Paignton Zoo news at Paignton zoo

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CZJimmy said:
I think it's the 3rd actually (although not with big cats), someone cracked one of the windows in Realm of the Red Ape at Chester
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' Summer madness at the Zoo..':rolleyes:

I don't think I've heard of such an incident before this year.
 
How can they replace Babbon rock? Ok it's pretty poor for viewing, but it has to be one of the best enclosures in any UK zoo. My family love it, even my kids who are fed up with me taking them to Paignton zoo every year.(Except this year.)


SAVE BABOON ROCK!
 
Johnny Morris. said:
How can they replace Babbon rock? Ok it's pretty poor for viewing, but it has to be one of the best enclosures in any UK zoo. My family love it, even my kids who are fed up with me taking them to Paignton zoo every year.(Except this year.)
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Exactly. Your statement is typical in that Baboon Rocks are one of the best and most interesting exhibits a zoo can offer in the primate department. Always loads going on- grooming, threatening, fights, chasing, playing, mating, everything. You want to stay and really observe them up close for a while which is where I think Paignton's falls down a bit. Its the only one of its kind in the Uk though there are a number in European 'city' zoos.
I definately hope its going to be revamped or improved rather than done away with.
 
Pertinax said:
Exactly. Your statement is typical in that Baboon Rocks are one of the best and most interesting exhibits a zoo can offer in the primate department. Always loads going on- grooming, threatening, fights, chasing, playing, mating, everything. You want to stay and really observe them up close for a while which is where I think Paignton's falls down a bit. Its the only one of its kind in the Uk though there are a number in European 'city' zoos.
I definately hope its going to be revamped or improved rather than done away with.
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Could a Glass or perspex screen be put around this enclosure? I'd like to view from the other side too.
 
So what can be done to the baboon rock is there much room for an extension?
 
I'm not a fan of the Baboon Rock. It's ugly, it's bare and it's overcrowded - plus, as Pertinax says, it's difficult to view the animals. Paignton could hot-wire a section of a genuine rockface and then add an apron of sand and gravel. That wouldn't be cheap, but renovating the current exhibit, which is certainly looking very tired, wouldn't be cheap either.

Alan
 
gentle lemur said:
I'm not a fan of the Baboon Rock. It's ugly, it's bare and it's overcrowded - plus, as Pertinax says, it's difficult to view the animals. Paignton could hot-wire a section of a genuine rockface and then add an apron of sand and gravel. That wouldn't be cheap, but renovating the current exhibit, which is certainly looking very tired, wouldn't be cheap either.

Alan
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Although I said Baboon Rocks are a great display( I believe they are) Paignton's is certainly not the best I've seen though its the only one in UK(I don't count the other couple of smaller colonies as they are not displayed on 'rocks') It was probably modelled on older European ones no doubt(and maybe ZSL's 'Monkey Hill too) but the result hasn't been terrific. They tried to copy the natural rock 'strata' of the area apparently, hence the 'sandwich' effect, and although it toned down, its always looked a bit like a North American 'mesa' to me, while the viewing they certainly didn't get right and threw away a great opportunity for people to be able to study the baboons at length. But its still potentially one of the Zoo's most interesting exhibits and they probably realise this, hence plans to improve it.

However would Paignton now bother to completely rebuild a fancy new exhibit for a non-endangered species? I wonder.. The glass wall idea is possible- I think I'd still like to see a big 'rocky'area but also some flat sandy 'desert' where you could watch them moving around & foraging- that would all call for a major redesign. They are obviously considering something though.
 
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I think they could use part of the barbary sheep's cliff face as there is enough of it, and it would encourage people to go to down that track more as there are only the sheep there at the moment. Obviously they are not barbary animals but I still think they would get more out of a natural cliff face than anything that could be built for them, it would just have to be modified for them which I don't think would be too expensive
 
I don't know if this has previously been mentioned, but Paignton are also planning a binturong exhibit.
 
