Orangutan Toni takes possession of the new outdoor enclosure

In bright sunshine, our male orangutan Toni made his very first foray into the outdoor enclosure of the new orangutan house. He checked out the various vantage points, tested the climbing structures and even sampled the plants. The floor-to-ceiling windows also allowed Toni to catch a glimpse of his new neighbours, the smooth-coated otters, in their outdoor enclosure opposite.

The orangutans’ outdoor enclosure is covered by a stainless steel net and surrounded by the building, providing them with a variety of places like huts and nests, which they can retreat to and hide in, and from where they can observe their surroundings. They also allow the orangutans to climb up to the top of the enclosure, and look out over the building to the zoo and the Grand Garden.

Now that the outdoor enclosure has passed the Toni MOT, he will no doubt spend more time there in the mild autumn weather. We are giving our other four orangutans a little more time before their first excursions into the outside world. Only when our animal care team is confident that Daisy, Dalai, Djudi and Djaka can easily find their way back to the indoor enclosure will we start the process.