@Sun Wukong: when I ask the question of whether anything can top Baboon Reserve I am quite obviously referring to other zoo exhibits, not Ethopia where the primates are found in the wild. I'd also be shocked if the Rheine or Zurich Zoo had a gelada baboon habitat that was even one fifth as spacious and naturalistic as the Bronx Zoo's brilliant, multiple-acre baboon paradise.
This habitat is really 5 acres? I thought it would be like 1, which would be huge for baboons, let alone 5 acres. In Cleveland they have Hamadryas Baboons crammed into a cage than is probably no bigger than a small bedroom, with crowds of people looking in from the small glass windows, really a terrible exhibit as the whole Primate, Cat house in Cleveland is.
In the book America's Best Zoos the Baboon Reserve exhibit is listed as being 5 acres, but I'm not sure if that includes the small village and restaurant that looks out onto the enclosure. The habitat is massive, and it is probably the best in the world for baboons.
Zurich's new exhibit is quite nice, and closely modeled on Baboon Reserve, though not as big. Interesting to note that the Zurich snow leopard exhibit has many details lifted directly from the Bronx Zoo's Himalayan Highlands, except Zurich improved things by making the animal space larger and open to the sky
@Sun Wukong: when I ask the question of whether anything can top Baboon Reserve I am quite obviously referring to other zoo exhibits, not Ethopia where the primates are found in the wild.
I really have to add a smiley whenever I'm making a joke...<sigh>
Once again: Yes, the Ethiopian Highlands...""
Like reduakari wrote, Zurich's new exhibit appears to be pretty good "naturalistic"-wise - and has even more species in it than the exhibit in the Bronx. And Rheine's enclosure seems to fit the animals' needs.
Another contender for best baboon exhibit could be Singapore. It isn't for gelada's and I haven't seen it personally but I think it looks pretty good (not quite as good as Bronx though.)
@PAT: Yes, the one in Singapore is probably one of the nicest exhibits for Hamadyras Baboons in zoos-which could lead us, in return, to a new thread called "Worst Hamadryas Baboon Exhibits". I could think of some...
@PAT: I've been waiting for years to hear the news that Werribee has built a fantastic, spacious, naturalistic habitat for Melbourne's Hamadryas baboons. Will it ever happen?
