I think, if they wanted, they could get away with putting nothing in that area given they've cleverly placed the "saurs to fill in a space. There wouldn't be a massive, obvious, unused piece of land if they didn't replace them with anything -unlike say an empty ex-Giraffe enclosure in the middle of the zoo.
Twycross Zoo Twycross Zoo news 2013 #2
- Thread starter vogelcommando
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I think, if they wanted, they could get away with putting nothing in that area given they've cleverly placed the "saurs to fill in a space. There wouldn't be a massive, obvious, unused piece of land if they didn't replace them with anything -unlike say an empty ex-Giraffe enclosure in the middle of the zoo.
mazfc
Well-Known Member
Last time I went a couple of weeks who, coco, noddy and mongo had joes old outdoor area and Jambo's group were on the other side. I can't see any reason why they would have been moved.
mazfc
Well-Known Member
mazfc
Well-Known Member
I'll try and find out at the weekend
It's nice to see your posts improving and including a bit of potentially positive news (though how they market it given the previous Giraffes were sent to "better accommodation" is beyond me) along with the sarcasm and sour grapes (note that, legally, any (design) work an employee does is generally the property of the employer -they paid that person to think it up and therefore own it -not him or her).
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IanRRobinson
Well-Known Member
IF Twycross have the resources to get back Giraffes I'm tempted to say that the money would be better spent on species still in the collection.
An Orang-Utan House that gave the animals some height would be my priority, but I imagine others have their own thoughts.
An Orang-Utan House that gave the animals some height would be my priority, but I imagine others have their own thoughts.
I've got to say that I largely concur with this statement though realistically any amount spent to house Giraffes decently would hardly make much of a contribution to the significant amounts it would take to house Orangs properly/modernly. Personally, on idle moments, I wonder if Twycross isn't hamstrung by the financial pressures of trying to house four species of great apes (not cheap to do even half decently) and wonder if they'd be better off going out of one of the species. Of course I realise this would be a highly charged emotive and political issue which would probably be unpalatable to most. I suppose I'm questioning whether the great apes should be considered exalted enough to avoid the species reduction programme happening elsewhere in the zoo (notably with monkeys) in seeming attempts to stabalise the place. Then again, offloading great apes can't be straight forward.
I'm off to hide now
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I'd prefer to see 3 species of ape kept well but that would depend on which apes were 'offloaded' as you charmingly term it, I'd have thought only the chimps would not be able to find a good alternative and they are the ones they ought to keep.
I don't think anything should be sent to South Lakes....
IMO if we are talking about them jettisoning some of the great Apes- which is not a bad idea if they could find good homes for them, then I would be looking to remove both the Orangutans and(all) the Common Chimpanzees.
IMO the Orangutans, although successful breeders there, are not housed well, and never make a very good display (at least in their current home there) as they tend to be inactive a lot of the time. They haven't got very many (currently four?) so it might not be too difficult to absorb/merge them back into the European population.
With the Chimps, if they can never afford to build a proper complex for the whole lot then rehoming them would be a good idea- unfortunately it is virtually impossible to do- unless somewhere like MonkeyWorld were to almost double their Chimp population overnight (!), but if they did, I'm sure they would keep them in one social group without too much trouble.
That would leave Twycross with the Bonobos- which they do well with, are still 'Chimpanzees' for the public and whose enclosure has funding for some sort of improvements anyway- and the small Gorilla group for whom the existing enclosure is quite adequate and which always represent the biggest draw among the Apes for the public.
I would then either demolish the vacated enclosures or alternatively redesign/landscape them and use them for some decent sized groups of some of their other Primates.
Now for the smaller Primates....
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Of course they are.
Great Apes are amongst the most expensive of all animals to house properly. Twycross has so many Great Apes because the the M/s Badham & Evans acquired them originally (or their parents) all as babies- including many of those chimps for the T.V. adverts etc. At the time they were their 'family' and I don't think much(any?) consideration was made regarding housing them properly in adulthood until they were faced with it later on, and all those ugly unimaginative constructions that still house them now are the result. Twycross today is still living with the burden of that inheritance and is 'top-heavy' with Apes, particularly the common Chimps and mostly their Apes are still living in what is among the worst/ugliest Ape Housing in any UK zoos.See my comments above for what I would try and do...ideally going out of two species.
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CambsVet
Well-Known Member
I may be being quiet ignorant but couldnt Twycross improve the Orang habitat by adding an extension of towers connected by ropes. The orangs could then move around a larger area, above the heads of visitors- but not have access to the ground? The only groundspace needed would be the footings for the towers.
Yes, they probably could, but you still have the same old indoor quarters in which they spend a great deal of their time, particularly in the winter months.
If they do re-acquire giraffes it would be nice to see them hold some of the yet hybrid females left right and center in the British Isles and Ireland (notably both Dublin and Belfast).
However, I would say right now they would do best to improve some of the great ape and primate housing at Twycross first (also in order to make the banner World Primate Zoo stick better too).
I do like the road taken to focus on short term stop gap changes made / renovations done in recent months.
However, I would say right now they would do best to improve some of the great ape and primate housing at Twycross first (also in order to make the banner World Primate Zoo stick better too).
I do like the road taken to focus on short term stop gap changes made / renovations done in recent months.
I presume that if they have Giraffes again, it would be on a new site- rathr than the existing enclosure. Otherwise what was the point of getting rid of them just recently?
Constructionwise: siting and building a new Giraffe House and exhibit elsewhere within TWZ is not exactly cheap.