Key project features

The scheme includes two significant 8 -9m high outdoor enclosed habitats, which provide the animals with ample climbing opportunities up and into the existing tree canopy. The scheme has been designed around existing mature trees, which form key features within the habitats and add a level of maturity to the planting from the outset. These outdoor spaces can be interconnected via slides operated from keeper areas. These two large habitats have been designed to promote and encourage natural gibbon movement, with flight distances and brachiation taken into consideration within the layout.

The scheme also includes a new state-of-the-art house with an on-site day room, complete with tropical planting, Biofloor, climbing elements, natural and artificial light sources, a misting system, and temperature controls necessary for the animals' welfare. The house also has several off-show rooms and keeper areas for managing the animals. One great feature of the house is its height from floor to ceiling, which will allow these arboreal animals to utilise the 3D nature of the space.

Visitors will experience the park's Gibbons like never before, with dedicated covered viewing areas for both outdoor and indoor spaces. Within the main outdoor viewing area, visitors will notice a themed water body that will be home to various fish species, creating a mixed-species environment.

The outdoor habitats have been designed to include lush planting with grasses, shrubs, ferns, trees and palms, evoking these animals’ natural forests. Also within the outdoor spaces, visitors will see platforms, sway trees, vertical trunks, ropes and covered outdoor shelters at varying heights, which will encourage the animals to move throughout their new home and really use the volume of space.