Chris79 said:
I don't know if this has previously been mentioned, but Paignton are also planning a binturong exhibit.
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That's interesting. I wonder where it will be. They used to have a pair in the old monkey house. (My son, then a vegan, did work experience there and had to smear raw liver over the branches in the enclosure as enrichment :))
 
kiang said:
So what can be done to the baboon rock is there much room for an extension?
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There is some empty land at the back of the exhibit - maybe they could extend into this. I agree that it would be good to be able to see the whole exhibit. But I wonder if their behaviour would change if we all got closer and more intrusive. They seem to be oblivious of the public now.
 
i really like baboon rock, though it could do with a bit of a revamp perhaps just replacing the mountain with a new one? i dont know

or perhaps make the enclosure bigger and add a tree
 
Gigit said:
I agree that it would be good to be able to see the whole exhibit. But I wonder if their behaviour would change if we all got closer and more intrusive. They seem to be oblivious of the public now.
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No, not at all. Some groups of Hamadryas on the older baboon 'rocks' in European zoos are much closer to the public- thats what's so good about them, if it the pit design, you can view either directly over a wall, or (e.g. Cologne) across a shallow water moat. This is where Paignton's fails so badly as you can't get near enough..

With the current design of night cages at the back, they couldn't have a path right the way around. However they could design it so the night cages were in a seperate block which were accessed by wire tunnels overhead. Knock down or reduce the height of the ugly high wall at the back and you could have access right the way round.

Gentle Lemur mentioned the Barbary sheep enclosure in the context of a cliff. Whereabouts is this? Last time I saw the Barbary sheep they were in a very small enclosure behind the Giraffe house, overlooking the sea. Have they been moved?
 
The Barbary Sheep have a new enclosure some way behind the giraffe/elephant house. It's in the old quarry area that was destined to be, I think, a tropical exhibit until local residents complained. There's a steep cliff and shrubs and trees so the sheep are often invisible. It's a pleasant, peaceful area - not many people make it round there.
 
Gigit said:
The Barbary Sheep have a new enclosure some way behind the giraffe/elephant house. It's in the old quarry area that was destined to be, I think, a tropical exhibit until local residents complained.
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No I don't think I've ever seen this area. Is that above(West of) the access path to the Elephant/giraffe building?
 
Gigit said:
The Barbary Sheep have a new enclosure some way behind the giraffe/elephant house. It's in the old quarry area that was destined to be, I think, a tropical exhibit until local residents complained. There's a steep cliff and shrubs and trees so the sheep are often invisible. It's a pleasant, peaceful area - not many people make it round there.
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If local residents complained about a tropical house could you imagine the fuss they'd make about the baboons? Aren't these the moaners who complained about the peacocks?
 
Pertinax said:
No I don't think I've ever seen this area. Is that above(West of) the access path to the Elephant/giraffe building?
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On the path between the giraffe and camel enclosures, head uphill. There's a junction - right towards the giraffe/elephant house, left along a path and round a corner to the Barbary Sheep.
 
Johnny Morris. said:
If local residents complained about a tropical house could you imagine the fuss they'd make about the baboons? Aren't these the moaners who complained about the peacocks?
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The residents who objected to the peacocks were on the other side of the zoo, behind the aviaries. I can't see what objection they could have had to a tropical house in that situation - it's actually hidden away. And some of the houses there already have camels at the bottom of their gardens. A bonus, I'd have thought. If you're going to buy a house by a zoo........
 
Gigit said:
The residents who objected to the peacocks were on the other side of the zoo, behind the aviaries. .
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Peacocks do make a hell of a racket between February- July- they often call at night as well as in the day. We have them near where I live (not a zoo) and even I think they're a nuisance sometimes though I just put up with it. They can make some very odd noises as well as the usual 'miaow' scream(mating call).

Other very noisy animals with loud penetrating calls are Siamangs & Ruffed Lemurs, also some Parrots. I don't think anything in a tropical house would make too much noise though.
 
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