Chester Zoo What animal would you least like to escape

No. They look much blacker in the wild BECAUSE they have more hair. The reason they have more hair is their coats are not worn away by contact with concrete or metal surfaces which is abrasive to the hair (same with Orangutans) Some Zoo Chimpanzees do have good coats too- depends largely on the enclosure.

Funnily enough, just about every animal I have seen in the wild has looked bigger than the same species seen in a zoo. I think this is caused by the excitement of seeing a wild animal and the effort you have had to make to see it.
Also many of the films of wild chimps were made at Gombe Stream on the shore of Lake Tanganyika, where the chimps belong to the eastern race, also known as long-haired chimpanzees (although I am sure there is a lot of individual variation).

Alan
 
gentle lemur;157301 Also many of the films of wild chimps were made at Gombe Stream on the shore of Lake Tanganyika said:
they also have long facial side whiskers which, while still young, is a distinguishing feature. I have seen them in the wild at Gombe and it was not a very exciting animal experience....!! They fed in some trees, climbed down and walked in single file along a path and then some sat down and put their heads on their knees and stared into space, looking just like their 'bored' cousins in zoos. From which I have to deduce this is just a resting position, not boredom.

Incidentally, one UK zoo where the chimps used to have really good thick glossy coats was in the old ape house at Dudley- yet its virtually all concrete.:confused:
 
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