Lincoln Park Zoo Lincoln Park Zoo
- Thread starter Barrel
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Hi there and welcome to ZooChat. Here are some pictures from my visit last month.
Anything missing can be found in the ZooChat media gallery.
Anything missing can be found in the ZooChat media gallery.
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Yes, they were using it on my last visit in fact. I don't blame you for asking though, as I've noticed they do prefer to spend time indoors even when they have outdoor access.
I must be very unlucky because since the exhibit was made, I've only seen gorillas outside one time, and only to grab fruit on the lawn just outside the door, then go inside again to eat!
Same here, except it was the chimpanzees I'd seen go out for food and come back.
In all my years of zoogoing, with multiple visits to three institutions, I have only seen apes outside last month and that brief instance with the chimpanzees. Lincoln Park's Great Ape complex is massive and has well-designed outdoor habitats for all three apes, but they have usually been indoors.
It's part of why I never thought as deeply about Brookfield's gorillas living indoors-only until recently; even though Milwaukee and Lincoln Park offer them outdoor access and I have always agreed completely the animals deserve choice, my mind is so used to gorillas being indoors where they had a choice that it was hard to fully appreciate how unnatural it is.
Well, the indoors is usually warmer (on colder days); cooler (on warmer days) and even away from the wind at times if you wish.
I read a book about the whole design of the complex, and part of it was to allow their great apes to have choice on whether they want to be indoors or not. The author did note, through observations, that the gorillas would tend to spend much more time indoors, and when they did go outside, some would only sit on the 'doorstep' not wanting to venture far from their indoor enclosure.
The author attributed this to being where the silverback (Kwan) wanted to stay. It was reported that the kids did spend a lot more time outdoors than the adults; and Bahati (the older female) spent a lot of times outdoors too. Lincoln Park's previous silverback enjoyed the outdoors much more than Kwan does now, and Bahati was part of his harem so has seemingly developed more of a liking to the outside, especially compared to other two females (Rollie and Bana). Interestingly, Bana too, was born at Brookfield where as you know, they live completely indoors!