ZSL Whipsnade Zoo ZSL Whipsnade Zoo News 2025

When the Chimp enclosure was built, it was simply the brick building and the small mesh-covered square outdoor area. And most of the building was a (largely unused) public area for viewing the chimps, who were confined to three small interconnecting cages along one side. Then they later built the large island(originally bounded by an electrified fence, not the water) and closed the indoor house giving the Chimps access to the whole building.

I've rarely seen any of them outdoors on the island.
 
TNT said:
That's interesting - I've never not seen them on the island. Luck of the draw I guess...
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Same but in contrast to others they are among my most visited animals (shows how nicely the zoo caters for all tastes!) so I am not surprised by that but they do make good use of the outside area in all seasons in my experience.

Of course they are a non breeding group now but they are at least partly the result of an active past breeding group; Phil and Elvis are Bonnie's offspring (for example).

Glad you had a great day @TriUK !
 
Panthera1981 said:
It will be interesting to see what becomes of the chimp area once this group passes away. Gelada have been rumoured in the past. Personally, I’d like to see Bonobo, though I suspect Twycross remain quite precious about holding their exclusivity.
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Sumatran Orangs would be nice!
 
Panthera1981 said:
It will be interesting to see what becomes of the chimp area once this group passes away. Gelada have been rumoured in the past. Personally, I’d like to see Bonobo, though I suspect Twycross remain quite precious about holding their exclusivity.
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I hope for more chimps myself, a completely minority view these days of course. I hope the current group go on for a long time though and don't get sent off to somewhere obscure.
 
I hope for more chimps too It would seem odd for a zoo of Whipsnade's scale and standing not to have any great apes.

I like the way some of the species at London and Whipsnade compliment each other.
London - Asiatic Lions, Whipsnade - African.
London - Sumatran Tigers, Whipsnade - Amur.
London - Gorillas, Whipsnade - Chimps.

Due to the location of the enclosure in the zoo, they can't put orangs (for geographical theming reasons) there so I want them to continue with chimps.
 
I don’t think they’d have to make too many changes to make it a top class chimp enclosure. Any other species would require quite significant changes.

For me, I’d like to see them continue with chimps. I consider them quite an iconic Whipsnade species.
 
Panthera1981 said:
Orangs have also been rumoured, though I wonder/fear that the exhibit doesn’t lend itself to housing a Great Ape under modern zoo requirements, particularly the housing and off-show facilities.
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I'm not sure it is either. The house and small yard are quite old-fashioned now and the island is more suited to a primarily ground-dwelling species I think.
 
NMM said:
I hope for more chimps too It would seem odd for a zoo of Whipsnade's scale and standing not to have any great apes.
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Just for the record, the current Chimp group are the first time they ever had a group of adult chimps at Whipsnade. Formerly they had young chimpanzees only, that were put out on one of the islands for display though I don't know if they had any onshow indoor quarters. Then for several decades there were none at Whipsnade at all. There were very few other primates either- a group of Rhesus monkeys, and then Gibbons and later squirrel monkeys on the larger oval/circular island with big trees.
 
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I also remember a small South American primate species that had an enclosure near to the current ASCO enclosure, with free ranging access to the surrounding trees connected via ropes. It amazed me that the only thing stopping them from escaping was the fact they chose not to.
 
nedpepper said:
I also remember a small South American primate species that had an enclosure near to the current ASCO enclosure, with free ranging access to the surrounding trees connected via ropes. It amazed me that the only thing stopping them from escaping was the fact they chose not to.
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The old house for the small primates (silvery marmosets I recall someone mentioned among others including Goeldies and they did climb outside across the path) has only just been demolished recently and is now signed as a nature space with some bug houses. It was just storage for a long time.
 
Lafone said:
The old house for the small primates (silvery marmosets I recall someone mentioned among others including Goeldies and they did climb outside across the path) has only just been demolished recently and is now signed as a nature space with some bug houses. It was just storage for a long time.
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If it was the small shed near to the old elephant arena then, yes, this was briefly home to a free-ranging group of Silvery marmosets. However, the group’s boldness was ultimately their undoing when one ventured too far and became enrichment for the chimps and another a snack for the Red panda! The group also had a habit of raiding waste bins. Unsurprisingly, the free-ranging idea was soon curtailed.
 
Lafone said:
Of course they are a non breeding group now but they are at least partly the result of an active past breeding group; Phil and Elvis are Bonnie's offspring (for example).@TriUK !
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Which members are yet part of the Whipsnade chimpanzee group ATM ... (kind of lost track of them ... and they have a peculiar history anyway!)???
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Which members are yet part of the Whipsnade chimpanzee group ATM ... (kind of lost track of them ... and they have a peculiar history anyway!)???
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Bonnie (1986, Oscar and Daisy)

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who leads the troop with younger son Elvis (she still carries him sometimes even though he's an adult) (2002, Bonnie and unknown)

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and her other son Phil (on the left) (1996, Bonnie and Oscar)

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Grant, her brother but born at the same time as Phil (1996, Emma and Oscar)

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According to the 2014 studbook (assuming that is right) Bonnie, Grant and Phil were all sired by loan chimp Oscar from Twycross who died in 1999 (also fathering Niki / Nikki, 1984, who was the dominant male who died in 2023).

Then Koko, unrelated, one of the oldest Chimps in Europe (born 1973 Dudley to Cherry and Pepe, arrived Whipsnade 2006). Koko arrived with a chimp called Jonnie, they both escaped from the enclosure in 2007, she returned but he was shot.

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