Banham Zoo Colobus enclosure.

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Pertinax

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Has anyone seen the photo of the Colobus enclosure at Banham Zoo, in the gallery(or seen the enclosure?)

It seems to be an open expanse of lawn with some dead trees and ropes in the centre, the whole surrounded by a huge fence with an overhang. Both in scale and appearance it looks more like a Big Cat enclosure. Why didn't they choose some TREES to build the enclosure around- Colobus live in TREES, not on OPEN GROUND... In the wild they probably hardly ever descend to the ground at all. For a relatively recentlty built enclosure this seems to have been designed without any reference to the animals' natural behaviour at all. :rolleyes:
 
I've not seen it in real life, only as the photo, but it seems such a waste. The enclosure is fantastic in the fact it's open topped and so large, but wasted by not being planted. In an exhibit so large, I think it could quite easily be filled with robust plants, without them getting to damaged.

As you mention it's a shame the enclosure wasn't built around mature trees, but even as it is, it could be improved by planting some smaller trees, shrubs and climbing plants to the dead trees. What exactly are the colobuses expected to do on their lawn?
 
i'm suprised at just how big the exhibit is for the colobus and agree that planting trees could really make a difference in the enclosure.
 
I saw it when I visited Banham two years ago. It is big and it is bare - but the photo was taken with a wideangle lens which does exaggerate these features a little.
There is a 'house style' at Banham for enclosures that are basically lawns with a fence round them and not much else: the cheetah paddock and the Sri Lankan leopard enclosure are not very different, but I agree that the habitat for the colobus is sadly lacking in climbing opportunities and in vegetation. Frankly it's bad planning - they should have chosen a site with established trees or planted some and allowed them time to establish before they constructed the enclosure. It will be difficult to get much to grow now, unless they smother it in hot wires, which sort of misses the point.

Alan
 
Would the enclosure be big enough for an ungulate species such as bongo?
 
I'm working from memory, but I would say it might be big enough for a bongo - but it would not be suitable as the fence goes all the way around the enclosure so they would have to construct a house inside the enclosure (or teach the bongo to climb in with the colobus :rolleyes:).

Alan
 
gentle lemur said:
I saw it when I visited Banham two years ago. It is big and it is bare - but the photo was taken with a wideangle lens which does exaggerate these features a little.
Alan
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Yes, I realised the photo had stretched the perspective somewhat. I think it was built in this open area because the Colobus' original housing is nearby and so could be linked to it, so giving an expanding group a much larger enclosure without having to move them elsewhere in the park.

I used to think Banham was a good little zoo but what with the numbers of unusual Primates they have 'lost' from there, plus this sort of unsuitable enclosure, I'm less impressed nowadays. This enclosure just doesn't suit the very arboreal behaviour of Colobus which they seem to have ignored totally- a ridiculous design and I'd have expected better of them than this. ..:(
 
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it seems a big waste of space, maybe a mix of colobus and patas monkeys would be nice (i have seen this in france and it works well)
 
was the enlcosure originally built for the colobus monkeys or for a different species all together?
 
foz said:
was the enlcosure originally built for the colobus monkeys or for a different species all together?
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It was built specifically for the Colobus, using part of an empty lawned area. They originally had (or still have?) an indoor house and smaller outside enclosure along the nearby perimeter wall. I believe it was built to connect with the existing indoor enclosure.

Gentle Lemur- how do they access it?
 
Pertinax said:
Gentle Lemur- how do they access it?
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If you enlarge skoop102's photo, you will see what he (or she ;)) describes as the runway - which is a passage with a square cross section which starts at the top of the outdoor enclosure of the original colobus house. This has a horizontal section, over the public path, then slopes downwards to pass through the wire of the new enclosure at medium height.
There must be keeper's door too somewhere, but I can't remember it (I would point out in my own defence that I was at Banham more than a year before I signed up here :)).

Alan
 
Pertinax said:
It was built specifically for the Colobus, using part of an empty lawned area. They originally had (or still have?) an indoor house and smaller outside enclosure along the nearby perimeter wall. I believe it was built to connect with the existing indoor enclosure.

Gentle Lemur- how do they access it?
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You are correct. The original exhibit faces the 'new' ouside exhibit and is accessed via a fully enclosed aerial walkway. I suspect the reason the site was chosen was more to do with proximity, lack of use (probably a piece of lawn) and the fact that colobus will hit live trees pretty hard. It takes a very established set of trees in a large exhibit not to look completely denuded by colobus.
 
Informed and knowledgable reply

We appreciate all constructive well-informed criticisms on any enclosures at Banham zoo to which the latter appears to be neither. The colobus enclosure to which you refer to is just part of a larger three part construction at Banham zoo which has a large inside enclosure. An enclosed mesh enclosure, which can only be described as a typical zoo enclosure with ample branching and cover and then the more open high area where the colobus can let off steam and run, jump, forage and sunbathe. This was constructed around seven years ago and was built around a fully grown, well established willow tree which at the time was a great sight and very aesthetically pleasing, but as all colobus keepers out there know it doesn’t take a troop of colobus long to devour and destroy the main tree. The enclosure itself does also have three smaller and less established tree which are protected by electric fencing for obvious reasons. It is also planted up around the outside with various herbs and plants that are all accessible by the colobus. The zoo is well aware that the enclosure is now looking tired and worn and plans are in the pipe line to refurbish it, but I think you all can appreciate that it is impossible to have fully grown well established trees placed in to the enclosure over night. As for the troop they are all well looked after and have bred consecutively over the years and receive enrichment on a daily basis.
 
I think the point is that they don't seem to have many climbing structures for such a large area of land, not nessecerally trees, so I think the comments above are fair and constructive.
 
okay, I didn't know about the willow tree. Where is it now, surely they haven't destroyed it totally? I appreciate that Colobus being leaf eaters will soon denude the vegetation in anything but a large block of woodland so that in your case the 'ideal' is not possible.

Maybe when the enclosure is refurbished you could add some upright dead trees or poles which would allow them more leaping opportunity.

I never suggested your Colobus aren't well cared for- as for freely breeding, this species is virtually everywhere. ;)
 
Thank you robertwestby for your 'Informed and knowledgeable reply'. It does help us to understand the situation. I'm sure we can all agree that the best and brightest ideas about housing animals don't always survive when the animals put them to the test. I hope that the enclosure can be upgraded successfully.
Incidentally, the colobus at Howletts are in an even larger enclosure which is less than two years old and they have already severely damaged several small trees and clumps of bamboo: they have wooden climbing frames and ropes as well. The enclosure at Port Lympne has many mature trees, which seem to be OK to me, although an experienced forester might not agree.

Alan
 
Hello.
May I just say that when I took the photo I was only taking it to show the fantastic space which the monkeys have available, compared to some cramped enclosures which I have seen colobus kept in at other establishments. I was not in any way trying to be negative about it. The area in my photo only makes up a small part of the whole enclosure.
May I recommend that people should visit the zoo, and see the whole enclosure.

And maybe Robert Westby you could provide some more flattering photos of the enclosure, seeing as you were so offended by my photo!!!
 
skoop102 said:
And maybe Robert Westby you could provide some more flattering photos of the enclosure, seeing as you were so offended by my photo!!!
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I don't think anyone was offended by your photo- more my initial comments about it. I would like to see a photo or two of the whole enclosure if anyone has one.

I've had many pleasant visits to Banham in the past but unfortunately haven't been able to visit since this obviously spacious enclosure was built. I'm sure from what's been said though that the zoo have every intention of improving it again..:)
 
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