Gordon Rollinson is a man with over 17 years of exotic keeping experience under his belt and boasts one of the most impressive monkey collections in the country. Having recently opened his collection to the public via Oban Zoological World in Scotland, Animal News went to speak to him about how this all got started.

Gordon, how did your interest in monkeys come about?

Many years ago I went to a place selling zoological supplies and caught sight of two young common marmosets in an incubator. After a little preparation and research I decided to get myself a pair, though not that particular pair in the incubator. Things went very well and that original pair bred.

How did your collection progress from there?

Shortly after the original pair of common marmosets bred I made the decision to expand my collection and set my mind to pairs of pygmy marmosets & a pair of black-eared marmosets, both of which I obtained. From this point on I was smitten and started to expand my monkey collection with a vengance.

His move to Scotland happened around twelve years ago and set about the serious business of breeding marmosets and tamarins.

Your collection is open to the public now - Tell us about the beginnings of Oban Zoological World?

Around four years ago things took on a different turn when I was persuaded to open my collection up to the public for a day in order to raise money for a local charity. The day itself was very successful - we took over £900 on the gate and, combined with the other stalls and exhibitors, over £1500 in total. During the day people would come up to me and ask why I had not done this before and whether I had thought of opening up my collection to the public on a permanent basis. I must admit that I was quite taken by the idea and decided to look into it a little more.

As it happens I was going through a DWA renewal at the time and asked the DoE representative about the idea of opening up to the public - to which I also recieved a very favourable response. At that time I set my mind to opening a small zoo and pumped my life savings into the construction of new buildings and facilities to house the collection. At that time I felt I was taking a pretty big risk but the signs are there now that things are starting to pay off.

Gordon is offereing free entry to Oban Zoological World for all NAPAK members. If any of you visit, please drop us a line and tell us your experiences.

Primates make up the bulk of Gordon's collection partly due to his interest in them and partly due to his numerous successes in breeding them. To name a few, his collection includes -

Squirrel monkeys,
Common marmosets
Cotton-top tamarins,
Red handed tamarins
Black eared marmosets,
Red bellied tamarins
Pygmy marmosets

He now has about 60 individuals and actually had a red handed tamarin baby born the day Animal News interviewed him (12/09/02). He has also bred almost all the species in his collection, which is quite an achievement in itself.

Without a doubt, the species best represented in Gordon's collection are Pygmy Marmosets. He currently houses four groups (10,8,2,2) - the largest 2 being family groups.

He has had very notable successes with the pygmys. He was only the third person to hand rear them and the first to get them back in with their parents. To date he has hand reared and returned to their parents 3 pygmy marmosets. The first of which has gone on to have 11 young of her own. The details of which were published by Edinburgh zoo and previously in this newsletter.

If you are thinking of keeping Common Marmosets Gordon reccommends the following -

If you are considering purchsing a pair house them in a sturdy enclosure comprising an indoor and outdoor section. The outdoor should be 3'x6'x9' and the indoors 3'x6'x6'.

Include a warm next box in the indoor area of around 9 inches cubed and heat the indoor area to around 70 degrees farenheit.

Try to include as many playthings as possible for their enjoyment, such as branches, ropes, tyres etc...Another useful addition to the indoor area is a bulkhead light. If they can get within 3-4 inches of it it allows them to warm up a little more at a time of their choosing.

For the nest box choose (or make) one with an open section at the front rather than one with a hole as this hinders the other from making an exit as they often like to sit there looking out. An important tip on the branches is that you should make sure the V's in them are pointed downwards. It is Gordons experience that this can be a dangerous thing & has once had a youngster fall and trap itself there.

Gordon's place is now at the stage where they get offered animals via rescues and of course surplus from other establishments and entering into breeding programmes.

He also used to sell off his monkey surplus but has stopped this practice completely citing his dissolusionment with the general public and their attitides to keeping them. Having said that he has kindly offered to advise any NAPAK members regarding their proper care.

Gordon also breeds the Asian Short Clawed Otter and less exotically he has also hand-reared a group of 6 degus on lactol & for those interested they will feed themselves lactol from an egg-cup from day one - which should save a few sleepless nights.

Oban Zoological world has been in operation for years, although only been open to the public since 26th May 2001. They have been involved with many other zoos, breeding endangered species from threatened environments like the rainforests, on the European Endangered Species Captive Breeding Programme. These include Cotton Topped Tamarins, Goeldis Monkeys, Geoffroys Monkeys, Black and White Ruffed Lemurs, Pudu (tiny South American deer) and the South American Wild Dog. Oban Zoological world also features many other animals for you to see, including Squirrel Monkeys, Marmosets, Wallabies, Coatis from the Racoon family. Also Leaf Cutting ants, Tortoises, Snakes, Iguanas and Lizards.

Gordon and Anne Rollinson

Ariogan Cottage
Upper Soroba
Oban, Argyll

Tel. 01631 562481

Email: oban.zoologicalworld@virgin.net
http://www.obanzoologicalworld.co.uk

How to find them -

Head south through Oban on the main road heading for Lochgilphead on the A816.
Just under a mile from the town limit you will see it on your right, as picture below.
The entrance is round the next bend, where you see the sign saying Lerags