@Maguari: What was your impression of this place? Begging chimps in a cage makes it look pretty bad, but they seem to have a very conservation-oriented collection with drills, Cuban crocodiles, etc. Do they have any apes besides chimps and gibbons?
It's an odd place, definitely the least impressive of the three larger Tenerife animal attractions, but not unenjoyable. It's built around a central contradiction - the major animal welfare issues I saw were due to the fact they sell bags of 'monkey food' (assorted grains, peanuts, primate pellets) to feed the primates with - so the chimps and guenons beg and the lemurs in the wlakthrough have a tendency to look tubby. But I suspect without that attraction the place may not have a lot going for it in a competitive tourist area.
It seemed to me to be one of those zoos that have a 'core' collection (they were very strong on callitrichids) but pad it out by taking cast-offs from other collections - they only had one male Drill, and a collection of species that in Europe have 'fallen by the wayside' - Campbell's and White-throated Guenons, talapoins etc.
Not a bad way of passing a morning, but nothing too remarkable, the the enclosures were generally basic. I understand I didn't miss there being a jaguar here by much - that would have been interesting to see.
I am still doubting whether or not to visit this zoo. In a way it looks tempting to get close contact with lemurs, but to see begging guenons and macaques in ugly cages seems less tempting. And, I would not like my mum to get a too negative impressions of zoos, by just visiting one substandard facility. Can anyone give me advice, if it would be worth a visit?
It's a tricky one - it's not really an awful place by any means, but it's certainly not a first-class example of a zoo either. There were a few nice species when I was there but otherwise not too much to shout about.
It's a tricky one - it's not really an awful place by any means, but it's certainly not a first-class example of a zoo either. There were a few nice species when I was there but otherwise not too much to shout about.
