This is just a bit of fun to judge the general consensus on the best enclosure for Gorilla's in the UK. 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 enclosures in order of what they determine to be the best. There weren't enough options to include every collection, so I have included an other option. In this case you would be voting for Twycross or Longleat. If you do please specify which one you're voting for. Howletts Blackpool Bristol Chessington London Port Lympe Paignton Twycross Longleat Jersey Belfast
This is arguably the hardest enclosure to pick as it really depends on what sort of a person you are. If you like natural setups, then Paignton, Jersey and Longleat are more likely to be what you’d like. But if you want to see active gorillas actually outdoors more than once a day, the Aspinall parks are the place to go. The Howletts gorillariums may be ugly looking, but the amount they do for the gorillas is incredible. Port Lympne may have a bigger one, and have the option for said gorillas to go out into open air enclosures, but their gorillas still prefer to stay in the gorillarium. I have yet to see a gorilla group in the UK use their outdoor space as much as Howletts. If I was going for the best enclosure ignoring the Aspinalls, it would probably be Paignton. Jersey’s outdoors certainly is impressive, but the indoors is, to be frank, cramped.
It's been a while since I've visited some of these zoos and I've never been to Belfast. So I'm plumping for Jersey, mainly because I admire them so much, but also because the gorillas do seem to make use of the outdoor area. True, the indoors is fairly small but when I've seen them in there they appeared relaxed. Paignton has to split Pertinax from the other three males, so if it's his turn for the showden, they occasionally venture outside but more often than not stay in their bedrooms. It must be hard to design an outdoor enclosure that gorillas will actually use.
I don't know if they still do, but they always used to be shut outside in reasonable weather, hence maybe why they appear to be using the outside a lot! Ya Kwanza the previous male would often sit for periods by the door, or even hit it, waiting to be let back in. The inside areas are quite small and rather dated now, but for a small group of 1.3+1 its quite sufficient still I think. I believe they are planning to build/extend a new house for them but current events may put paid to that. My own choice- probably Howletts if only as 'Shonenjake' says, because they use all of the outdoor areas so much of the time, and there it is definately voluntary because of the security the covered roof gives them( a sort of metal forest canopy).
It is currently a four way race for best Gorilla enclosure, with the functional Howletts and Port Lympe designs closely matched by the more natural Paignton and Jersey exhibits. In general Gorillas do appear to be housed reasonably well in the UK (as do chimps) and certainly in the majority of cases better than Orangutans.
Out of curiosity, why is it in your opinion that orangutangs don't fare as well with enclosures than other great apes kept in UK institutions ?
I think it's a multitude of factors. The main one being they're the most difficult to house as they are quite destructive and need more height in their enclosure compared to the other apes. Furthermore, with them being kept in smaller groups than chimps in particular they're often given less space. The rest of the difference is possibly down to bad luck. I should add some zoos such as Twycross and Dudley are looking to improve their orang exhibits so hopefully the standard will be higher in 5 years time.
I would agree with this, I don't think any of the chimp enclosures I've seen are as bad as Dudley, Twycross (outdoors) Blackpool (outdoors) orangutan ones which are all black marks for their zoos. As has been said Dudley and Twycross do have plans for improvement and at least Blackpool significantly improved their indoors a few years ago
This is really hard. I know how expensive these exhibits are to build and they seem to date quickly. The best by far I've seen is Dublin (I know its not the UK). I've seen nearly all of the UK Gorilla enclosures and I honestly don't think any of them do the animals justice. I don't think its ok for so many of these apes to be spending so much time in small brick houses. I've questioned on this platform before, why it is that UK gorillas do not seem to spend as much time outside as we humans would like them too? It appears the gorillas do not like to feel exposed and so the areas leading from the house to island exhibits in particular, need shelter or cover. Maybe once out they need warmth (maybe finding an eco/sustainable way of heating outside areas / hot-spot rocks or trees) could help? I strongly believe that animal care teams do amazing work with UK gorillas and having them allows visitors to see their magnificence up close and be inspired by their conservation story, but I also believe we should be giving them much more respect in terms of the space and shelter we provide them with! I'd quite like to see some creative designs to hide visitors away from Gorillas, such as a bird hide concept or one-way glass viewing? It would be great if modern technology could help produce indestructible rubber/plastic planting that could be supplemented with real foliage to 'lush up' and 'green up' gorillas indoor spaces. I think its the barrenness of the concrete walls, red and green paint, fire hoses and telegraph poles that devalue these beasts. Watching Paigntons males exploring their island from the path between the lake and their island when there are no other visitors around is one of the great pleasures in my life - selfishly, but, I really wish they could have access to the whole house and the Orang islands. The lack of trees on the Orang islands, but the high grass at the moment almost suits the gorillas more! I'm not on an anti-zoo or welfare rant, and maybe its because like you I'm holed up and on lock-down right now, but I've just felt for a while we could/should do better for these animals!
