This is just a bit of fun to judge the general consensus on the best enclosure for Mandrills/Drills 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. I have decided to put these species into one group in this poll as I believe what they require from an enclosure is similar enough to compare rather than having two separate polls. If anyone has any photos of exhibits without one please share or give a description. If any of the photos show outdated exhibits please point it out. Lake District WP (Mandrill) Unfortunately, there are no photos of this enclosure in the gallery. It would be extremely useful if someone who has visited can describe the exhibit and give an evaluation on its quality. Chester (Mandrill) Colchester (Mandrill) Paignton (Mandrill) Wingham (Mandrill) Wales A&M S (Mandrill) Africa Alive (Drill) Unfortunately, there are no photos of this enclosure in the gallery. It would be extremely useful if someone who has visited can describe the exhibit and give an evaluation on its quality. Port Lympne (Drill) Edinburgh (Drill)
Chester's monkey islands: Monkey Islands Aerial Shot - ZooChat Starting from the top, going anticlockwise; 1st island: Lion-tailed macaque 2nd island: Mandrill 3rd island: Sulawesi macaque (not sure whether these are still living in the new "Islands" complex) 4th island: Columbian black spider monkeys
i’m only judging based on that original photograph however it seems like they have limited climbing opportunities. How many of those trees do they have access too?
The island is a lot bigger than whats shown in the photos and its covered in foliage. They also have a very spacious indoor area.
All of them, plus a large number of wooden poles - there aren't many photographs of that particular exhibit but all of the monkey islands follow roughly the same design and style, although the mandrill one is by far the most vegetated; as such these images should give a good idea of what it looks like. I have a feeling the first image *is* the mandrill exhibit, incidentally. Unfortunately there are no images in the gallery of the (also excellent) indoor exhibit; I shall have to see if I can root anything out.
RE. Paignton: I asked one of the Paignton mammal keepers last year whether the Mandrill group would benefit from a move to monkey heights, with access to more space indoors and out. The answer was that the gradient of the paddock in the current enclosure allowed some of the lower ranked individuals an opportunity to escape the more dominant in the group, as the small paddock slopes downwards and allows them to pick up some speed. I found this interesting. Incidentally, the Macaque enclosure in Monkey Heights does also and might be a better 'fit' for the mandrills in my opinion. This poll does highlight how poor most of these exhibits are. Some are woefully inadequate. I remember the mandrills at Paignton in the old Orang house - it was a concrete cell. When they moved to the current exhibit it seemed so positive. Now in 2020, it is OK, but they really need more room I think. When finances are back on track, I'd like to see them given more space. The one positive is that it is shaded and has trees. I'm not sure how much off-show space there is? Chester has my vote.
I think there are not many really of quality here and the fact Chester is walking it with a good but far from exceptional exhibit says it all! I thought there could not possibly be a worse exhibit than Edinburgh's 1950s style offering, but WAMS beats it hands down. Africa Alive reasonably sized but boring cage basically. Wingham and Paignton are OK, Colchester better, with a large group, but no indoor viewing probably has counted against them. Port Lympne's new large cage with good open top outdoor enclosure is good, but again no indoor viewing. Haven't seen LDWP, so that leaves Chester, which like its chimp enclosure probably shouldn't be a winner but will be this time.
Edinburgh's outdoor exhibit is actually rather better than you suggest - it's bigger than it looks, provides plenty of climbing opportunities and is well-vegetated - but the indoor exhibit is definitely not great.
I'm afraid I would class it as comfortably 2nd worst outdoors, Africa Alive is at least twice the size and that is pretty poor! Edinburgh's is more suited to a small group of lemurs or Squirrel monkeys or Saki/titi, it is shocking for something the size of a Drill in my opinion
Having just checked my photographs from my November 2019 visit to make sure my recollections of the exhibit are correct, I have something of a swings-and-roundabouts remark to make Firstly, I reiterate my statement that the outdoor Drill enclosure at Edinburgh is a lot better than you are insinuating - it certainly provides plenty of climbing space both vertically and horizontally, is somewhat larger than the photograph above would imply, and is very well vegetated. It's certainly not so small that it would only be suited to species the size of lemurs or squirrel monkeys. However, my second point rather renders the first moot; it appears that the outdoor exhibit is no longer being used whatsoever - one of an ever-growing number of enclosures throughout the zoo being left empty and fallow - and the Drill are now restricted to their terrible indoor exhibit. So although we disagree on the finer points, we are both in agreement that Edinburgh does not deserve a single vote
On another note, fancy making the case for Colchester, @speedycheese and @bintarong ? And the same for Paignton, @Sausagefingers ?
Re Edinburgh: That isn't the drill enclosure anymore. They are in a nearly identical enclosure on the other side of the house. However this enclosure has no outdoor viewing. They were planning to move them to the old barbary macaque/Steller's sea eagle aviary with L'hoest's monkeys (which are already there).
Would it be interesting to see what France has to offer in the categories for comparison? Sometimes they can have quite different styles of exhibitry. Here is the best (and the worst) France has to offer in this: La Vallee des Singes: Zoo de Jurques: Amneville (One of the worst exhibits in the whole zoo incidentally): Zoo de la Fleche: Is this a good idea and food for thought, or not needed?
The French ones you say are the worst are considerably better than what WAMS, Edinburgh or Africa Alive have to offer!
Of course they are better than WAMS, probably Africa Alive, but Edinburgh I reckon is better than Amneville from what I can remember. I wonder whether people think the Vallee des Singes or Jurques exhibit are better than the Chester exhibit.
Amneville looks considerably bigger than Edinburgh inside and out, probably better than Africa Alive too which is much better than Edinburgh
In case it is useful, here is Africa Alive's exhibit from above. The exhibit was at least one, maybe two of these cages. They are each about 10 metres in length for a sort of scale.
