Knoxville Zoo - Chimpanzee Indoor Exhibit

August 2008. The indoor rooms are brutal for these apes, but the enormous outdoor yard is brilliant.

goodness greaf

How many of these rooms are there? They're not great but I wouldn't go as far as "brutal".

This doesnt really look much different from most ape holding areas in zoos.

My thoughts exactly, maybe the roof is a bit low but still

I have high expectations when it comes to zoo exhibits, and this barren chimp cage definitely does not meet my approval. Others are free to think that it is perfectly fine for intelligent apes, but the lack of substrate, cement floor and wire mesh that is widely seen by the public creates a claustrophic feel rather than any sort of naturalistic environment. I fully realize that many behind-the-scenes areas in zoos are similar, but many zoological parks still have soft substrate and more climbing structures in such areas.

No zoo has an ape holding area that doesnt have a floor of concrete...its unsanitary.

@okapikpr: very true, but not many good zoos have concrete ape floors exposed to the public eye. Loads of zoos have concrete floors that are covered with hay, mulch and wood chips, but not devoid of just about anything like the one in Knoxville. Usually there is a changing of the natural substrate every couple of days, and underneath that is the concrete.

snowleopard said:

Very true, but not many good zoos have concrete ape floors exposed to the public eye.

Click to expand...

You've clearly never been to Europe
I do agree with okapikpr that it's a bit health hazardous, as in it's harder to see the dirty areas so some of it inevitably gets left behind.

Not to be picky, but this is the Gorilla courtyard. The chimps have one similar. And yes, I agree- there should be more substrate here! You picked a bad day to take a picture! Mostly, we kept tons of hay and blankets there. But you know something funny? I've seen many gorillas and chimps MOVE the substrate to get to the concrete. There was s study done once, where it seemed they actually preferred concrete to grass. Go figure. Also, if you notice that the exhibit doors are open, if Kwashi or Bantu were on exhibit this day, then that is where the substrate went... out to the exhibit! LOL. Either way, this is a dismal picture of our courtyard! :-(

I agree-- wish we could have garnered the funds to redo these courtyards. We always had so many ideas about climbing structures and such. Non profit organizations such as this zoo, things are so political and difficult to find funds for everything you need/want/wish to do. Keepers do not always agree with upper management, but when you look at the numbers, sometimes you can understand (and sometimes NOT).