Best UK Gelada enclosure

Best UK Gelada enclosure?

  • Total voters
    37
  • Poll closed .
felis silvestris

felis silvestris

Well-Known Member
This is just a bit of fun to judge the general consensus on the best enclosure for Geladas in the UK. I have added a few photos from the gallery to make it easier for members to compare the different exhibits. If anyone wants to make an argument for a particular enclosure, please feel free to do so. Also, I would encourage people to list the enclosures in order of what they think is best.

Banham

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Howletts

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YWP

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Wild Place

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Colchester

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Dudley

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Edinburgh

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Dartmoor

Unfortunately there are no photos of this enclosure in the gallery. If someone can describe it or provide a photo that would be great.

Jersey

Unfortunately there are no photos of this enclosure in the gallery. If someone can describe it or provide a photo that would be great.
 
There was a period not so long ago when there were no Geladas on show at all in the UK! Now we have 9 zoos displaying this impressive species. I've only seen the enclosures at Dudley, WildPlace, Howletts and Colchester, not the others. Not sure from the photos which might be best, they mostly look good but IMO Colchester's is the worst as it is too small and very bare as a result. Of the ones I've seen I think Howletts is the best. From the photos Edinburgh, Yorkshire and Banham all look good too. Not so impressed by Dartmoor's though. Would be good to see photos of Jersey's too, particularly as it seems to have created some controversy.
 
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I'm struggling on this one, so I've not voted. I find most Gelada exhibits are very similar, I do like Dudley's bachelor paddock, but the housing is small, as a flip side, I like Howletts as well, and Wild Place. Banham's looks great in that image, but my own recollection, was it didn't come across that big. I've swerved this one, but tentatively, it probably would have been Howletts.
 
Alwaysevergreen said:
I'm struggling on this one, so I've not voted. I find most Gelada exhibits are very similar, I do like Dudley's bachelor paddock, but the housing is small, as a flip side, I like Howletts as well, and Wild Place. Banham's looks great in that image, but my own recollection, was it didn't come across that big. I've swerved this one, but tentatively, it probably would have been Howletts.
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So far Howletts seems to have avoided the usual 'bare' look that most Gelada enclosures end up getting because of the inmates' natural grass-feeding/plucking behaviour. Probably because of its spacious size in relation to their group size. I know Dudley work around that problem by sometimes alternating paddocks for them.
 
From a visitor's perspective, I like Wild Place the most, which has multiple viewing areas, lovely but subtle theming, well-disguised barriers (appearing to never end) and lovely vegetation. It did a far better job than anywhere else at convincing me that I was searching for the species in Ethiopia, and I don't think I have ever spent so long searching for them at a zoo. From a Gelada's perspective, Edinburgh seemed to be the best for me - far more spacious, lovely landscaping, and some of the most active Geladas which I have personally ever seen. Howletts is great, but don't they and the colobus rotate between the main field and the smaller cage, just visible in the background? Colchester's animals always seem to be very active, and I like the multiple viewing angles, and I like the slope, but it is far too small (funny to think that it once held rhinos!). I haven't seen Dartmoor's since the bears left, but I can't imagine that it works all too well for Geladas, unless it has been re-designed drastically.

All things considered, I voted Edinburgh with Wild Place a very close second.
 
So I know that Dudley is going to get all the votes because it's a fun enclosure and you get to soar over it in chairlift and all that. But YWP has a nice rocky outcrop that has plenty of space to get away from the public. So that has my vote. Although Wild place is lovely too for similar reasons
 
Kalaw said:
Edinburgh seemed to be the best for me - far more spacious, lovely landscaping, and some of the most active Geladas which I have personally ever seen. Howletts is great, but don't they and the colobus rotate between the main field and the smaller cage, just visible in the background?
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Edinburgh's might be the most active as they are a larger group aren't they? As to Howletts, I thought the Geladas and the Colobus shared at the same time but may be wrong on that. The Colobus don't use the ground like Geladas do so less damage is done to the grass sward.
 
I've seen a few of these. All of them cater well to the geladas and it is a pleasure to see them.

