Paignton Zoo: Part 3/4 - Primates & Medium to Large Mammals

Mandrill
(Mandrillus sphinx)

As I wrote in my previous entries, my friend Miseria, my mother, and myself visited Paignton Zoo last month. So far, I've written about the 'Reptiles, Amphibians & Fish' and the 'Birds & Big Cats', but this post is all about the 'Primates & Medium to Large Mammals'. 

The Red Ruffed Lemur
(Varecia rubra)

The Red Ruffed Lemur
(Varecia rubra)

There were several species of primates, housed in various areas, throughout the zoo. Lemur Wood was closed, as it's being rebuilt, though we did get a glimpse of the red ruffed lemurs. They were indoors, but their gorgeous yellow eyes were staring out.

The Red Ruffed Lemur
(Varecia rubra)

Lar Gibbon
(Hylobates lar)

Lar Gibbon
(Hylobates lar)

On one of the islands on the pond near the main path through the zoo, there was a fluffy lar gibbon sitting high up in a tree. It was raining a little at the time, so the gibbon was huddling into itself, using its fur as protection.

There was a flurry of activity at Baboon Rock, with the (approximately) thirty-strong troop including males, females, juveniles, and infants. They had a lot of spaces to run around in and climb on, but there were more secluded spaces in which they could sit quietly away from the others if they wished as well. There was also an indoor area that they could retreat into at anytime.

Hamadryas Baboons
(Papio hamadryas)

Over at Monkey Heights, the rain was keeping many of the primates indoors. Luckily for us, there were sections of their shelters that we could view too, so it wasn't a problem. There seemed to be a lot of students/researchers in Zoo uniforms, taking notes and monitoring the monkeys, in this area. I know that there are a lot of teaching programmes operating via/within Paignton Zoo, but I'm not sure exactly what they were studying/monitoring, or if they were even students.

White-faced Saki
(Pithecia pithecia)

King Colobus Monkeys
(Colobus polykomos)

Goeldi's Marmoset
(Callimico goeldii)

The Goeldi's marmosets were quite elusive at first, as the indoor viewing windows were split into segments / partially blocked, and the marmosets raced swiftly around their house. However, the little one in the picture to the left eventually paused for a rest on a perch branch.

In contrast, the king colobus monkeys seemed to be much more relaxed and spent their time huddling together with their young and grooming. 

Cherry-crowned Mangabey
(Cercocebus torquatus)

The cherry-crowned mangabeys decided to go outside for a while once the drizzle had subsided. Seeing them climb and traverse the assorted structures, beams and ropes was amazing!

In the tamarin house there was a golden lion tamarin and an emperor tamarin sat next to each other under a heat lamp. The golden lion began grooming the emperor; the second tamarin tolerated the grooming but didn't seem to be that happy about it. 

However, the roles were then reversed and the golden lion seemed to be in its element, almost falling asleep in a relaxed state of contentment. Each time the emperor would pause, the other tamarin would reach up and stroke its face, then the grooming would resume once more. It was adorable!

Bearded Emperor Tamarin & Golden Lion Tamarin
(Saguinus imperator subgrisescens & Leontopithecus rosalia)

Diana Monkeys
(Cercopithecus diana)

Sulawesi Crested Macaque
(Macaca nigra)

The Diana monkeys moved back and forth on the ropes in their house, using their long tails to aid them with balance. In the wild, they apparently live in the tree canopy and rarely venture down to the ground, so this rope climbing was mimicking their natural behaviour. (Outside, there are also trees and other things for them to climb).

Unlike Diana monkeys, Sulawesi crested macaques are mostly ground-dwellers, spending around 60% of their days on the ground. They do, however, sleep and sometimes forage for food in trees. In the wild, they only live in Tangkoko Batuangus Nature Reserve and some of the smaller surrounding islands, but despite the protected habitat that they live in, they are still critically endangered. 

Due to this, they are part of breeding programs at various zoos around the world, mostly in Europe, one of which is Paignton. We were very fortunate to see the infant macaque with its mother during our visit! (Also, I should point out that although in the picture it might look like there's only a hard concrete floor for her to sit on, there were other, much softer, places she could have chosen).

