Best UK Gorilla enclosure Reboot

[gentle lemur]

I am afraid that I have to disagree with the people who favour London's exhibit: the outdoor area is fine for the animals, although the public viewing is not very good, but the indoor section is too small and too low and so horribly cluttered that it is hard for the apes to move around and even harder for them to move away from the public, particularly as there is viewing from two sides: I presume that the tangle of ropes, sacks provides them some privacy. Also the public space is too small and so it gets very crowded and people tend to get boisterous as they try to see the gorillas properly. However on my last visit, I did get excellent views of the abundant house mice.
It has been quite a few years since I visited Port Lympne, but nowhere I have visited since has come close to the 'Palace of the Apes'. The plans for the new exhibits at Bristol and Jersey look promising, I hope they will be built soon.

 

[Pertinax]

I have to agree about the indoor area, both it being too small- it really needs to be about twice the size it is(!)- and all the hessian sacking blinds and 'clutter'. I don't know any other zoos that do this to the extent London do. Most zoos keep their Gorilla indoor areas far more open, both for ease of viewing and to allow the apes room to run, play etc. I'm not sure it helps with privacy either- I think they can move offshow if they want too- at least some of the time, but choose(?) to stay in the public area, while I've never seen any attempt by any of them to hide being the sacking. Kumbuka used to choose to rest/nest right by the glass so he obviously wasn't bothereed by visitors.

 

[felis silvestris]

Poll closed. Congratulations to London for having the Best Gorilla enclosure in the UK. Although not everyone agreed, they won, possibly due to being good all round. Like last time, the two Aspinall collections did well, but the former winner and runner up got barely any votes. A mention to Blackpool who did well to come third.

London: 47.1%
Port Lympne: 21.6%
Blackpool: 13.7%
Howletts: 9.8%
Jersey: 5.9%
Longleat: 2.0%

 

[Rajang-GOAT]

Poll closed. Congratulations to London for having the Best Gorilla enclosure in the UK. Although not everyone agreed, they won, possibly due to being good all round. Like last time, the two Aspinall collections did well, but the former winner and runner up got barely any votes. A mention to Blackpool who did well to come third.

London: 47.1%
Port Lympne: 21.6%
Blackpool: 13.7%
Howletts: 9.8%
Jersey: 5.9%
Longleat: 2.0%

My thoughts are that I agree London have the best overall exhibit of the main/naturalistic style displays, thanks to good quality indoor and outdoor areas whereas the other facilities that would be their main contenders have aspects that let them down (e.g. the indoor area soon to be upgraded at Jersey). The strengths of their exhibit are made even clearer by the similarities seen in the planned new exhibit at Bristol Zoo Project, which will surely compare much better to ZSL than some of the other exhibits of a similar general style did in this poll.

Saying this, I gave my vote to Howletts, having made my first visit last week and been able to witness their exhibits and the (4?) impressive breeding groups that are the product of the immense success experienced here with this style of enclosure. The gorillariums provide amazing homes for the gorillas (and are able to do this in a smaller space), allowing them to feel secure and sheltered while spending time outside and exhibit natural behaviours, giving enriching lives to their inhabitants as well as breeding success. Despite this, it does compromise the looks of the enclosures and there is little naturalism to immerse you in the exhibits, however at times I feel you can be immersed by the gorillas with them being the main focus with this design leading to a display that can be just as good if not better occasionally perhaps.

Perhaps the ideal gorilla exhibit is one that has one of each style of outdoor enclosure mixed with a high quality indoor area?

 

[Kalaw]

I am afraid that I have to disagree with the people who favour London's exhibit: the outdoor area is fine for the animals, although the public viewing is not very good, but the indoor section is too small and too low and so horribly cluttered that it is hard for the apes to move around and even harder for them to move away from the public, particularly as there is viewing from two sides: I presume that the tangle of ropes, sacks provides them some privacy. Also the public space is too small and so it gets very crowded and people tend to get boisterous as they try to see the gorillas properly. However on my last visit, I did get excellent views of the abundant house mice.
It has been quite a few years since I visited Port Lympne, but nowhere I have visited since has come close to the 'Palace of the Apes'. The plans for the new exhibits at Bristol and Jersey look promising, I hope they will be built soon.

Surely given that, as mentioned upthread by TLD, gorillas are rainforest-dwelling animals in the wild, they will benefit from having an indoor area that has a clutter of branches, climbing and nets? I could be mistaken, but I really struggle to see how that is an issue. You are incorrect to say that they don't have anywhere to move away from the public, seeing as there is an additional offshow area opposite the path from them connected by an enclosed overhead tunnel. Difficult to say how big it is, but judging from the area of the building in which it is contained, and that from recent experience the gorillas seem to enjoy spending their time there, I assume it is a fairly decent space.

I do agree that London's indoors is far from ideal in terms of size, however. I don't think it as serious an issue as others have made it out to be, as barring Port Lympne and the two all-indoor exhibits (Howletts and Chessington) it is the largest in the nation, so far as I can tell, and larger than many indoor gorilla areas on the continent, too. You are also very much correct to criticise the crowds within the building, which at busier times can make viewing the gorillas indoors entirely impossible.

That said, I have never been to Port Lympne, so will take your word from it on the superiority of their enclosure. As said, I don't think London's enclosure is amazing and only voted for it due to lack of competition, but perhaps a visit to PL will change my stance on this one day.

 

[Pertinax]

The gorillariums provide amazing homes for the gorillas (and are able to do this in a smaller space), allowing them to feel secure and sheltered while spending time outside and exhibit natural behaviours, giving enriching lives to their inhabitants as well as breeding success. Despite this, it does compromise the looks of the en
closures and there is little naturalism to immerse you in the exhibits, however at times I feel you can be immersed by the gorillas with them being the main focus with this design leading to a display that can be just as good if not better occasionally perhaps.

Although functional rather than attractive, where the Howletts enclosures score is a. in the height and ceiling area they can use and b. the gorillas seem to feel more secure in the covered outside enclosures than in the usual 'open field' style of exhibit, so they use them far more.

Interesting though that I think they must have restricted breeding far more nowadays. In John Aspinall's day the groups would each contain several mothers, all rearing their small babies and with older offspring present- the groups regularly contained twelve or more members each. Now they usually number no more than six, a number of the females are elderly and now non-breeders and babies are far fewer. That's not a comment on the enclosures, just on the general trend there it seems. I suspect this is the result of too much success and overproducing gorillas in the past in fact.