The photo of Colchester truncates it a bit, it's quite a long enclosure. It's the least natural but it has climbing and the slope running from one side to another. The house is also a fair size and there is a space outside it. It's not the largest space however the geladas seem to do well in it. They breed well though and are super active.

I like Banham's too with the house (where good views of the geladas can be had in bad weather), outside space and tunnel over the top into the second larger outside enclosure. It's not the largest but it has good planting and the group is not huge so they fit into it well. The different way to view the geladas crossing the bridge over the visitor path is a nice touch.

Wild Place is also pretty good, though the geladas were working on denuding the vegetation as usual. It's got good viewing but it is all on one level and it felt the most 'stuff in a field' with platforms added to it to me so lacking a bit of imagination. They seemed happy in it though and you get great views.

Dudley has good outside space with a lot of variety in height and the slopes work well for active geladas. It's good to see them from the chair lift too which makes it one of the most distinctive though the house seems to be the smallest. Being able to see them at different angles is interesting.

YWP is a great space with lots of areas for the two groups to co exist and a sizeable house and private space. The variety of levels is good. The vegetation has been finished off by the groups though the weeds do their best. For viewing and watching the geladas race around it with no barriers etc it has the edge to me but I could equally have voted for some of the others. The geladas hurling each other off that stone house thing in the picture and plunging all the way down the slope as they play is a proper wow moment for me.

So I will vote YWP but there's merit across all the ones I have seen.

The one thing many of them have in common (apart from Banham) is being able to see the geladas without wire or glass in all or part of the enclosure which is such a bonus.

I can't vote for enclosures I haven't visited or seen in these polls but the others also look good.
 
Kalaw said:
There are no photos of it since the Geladas joined, but it was the former Brown Bear enclosure, and here is a photo of it from when it held them:

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@Rupert89
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Unfortunately I don't have any upto date pics of the enclosure.

Its nice to see the Gelada using the trees as well as the ground there. May not be the best but it's certainly more interesting than a bare paddock for them. You can get a really good view as well from the viewing area if they are in the trees near the front.
 
Looking at all these enclosures with Geladas now. Does anyone know where each(or even one or two) of these places sourced their stock from? I imagine some of the more recent ones at least will have come from the earlier holders- probably Edinburgh, Colchester & Dudley? Howletts is perhaps less likely as they tend not to interact with other zoos so much- though they do so on occassion.
 
Pertinax said:
Looking at all these enclosures with Geladas now. Does anyone know where each(or even one or two) of these places sourced their stock from? I imagine some of the more recent ones at least will have come from the earlier holders- probably Edinburgh, Colchester & Dudley? Howletts is perhaps less likely as they tend not to interact with other zoos so much- though they do so on occassion.
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Dartmoor ones came from Colchester, jersey ones came from Edinburgh
 
Not been to all of these but seen a few. Although maybe biased as is my local - YWP gets my vote. The height of the landscaping they have done that can be viewed from most angles works really well and the artificial caves allow the Geladas to play off it - especially amusing with the current youngster (along with giving them a nice place to huddle out of the rain/cold).
 
For once I'd say this is quite difficult. The vast majority are of a similar standard, they are a species that at least in terms of space and grazing are done well in the UK. The weaker point and probably the defining factor between must be in the housing.

Dudley is a smart use of space on the bank and Edinburgh too, YWP too with nice rocky outcrops, seen at Banham too. And Wild Place is a smart looking area. I am struggling to cast my vote as of yet!
 
Agreed with most of what’s been said, I have loved the rise in gelada troops in the UK, and most of the exhibits bar a couple are great in a lot of ways.

Dudley isn’t my personal favourite but still good, Edinburgh has a great sloped exhibit, and I could easily choose Banham and Wild place/Bristol too but for now I’ll vote YWP (perhaps bias for my most visited zoo in the UK bar Chester), but I do think it’s the best in the country with viewing on most sides and the fact you can look up, down and straight across to view the primates.


It’s probably the best enclosure in the new expansion area bar the superb sea lion area and on par with the bush dogs (not seen the cheetahs yet).

It’s one of those enclosures where the more YWP-functional approach remains pretty natural looking, with plenty of grazing, rocks and even water which the younger members frequent about in. I don’t care for lack of indoor viewing for such a tolerant species but can understand why people can mark it down for that.
 
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