Gorillas male Kumba and female? 1990.

Was told this Kumba was Chessington`s male on loan.

It's easy to forget how horrible the Sobells were - aesthetically, at very least.

Nanook said:

Was told this Kumba was Chessington`s male on loan.

Click to expand...

Yes it was. I think the female is Zaire(still at the Zoo) but difficult to tell from this angle. This was the only period London have(to date) had a proper small breeding group. Two females were born and reared, one each by the two females Zaire and Salome. But it wasn't repeated and Kumba later returned to Chessington where he had several more offspring.

Would you two say they were any more ugly than the Howletts enclosures?

Probably less ugly but also less functional. Howletts enclosures, the newer ones anyway, are much larger and more spacious than these were.

Ah, thanks Petinax! I have to say, I had never seen a photo of the old Gorilla enclosures but I imagined them to be a lot worse.