I should say, for those not familiar with Paignton, that I think the interior photo was taken some years ago when it was in the middle of being refurbished. There is a lot more 'furniture' now - platforms, curtains of hoses and so on. I forgot to comment on ZSL and how depressing and claustrophobic I found it when Kumbuka was there. Because he was so easily wound up by unruly crowds, the interior gradually became more and more hidden behind barriers and screens over the windows. I wonder if they've changed it since his untimely death?
They do not like feeling exposed for long periods, without overhead cover. In the wild that means the forest canopy. In zoos(not only UK ones either) that means the indoor house. Secondary reasons for reluctance to spend time outdoors may be wind/temperature/weather. A covered area outside would probably help but then the animals would probably just use that section more also. One thing that does seem to work well are the small four-directional windbreak shelters as at Bristol and Twycross- these get a lot of use but perhaps only when the gorillas are outside anyway.
As I've mentioned before, I think the worst thing about Paignton's indoor gorilla house is the flawed design with the big windows overlooking the outside being situated directly in front of the viewing windows, so when viewed the gorillas often appear just in silhouette. I don't like the 'pit' feel of looking down on them either. I think for the gorillas its perfectly functional though.
I agree about the quality of Dublin's enclosure. I also like their innovative new orang island set-up, but that's another subject! I can't agree with Paignton's gorillas taking over the orang enclosure too, for obvious reasons - unless the orangs got a new bespoke habitat elsewhere in exchange Do you remember when Paignton's gorillas had access to their entire island? They used to use the far end quite a lot. Then the moat was dredged and the silt was dumped there and fenced off. This was some time ago but the fence has never been removed. I often wonder whether the zoo has just forgotten about it. Indestructible planting would be good from an aesthetic point of view. Chester's ROTRA could benefit from something like that to alleviate the bleakness indoors (but I'm going off topic again!).
Perhaps an open sided greenhouse type structure in woodland would be good then or at least part wooden part glass divides, or screens in the more exposed sections?
Jersey built a 'man-cave' for silverback Badongo a few years ago. Here's a photo I took in 2013. The comments from one of Jersey's experts are very interesting and applicable to this thread. Gorilla enclosure, April 2013 - ZooChat
Do you think the reason this poll is so close compared to the other great ape polls is because there is no amazing exhibit for Gorillas unlike Orangutans and Chimps or is it that there are lots of excellent Gorilla exhibits?
It’s because of what I said before. There are two very clear different designs of gorilla enclosure in the UK. One, the gorillarium, looks ugly to many given the cage-style design, but is incredibly functional, giving the gorillas the cover they desire and deep bedding on the floor to spend hours and hours outdoors, even in winter. The gorillariums also take into account the often forgotten fact that gorillas do, actually, like to climb!! The other, the ‘island’, is more natural, looks pleasing to the eye, and provides gorillas with plenty of green space and, in some cases, undergrowth...but are rarely if ever used because of the lack of shelter! Look at Apenheul in the Netherlands. Their gorilla enclosure is a huge (3.5 acre) green space, but with plenty of trees. As a result, the gorillas often go outside as they don’t feel too exposed. (The same goes for Dublin, though I’ve never visited) I wager that some of the above voters have either not visited some of the zoos (and so are using the photos you shared as the basis for their vote) or visit the zoos *so much* that they are voting based on favouritism (Jedd Cullinan for example, has voted Other, and knowing how much he loves Longleat I can only guess that’s who he’s voting for). Jersey and Paignton both look the most appealing in said photos, which is likely why at least a couple of people are voting for them. If you don’t want the vote to be as close...then it might be a good idea to not include Howletts, Chessington or Port Lympne in the vote. The fact is their husbandry and enclosure design is *so different* from any other zoo in the UK, that it almost feels odd to include them on a list of largely island/garden style enclosures. For the record, I said it up thread but I’ll say it again, out of the top two natural-style contenders, Paignton is the obvious win. The enclosure has always been for bachelor gorillas, and despite their having to separate one of the four males now, the indoors is darkened (which gorillas like, given they live in dense forests in the wild), the enclosure is spacious enough for the lads they have/have had, and the island is natural looking with a TON of undergrowth. Jersey’s outdoors is nice and big for the small family group that they have, but the indoors is tiny. It doesn’t matter if they looked like they were cramped or if they didn’t, the enclosure is poorer for it. If the indoors was bigger at Jersey, they could accommodate a much larger family group (with up to five breeding females, akin to Apenheul, Howletts or Port Lympne!). If they overhauled the indoors, Jersey would win for me. But based on functionality alone, the obvious winner of the ‘natural style’ enclosures is Paignton.
