Bear cages now housing capuchin monkeys

They also used to hold gelada baboons a few years ago Sadly whilst the glass gives good viability it reflects badly with photos taken on a bog standard camera I actually like these enclosures and just wish they would double the hight and create a magnificent enclosure for very little outlay

Totally agree, Dean. A first-rate Snow Leopard enclosure is just waiting to be created here, IMHO.

I remember seeing the bears in these exhibits as a child and they always were stereotyping, it was way too small for them. I'm glad when the last one died it was converted for smaller animals. Smooth coated otters were in here at one time as well.

I wonder if all the controversy over the bears has put them off using these enclosures foe anything large though? I remember the Gelada baboons here when they first arrived at the zoo, I posted some old shots of them saying the same thing then about raising the hight for a fantastic enclosure.

One reason these enclosures make a good exhibit visually is because the ground slopes down from the back to the front. I agree raising the height would be good, and then deciding on a major species (e.g. Snow Leopard as Ian suggested above) to house in here instead of them just being used for different smaller species when necessary.

The new Sun bears or "Bears of The Rising Sun" as it will be known should turn out the same it slopes even more and is at least twice as large as these ones plus it is open toped so should be even more impressive. Especially when all the planting grows in, i recall seeing the bears originally at the RSCC in kent a few years ago now, they looked a little smaller then from memory,and the enclosure though interesting wasn't nearly so big.