Howletts Wild Animal Park Heck's Macaques at Howletts
- Thread starter robmv
- Start date
Many thanks for the update. I thought they must swap them over eventually as the space requirements were completely up the creek. The three old females are JuJu, Baby Doll & Mouila and they are now back living in the enclosure they lived in after first arrival at Howletts. The juvenile is a male(name is maybe Bitanu?) and he is Bitam's last son (mother Juju). I think you'll find they are never put with another group since he died and are effectively in retirement.
There never seem to be any name boards for those oldest cages, but there are for Kioullou's group, they are on the wall of their indoor building.
A couple of questions about Port Lympne for you;
1. Are the Drills still living as a single group in the old cage near 'Palace of the Apes' and how many did you see- is it six?
2. Any noticeable changes or improvements to any Monkey groups at Port Lympne?
3 Are the batchelor gorillas still living in the same two groups as before?
Many thanks.
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No major changes at PL. The basic gorilla groupings are the same, although I think they will have to move some of Djala's elder sons out of the breeding group before much longer. Only 5 bachelors came out for the afternoon feed from the larger group (Bonz & co) - there were six names on the paddock, but Djimu's name was missing from the house - but I think he was there. There were two in the other paddock (Oumbi and Ujiji?) and two more in the adjoining house with the tall cage and the further cage on top (Djumbah and Bubu?). The keeper was busy with a 'keeper for the day' man, so I didn't have the chance to speak to her.
There were 6 drills, but only 1 adult female now I'm afraid, they are still in the same enclosure. There has been a bit of musical cages, the golden-bellied magabeys have been moved up to the roadway above the rhinos (almost opposite the dhole), the male looks very old and stiff and he has a lot of white hair. Their old cage has dianas (if I remember rightly). The western gentle lemurs have been moved in with the sifaka.
The other development is that there are only a couple of male Guinea baboons in the 'front window' cage. The main group are in their new house in the rhino paddock, which has nice glass windows for viewing. They also have access to a typical PL 'drum' as an outdoor cage - but all the fencing around the paddock has been fitted with insulators, so it will obviously be hot-wired in the near future. The baboons can see the rhino now, and I guess the rhino can smell them when the wind's in the right direction
Alan
There were 6 drills, but only 1 adult female now I'm afraid, they are still in the same enclosure. There has been a bit of musical cages, the golden-bellied magabeys have been moved up to the roadway above the rhinos (almost opposite the dhole), the male looks very old and stiff and he has a lot of white hair. Their old cage has dianas (if I remember rightly). The western gentle lemurs have been moved in with the sifaka.
The other development is that there are only a couple of male Guinea baboons in the 'front window' cage. The main group are in their new house in the rhino paddock, which has nice glass windows for viewing. They also have access to a typical PL 'drum' as an outdoor cage - but all the fencing around the paddock has been fitted with insulators, so it will obviously be hot-wired in the near future. The baboons can see the rhino now, and I guess the rhino can smell them when the wind's in the right direction
Alan
Thanks for the update on Port Lympne too. I'm pretty sure in the larger bachelor Gorilla group one is permanently seperated which is why only five came out for the feed. In the smaller 'group' they aren't a group anymore- more like two 'pairs' and I don't think they will be able to combine them again. Also I believe Boulas who used to be 'head boy' in this group and then went to Belfast, won't come back here but will join a European bachelor group instead. It seems these older males are not all proving compatable by any means. What happens if they need to add anymore younger males from the breeding groups I'm not sure, maybe add more to each existing 'pair'?.
The Guinea baboon idea is interesting- free range with the rhinos. Which paddock will this be in?
The Golden bellied Mangabeys seem not to have bred- the male(Sancho?) was old and crotchety looking even when they arrived(from I think Bucharest or Budapest) Not sure why they obtained just a single pair, as with the Hecks macaques, and Geladas at Howletts more recently. It doesn't seem enough to hope they can build up groups from.
The Guinea baboon idea is interesting- free range with the rhinos. Which paddock will this be in?
The Golden bellied Mangabeys seem not to have bred- the male(Sancho?) was old and crotchety looking even when they arrived(from I think Bucharest or Budapest) Not sure why they obtained just a single pair, as with the Hecks macaques, and Geladas at Howletts more recently. It doesn't seem enough to hope they can build up groups from.
Drills at PL.
There has only ever been one adult female(Bubindi) at Port Lympne, the breeding pair are Gorbi(male) & Bubindi. Also in the group of 5 that came from Stuttgart were two partly grown daughters of these (born at Stuttgart) plus an unrelated but castrated young male. Last february(2007) I believe Bubindi gave birth to a (3rd) female young, the first born at PL. That totals six animals. Then I also heard one of the elder daughters was being sent to a European group- either that hasn't happened yet or Bubindi has had another baby this year, to bring the tally back to six again.
There has only ever been one adult female(Bubindi) at Port Lympne, the breeding pair are Gorbi(male) & Bubindi. Also in the group of 5 that came from Stuttgart were two partly grown daughters of these (born at Stuttgart) plus an unrelated but castrated young male. Last february(2007) I believe Bubindi gave birth to a (3rd) female young, the first born at PL. That totals six animals. Then I also heard one of the elder daughters was being sent to a European group- either that hasn't happened yet or Bubindi has had another baby this year, to bring the tally back to six again.
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That's the explanation - I could have said that's the drill. I knew one of the females had gone, and there is a fairly young one, not a babe in arms but I'd say a good deal less than a year old.
I think we're agreed about the gorillas and mangabeys.
The paddock that the rhinos and baboons will share is the triangular one. The baboon house is in the SE corner, opposite the veterinary centre at the top of the path past the bachelor gorilla paddocks. The south boundary is on the other side of the path from the open colobus & de Brazza enclosure and the west boundary is the path from the corner of the red panda exhibit up to the mansion (the staff car park is on the other side). The third side of the triangle is one of the safari bus paths with another rhino paddock on the other side.
Alan
drills- according to ISIS they have 2.4. one of which was born 'in last 12 months'. IF this is up to date Bubindi must have had another(also female) baby this year but with the usual birth interval that one would still have to be pretty small?
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zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Just been looking on ISIS it would appear that they have breed the Hecks Macaque as they are no listed as having 2.1 Macaques.
I just wish they had been able to get more than a pair- maybe now they have bred one they will be able to add a few more to make a decent group.
Similarly they have only 1.1. Golden-bellied Mangabey but have not bred from these- the male in particular has looked geriatric since he arrived.