okay, so haven't been to howletts. but i have over the years seen many, many photos and footage of their apparent "world-class" gorilla cages. everyone raves about them. but i don't get it. can someone please explain what makes them so good? does the zoo also have large, unroofed outdoor enclosures for warm weather?
Yes. There are large unroofed areas. I have seen it on the TV. Sorry I haven't been myself so I can't help about the indoor area.
Okay Pat, how long have you got.... The Howletts Gorilla cages you will have seen on T.V. many times. NONE of the five groups at Howletts has access to any unroofed areas. The large cages are all roofed but only the central strip is protected from rain etc- otherwise they're largely open to the elements(rain,sunlight) etc. They can't really be extended because of space and their locations within the park.(three of the five are located in a walled 'kitchen garden' area right near a public road) At Port Lympne(the 2nd much larger park) there are the two all- male group areas, of similar design to Howletts, but these DO have huge completely open paddocks attatched(built on later)- interestingly the gorillas only use them when they're fed in them- preferring to remain in the covered cages otherwise. There is also one breeding group there with similar covered and open air enclosures. Where the cages score is in having all that roofspace with climbing equipment to allow them to utilise the whole space. Being roofed, the Gorillas feel completely SECURE too, unlike so many open areas they're reluctant to use(I'm not including Melbourne as nowadays its well wooded to provide the cover they like so much) The deep litter straw system at Howletts allows them to continually sort through it and forage etc. In the daytime the keepers feed them from gantry walkways on the rooftoops, the gorillas all climb up into the roof area to catch the food as it showers down on them, or pull the vegetables through the mesh- rather like if they were feeding in the trees... This bit is always good to watch and gives them valuable upper-body exercise and stimulation. Where the cages AREN'T so good is; 1. At Howletts they are spacious but not ginormous- so the biggest groups there nowadays can look overcrowded. (This doesn't apply at the much larger Port Lympne park) 2. The original run of cages at Howletts, now over forty years old(!) is still in use with a new young breeding group- it is really archaic and looks cramped too...its certainly a bad exhibit. They seem to have stopped increasing the number of Gorillas or building any more new accomodation for them at present. 3. The night/sleeping areas consist of gloomy tiled 'halls' with many small shut-off dens, functional but not very attractive, and viewable only through dirty glass windows. All I can say is the original design proved successful for breeding so they have stuck to it throughout. Remenber initially his park was a private concern- cages were simply functional for the animals rather than attractive for visitors. When he opened his gates, the attitude was- the enclosures were designed for the animals- not for you... The Gorillas probably would have bred anyway so I don't think the design of the enclosures has anything to do with that. In fact in the early years he lost several gorillas to illness, including his first silverback and then was short of a decent male for some years. So he started breeding them about ten years later than he would have done without those setbacks. I wouldn't term these enclosures 'world-class' anymore, though everyone knows its still the top Gorilla breeding centre.
The point is that great apes and especially gorillas don`t feel comfortable in open space. They are animals that are adapted psychologically to live in dense forests. An enclosure which in which gorillas feel comfortable must either have plenty of trees and vegetation like in Melbourne or a cage where the gorillas have a "roof" over the head like the Howletts cages. Both types of enclosures also give the gorillas the possibility to climb on the bars and use the enclosure in full heigth, especially when the cage is fitted with ropes and climbing structures, which doubles or triples the useable space. Enclosures like in Taronga which are very open with basically no places to hide and few climbing possibilities are very bad for gorillas, the Taronga gorillas seem to prefer to stay inside when they can... The Howletts cages look not nice from the human point of view, but they are much better for gorillas then most gorilla enclosures in european zoos (and much better then the enclosure in Taronga).
The interesting thing is that at Port Lympne where there's a lot more space, they added very large outdoor enclosures for all three gorilla groups- but they hardly used them except at the twice daily 'public feeding' times when they wander out for twenty minutes or so, feed and then all go back into the covered areas... I also read a scientific study of the use of covered v.open areas by the Gorillas at Bristol- where they have a Gorilla island (another beautiful open exhibit) but the Silverback male 'Jock' chooses to spend something like 95%(or more) of his time in the indoor area, again mainly going outside during the public feeding time. (He grew up on an 'open' island in France so its not fear of being faced with new outdoor surroundings as an adult) The two Bristol females had a similar activity budget, but with a slightly higher 'score' for use of the outdoors. The problem with this design is they have big outdoor areas they hardly use (unless shut outside), and a much smaller indoor area. Similar at London, Paignton etc etc.
thanks everyone. i hear what your saying inregards to gorillas seemingly very real preferance not to be in "open" areas. when i used the wording i was more concerned with being outside of a cage and wasn't really imagining the issue of open space making the gorillas uncomfortable. i guess melbournne was lucky in that the loaction of its gorilla exhibit was already blessed with a large variety of very mature trees that not only provided shelter for the gorillas - but all the understory plants as well. the melbourne gorillas are often in the grassy sunnier sections of their rainforest enclosure. but i i can imagine its nontheless a very different secenario to some of the very open, unvegetated gorilla paddocks i have seen of other zoos.. thanks agian.
Two open-air ones that DO work well are Melbourne's and Apenheul(Netherlands) because both are wooded. At both the inmates also use the more open areas quite happily because they can retreat under the trees whenever they want to. Most other open-air enclosures lack this volume of cover and don't work so well. I would hazard a guess that the two Gorillas currently being viewed outdoors in London's new exhibit are shut outside during the daytime...
I think that Longleat's exhibit works well. They are both elderly, so can't climb well. The exhibit s just right for them.
Yes, the thick vegetation (I think it is Japanese Knotweed) serves a similar purpose. The female 'Samba' died recently. I don't know what they plan to do now. Nico is in the 'top fifty' oldest zoo gorillas, about the fifth oldest male..
I would hazard a guess that they do not intend to replace the gorillas at Longleat- or at least not without going for a complete revamp. Will Nico manage on his own? I think it'd be very hard to do anything else unless they can find another 'retiring' gorilla to keep him company.
Its a pity Nico can't be given a final chance of breeding with a female somewhere(not at longleat) as he's wildcaught with no offspring. Some years ago they were both sent to Bristol on a breeding loan but nothing came of it, and I think he's probably a lost cause in that respect. I think if Longleat were to have more Gorillas, they should be males only. And the indoor quarters would need a decent upgrade to make it suitable.
