'Monkey Heights' was built to house the stock from the old Monkey House. I do agree that though ten times better than the old house, it is an odd design for arboreal primates. I wish it could have been in an area where the monkeys could have access to trees, where they are, they can't use the big specimen plane trees because they would soon wreck them, and makes the whole thing seem very unnatural. Still, its built now.... QUOTE]
I agree that monkey heights is more for arboreal species and baboons would require a different set of habitats (unless they got geladas which like fields).
I actually quite like the current baboon enclosure, it's big and more enriching than most. What they should do is fill in the dry moat surronding the rock and replace it with windows for better viewing which would effectively double the rock's size. Also, the behind-the-scenes facilities could do with improvement.
On the subject of monkey heights, the designers should be thrown in with the baboons
! OK, maybe that's a little extreme but it really is a stupid design. Why do the people look down on the monkeys
? Why are there so few climbing structures
and why didn't they build it in an area with trees
! I agree that it is a vast improvement on the old monkey house but it could be so much better. When they built the enclosure for barbary sheep they built it around a real cliff-face, why couldn't they have put the monkeys in a more natural setting. Having said that, i like the indoor areas and the diana monkeys have bred successfully ???three??? times now.
Anyway thats enough ranting for one thread!
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