Twycross Zoo Twycross visit 3/4 October

Going to Tywcross Zoo next weekend. If you want me to find out or take a picture of anything then please post it here.

 

I would like to see some pics of the old chimp cages that have been discussed on here. Thanks

 

You mean the infamous GREEN MILE,I thought that there were some pictures of it in the Gallery but cannot see any just looked to see if I have any pictures of it but haven`t,so next time I go will take some as this area will be going one day in the future.

 

I'd quite like to know the latest on the new carnivore enclosures, when is it going to open, is it on schedule? And of course any updates on the entrance, it must be near finishing soon.

 

No work at the moment on the new carnivore enclosures at the moment,work should start once the whole of the Elephant walk way and new entrance is complete.As for the New entrance it should be in use by Easter 2010.

 

When I was there on the 22nd I doscovered that all thee work on the Elephant Walk has been put on hold since the arrival of the elephant calf.

 

Several of us have reported on the progress of the mixing of the new adult male gorilla Oumbi (from Port Lympne) with females Asante and Ozala, and Ozala's son Matadi. How are Matadi's injuries healing? How are the others responding to Oumbi? Is he getting more relaxed ad settling down? Has the other male, Boulas, arrived from Belfast - he will be going into the other gorilla house with the elderly females Bongo and Biddy.
There have also been problems with the group of bonobos (the only ones in the UK) - are they still separated? Are they under observation? Have they any plans for moving troublemakers or reintegrating the group?

Alan

 

'THE GREEN MILE'... Its awful..!!!!!!!

Do you know what the future plans are for Common Chimps at Twycross? Is it too much to hope that one day they will combine them ALL into a single big colony in a really good enormous enclosure.(one can dream... ) Don't let anyone say 'it can't be done with these old chimps'-apart from the odd incompatable one I'm quite sure it could!!

 

Bonobo update

On my visit last week they were segregated by the sexes- three males one side, eight females the other. When the females, which were all swollen, were let out PM, some of them went to the males'(shut) door and there was screaming and yelping and general interest- but were they showing friendly or aggressive intent? I don't know.

I went through the house at several different times- nobody was observing them.

It would be interesting to know the answer to your last question about movements.

 

They have a plan but it is very much in the future despite what some World Expert on Zoos would have us believe.The rough idea for the plan is to use the area of the Green Mile,what was the old Gorilla area and the old Pets Corner site for one large Chimp enclosure and house but like I said it`s very much in the future.As for them going in one large colony your guess is as good as mine,and mine is not a clue

 

It seems the groups have been changing a lot, when I last went there was a mix of males and females in each of the two groups. If the group don't mix are they going to be moving some off to another collection?

 

That is really good news so I can dream on. I hope it really happens. As I said, I'm sure they could get them all- or nearly all, into one group. They have two 'subgroups' already living in the Chimpanzee 'colony' and old Gorilla houses. The ones in the 'Green Mile' almost make up a third subgroup as they can all hear and see each other. These three subgroups are all roughly equal in size- perhaps the most important factor if they tried to get them altogether.

 

Gentle Lemur reported a couple of weeks back that the Bonobos were all in one group but fighting broke out while he was there and some were split up. On my visit it was a male/female divsion as I said, and everything was peaceful.

I don't know enough about their group dynamic to say what the problem is- maybe its too many females? (8f to 3m) But I think they will be reluctant to send them elsewhere unless EEP 'orders' such transfers.

 

I am very concerned about the bonobos. The split into male and female subgroups may well be a consequence of fights like the one I observed, when a group of females ganged up on one male. Obviously this is not a long term solution and I am sure the EEP will not want it to continue for any longer than necessary. Maybe the current accommodation is not suitable for so many animals, maybe there are personality clashes between some of the individuals, maybe Pertinax is right about the sex-ratio - I guess it could be a combination of these factors and others too.
The difficult question for the staff at Twycross and the EEP is how to resolve the situation and get a productive and harmonious bonobo group at Twycross, without causing problems for the other collections in the program. Perhaps another zoo in Europe is hoping to set up a group of bonobos and could take some of the animals.

Alan

 

The only 2 photos I have from Twycross which shows something of these particular cages are attached below, which might give you a bit of an idea. Each pair or trio of chimps occupies one of these long narrow sections which are fronted with a brick wall and large glass windows. I think there are perhaps 6 or 7 sections, each separated from its next door neighbour by wire fencing, though at the viewing end there are also interconnecting trapdoors (though, for example, yesterday, only one of these doors was open) set into a bit of concrete wall.

The section at either end of the row is slightly wider and has more grass and is therefore slightly 'better'.

I don't know if I'm correct with my assumptions or not but this block looks like it was perhaps once entirely made of wood and wire, but was 'tarted up' maybe 20 or so years ago with the addition of the front wall ?

 

Now, from what i've seen (photos) the row of cages aren't really really bad. They are not ideal and the group make up in these cages is dire but the actual cages themselves are not totally and utterly terrible, they are bad but not as bad as I think it is made out to be. Although not much space is offered to the chimps they do have more chances to climb around than the quite bare grassy enclosures found elsewhere (although these grassy enclosures are far better overall).

Just to sumamrise I think the cages are bad just not as bad as they are made out to be...according to what i've seen.

 

In the early years of Twycross, this area housed all their Apes; Chimps, Orangutans & Gorillas. The inside 'house' behind these cages is the original 'Ape House' and the outsides were smaller traditional weldmesh cages. There were chimps, two pairs of Orangutans and one pair of Gorillas(Joe & Bongo).

Later after the Orangs and Gorillas were relocated, they extended the frontages and heights of the outdoors so they are very much larger than they used to be. Unfortunately the cages do look very much the worse for wear nowadays and some of these chimps are the oldest in the Zoo- from the 'teaparty' era, so are very humanised, but that doesn't mean they won't mix successfully(as proved many times over by Monkeyworld). My main critisism is not actually the cages but the fact that, while this area stays like it is, the Chimps cannot all, or most of them, be kept together in the daytime with the dividing doors open to give them a much better social existence and a lot more room.

 

I imagine they have to request the EEP to sort it out for them as far as any transfers are concerned. I do NOT think Twycross would be very happy if any were recommended to be transferred to another UK collection though as they would no longer have the UK monopoly on this species...

 

I think there really needs to be some other facilities for Bonobos in the UK. Twycross cannot manage their current group effectively if they are on rotation. The problem seems to be that, unless the funding is for a whole zoo or area (NCWP), any zoo willing to invest in a great ape facility without already holding the species is going to opt for gorillas, as people know what these are. I was really hoping Marwell would go into Bonobos but they are planning for Gorillas.

 

Marwell was planning for Bonobos, but then it changed to Gorillas. A decision based no doubt on the fact of their very different 'draw' potentials.

Chester could do Bonobos well I am sure, in their 'Heart of Africa' building.

There's no reason why anywhere else with a good record of Ape-keeping couldn't have them either, but as you said, Gorillas are more likely to be the first choice if a new species is being added.