In the book "What Zoos Can Do" this exhibit is ranked as one of the 3 best gorilla habitats in all of Europe, with the other two being Leipzig in Germany and La Palmyre in France. Warsaw must have some incredibly cold winters, and do the gorillas spend a great deal of time indoors during the off-season? Is this exhibit really as extraordinary as Anthony Sheridan's ranking system?
This certainly gets good marks for attractiveness. The trees as they grow will provide more overhead cover too. If London planted some trees like this in their 'Gorilla Kingdom' it could look very similar to this. I imagine the Gorillas do spend a lot of time indoors though-especially from autumn to spring, given the east european winters.
From photos I've seen on here I wouldn't rate La Palmyre's new enclosures that highly, the indoor 'furniture' is very peculiar design and the outside areas, though large, are very open with funny little 'igloos' for shelters, not at all naturalistic.
In the book "What Zoos Can Do" this exhibit is ranked as one of the 3 best gorilla habitats in all of Europe, with the other two being Leipzig in Germany and La Palmyre in France.
I'm afraid this just goes to show how utterly ridiculous this book is! Of course, the quality of an exhibit is to a very large extent a subjective judgement, but I cannot see how it could possibly be said that La Palmyre's gorilla enclosure - http://www.zoochat.com/433/great-ape-outdoor-islands-2-a-237705/ - is any good at all, unless one has a taste for oddly landscaped islands and a house that, for no apparent reason, appears to be based on the mosque in the town of Djenne, in Mali.
I'm afraid this just goes to show how utterly ridiculous this book is! Of course, the quality of an exhibit is to a very large extent a subjective judgement, but I cannot see how it could possibly be said that La Palmyre's gorilla enclosure - http://www.zoochat.com/433/great-ape-outdoor-islands-2-a-237705/ - is any good at all, unless one has a taste for oddly landscaped islands and a house that, for no apparent reason, appears to be based on the mosque in the town of Djenne, in Mali.
There are many instances where Anthony Sheridan's ranking system (although naturally subjective) rings true, as by perusing the ZooChat gallery I have seen that many of his choices for a variety of animal exhibits appear to be accurate. However, the La Palmyre gorilla exhibit is so bizarre, and so awful in the opinions of many, that I firmly believe that Sheridan's choice in the matter is totally perplexing.
However, the La Palmyre gorilla exhibit is so bizarre, and so awful in the opinions of many, that I firmly believe that Sheridan's choice in the matter is totally perplexing.
'Bizarre' is a very accurate word to describe it. They have gone from the old very small simplistic islands to a 'super-strange' design- I have no idea what prompted the strange innovations which are very unlike most other Gorilla exhibits.
