Singapore Zoo Singapore Zoo

The artificial vines actually comprise of 3 layers: The core is pliable steel cable. Then a layer of fibre mesh is covered over the steel. On the surface its coated with non-toxic latex/rubber and zoo-poo (yup, processed herbivore dung and compost, to give it a rough texture).

This is how we make our vines. We have an in-house team that makes them since we use A LOT of them. Not sure if other zoos use the same method though.

 

and obviously it's a method (albeit a weird one that uses faeces!) that works. many other zoos have complained that orangs in particular destroy sythetic vines. australian zoos always use thick rope. which is nice and soft on the orangs hands, but once again doesn't do much for the natural look.

i am an artist and have done a bit of props and effects work for film in the past. i should go into manufacturing faux rock, vines and trees - maybe i could make some money since nobody else in auststralia seems to be doing it!!!

 

If you get a chance, have a look at a documentary called congo in the bronx. It shows the zoo staff making artificial vines. It also shows the gorillas biting off chunks that they could swallow. They then go back and make stronger artificial vines that the gorillas can't bite through but still look natural. They also mix natural products to thier vines to give them a realistic look, but I don't think they use dung.

 

i haven't seen that doco (i'll try and find it) but i have visited the website of the company that made that artificial rainforest. they seemed to make the most realistic looking dead trees i have ever seen using resin and things. whilst nothing beats the real thing, they can really finish of that jungle effect. i like the i like the eroded mudbank with ferns they created it looked totally convincing in the photos and is such a nice change from yet another rock wall.

 

Well, zoo-poo is cheap i guess! Plus its organic. The texture's nice too, makes the vine easy to grip. Btw, we process zoo-poo using rhino, elephant and hippo dung, which is mixed with compost. We use it extensively around the park to keep the plants lush.

This is the first time we are using artificial vines for the orangs. Partly because only the smaller females and young are using the free-range area. The big adult males will probably be too much for the vines to handle.

All the while we've used metal chains, which isn't very aesthetic unfortunately, but its very durable. Recently we've also started using old fire hoses, which has a nice elasticity to it. The same is being done for the chimpanzees.
Its a great pity we can't have gorillas though.

btw, patrick what's the company that did landscaping for bronx zoo's congo?

 

i no tht many oz zoos use the fire hoses for large pimates, they are real good for them, i will also look up the company for the congo in bronx if pat isnt sure, i have a whole file in my filing cabinet devoted to tht exhibit

 

i can't remeber the company name but i think i followed a link on the bronx zoos website. the wildlife conservation society do great stuff (they own all of NYC's zoos) and are doing the sort of thing i was saying ALL zoos needed to do if they wanted to exist (and more importantly animals) into the future.

why can't singapore have gorillas?

 

Here goes the story...

In the 1980s, we brought in 4 male gorillas from Europe and exhibited them in a lush outdoor habitat. But within a year, all 4 gorillas succumbed to a mysterious illness and died one by one.

A post mortem was done and it was discovered that a rare soil disease - melioidosis - was the cause. Melioidosis is a disease caused by the bacteria known as Burkholderia pseudomallei. The bacteria are found below the soil surface during the dry season. After heavy rainfall, the bacteria can be found in surface water and mud. Transmission of the disease occurs most commonly during direct contact with soil or surface waters contaminated with Burkholderia pseudomallei. This disease is also fatal to humans with a fatality rate of about 25%. To date there is no known cure or vaccine for the disease. Victims of the disease are given antibiotic treatment and relapse rate is high.

In 1990, we loaned another pair of male gorillas from the Netherlands, but this time they were housed indoors in a concrete-floored enclosure, with no direct contact to soil. Unfortunately, one of them died from the same disease a few months after later. It was suspected that the disease bacteria was carried into the indoor habitat along with fine soil particles that were blown into the enclosure via a mesh ventilation window.

The other male was immediately put on antibiotic treatment while preparations were made for his repatriation back to netherlands. Within a month from the death of his companion, the other male was sent back home, thankfully he survived.

We drew a lot of international flak from this saga, gorillas being an endangered species afterall, and 5 died while in our care. Wild gorillas would naturally have immunity to the disease, but all gorillas in captivity today are mostly descended from European stock, where years of captive breeding in temperate regions have caused the zoo gorillas to lose their immunity.

It was a painful lesson which we learned the hard way.

 

Hi Zooish, I did reed about this also happening at the San Diego wild animal park a few years ago, that also was worse after any rain they had, thats interesting that the same thing has happened in two zoos so far apart.

 

Well, the soil disease is found in many areas including Northern Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Indian subcontinent, Africa, Central and South America, Papua New Guinea and even New Zealand!!! I got this info from Singapore's ministry of health website.

Seems like no cases were reported in North America, but seeing that temperate new zealand has seen cases of it, the chances of it occuring in warm san diego are likely. But its not as rampant as in SE Asia i guess.

