felis silvestris
Well-Known Member
I hadn’t checked, although I’m visiting in 2 days time so I might find out.
Edinburgh Zoo Thoughts on Edinburgh Zoo
- Thread starter Shirokuma
- Start date
scrapula
Member
Oh I’m glad it’s reopened, I’ve visited a few days these past 2 weeks and didn’t even realise!
Re: Chimpanzees at the zoo back in the 1960s/1970s
Hey heard from old audio interview with the late Dr Rosemary Markham (a first generation raised Glaswegian of English parents, who became an Orangutan expert based at Perth Zoo for 35+ years in Australia beginning in 1970s, fascinating person, but I digress):
That at some point (trying to work out if was 1960s or 1970s) Dr Jane Goodall told the (then) director of Edinburgh Zoo that the zoo's Chimpanzees should all be living together in a troop, and not in (1.1) pairs like they were; and because of what Dr Goodall suggested, the director proceeded to organisie having the internal walls knocked down between the adjoining pens of the Chimp' enclosures. As a result the Chimpanzees then became a group/troop together.
But apparently there was some protest from the local council or regional council allegedly along the lines of ''the zoo was now promoting the idea of promiscuity in their Chimpanzees'' or something (ridiculous imo) like that.
Does anyone know what year it was when the zoo's Chimpanzees were first housed into a troop together beyond single female & male pairings?
Hey heard from old audio interview with the late Dr Rosemary Markham (a first generation raised Glaswegian of English parents, who became an Orangutan expert based at Perth Zoo for 35+ years in Australia beginning in 1970s, fascinating person, but I digress):
That at some point (trying to work out if was 1960s or 1970s) Dr Jane Goodall told the (then) director of Edinburgh Zoo that the zoo's Chimpanzees should all be living together in a troop, and not in (1.1) pairs like they were; and because of what Dr Goodall suggested, the director proceeded to organisie having the internal walls knocked down between the adjoining pens of the Chimp' enclosures. As a result the Chimpanzees then became a group/troop together.
But apparently there was some protest from the local council or regional council allegedly along the lines of ''the zoo was now promoting the idea of promiscuity in their Chimpanzees'' or something (ridiculous imo) like that.
Does anyone know what year it was when the zoo's Chimpanzees were first housed into a troop together beyond single female & male pairings?
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The zoo sent friendly email and said that the Chimpanzees were first merged to live together as a group/troop at the zoo in 1973.
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Dr Rosemarky Markham about Edinburgh Zoo early 1970s, Jane Goodall helped zoo curator/director (Mr Gilbert Fisher, although is said he retired in 1971) with chimpanzees being grouped together in early 1970s (local council temporarily closed the zoo or nearly closed the zoo) and male orangutan at the zoo named Alex:
Dr Rosemary Markham about Edinburgh Zoo's Chimpanzees early 1970s
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I remember once seeing Alex the (Bornean) Orangutan at Edinburgh. I have a postcard of him there as well. He came from London Zoo (where I would have seen him previously) as he was surplus for them, as they had the breeding pair Charlie and Toli and didn't need him as well. He was the first Orangutan Edinburgh had after the famous Mickey. He lived at one end of the Ape house and afaik used the same outdoor enclosure his famous predecessor had. The Chimps I can't remember so well at that stage but would have been still in their pairs I guess. On later visits they had been grouped together.
Martii
Well-Known Member
I was gutted when Brilliant Birds closed loved it in there not really a sloth fan and the zoos bird section has declined rapidly I have contacted the zoo many times to get more birds into the collection
GeeZee
Well-Known Member
Thank you for your very detailed critique of Edinburgh Zoo, when I read it I thought this was a recent thread as I hadn’t seen this before, but I note it’s actually from January 2022 & the thread was given a “bump”.
I have been to EZ many times and it’s a place close to my heart, I think in recent years it may have not had the best press coverage, particularly the last year or so when there has been several unfortunate deaths such as the Red Pandas & Cleo the Cheetah etc.
I’ve visited in all seasons, and it never particularly occurred to me that it was anymore “scruffy” than any other zoo I have been to, particularly over the winter period where generally things like that are put on a bit of a back burner until spring when the zoo is getting ready for peak tourist time, which tends to be August, especially given all the festivals and various other events that happen in Edinburgh concurrently.
I do agree though I think the Zoo could do better, and I’m not really the biggest fan of the current leadership either, the CEO was challenged at one of the meetings regarding some of the empty enclosures and his response was something along the lines of they were trying to emulate natural foliage rather than needlessly fill every space with animals etc.
