I hadn't read it as a permanent closure but now see that this seems to be the case... As Chimp Eden(apparently) hasn't even been started yet it will indeed be a long time- many months at the least? These chimps prefer to spend a lot more time indoors than out, particularly in poorer weather, so as you said, will be invisible a lot of the time-I suppose they will say you can always see the smaller group of Chimpanzees in the 'Colony' building, either inside or out, and most people will be content with that. Twycross sounds like Hell on Earth yesterday. An awful lot of upset people on their Facebook.
I have no idea what will happen to Danny, Tommy, William, Peter, Samantha and Holly I'm afraid, the chimp keeper himself wasn't sure yet. Chimp Eden hasn't been greenlit yet so it's not being built, at least not that I could see (where is it going anyhow?). But I would also hope the group of six go in with Jambo and Mongo's group, as they really shouldn't be isolated despite the age of some of the six. Why are Danny's group kept separate from Jambo's anyway? You're right OrangePerson, people seemed a little disappointed that they couldn't go inside, me included! Really wanted to see how old the chimps in Jambo's troop were (though I now know 9 of them) and their indoor quarters, but it was a shame. And it wasn't too bad Pertinax, though the queueing and parking was terrible! Not to mention they hadn't budgeted for the number of visitors they got.
Plans show Chimp Eden will(?) be sited between the Lemurs and the boundary below the Giraffe area, by my estimation that's in the South West(?) corner of the Zoo. Additional phases to incorporate new buildings for all their other Apes would extend from this to use up this whole corner of the Zoo. Plans show it would encompass the area of both Chimp houses and th existing Gorilla house too, so they would presumably disappear. The 'Colony' building where those chimps currently live represented their first attempt to build a social group and improve on the pairs and trios of mainly older Chimps that lived in the old-style cages where the Leopards now live. The group contained about six animals, though I can't remember which of the existing ones were included originally or how many live together now. I think Danny and Tommy moved to this building more recently. Is this one group now or still split? As they have managed to unite several Chimps that had not lived together before, I hope in time they will be able to add these also. Longterm I think they would have to be in the new building anyway.
Completely agree, the six should definitely be moved in with the group of 15. Currently Danny, Tommy and Holly are living together and clearly being introduced to William, Peter and Samantha (who are living together but separately from the former three). I think it would be best to introduced all six of them to one another first before thinking of introducing them to the others. Currently looks like Danny and potentially William are in charge of each other's subgroups, with Peter and Tommy both taking backseats when each of their male roommates were active. I suspect Danny would be in charge of the whole group due to his age and size, but I couldn't be sure. William's loss of his sexual organs would mean that the first target any rival male would go for is gone, so who knows what will happen. I've heard the horror stories about Twycross's past, and I'm not surprised that the chimps once lived where the leopards live now! Glad they actually live in large groups with decent hierarchies now, but do think it's possible for the two to live together. Holly and Samantha would likely get on with the older and quieter females like Choppers, Tojo, Coco and Noddy, whilst William, Danny, Tommy and Peter would hopefully get on with the boys as well! Interested to see who becomes the new alpha if the six do join the 15; Jambo has backup from Mongo but we don't know if the alpha for the eventual group of 6 will have anyone to back them up.
Samantha's a fiesty lady and backs up Peter her son, which has caused problems integrating the 2 sub groups in Danny's house. I'm very sure William isn't dominant. Chimp birth years from 2009 studbook: Coco estimate 1965 Choppers estimate 1970 Noddy estimate 1972 Rosie 1976 Tojo estimate 1976 Lottie 1978 Samantha estimate 1980 Jambo 1982 William 1982 Holly 1982 Flynn 1986 Josie 1988 (at Dudley) Victoria 1990 Jomar 1990 Peter 1992 Mongo 1994 Tommy 1995 Genet 1995 Danny 1996 Tuli 2007 (Estimates are for wild born chimps).
