Gorilla Adventure

12juni2013
Source: gorilla-adventure.nl
Ouwehands Zoo opened the doors of its Gorilla Adventure at the end of March. This exhibit has been in the planning and realisation stages since 2010. The animals there are to be offered enough challenges to keep them in good condition.
Additionally, of course, the new gorilla home is meant to provide an exciting adventure for visitors. Features for the public include an old mine shaft; a perspiring miner takes visitors deep underground in an authentic old, rusty mine lift...if all goes well.... Stepping out of the lift, the visitors find themselves in an 80-metre-long tunnel with a height (11 metres) allowing viewing of the gorillas at various heights.

The new gorilla home, 12 metres high, offers the animals plenty of climbing and scrambling opportunities. Various compartments have been built in at several levels. Extra motivation for the animals to stay active is offered: they are fed on the roof. The enclosure, of course, also contains natural vegetation. There are rocks and tree trunks to climb on, and the floor is covered with bark. The indoor enclosure can be divided in two in order to separate gorillas if need be.

Six males make up the gorilla troop. These animals, 8 to 11 years old, were all born in Howletts Wild Animal Park (UK). Bitono is the only silverback in the troop; he has a grey back and a bump on his head. Big and well-muscled, he is the undisputed leader.

The gorilla on the picture is not living in Gorilla Adventure, but in another zoo.