Mandrill
(Mandrillus sphinx)

The  mandrills were very active inside their house - all except for one, that is. The big male mandrill was sat atop an artificial "hill" in their dwelling and as the juveniles and some of the females raced around playing, he sat very still, just watching them. 

One of the juveniles came up to him and began to try and play with him, and at first he didn't respond. However, he then had an expression that looked similar to a grin, and began joining in with the play too. I've since looked up mandrill behaviour and found that teeth-baring like this is supposedly a form of "friendly" communication for them, so he really was doing something similar to smiling, I guess! After that, he went outside, the others followed, and they all continued the play out there.

Western Lowland Gorilla
(Gorilla gorilla gorilla)

Western Lowland Gorilla
(Gorilla gorilla gorilla)

I like gorillas, but for some reason, I don't really like visiting the gorillas at the zoo. There's always at least one sitting by the glass and they look straight into your eyes. It's not that they're being aggressive or anything like that, they just look really...sad? 

Probably I'm just anthropomorphising them here though and assuming that I know what their expressions mean when I really don't! When you see them in the outdoor part of their enclosure they look much "happier". 

Moving on from the primates and to the "medium to large mammals" - yes, I do realise primates are also mammals! - we went to the paddock that's home to the kangaroos. There was a female, male, and their joey.

Western Grey Kangaroos
(Macropus fuliginosus)

They were grazing together happily until the male began calling to the female, then stood up and started following her around. She clearly wasn't interested, as she hopped away to another part of the field, the joey going after her as quickly as it could.

Western Grey Kangaroos
(Macropus fuliginosus)

The Kafue Flats lechwes, which are endemic to the floodplains of their namesake in Zambia, were rather graceful creatures. They spent much of the time we were observing them grazing and pottering slowly from grass patch to grass patch.

Kafue Flats Lechwe (male)
(Kobus leche kafuensis)

Kafue Flats Lechwe (female)
(Kobus leche kafuensis)

There was also this striking lechwe below who was, like the peahen in the previous entry, leucistic:

I could swear that when the leucistic lechwe noticed that it was being photographed, it adopted a distinctly sassy look, as though it didn't want its photo taken.

Kafue Flats Lechwe (leucistic)
(Kobus leche kafuensis)

You can laugh at my anthropomorphising again here, because my friend certainly did when I mentioned it to them!

Lowland Anoa
(Bubalus depressicornis)

Lowland Anoa
(Bubalus depressicornis)

There was a beautiful little anoa nearby and when it wasn't trotting around grazing, it was resting in a box full of hay. This species is often described as a "miniature water buffalo" and is native to to the rainforests of Indonesia. It might seem unkind to keep it alone, but they live solitary or in pairs, rather than in herds like most cattle, in the wild, so this is actually more natural behaviour for it.

Lowland Anoa
(Bubalus depressicornis)

Rothschild's Giraffe
(Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi)

A small herd of Rothschild's giraffe resides at Paignton Zoo, at least one of which is an adolescent. The giraffes seemed to spend most of their time walking around or eating in their yard, but they also had a large indoor area to retreat into if they wanted as well. 

It might be surprising, but I've never actually spend a great deal of time watching giraffes in zoos. I'm aware that for many people they're one of the biggest draws, and I adore them also, but I tend to spend time watching the animals that most people don't pay as much attention to. However, this time I made an effort to properly look at them and appreciate just how wonderful they really are.

This species of giraffe lives in protected reserves in areas of Kenya and Uganda and is endangered, with fewer than 700 of them left in the wild. Sadly, it's mainly hunting that's caused them to become endangered, rather than habitat destruction, so their extinction really is something that's preventable. 

Rothschild's Giraffe
(Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi)

Red River Hog
(Potamochoerus porcus)

Red River Hog Art

There were some red river hogs a little further along from the giraffes. They're "bush pigs" that live mostly in the Guinean and Congolian rainforests of North Africa. 

These particular zoo hogs snuffled around near the fences and generally looked contented in their surrounding. On one of the walls elsewhere in the zoo, we spotted an artwork of another hog as well. 

