Horrible... but it was unfair on Pepe to give him a big established group of females he couldn't handle as the only stranger and only male. From being a normal dominant male he had become a nervous,cringing wreck. But I have never heard before now that they actually ended up killing him.
Pepe was the father of the old femake Koko still at Whipsnade.
Would there be anything in the argument that one of their natural habitats would be the rainforest floor, which more often than not is in semi darkness, with shafts of light poking through, a la flamingoland.
Overall though, still poor.
It can be dingy in the rainforest, but this is an artificial environment and to me it just looks depressing.
Someone has posted on the Flamingo Park Forum that they will be phasing out chimps after the current 'oldies' die-off , so presumably don't want to have to upgrade housing. A lot of the smaller Zoos do seem to end up displaying them poorly as its so expensive to do good housing such as at Edinburgh, Chester, Whipsnade etc.
I've not seen Edinburgh's new facility, but Chester's is over twenty years old and I wouldn't have thought that Whipsnade's indoor facility would pass muster if ZSL was actually looking to build up the group, as opposed to just maintaining the existing animals in decent conditions.
Colchester's building is only twenty years old, but looks badly dated. Twycross - enough said...
Has there ever been any thought of checking the animals at Monkey World to see if some are of pure subspecies origin, and managing them accordingly?
Pertinax;529232Someone has posted on the Flamingo Park Forum that they will be phasing out chimps after the current 'oldies' die-off said:
The Chimps are supposed to be leaving before they die, but there has been a hold-up due to one of them being confirmed as pure West African. I was told they are supposed to be going to Blair Drummond.
I've not seen Edinburgh's new facility, but Chester's is over twenty years old and I wouldn't have thought that Whipsnade's indoor facility would pass muster if ZSL was actually looking to build up the group, as opposed to just maintaining the existing animals in decent conditions.
Colchester's building is only twenty years old, but looks badly dated. Twycross - enough said...
Has there ever been any thought of checking the animals at Monkey World to see if some are of pure subspecies origin, and managing them accordingly?
Having seen Edinburgh, Chester and Flamingoland's facilities, I can say that the Budongo trail at Edinburgh is brilliant, lots of climbing structures and a lot of space. Chester has a lot of nice foliage [Of which, Chimps can hide behind them]. I didn't see any Chimps at Flamingoland they were all off-show whilst a keeper was cleaning this on-show den.
The Chimps are supposed to be leaving before they die, but there has been a hold-up due to one of them being confirmed as pure West African. I was told they are supposed to be going to Blair Drummond.
I've not seen Edinburgh's new facility, but Chester's is over twenty years old and I wouldn't have thought that Whipsnade's indoor facility would pass muster if ZSL was actually looking to build up the group, as opposed to just maintaining the existing animals in decent conditions.
Colchester's building is only twenty years old, but looks badly dated. Twycross - enough said...
Has there ever been any thought of checking the animals at Monkey World to see if some are of pure subspecies origin, and managing them accordingly?
I knew someone would pick me up on the statement about zoos with 'good' accomodation.
I guess only Edinburgh's Budongo is really top notch. Chester's is a bit dated now but still functional. Whipsnade's indoors used to be ridiculously tiny/awful until they got rid of that enormous unused public area and gave it over to the animals' instead, but agree its hardly top class. Colchester indoors is at least nice and bright with a good communual area plus segregation cages, all on show to the public. The outdoors there could do with a revamp though.
I deliberately did not mention Twycross!!!
Not sure if Monkeyworld have ever tested their chimps for purity or would allow them to be involved in pure breeding projects. They seem rather 'maverick' and opposed to other zoos in some ways, yet are co-operating with the EEP in others- such as the Orangutans. Curious arrangement and kind of mixed messages. (The inside chimp areas at Monkeyworld aren't so brilliant either).
The Chimps are supposed to be leaving before they die, but there has been a hold-up due to one of them being confirmed as pure West African. I was told they are supposed to be going to Blair Drummond.
Makes sense from both points of view really.. Blair Drummond have completed upgrades to the current Chimpanzee enclosure and added an outdoor holding area over the Winter. Obviously in preparation for taking the FL chimps on...
I'd be interested to know what they plan to do with the current chimp exhibit once it's vacated..?
