Orangutan Exhibit

Nothing but concrete... all winter long... not even a rope... just concrete

And given all the nooks and crannies, you can't even say that it's good for the keepers in terms of cleaning

That might be adequate for macaques or entellus langurs, but it is abhorrent to think that orangs were kept here.

And as zooplantman says - I'd hate to have to clean it.

For comparison:

http://www.zoochat.com/129/indoor-orangutan-area-4-june-2010-a-154815/

(hey that's my picture of Frankfurt !)

I really liked the Bogori-Wald ape house at Frankfurt Zoo which houses Orangs, Bonobos and Gorillas. The Orang area is the 2nd best I've personally seen after RORA at Chester, though my only slight criticism of Frankfurt would be that with the good height of the enclosure they could have perhaps included more vertical ropes than they have for brachiating.

This place looks like a film set. Were you to be shown the picture out of context (i.e. not in a zoo forum) most people would never imagine it was an animal enclosure - maybe a still from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Yet it must have cost a pretty penny all the same - and to what advantage (for the animals) ?

...and I think the real issue here is, above all, it does not depict the natural habitat of the orangutan in any way.

hey hey hey now ... we don't know what lost Borneo civilization left a jungle city that the orangs took over. Science moves ever forward!

Ituri said:

...and I think the real issue here is, above all, it does not depict the natural habitat of the orangutan in any way.

Click to expand...

One could argue that point with all of the many "abandoned ruins" exhibits that pop up at innumerable American zoos.

Although displaying tigers in the context of "abandoned ruins" isn't necessarily inaccurate....check out this lovely photo from Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in India

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8581486@N05/2326043615

I agree with everyone's comments here, and might just add that the designers probably watched 'Jungle Book' too often as kids.