@Zooplantman Probably... ShonenJake says it is worse in the indoors viewing area where it is quite dark anyway. This is(presumably) a continued attempt to prevent Kumbuka interacting with the public, hitting the glass etc but I can't see it changing the situation much. IMO the only thing that would work is greater distance of people from him where there are viewing windows.
I have often wonderd if military style camaflauge netting would be practical in these sort of enclosures, to give more of a jungle feel and security to the inhabitants? I wonder how forest animals deal with open style paddocks, Tapier and Okapi spring to mind.
Too often okapi, especially, are placed in open enclosures that resemble horse paddocks. Of course they do fine if the enclosure is large enough. But here the issue is providing some real visceral separation between visitor and gorillas. It might have been accomplished in any number of ways. Even certain coatings on the glass might have limited the animals' view into the viewing area. Or, of course, as Pertinax says, the visitors could simply be kept about 1.5m back from the glass. If that was unacceptable, a 1m deep planting (yes=hot wire!) on the animal side would have worked.
@dean Militart style camouflage netting is used in some Gorilla/primate houses to cover the glass and give more privacy for the animals. I don't know if it makes any difference really. The thing they like least is noisy people and if its impossible to prevent noise there will still be a problem.
@Zooplantman At London, the outside exhibit has a wide watermoat around most of its perimeter. But one short section and also the indoor exhibit has viewing windows instead, the idea being to allow people/gorillas to get too close to each other. Unfortunately the window section outside is right by the doors to the inside area, otherwise they could do the hotwired planting you suggest which would solve the outdoor problem at least. The design has backfired rather(as has been the case in some other places) though It wasn't really a problem until the most recent male Gorilla arrived as he is more orientated to displaying at visitors than the previous males in here were, plus there are now babies in the group too. It could be alleviated I'm sure if the inside area, where they spend most time was enlarged/deepened in size but I cannot see them doing that due to the cost and re-organisation issues- so instead they keep trying these much cheaper visual screening solutions.
@Pertinax: Blaney & Wells (2004) noted that visitors were quieter and more respectful after camouflage netting was installed on gorilla viewing windows. They also recorded less aggressive and abnormal behaviour from the gorillas, although the experiment wasn't particularly well-designed.
Hopefully this measure will have the same effect, but I can't imagine the silhouettes being as effective.
@Giant Panda from what I saw it hasn't done much, Kumbuka was still displaying a lot and it had in no way made them less stressed. I think the volunteers were equally stressed, they were trying to monitor him and couldn't see him properly because of this new install!!
IMO the whole thing at ZSL is a bit of a farce. Most zoos don't have these problems, or they sort them out. I was at both Bristol and Twycross recently. No reduced visibility/ volunteers shushing people or anything out of the ordinary- none of the gorillas relating to people either.