I always felt the Giant Panda enclosure was rather peaceful, i did like how the path looped around Yang Guangs old enclosure & there was benches either side, there are much better panda enclosures elsewhere in Europe, but overall it wasn’t bad, but I never did understand the poor reflection of the inside areas, although what I used to do was if you had a camera (particularly a camera phone) you put the lense flat on the glass and the photos will come out really well without any glare/reflection.
I do agree though that the Zebra enclosure is a bit lacking, especially considering there are only 4 zebras & equally the area facing the panda enclosure could of had an additional viewpoint which would of been really good, although as that area was Tian Tians it didn’t reach far enough to actually properly get a look into the outside area (and another part of it wasn’t even an enclosure it was just a fenced off area), I’ve been many times and rarely saw her outside, whereas YG tended to be outside most days for at least a few hours.
I think it’s a real shame that the pandas have left well over a year ago now and there is still not a replacement for them, overall I think EZ really does have a lot of potential but somehow just falls short, you also mentioned the Budongo trail - personally I always felt this needed a bit of TLC and felt rather dingy, especially considering when it was first opened in 2008 it had by then cost nearly £6m , EZ really should of taken note of some of the Monkey World enclosures as an example.
I’ve also said this before on these forums, but you also mentioned the local marketing which is true & I really liked seeing the different animals on the various buses around Edinburgh etc, but I always felt that EZ could have marketed itself better on a more countrywide (or even international) basis, such as having its own tv series in the way that Monkey World , Chester Zoo or Longleat (to name a few) did & this was also a missed opportunity.
I know EZ and HWP did briefly have “Inside the Zoo” but this was relatively limited to a couple of seasons and was only shown in Scotland to a limited audience. I too may be nitpicking but EZ is a zoo I feel very passionate about!
I have been to EZ many times and it’s a place close to my heart, I think in recent years it may have not had the best press coverage, particularly the last year or so when there has been several unfortunate deaths such as the Red Pandas & Cleo the Cheetah etc.
I’ve visited in all seasons, and it never particularly occurred to me that it was anymore “scruffy” than any other zoo I have been to, particularly over the winter period where generally things like that are put on a bit of a back burner until spring when the zoo is getting ready for peak tourist time, which tends to be August, especially given all the festivals and various other events that happen in Edinburgh concurrently.
I do agree though I think the Zoo could do better, and I’m not really the biggest fan of the current leadership either, the CEO was challenged at one of the meetings regarding some of the empty enclosures and his response was something along the lines of they were trying to emulate natural foliage rather than needlessly fill every space with animals etc.
I always felt the Giant Panda enclosure was rather peaceful, i did like how the path looped around Yang Guangs old enclosure & there was benches either side, there are much better panda enclosures elsewhere in Europe, but overall it wasn’t bad, but I never did understand the poor reflection of the inside areas, although what I used to do was if you had a camera (particularly a camera phone) you put the lense flat on the glass and the photos will come out really well without any glare/reflection.
I do agree though that the Zebra enclosure is a bit lacking, especially considering there are only 4 zebras & equally the area facing the panda enclosure could of had an additional viewpoint which would of been really good, although as that area was Tian Tians it didn’t reach far enough to actually properly get a look into the outside area (and another part of it wasn’t even an enclosure it was just a fenced off area), I’ve been many times and rarely saw her outside, whereas YG tended to be outside most days for at least a few hours.
I think it’s a real shame that the pandas have left well over a year ago now and there is still not a replacement for them, overall I think EZ really does have a lot of potential but somehow just falls short, you also mentioned the Budongo trail - personally I always felt this needed a bit of TLC and felt rather dingy, especially considering when it was first opened in 2008 it had by then cost nearly £6m , EZ really should of taken note of some of the Monkey World enclosures as an example.
I’ve also said this before on these forums, but you also mentioned the local marketing which is true & I really liked seeing the different animals on the various buses around Edinburgh etc, but I always felt that EZ could have marketed itself better on a more countrywide (or even international) basis, such as having its own tv series in the way that Monkey World , Chester Zoo or Longleat (to name a few) did & this was also a missed opportunity.
I know EZ and HWP did briefly have “Inside the Zoo” but this was relatively limited to a couple of seasons and was only shown in Scotland to a limited audience. I too may be nitpicking but EZ is a zoo I feel very passionate about!