Alwaysevergreen
Well-Known Member
Derek, I apologise for not replying to this sooner, I have only just seen the question you asked.
The Chester experiences are very thorough and very enjoyable. I do them more to be able to get some better photography shots, learn about the species and to broaden my knowledge. I can give you a quick synopsis of the Primate day as follows;
The morning started over at Monsoon Forest, where I got to see the Sumatran Orangs and Moloch Gibbons in the house. I was told all about them and was within a couple of feet of them. A few of them are a bit spitty which is not uncommon with Orangs, but they were a chilled group. After around half an hour, one of the keepers took me to the roof area of the exhibit, where we threw food on to the roof and watched as they climbed up and we were within a couple of feet of them and it was quite a surreal experience, although being a shade scared of heights, it was rather daunting for me. What did make me laugh was the male Orang, would stay down the bottom and collect all the fruit and veg that fell through the roof and would hoard it into one of his hessian sacks. I was then taken on a tour of the outside of the exhibit and told all about its design and how the soil was specially done so there is no rocks and how they have no water areas (except a small waterfall) to protect them from any freezes. What impressed me with the walls which are made to look like rock faces and I asked about whether any of the Orangs had tried to climb it. They said it's impossible to climb and before any Orangs even went in there, they got professional climbers in to try and climb it and it was impossible, because there is no inward grips, and it all goes outwards. It was nice to learn about the design. I was then shown where the fire broke out at Monsoon Forest and told about the roles the staff had on that day. Very interesting, but you could see in the faces of the keepers how much it actually affected them, with one of them welling up slightly.
With the Orangs fed, we went and cleaned the exterior windows of the primates on Monsoon Forest, before heading to muck out the Sulawesi Macaques. We then done a scatter feed and got to watch them eat their breakfast pellet. I was quite impressed with the noises they made.
We then headed to the kitchen area of the Monsoon Forest and done some diet prep for some of the primates, before having a short break.
After a break for a tea / coffee, I headed off with another keeper to meet the callitrichids, first of all the Lion Headed Tamarins, Emperor Tamarins & Pygmy Marmosets, where whilst the latter named being very timid, I was able to hand feed the other pair and get some nice close up photos.
One of my favourite parts of the day followed, by going in with the Pied Tamarins. Chester have one of the larger groups of these, with 7 of them and whilst they aren't currently breeding, they have had good success with breeding them. They were very in your face and very active, a couple happy to be hand fed, but others allowed good amounts of close photos which suited me. None tried to jump on you, but they were certainly braver than the other Tamarins and it was nice to see them up close.
We headed back to Primate HQ, where I was given a tour of the Monkey house from the keeper side, seeing the Capuchins, Lion-Tailed Macaque and Mandrills. We got close to the Mandrills from behind the safety barriers and got to see just how impressive the male was, as well as seeing some of the babies which included one who was born in the last few months. They have actually had three births in the last year if I recall rightly.
Next we headed to the Spider Monkey's where we put their lunch out for them and got to observe the group.
The final part of the morning involved heading over to Madagascar. Because of the new-born Sifaka, I was unable to go in with them, whilst the keeper put their food in form them, but I managed to get a few nice shots of the baby.
We headed into the Lemur Walkthrough and went to their houses to feed all five groups (Black Lemur, Red Ruffed, White & Black Belted, Crowned and Ring-Tailed). All the Lemurs are fed in their houses to discourage any of them jumping on people, or people trying to feed them, so they only associate being fed in the houses. I got to hand feed each of the five groups, before putting the remainder of the food out in their houses for them.
It was now lunch time, which takes place in the staff canteen and is amazing value for the keepers, serving really good food, which is heavily subsidised.
The final part of the day in the afternoon, takes place at RORA and at the Chimps.
We started off by going to see the Bornean Orangutans and again going up to the roof of RORA and feeding them and also the Lar Gibbons.
The only Orang I didn't see what Tuan who is effectively kept offshow, and hates men and gets intimidated easily, so he has his own section of RORA which is offshow and has his own inside and outside, not viewable to the public. It seemed some of the Bornean Orangs were more sociable, and stayed at the net feeding in front of us and the keeper told me all about each one and their personalities.
Another highlight of the day followed, when we next headed over to the back of the Tropical Realm and get to feed and meet the Aye-Aye. On route, we stopped off to feed the Cotton-Top Tamarins of which there is 3, mum, dad and a young female who was under a year old.
We then headed in to see the Aye-Aye. I got to go in with one and see her up close, get a nice video of her and watch her feed, listen to how she uses that digit to take out her insects and I was fascinated at getting so close to such an amazing and weird species. I couldn't believe how nimble and fast they were and thoroughly enjoyed seeing her up close and being able to video her.
In the other two exhibits, we shut them into a holding area, whilst we put food out for them, as we got to see the Malagasy Jumping Rats up close and get videos of them and learn more about them, before letting the Aye-Ayes out for their food.
I actually think this was my highlight of the day and it was the first time I had seen an Aye-Aye up close and really appreciated the opportunity.
From Aye-Ayes and jumping rats, it was finally to the chimps. We made Peanut Butter sandwiches for the group, and I was then taken to the back of the house to see Boris, Nicky and Friday, the trio who had been pushed out of the main group, but were happy in the house, with access to an off-show paddock. Boris came right up to the front and was so nice to see up close, with a gentleman like demeanour and he drank his juice in front of us, checking us out and the keeper showed the bond he had with these Chimps. I liked Boris, he seemed such an intelligent and likeable animal and wasn't like any Chimp I had seen before.
It was now time to lock the Chimps in their night pen, before we put the evening food out for a the main group, and scattered their wood wool out in the dens, filled their juice cups up and hid the Peanut Butter sandwiches for them. With all this done, the dens were locked up and we let the main group back in. The noise as they came back in was seriously loud, almost deafening and there was definitely an order in which certain chimps got food first and others hung back. After 5 minutes or so of loudness it all settled down, and they found their own dens to eat their evening food and I got to watch them up close and get some videos of the group, including Zee Zee and Jeff. The group seem to get on so well, and a few of the older females headed down to the bottom den which is opposite the den with Boris, Friday and Nicky in and they seemed to interact with them, like they obviously remembered when they were part of the troop.
Seeing the Chimps in the back of the house was interesting and the keeper was so helpful in telling me about the species, all their characters and what they were like to work with. He had worked with Chimps at other collections including Monkey World and spoke with a real passion for the species.
Before the day was over, one of the keepers took me in to see Nima the Red Panda who had been moved to RORA recently, to be separated from Koda and I was able to get some lovely photos as she came down from her Bamboo Tree to get some grapes.
The day runs from 8am to 4.30pm in winter, and 8am to 5pm in the summer and it's a fantastic experience. I've done all 9 sections, which are always one to one with the keepers and they are truly fantastic experiences.
I hope this answers your question Derek and gives you the insight you wanted. Any other questions, feel free to ask, and I'll do my best to answer.
