Realm of the Red Ape is a £3.5 million extension to the existing orangutan house, home to Bornean orangutans, and was the most expensive capital project in the zoo's history before the construction of Islands.
The exhibit opened to the public on 26 May 2007 after a two-year construction period.
It comprises a new two-story building linked to the existing orangutan house with three indoor and two outdoor enclosures, providing accommodation for a larger number of apes.
The outdoor areas can be viewed from a first floor public gallery and feature mesh roofs supported by tree-like structures which act as climbing frames for the apes.
A male Sumatran orangutan was born at the zoo in November 2019.
A further enclosure houses a group of lar gibbons.

Animals and plants from Indonesia are exhibited inside Realm of the Red Ape in a rainforest-themed setting.
Birds on display include blue-crowned hanging parrots, Timor sparrows, chestnut-backed thrushes, roul-roul partridges, superb fruit doves and black-naped fruit doves.
Crocodile monitors, reticulated pythons, red-tailed racers, Bell's angle-head lizards, Chinese water dragons, emerald tree monitors, white-lipped tree vipers and green tree pythons feature among the reptiles.
Invertebrates include rhinoceros beetles, golden silk spiders, jungle nymphs, common crows, Malaysian katydids and leaf insects.

Located next to Realm of the Red Ape is an enclosure for oriental small-clawed otters.
The zoo's Sumatran orang-utans were relocated from Realm of the Red Ape to a new exhibit in the Islands development during January 2016.
Realm of the Red Ape is a £3.5 million extension to the existing orangutan house, home to Bornean orangutans, and was the most expensive capital project in the zoo's history before the construction of Islands. The exhibit opened to the public on 26 May 2007 after a two-year construction period. It comprises a new two-story building linked to the existing orangutan house with three indoor and two outdoor enclosures, providing accommodation for a larger number of apes. The outdoor areas can be viewed from a first floor public gallery and feature mesh roofs supported by tree-like structures which act as climbing frames for the apes. A male Sumatran orangutan was born at the zoo in November 2019. A further enclosure houses a group of lar gibbons.
Animals and plants from Indonesia are exhibited inside Realm of the Red Ape in a rainforest-themed setting. Birds on display include blue-crowned hanging parrots, Timor sparrows, chestnut-backed thrushes, roul-roul partridges, superb fruit doves and black-naped fruit doves. Crocodile monitors, reticulated pythons, red-tailed racers, Bell's angle-head lizards, Chinese water dragons, emerald tree monitors, white-lipped tree vipers and green tree pythons feature among the reptiles. Invertebrates include rhinoceros beetles, golden silk spiders, jungle nymphs, common crows, Malaysian katydids and leaf insects.
Located next to Realm of the Red Ape is an enclosure for oriental small-clawed otters. The zoo's Sumatran orang-utans were relocated from Realm of the Red Ape to a new exhibit in the Islands development during January 2016.
Chester Zoo