This is just a bit of fun to judge the general consensus on the best enclosure for Bornean Orangutans in the UK. I hope to run a similar competition for different species over the next few weeks. I have added a few photos from the gallery to make it easier for members to compare the different exhibits. If anyone wants to make an argument for a particular enclosure, please feel free to do so. Also, I would encourage people to perhaps list the 8 enclosures in order of what they determine to be the best. Chester Twycross Monkey World Blackpool Paignton Colchester Dudley Wingham This is a brand new enclosure so there are no photos in the gallery. However, it is easy to find pictures of it in recent news articles.
My vote goes to Chester - but a shout out to MW, it may not be pretty, but they provide a lot more for the orangs there than most other zoos.
Dudley is the worst by a mile, Twycross, Blackpool next despite improving their indoor enclosures, Wingham I haven't seen - along with everyone else! That leaves Chester, Paignton, Colchester, Monkeyworld. Before they cut down most of the trees I would have said Paignton was best, it was first time I'd seen an orang swinging in a real tree. Now I will vote Monkeyworld
I’m going off of outdoor enclosures alone, as I too have yet to see Wingham’s indoors, but have seen their outdoors (admittedly before they added the tunnel but that’s not hard to add into my memories of the enclosure)....but Chester has to win, purely based on their managing to keep some semblance of undergrowth in each of their enclosures. I know that the title of the thread is Bornean orangutans, but seeing as there’s only three holders of Sumatran in the UK (two of which also have Bornean) I’ll include Jersey’s too....from best to worst: Chester Monkey World Jersey Paignton Wingham Colchester Blackpool Twycross Dudley Indoors (not including Wingham): Chester Jersey Paignton Monkey World Colchester Blackpool Twycross Dudley The only Monkey World indoor enclosure that actually gives the orangs some height is the nursery group. The other two groups both have, quite frankly, very low ceilings indoors, which isn’t a great thing.
I last visited all of these zoos (apart from Wingham) on my Orangutan Odyssey in 2016 and normally visit Paignton every week. First for me is Chester (although it would be Jersey if that was included). Indoors and outdoors are both good although indoors looks grim and viewing is difficult. Not things that bother the orangs though. Second is Monkeyworld which deserves praise for putting the orangs' needs above those of visitors - some of it doesn't look attractive, the infuriatingly reflective nursery window, and the awkward indoor viewing of the low dens. On my last visit the orangs had swapped one of the industrial looking enclosures with the chimps - they do seem to move animals around so it's hard to know who is where now, but all the enclosures have climbing opportunities. Paignton is third but would have been higher in its glory days before the very active orangs, Mali and Demo, arrived and started to damage the trees. This resulted in lots of over-zealous pruning and the rather pitiful scene you now see. It is desperate need of refurbishment, and some shelter from the weather for those orangs who have to spend a lot of time outside, but it does provide plenty of natural foraging opportunities (blackberries being a particular favourite) and encounters with wildlife. If they were designing the indoor area now they would no doubt do it more appropriately, rather than making both gorilla and orang sides of the house basically the same. Colchester, Blackpool and Twycross are much of a muchness - they've improved their indoors but their outdoors are rather basic. Everytime I see a photo of Colchester's outdoors, my heart sinks. It is always bigger in my imagination but really it's just a pit with a climbing frame. If the plan for Paignton's 'determined' Mali and 'test everything to the limits' Tatty to move there goes ahead, I fear both they and the zoo are in a for a big shock. Dudley is last - the unspeakable outdoors and what appears to be the dark and cramped indoors (reflections getting in the way of good viewing).
Thank you for your detailed reply. It was a really interesting read. In terms of Jersey's enclosure being the best in your opinion, if that is the case you may want to vote for it in the best Sumatran Orang-utan poll where it is losing to Chester. I then planned to do a poll for best overall enclosure for Borneans or Sumatrans.
It would appear the standard Orang-utan enclosures in the UK is quite poor in reality. Twycross, Dudley, Colchester and Blackpool all have sub standard exhibits. Monkey World and Paignton both have indoor exhibits that don't live up to the quality of the outdoor exhibits. That just really leaves Wingham, which very few people have seen yet and Chester x2 and Jersey which are the only real quality exhibits for orangs in the UK. It would also appear one of these exhibits (Monsoon forest) will no longer be in use for Orangutans possibly.
Its been suggested elsewhere on here that they may move the Borneans in there, rather than the Sumatrans, when the time comes.
I can't vote in the Sumatran section, because it's been many years since I visited Jersey, but the videos I have seen suggests it is nice. But I have seen all the Bornean exhibits and my vote here goes to Chester, I agree that RotRA is not perfect, although there is a decent amount of space, even with both groups of orangs in there. But my key criterion is the amount of time the orangs spend off the ground. The mesh roof allows scatter feeds to get all the orangs where they belong, like Sarikei below (apart from old Martha, who gets smaller pieces dropped through the mesh). This method is of course is used for the gorillas at Howletts and it is also possible in the Monsoon Forest at Chester, although I have never been in there during a scatter feed. Sarikei selecting her favourite veg by gentle lemur posted 20 Feb 2017 at 10:16 PM
I would also vote Chester for Bornean Orangutan- for same reason. Oddly enough, though my Chester visits are extremely infrequent nowadays, I did see the Sumatrans given a roof feed in the Monsoon forest before the fire closed it.
Chester's Borneans will definitely have struck lucky if they do move to a rebuilt Monsoon Forest. Maybe they could increase their numbers with all that space? I can think of two females who'd enjoy life there
Final results are in. Congratulations to Chester on being voted as having the best UK Bornean Orangutan enclosure in the UK. Chester: 71.9% Monkey World: 18.8% Paignton: 6.3% Colchester: 3.1%
Rajang's Forest may not be the best, but it is certainly not substandard in my opinion. In person it is much more impressive. The indoor area consists of day quarters (shown here with a view of about 3/5 of it) 3 bedrooms for separation, and the large outdoor enclosure which may not have the best climbing opportunities for your liking but serves Bornean's well and Mali and Tatau have been enjoying it frequently.
The indoor enclosure isn't bad but I feel they should have privacy in their bedrooms rather than be constantly on display. Having observed Mali and Tatty at Paignton, Mali since 2007, and Tatty since her birth in 2013, I can say that the outdoor area doesn't meet their needs at all. I used to call it a climbing frame in a pit but, since visiting them in August, I now refer to it as a prison exercise yard.
Fair- I can at least agree that it is completely different to what they are used to. Before Rajang died not many people visited Orangutan Forest anyway.
Colchester's outdoor Orangutan enclosure ('forest' is the wrong name) would really benefit from a covered roof dome, with hanging ropes/vine/straps etc to give them far more climbing space and a view over those claustrophobic concrete walls. It would improve this exhibit X 10.IMO
True I agree also to clear up things it was built in 2008 after years of hold ups and named Orangutan Forest and was renamed Rajangs Forest recently after the legendary orangutan named Rajang passed away age 50 on the 12?th December 2018
Honestly, I don't really like Chester's indoor area. It just looks quite bare and boring. Blackpool and Twycross are let down by their oudoor enclosures. I prefer Colchester and Monkey World. Paignton is probably the worst as now Dudley has a brand new orangutan exhibit.
They are hot takes but my opinion. I don't dislike ROTRA at Chester but actually think is really good. I just think that overall (for a few reasons) Monkey World is probably the better enclosure as a whole. However, I do prefer the sumatran enclosure in monsoon forest over this. It just fits better to that part of the zoo.
