Melbourne Zoo Part II

[moonvoice]

Perfume Genius has a new album out.
I want to like it more than I do.
Spent some time with the Gorillas.
We don't have them at Perth Zoo.
Of all the primates,
I think they're my favourite.




Gorilla













Pygmy Hippopotamus



Northern White Cheeked Gibbon (the female is the pale one, the male is the black one)







Orangutan







Hard to tell, but he was making direct eye contact (I zoomed in later to be sure).

Comments

[cmcmck]

Those orangs are just beautiful! :o)

[moonvoice]

They really were gorgeous. The male / female pair hung out together for ages, and were very sweet.

[redheart]

The orangutan look so pensive! <3

[moonvoice]

They were pretty cool. The male climbed up first, and then he just hung out with the female :)

[silverjackal]

One of my earlier memories is of a baby orangutan in a zoological collection. I must have been three or four (at most) but I can remember the orangutan (who was wearing a diaper and sweater, reclining in a hammock with a bottle) regarding me in much the same way I was watching him.

[moonvoice]

Perth has this amazing exhibit (mostly in terms of how much space it gives the orangs and how broad it is, like a community), and I've always found it kind of profound to wander through and just...yeah, I used to not like primates at all, except for the 'old world' primates. But as time has gone by, I've gained a real appreciation for orangutans and gorillas in particular. I'm still not sure how I'd go with chimpanzees, but to try and overcome that, I've joined a sanctuary charity in Africa that posts images on Instagram, and that's helped a lot.

And I'm not sure how I feel about them being in zoos at all. I have mixed feelings. I know they need these places for breeding programs and so on, but they have so much personhood to them as well, and I just...yeah. Mixed feelings.

[silverjackal]

I share your ethical qualms about the great apes in captivity. On the one hand conservation is absolutely necessary, and having the animals available for the public to see is of huge assistance in cleaning support for protection and conservation efforts. On the other hand it's uncomfortably very like the traveling circuses or menageries of not-too-long-ago that featured human captives of different races. :(