Spider Monkey enclosure

I am intrigued bt these enclosures have never seen anything like them. This is obviously way to small. Yet largere than many world class zooo exhibits. It just looks cheap and cold.

This is probably one of the poorest of the primate enclosures at WMZ because it just seemed too thin and not particularly well furnished.

A lot of the small primate enclosures at Welsh Mountain suffer from being really narrow - they're just still laid out on 1970s principles I think! In terms of volume, for a pair of spider monkeys I don't think this is too small (though I wouldn't want it to be any smaller), but it definitely could do with being furnished a bit more.


This enclosure for many years held an Ornate Spider Monkey, Ateles geoffroyi ornatus; still the only place I've seen one. It was kept with a Geoffroy's Spider Monkey A. g. geoffroyi. They now have Red-faced Spider Monkeys, A. paniscus.

I don't think it's too small, it just doesn't look like they have the opportunity to fully utilise the space. I think this was built for chimps.

Ashley your perceptions on what is good for the zoo animal? You are the one who wants to keep bears in zoos????

And the problem with that is?

Are you serious

Just how many bears in captivity have you seen?

They are the one of the least suited animals to captivity that l have ever seen!

Yes there are a couple of exceptions. But it is only a couple and l have not seen these exhibits. So not convinced that the bears are in suitable conditions even in these couple of exhibits.

Yes I am serious.

I haven't seen that many bears in captivity due to their rareity in British collections, but the only ones in a poor state that i've seen were in Barcelona Zoo.

- Zurich, Chester and Jersey have excellent exhibits for Spectacled Bears
- Whipsnade (and formerly London) have good Sloth Bear enclosures
- Whipsnade have a magnificent enclosure for Brown Bears
- Welsh Mountain's bears looked incredibly active and healthy in a well-enriched enclosure
- Detroit has a very good polar bear exhibit
- Toronto's polar bear exhibit looks promising
- Rotterdam's polar bear exhibit looks pretty good
- San Diego's polar bear exhibit looks good
- The Smithsonian zoo's sloth bear and giant panda exhibits look top-class

yes there are poor bear exhibits (like elephants, gorillas and numerous other species), but there are many good ones as well. A good enrichment programme goes a long way...

And why chastise Ashley-H's opinion with anger?

You know what, czjimmy. You are right why be angry towards Ashley. It is more about frustration.
Lets have more bears in captivity in apauling conditions.

There will come a day soon l hope. That bears are no longer in zoos. WHY because zoos themselves recognise just how hard they are to keep.

Also CZJimmy, your examples of exhibits that you have not personally seen. This happens allot here on zoochat something that l always find frustrating.

eg Quote
"The Smithsonian zoo's sloth bear and giant panda exhibits look top-class"
It is actually really small and 1 of the males constantl shows sterotype behaviour! Yes the exhibit "looks" fantastic. In a photo!

To add to CZJimmy's list - Gelsenkirchen/ZOOM's Kodiak, Kamchatkan and Polar Bear enclosures are superb. The Sloth bear exhibit at Leipzig is similarly very good. There are good, spacious, well-enriched bear enclosures at Rhenen, Nuremberg, Oakland and many others. I would definitely disagree with the suggestion that they are fundamentally unsuited to captivity any more than, say, wolves or sealions. They are complex animals that require good quality, well-thought out exhibits, but certainly not to the degree of great apes, for example.