oh absolutely, and i'm aware of that. i'm not exactly talking specifically about replicating the plant species themselves in the UK, more so just saying that theres not much excuse in my opinon to haveing little vegetation per se. still, even when it comes to species choice, the UK hasn't got it that bad. londons weather is reltively mild compared with city's in mainland europe and north america. i haven't been to the bronx myself, but judging form the photos on the company that created the congo forest's websitre - it look superb! and it gets frreeeeeeeeeezing in NYC!!! good simulator plant choices makes a big difference. there are even palms that grow in the cold temperate climates. personally, whilst i understand the necessity, i'm not that fond of keeping gorillas or other large animals indoors for 6 months of the year. i wouldn't much like it....
I have uploaded a film of realm of the red ape. It shows most of the outdoors exhibits and the indoor area. The entrance for keepers to the Chesnut backed thrush and timor sparrow aviary is very basic, there is just two doors with a tap inbetween them. About realm of the red ape's steel fences: I spoke to one of the orang keepers yesterday, and they said that they had campaigned for ages to get them up. It is to prevent th orang-utans drowning. Ideally, the zoo would have liked a sculpted rockface with an overhang, to surround the exhibit, but that would have cost about another million pounds.
No, nor would I... I was quite surprised when I discovered Apenheul was shut for so long in the year- that's not to say they don't let the Gorillas out on good days in winter too- but in really bad weather I should think they don't. (The reason Apenheul closes in the winter, I guess, is because its only a primate park(though a very good one), not a mainstream zoo so not worth the cost of staying open. Regarding the vegetation in European Ape displays, and London in particular. I believe London's enclosure has been planted with various plants the gorillas can 'harvest' for themselves- but this is only at ground level. I'm still surprised(and a little disappointed) at how simplistic this outdoor enclosure has turned out to be.
zoo atlanta did something thats quite impressive using legumes, grasses, and corn etc.. i think it was in their mixed mandrill/guenon exhibit. it certainly lended itself to a jungly feel. and it gets pretty cold in atlanta judging from what zoopro says. there are some chinese/japanese fan palm species that can cope with snow. and many ferns are cold tolerant.
Yes, a sort of 'self service' vegetable garden where the animals can help themselves to food. I think this idea is being used more often nowadays. I recently saw a photo of a Gorilla at Basel Zoo Switzerland(where they really do live almost entirely indoors with only one little outside area) helping himself to food from a plastic 'self-service' box mounted on the wall of the cage. That's the best they can do given the indoor surroundings but the concept is the same. Oh yes, at Krefeld Zoo in Germany, the gorillas have NEVER had an outdoor area at all- can you imagine that?
Basel zoo isn't brilliant. I'll trawl through my zoo film clips. I'm sure we have some clips of the goilla and orang enclosures.
I have some clips of Jersey, San Diego and zurich's ape exhibits. I'm putting them onto thye gallery.
I have seen both Gorilla Kingdom and Realm of the Red Ape and Chester Zoo wins hands down, that is until the new Chimp exhibit at Edinburgh Zoo opens.
1. When is the new Chimpanzee exhibit due to open? 2. How many chimps have Edinburgh got at present? 3. Do you think they will use the existing group as the foundation stock- or might they try to get some pure West African chimps(p.t.verus) for the new enclosure?
1: At the moment the zoo has 11 chimps. 2: The exhibit should be completed by the end of this year. 3: There are some pure West African chimps in the current group but the zoo wants to increase the group to 40.
i think an idea for great apes, particularly ground foraging gorillas is the idea of growing herbs in sunken pits protected by mesh, which allows the gorillas to forage as the herbs grow through or depending on the guage stick their hand through and browse, without damagig the plants root ball. for a fantastic gorilla photo the june/july issue of BBC wildlife is now available in Australia, and it features an article on gorillas in a bai. there is particular shot of the gorillas grazing in the grass against a backdrop of tropical vegetation. i just wish a zoo could replicate that scene. has anyone else been to Rome Biopark? their chimpanzee exhibit is first rate!
Do you think they will remove any chimps which are not pure west african? I'm sure it doesn't matter if the animals are all a pure subspecies...its not like they will ever likely release UK-born chimps into the wild.
I have been in Rome Zoo some years ago, and I was not that impressed by the new chimp enclosure - it was not that big, and it was - like sooooooo many great ape facilities - very open and had no shrub, bushes, or live trees for the chimps to get away form each other and from the eyes of the visitors. I have seen much better great ape enclosures, for chimps the one in Leipzig is much better.
I disagree. I think the exhibit is very big, and whilst I havent visitied the Leipzig Zoo I still think the standard of Rome Zoo was very good. By 2005, things must have changed. the chimps have full access to all the trees, which arent exactly flourishing but are still growing, and some parts of the exhibit had been allowed to become quite overgrown. also, the visitor trail skirting the exhibit is now flanked by lush vegetation reminiscent of a younger version of Melbourne Zoo's Gorilla Rainforest, making it, I felt, prety damn good, particularly considering how Rome Zoo was.
from what i gather the amazing scenes found bais are a relatively recent discovery.. i only started reading about them in NG in the mid nineties. nontheless - its a prime example of gorilla habitat in the open and i have always been supprised that no zoo has tried to replicate that - especially thoses in cooler climes that have not so much luck trying to replicate a tropical forest. bais are even criss-crossed with streams and waterholes which can easily operate as moats to keep the animals in or divide say gorilla from bongo. here i go again... trying to make the point that zoos CAN replicate such scenes, they just usually dont. whatever. i'm a snobby artist!!
It also goes against the theory that gorillas need a canopy over them. these gorillas come right out in the open to forage and they don't appear to be to stressed.
i had never actually heard that "canopy" theory until recently on here, though i can imagine it may be true to an extent. i imagine the preferance for trees, stems from having the security of being able to climb and have objects to hide navigate and hide behind should they be faced with danger. in the congo wild gorillas know they have the security of the forest close by. indeed i would not be supprised if gorillas tended to stick to the edges of the bais, closer to the forest edge. i have photos of them behaving very ignorant of nearby congo buffalo but i assume they are very wary of forest elephants.
Same here. I reckon they would retreat back to the forest if they felt threatened, like Tarongas group do by going inside when a plane goes over.
