Interesting to see the Indoor 'Hall' of this famous and studied group. Is it visible to the general public? When I went there the Chimps were outdoors, but I couldn't see whether there was public access/viewing of the indoor areas. There didn't seem to be.
Interesting to see the Indoor 'Hall' of this famous and studied group. Is it visible to the general public? When I went there the Chimps were outdoors, but I couldn't see whether there was public access/viewing of the indoor areas. There didn't seem to be.
I was there with the Zoohistorica group so Marc Damen, at the time curator of mammals but now director at Rotterdam was with us, so we would have been allowed to see this anyways. However, I can't recall anything else than this having been open to the public.
My last visit was in late August 2010. The 'the apes are outside' sign was on the same door we used to access the building in 2004 (I was there with Baldur, and many others, for Zoohistorica!), but it may be it was just closed for maintenance.
The Ape House in Burgers Zoo is closed off whenever the apes are not inside. They judge that the visitors don't want to see an empty exhibit anyhow, much to the frustration of us zoo-enthusiasts (to whom the exhibit in many instances is as interesting as the animal itself).
I tried myself to see the indoors exhibits three times before succeeding. I have visited Burgers Zoo in 2005, 2006 and 2008, every time in July meaning that the apes were out. In 2011 I finally snuck a visit in during March and got to see both indoor exhibits:
I quite like what is there, but maybe some higher climbing facilities would improve it even more as there is a lot of 'dead' space the Apes can't use above them. However, no doubt there are skylights/windows to let in the light which would then have to be protected, as would any other means of escape.
