From memory I think the 'Ape House' at Cologne in those days was actually the Bird(or Tropical) House with some cages for Apes built into it ? It was in here I first saw the two baby mountain gorillas Coco and Pucker soon after their arrival circa 1968. Basel Zoo originally had a similar system of ape cages built at either end of their Bird House too-presumably because of the warmth available. These were also similarly tiny though the gorilla ones had a small outside cage also- it was in here that their first four(?) Gorilla babies were born.
Worst Enclosures You Have Ever Seen
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From memory I think the 'Ape House' at Cologne in those days was actually the Bird(or Tropical) House with some cages for Apes built into it ? It was in here I first saw the two baby mountain gorillas Coco and Pucker soon after their arrival circa 1968. Basel Zoo originally had a similar system of ape cages built at either end of their Bird House too-presumably because of the warmth available. These were also similarly tiny though the gorilla ones had a small outside cage also- it was in here that their first four(?) Gorilla babies were born.
Yes, it wasn't very satisfactory because the perches were so high off the ground that it was difficult to see the birds, particularly as there were panels around the ends at the top to protect the birds from wind and frost as they roosted. It was demolished some years before the gibbon cage was.
I had forgotten that about Cologne, but checking my old guidebook and notes from 1973 confirmed that you are right. I saw the old gorilla cage in the Bird House in Basel too. That was in 1972, after the gorillas had moved into the new Ape & Monkey House. The cage held the most active black and white ruffed lemurs that I have ever seen.