Thank you so so much for the ages mazfc! And I reckoned Peter could be the alpha, as I had heard he was in previous groups he lived in, but I was unsure as to whether or not he still held the position. I hope that the group do indeed get put together successfully before being introduced to the group of 15 next Speaking of chimps, the studbook 2009 link posted in the chimp studbook thread no longer works, anyone have a copy I could see/have? If so would be handy to post it here or send it via PM. thank you
The facebook feedback is truly terrible. It's been a very wet winter. Some/many of the car parks are grassed. So who thought a promotion (mothers get in free) was a good idea on what was already likely to be a busy day? Marketing department ... FAIL!
Hey guys, so I just remembered something I wanted to ask about the bonobos...I know that they live in a fission-fusion society (hence why Keke and Kakowet have had babies in both groups) but do all of them ever live together? Or do they keep them permanently separate but switch individuals over from time to time? It's just that Diatou, Keke, Maringa and Malaika were in the left playroom with access to outside at the end of the day, and Kakowet, Banya, Cheka, Kianga, Winton, Lopori, Mokonzi, Ndeko and Kianga's new baby were in the right playroom and had access to outside for most of the day. Also are there definitely still François' langurs, and if so where are they living at the moment? I was pretty sure we went all over the zoo and couldn't see them, and I'm curious as to whether it's the site acting up again; as they no longer list the crowned lemurs despite having them still!!
Getting the Chimps, including some of the more elderly and humanised ones, into a larger single group took time and some help and advice from somewhere like Edinburgh who had already done it previously with their Budongo exhibit. But they did achieve it, though the process may have been responsible for the loss of one or two from stress or heart-related deaths, but overall it has been successful. I see no reason why they can't continue the process with the smaller group and ultimately achieve merging all of them together- but that final part would almost certainly have to wait until the new building was available.
Aah, this answers my question before. No they don't mix them, but alternate their access to the outside. When I asked a keeper a couple of weeks ago how they decided who was out first in a day, she simply said they swapped every 24 hours, which must be late in the afternoon. She did also say that there was hope for a 'new' enclosure in which they might be able to mix, but I'd previously heard that mixing would not happen.
I don't think they will have needed much of a postmortem to find out what went wrong- 'cock up on the marketing front' seems rather self-evident here.
Crowned Lemurs were offshow at last reports. Francois Langurs maybe as well - they imported a new breeding male from San Francisco during February so its possible they are doing the introductions with him..
Surprised if they are not still there as they are a comparatively recent acquisition(within last few years that is).There was talk that the last Javan Langurs would go however. One Monkey House is a 'Langur House' and I think they were in there- if that house was closed then maybe as Nisha suggested, they were doing introductions.
Different to what I have been told previously that certain females were mixed with males from the other group for breeding due to the spilt and to avoid inbreeding.
The last time I asked about the bonobos, which is a few months ago at least, I was told that the make-up of the groups was based around who could be trusted in with Lopori, or at least it was a major factor.
When I visited about 10 days ago, there were three François' langurs in an enclosure slightly hidden away at the bottom end of Elephant Creek (sort of behind the owls). Not sure of the sexes, but one was separated from the other two - maybe the SF male?
They have been moved then. This enclosure is very tucked away with only the indoors properly visible and it would have been easy for ShonenJake to miss seeing them in there.
That is the Zoo's name. Whatever it turns out like, compared to the housing they've had previously, I'm sure it will be....
I'm surprised they aren't all in together, Maringa can be rough but is Lopori's mum and Diatou was Lopori's adoptive mother for a while wasn't she? I reckon Kakowet and Keke are swapped over from time to time as Keke has had babies relatively recently with Cheka and Maringa, and Kakowet of course has had babies with Diatou! Also Luo had a son with Banya before he died so I reckon if the groups aren't put in all together at least some of the individuals are swapped. Keke did seem very riled up whenever he noticed the neighbouring group moving around close to the dividing wall inside so it may because of him? And didn't notice any François' langurs behind the Owls though there was a good chance they were there. 100% not in the langur house, only Javan and dusky langurs, Lowe's guenons, colobus monkeys and Diana monkeys that I could see (I think, not sure about the Dianas and colobus, can't remember properly). Also crowned lemurs were 100% onshow, in the area with the lone siamang, L'Hoest's monkeys and coatis!
