Apparently there are almost 20 species of primate at Belfast Zoo, although the accommodation for both gorillas and chimpanzees seems to leave a lot to be desired. The exhibits for the great apes aren't awful, but they are probably merely adequate in today's modern zoo world. Would you agree, @MagpieGoose?
@snowleopard At the time of opening in 1991, the Chimpanzee accommodation received praise from both Jane Goodall and Jim Cronin for its quality, and throughout the late 1980s into 1990s in UK zoos, many similar chimp enclosures were opened. These include The Chimpanzee Breeding Centre at Chester Zoo in 1989, Chimpanzee World at the Welsh Mountain Zoo in 1990 and Chimp World at Colchester Zoo in 1992.
31 years later, it is hard to compare these Belfast enclosures to newer ones, which are the 'new' world-class of European zoo ape exhibitry, such as Gorilla Rainforest at Dublin Zoo and The Budongo Trail at Edinburgh Zoo. I personally don't believe that the ape exhibits at Belfast are bad, and there are certainly plenty of good features about the exhibits with the outdoors both being fairly spacious. However, age isn't really on the side of the enclosures and I feel a refurbishment would be something I'm sure the zoo will look to do in the future, to bring them closer to more modern ape houses. Both species have had a fairly decent breeding record in these enclosures, with 12 Gorilla and 13 Chimpanzee breedings (including stillborn).
Thank you for the detailed, fascinating response. Belfast Zoo has come in for a lot of local criticism in the past decade and hopefully the facility can raise funds for renovation projects in the future.
