Next to Palace of the Apes. I guess this proves that the Gorillas prefer the cages, as they only went ooutside to be fed, then went straight back in after the food was all gone.
Next to Palace of the Apes. I guess this proves that the Gorillas prefer the cages, as they only went outside to be fed, then went straight back in after the food was all gone.
On a number of occasions I have read about the Port Lympne gorillas and how they often prefer to stay indoors rather than spend time in their large outdoor enclosure. Aside from the climbing apparatus the exhibit looks as if it could be a paddock for hoofstock.
I guess this is a recent image, although there is no EXIF data. The enclosure looks bare because it's the end of winter here in the UK. In addition, the photo only shows part of the enclosure; there are mature deciduous trees, protected by hotwires, to the left.
A wide range of vegetation grows in the enclosure during the year. In the gallery there are several photos taken in the summer when there are many herbaceous plants, including nettles and teasels. The gorillas do spend a lot of time foraging in the shade of the trees during the summer. I don't think many people in England have been spending a lot of time in their gardens recently, so I don't find it surprising that Djala's group don't either
I took this on March 6th this year. There were trees behind me but I couldn't walk any further back to get them in. And there were a few plants scattered, but as gentle lemur said, it was the end of winter when I took this. I'd say this outdoor area rivals a lot of Islands that we see so many of, purely due to the amount of trees.
I think they'd probably use it more when the trees were in bloom, and also if the trees were closer to the entrance into the paddock.
When i went in May last year i would say about 5 gorillas were out in the Garden of the Apes section and there were plenty of plants and vegitation about.
It is a very good and pleasent enclosure very fitting for the gorillas. Its one of the most peaceful outdoor enclosures ive ever seen.
I far prefer 'Garden of the Apes' to the other Gorilla outdoor areas at Port Lympne. It is more interesting having a few trees, a sloping, not flat appearance and MUCH better viewing arrangements as you can look directly at them at close quarters through the ground level windows or from the overhead gantry which overlooks the paddock.
As a result when they come out at feeding time, Djala's group is much more impressive than the bachelor males -which can only be seen from the other side of a service road, I've never quite understood why.
Members of Djala's group do seem to use this outdoor area more than the bachelor male groups at Port Lympne use theirs, though again a larger % of their time is still spent inside the 'Palace'.
I didn't think the gorilla pavillion was very suited to gorillas, it had too much verticle space they would never use. They should use it for chimps or something. And I thought the cage by the DeBrazzas/Colobus enclosure was appalling. That should have been torn down years ago.
Interesting how different all those enclosures are from each other. The original round enclosure with all those fancy staircases and a loft- seems like some sort of 'Folly' to me. I don't think the adult silverbacks ever go up there.
Then when they built the extra pavilion as a sort of overspill it was just a case of a fundamental building with no frills at all.
Then with Palace of the Apes they got 'fancy' again- probably because it was for Djala's breeding group.