Collared Peccary
(Pecari tajacu)

Opposite the red river hogs were the collared peccaries, though they didn't stay outdoors for very long. When we turned the corner we saw them again, this time sleeping in a row inside their house.

There were also a small herd of zebras in one of the paddocks, interspersed with wild seagulls and one arbitrary female ostrich (mentioned in the previous entry)!

Hartmann's Mountain Zebra
(Equus zebra hartmannae)

This particular zebra subspecies lives in south-western Angola and western Namibia in the wild and are adept climbers. At the zoo, their paddock is on an incline and has several ridges that they can climb up and down as well, somewhat simulating their natural conditions. They are actually completely black and white but, as with some of the other animals here, the mud/dirt in this area of the world gives them a somewhat orangey appearance.

Hartmann's Mountain Zebra 
(Equus zebra hartmannae)

We briefly also saw some Bactrian camels, casually masticating mouthfuls of grass and hay:

 Bactrian Camels
(Camelus bactrianus)

This two-humped species of camel, as opposed to the one-humped dromedary species, take their name from the ancient historical region of Bactria in Central Asia. Although there are around two million domesticated Bactrian camels, they are critically endangered in the wild and their numbers are estimated at around 800. The wild species, which has the latin name "Camelus ferus", mostly lives in remote regions of the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts of Mongolia and China and also in very small numbers in southwest Kazakhstan and the Kashmir Valley in India. Some Feral herds of Bactrian camels have also been found in parts of Australia, though they are not a native species.

Brazilian Tapirs & Capybara
(Tapirus terrestris & Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris)

Next we came to the tapirs and the capybara that they shared an enclosure with. For some reason, ever since I first saw these two species when I was a child I've absolutely adored them. When I had money to spare regularly, I had even adopted some of the ones at this zoo (sadly, that's not the case now). So as soon as my friend realised which species we were approaching they knew that we'd be spending a while here!

Brazilian Tapirs &  Capybara
(Tapirus terrestris & Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris)

Capybaras and these particular subspecies of tapir are both herbivores, are both native to South America, living in forests, near bodies of water, and are both very adept swimmers. However, apart from the similarities they share, the reason for them being put together was probably due to there only being one capybara left and the highly social nature of the species. In the wild, capybaras usually live within groups of 10-20 individuals, but they've even been known to be in groups as large as 100 sometimes!

Capybara
(Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris)

A peahen and peacock also shared the enclosure with the tapirs and capybara, though the peafowl could come and go as they pleased. The peacock was the one displaying his feathers for the peahen, in the last entry, whilst the peahen was just trying to steal some of the cabbage!  

Brazilian Tapirs & Capybara & Blue Peafowl (female)
(Tapirus terrestris & Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris & Pavo cristatus)

As soon as the tapir noticed, they immediately behaved as though the peahen was a threat and stood on either side of the capybara and made loud grunting noises, as though they were defending a baby tapir. A capybara is the size of a baby tapir, but it was still quite strange!

Brazilian Tapirs & Capybara
(Tapirus terrestris & Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris)

Black Rhinoceros
(Diceros bicornis)

Black Rhinoceros
(Diceros bicornis)

The black rhinos were both resting/sleeping in their houses, so we sat for a little while watching them and just took one photo of each, so as not to disturb them. They were so peaceful and calming. 

The species overall is critically endangered in the wild, and, sadly, three of the eight subspecies were declared extinct in 2011.

Eastern Bongo
(Tragelaphus eurycerus isaaci)

The eastern bongo is a critically endangered species of antelope from specific remote, mountainous  regions of Kenya. There are less than 100 of them left in the wild, due to logging and poaching, but there are several captive breeding programmes trying to re-establish the population.

They're very lovely, but quite shy creatures and it was difficult to take photographs of them up close as they were somewhat wary. However, when they were in their shelter, they seemed much less skittish and easier to approach (not that we were ever that close to them anyway, but still...).

Eastern Bongo
(Tragelaphus eurycerus isaaci)

That's all for the Primates & Medium to Large Mammals!
Next time: Part 4/4 - Petting Zoo & Everything Else.