It looks good to me, despite the brand new feel. They have planted several young trees in the foreground which(provided they are hotwired) will provide cover/shade areas when they grow. There are dead trees for climbing etc. Hopefully the thin short grass will soon grow into denser vegetation. Its what I would expect from Frankfurt- a very experienced zoo with all Apes.
The offical opening is planned to Mid June, I think, the grass will be much higher until then.
I'm curious, if it will works to keep the Gorillas together with Drills and gurezas.
I first visited Frankfurt Zoo in 2007 when Borgori-wald was being built and I am very excited to see what it looks like finished when I return this summer
Are there any drill and colobus exhibits out there? I think it will come down to those to species getting along more then the gorillas.
Both species are much faster then the gorillas and could easily get out of the way.
I'd like to see far more trees in the Frankfurt Zoo gorilla exhibit, or at least some type of substantial canopy NOW rather than at an unknown time in the future. Here are 3 terrific gorilla enclosures, and I admit that I'm choosing the best of their kind. But what is wrong in aiming for the top?
Of these three I think there's not much to chose between the Bronx and Pangani trail exhibits. But how do they prevent damage to the trees/vegetation- is a lot of it hotwired so it only looks as if the Gorillas can go in it- or can they use almost everywhere except the growing trees?
Woodland Park's looks more open -but I know it hasn't always looked as mature as it does now... Jersey's, once very open, is probably now equivalent to this and so are Bristol And Paignton Zoo's islands, but these all have(some) mature vegetation rather than mature tree cover. One plant that grows on Paignton's island is Japanese Knotweed- it is a tall tough weed with large heartshaped leaves and reddish stem, it is generally regarded as a nuisance- but it also looks very like a tropical 'understorey' and provides great cover for the Gorillas too.
Apenheul is probably the Gorilla island with the most mature TREE cover in European zoos- Valllee de Singes in france also built their island to include a small grove of mature trees too.
There's nothing wrong with aiming for the best. But I can see the problems when a zoo(e.g. ZSL or Frankfurt) is starting from scratch with a new enclosure. Next year, I think Basel are finally building large outdoor enclosures for their Apes(with watermoats of course)- I wonder how they will turn out too- I've seen a plan but that all it is so far.