San Diego seems climatically similar to Singapore. Another shared incident is the growth of algae in the hollow hair shafts of our polar bears. San Diego experienced it many years ago, we experienced about 2 years ago.

 

if you say that wild primates have immunity to the disease it would make sense that singapores orangutans who i assume are mostly descended from animals that have stayed within the southeast asian region would be immune. however it is interesting that this disease doesn't seem to effect the zoos chimpanzees. clearly in the case of gorillas it was particuarly lethal - killing them from airborn particles almost as soon as they arrived in singapore. it was suggested that in australia malayan tapir's blindness could be in part caused by bacteria in our soil that the malayan tapir are particuarly susceptable - but not horses, rhino or brazilian tapir.

its strange how one particular species (but not close relatives) can be so bady afflicted by such a ailment.

thats a shame for singapore - no doubt singapore would have done a fantastic job of caring for them...

 

Yup, its odd that our pioneer group of chimpanzees were not affected by the disease considering many of them originated from Europe. They're even more gentically similar to us, so they probably are susceptible to the disease as well.

And the chimps have been occupying, even till today, the outdoor gorilla habitat after the gorillas died.

 

Rainforest Zoo

The Singapore Zoo has officially rebranded itself as a "rainforest zoo", with a new logo, and new tagline - 'Rainforest . Animals . Life'. This is probably as close as we'll get to becoming a themed zoo.

The primary focus of the zoo's collection will now be on Southeast Asian animals. However, there are of course exhibits which do not reflect the rainforest theme such as the Australian Outback, Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia and Wild Africa which feature savanna/desert habitats. As discussed earlier in another thread, to have mega-fauna like giraffes, lions and kangaroos absent from a zoo's collection will be problematic.

 

though i totally understand the argument that people will not (at least initaially) be excepting of a zoo with no lions or giraffes, i am not entrely convinced that it wouldn't work - especially if the zoo in question has a neighbouring sister savannah themed zoo.

i mean okapi are essentially a forest giraffe.
plenty of smaller kangaroo species (such as parma wallabies) inhabit rainforests. there are even rainforest rhino (though addmittedly very few zoos can expect to ever get their hands on these).
do we really need to see cheetah and lions as well[I/] as tigers and leopards?

i guess we do.

although the "immersion" exhibit has become very popular, many zoos (particuarly in the northern hemisphere) are still choosing to open exhibits based of "a type" of animals with outrageously tacky names such as "big cat canyon", "jungle trails" or "primate world".

australian zoos seem very much into dividing up their zoos based entirely on not just different habitat types, by geographically different habitat types as well. personally i like it best. but i don't think we will ever see giraffes leave our city zoos. instead i think they will end up with small "showcase" exhibiting a taste of what you might see if you head out to the open-range zoo.

 

Up till last June, the Singapore Zoo had no giraffes for eleven years, they had all been moved next door to the Night Safari where most of the large hoofstock are. So for the entire eleven years, visitors had been writing/emailing the zoo asking why there were no giraffes in the zoo. Singaporeans are notoriously fussy nitpickers (including myself!).

So last year, a lot of money was spent bringing in 3, year-old giraffes from Israel and Holland. That finally satisfied the crowd.

It seems that even though the giraffes were right next door, many visitors weren't willing to make the extra trip.

 

Free-ranging Orangutans update

After more than a month into the free-ranging program, all is fine and its worked out very well. The trees are holding up thankfully, very little damage has been done.

The orangs have gotten very comfortable with their new area so much so that they sometimes refuse to return to their night quarters. There was once when one of them stayed out on the trees throughout the night and the keepers had to stay behind and keep watch over her (really admire the keepers' dedication towards the animals). She finally came down in the afternoon of the following day out of hunger.

At the night safari we're having trouble with our adult bull elephant who is being displayed again, five years after he seriously injured his keeper. His mean streak hasn't diffused and he has a habit of throwing projectiles (twigs, pebbles, wood chips, balls of dirt..) at trams passing by his habitat. And he is deadly accurate too.

But to not display him would be a big waste because he is a magnificent beast; at 30 years old, he stands 3m tall at the shoulder, weighing almost 4 tonnes and sports a pair of 4-foot long tusks that are symmetrically crossed.
Bull elephants are a rare sight in zoos these days.

 

WOW He sounds wonderful, is he breeding and do you have any pics of him?.Thanks

 

Yes he is breeding. He has sired 3 offspring to date. The first offspring unfortunately did not survive. The second, a male, is now 7 years old and is in Cologne Zoo, Germany, on breeding loan. The third, also male, is 5 years old and is still at the night safari.

His fourth offspring is due early next year!

And here's a link to his pic: http://www.nightsafari.com.sg/about/NEWS/chawang1.jpg

 

Thanks for that, he looks wonderful hope be sires more babies, how many cows are they breeding to him?.

 

wow he is fantastic does his offspring look like him