I thought it went well with the rest of Tiger Territory. The main viewing is inside opposite the big windows over the tiger pool, so it provides a nice balance of enclosures and some nice active animals when the tigers aren't visible/asleep. From those windows the functional design is much less obvious than from this angle.
'Functional' is how I'd describe it too- I was expecting something more 'fancy' given their recent designs. It looks a bit like a bird aviary but I don't like the lack of height, for Gibbons. I think Twycross' effort, even though it is watermoated- is much better than this though of course that was a major build, which this obviously isn't.
How close is this new gibbon exhibit to the public walkway? The angle of the photo is likely to be deceiving, but it seems as if an individual could lean across and stretch their fingers to actually touch the mesh of the enclosure.
@Pertinax I have to say, it doesn't look too low for me, but it's a matter of perspective on two counts!
I certainly prefer this to the telephone pole and ropes approach. My one question is that there doesn't seem to be any perches or ledges apart from the upper walkway seen in another picture. Also we haven't seen the indoors yet.
I suspect the one thing we all agree on is that this is a positive development for London, the use of unseen areas to create a new exhibit. Roll on the next new thing!
@FunkyGibbon I saw the gibbons go into an off-show indoor area next to the keeper-access platform, inside of which doesn't seem to have public viewing. Now you've mentioned it there don't seem to be any platforms within the enclosure, I hadn't noticed that yesterday.
@snowleopard the wire is close-ish to the walkway but can't remember if it was reachable or not. Hopefully another Chatter will visit soon and can clarify.
@robking1991@Pertinax it's not massive but it feels a good decent size and much better than where they were in the old Lion Terrace (the old tiger enclosure?). It's hard to judge the height because there isn't really anywhere to view from the ground, there is a ground-level path which seems to be keeper-only access, which is a real shame, would have been nice to look up at the enclosure rather than just across from the viewing windows.
@Crowthorne They do need a couple of platforms at high points to sit on. IMO the best gibbon cage at London was the one in the centre of the zoo- ugly but very tall unlike the more recent ones. I think for gibbons though, space for climbing is less important than space for swinging and sitting up high, as they really mainly travel by brachiation. That's why I think an open enclosure like Twycross' 'forest' scores over this by giving them more height and space. But for just a couple of Gibbons a more simple covered build like this was the obvious outcome here I think.
