items the exhibit had. Although this is an indoor exhibit it has plenty of sunlight and natural substrate.

I completely agree with you. If a nice outdoor exhibit was built, the indoor exhibit would be considered great for the orangutans. I think the main problem with the actual exhibit is that it is not very natural, and could use more plants. I would also love to see turtles added to their moat, like the zoo did in the gibbon exhibit.

Definitely not the best exhibit at the Zoo, although there is more space to the right and back. The space is also quite tall and the orangutans seem to use all the space. The plan to add an outdoor exhibit is in the works, but is still years away.

There are 6 orangutans at the Zoo- 3 adult females, each with a young offspring. Not all the adults get along, so they are broken up into 2 groups (2 and 4) and rotate on exhibit.