PRAGUE ZOO’S GORILLAS ARE GETTING USED TO THE NEW PAVILION

Shinda and Kamba as they first enter the indoor exhibition of their new pavilion. Photo Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

“The gorillas are doing well; they are managing the move far beyond our expectations. They acclimatized to the new environment so fast that the very next day the group was released from the background facilities into the indoor exhibit,” said Prague Zoo’s director Miroslav Bobek, adding that once the gorillas get used to the indoor space, the keepers will start releasing them into the outdoor enclosure. “The gorillas will soon be joined by mantled guerezas, which, until recently, inhabited the Monkey Islands in the lower part of the zoo.”

According to the head keeper, Martin Vojáček, the male gorillas, who will still live in the original pavilion, are also getting used to the new arrangement. “Even Richard and his sons, Nuru and Kiburi, are much more at ease now. They have been accepting food ever since the day of the move, although Richard is still a bit picky, preferring the tastier morsels. However, this means that we are on the right track. It is all going much better than we had hoped,” he explained.

The relocated females and the six-year-old male are still familiarizing themselves with their new home. This will be made easier by keeping the new pavilion closed for several months. Prague Zoo will officially present it to the public on 28 September as part of its annual celebration.

This is the fifteenth of Prague Zoo’s pavilions and the largest to date. It will take visitors through the Cameroonian landscape: from a school and the agricultural landscape on the outskirts of a local village, to the dense rainforest full of vegetation, sounds and, above all, its animal inhabitants. In addition to gorillas and mantled guerezas, visitors will encounter vervets, red river hogs, brush-tailed porcupines, fruit bats and the small animals of the forest undergrowth - all of which give an illustrative palette of Central African fauna.