ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2017

Pertinax said:
London Zoo visit 7th December.

A few notes from my first visit for four(?) years. On a wet miserable winter morning the Zoo certainly did not look its best, with very few visitors at this quiet time of year, apart from a number of school parties.

1. Gorilla Kingdom- the addition of the painted fronds on all the windows coupled with low lighting make for poor viewing indoors now. I heard several people querying the volunteeers over this and of course 'it was done to keep Kumbuka quieter'- does it really? he still hit the glass a few times though it seemed quite playful rather than aggressive. The effect has been to produce the poorest Gorilla viewing in any zoo I know, if they are staying indoors, as they usually do and owing to the bad weather.

2. GK/Monkey exhibits( and bird displays)- the inside showdens of all these seemed to be unlit- the Sulawesi Macaques in particular were almost invisible in their dark den. With the light fading in the afternoon there were still no lights on in these dens.

3. Land of the Lions. I thought the themed nature of this new exhibit was frankly a major waste of money- for very few animals; four Lions, four Langurs and a Vulture Aviary. So much ancillary themed stuff which people must take little notice of. The Lion enclosures themselves are okay but the rest is just a waste IMO. Tiger Territory, without any of this excessive theming, is a much better exhibit I think.

4. The Grey Langurs were very impressive, they seemed larger animals than the previous group at ZSL . in the wet weather the viewing windows of their indoor 'temple' were completely fogged over making them impossible to see however- though fortunately they were visible when fed outside later on.

5. The new Gibbon enclosure was much larger, higher and generally more spacious than I had expected from photos on here.

6. While ZSL still have species-rich displays of Reptiles, Fish, Birds and Inverts( I visited BUGS for the first time and found it very interesting) The Mammal collection, the part most people want to see the most, does seem very weak by comparison nowadays.

7. The ex-Elephant Casson building, while open to the public again, seems like a true 'White Elephant' of the zoo, with no real function, as if years after the Elephants left, the Zoo still doesn't know what to do with it.

8. The section of the North Bank area on the Canal side between the Snowdon Aviary and the greenhouses looks semi-derelict, with empty overgrown aviaries etc, a bad advert for such a major zoo.

Despite the miserable weather and quiet time of year, it was still an interesting visit and I will post a few photos in the Gallery.
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Not been for several years, but last time I was there, the North Bank was a shadow of its former self. Gone were the crane and goose paddocks, and most of the owls and pheasants. Very sad.
 
 
 
Crowthorne said:
The London Tube style enclosure for brown rats has been cleared and refurbished with a naturalistic theme, looks suitable for a small, arboreal species.

Just realised I don't think I had any photos of that Tube enclosure :(
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Visited yesterday and the space formerly used for the Brown Rats in the Clore now hold Moholi Galagos and (predictably invisible!) Panay Cloud Rats.

Liked the new additions in BUGS - almost all the vertebrates have been 'purged' and there are some great new inverts, most interestingly Giant Mosquitos, Toxorhynchites brevipalpis, and Giant Magnolia Snails, Bertia cambojiensis.
 
Some more concept artwork for the Snowdon has been released. Looks like some odd honeycomb-shaped walkthrough secondary enclosure for the colobus will off-shoot from the aviary, expanding across the canal.
 
Panthera1981 said:
Some more concept artwork for the Snowdon has been released. Looks like some odd honeycomb-shaped walkthrough secondary enclosure for the colobus will off-shoot from the aviary, expanding across the canal.
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Panthera1981 said:
None at the moment I’m afraid, as it was a fundraising pamphlet I’d received through the post! I’m sure it will appear on the ZSL website in due course.
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Sounds like this: Foster + Partners Gains Planning Permission for Snowdon Aviary Transformation at the London Zoo | ArchDaily

But I'm not sure it's new - that page is dated September.
 
The design of the tunnel and outer enclosure is similar to the Koeln Zoo design of colobus / douc cages they had ...
 
Just leaving the zoo now. Miracle of all miracles the male tapir was up and about so that consumed most of my visit. The hyrax seem to Be confined to barracks in the Casson permenantly now in the pair of enclosures formerly occupied by the gentle lemur who is now cohabiting with the armadillos next door. Both the hyraxes and the armadillos have new signage as do the group of golden lion-headed tamarins who have the run a referbished enclosure nearest the muntjac.

Perhaps a hopeful sign of things to come? I think we can all agree the Casson needs a refresh so fingers crossed this is the start of that. Update the ZooWorld displays, relocate the meerkats and the polecats and bring in something new and unusual (treeshrew? Civet?) and I will be a happy camper!
 
70 firefighters and 10 fire engines are tackling a blaze in the Adventure Cafe (started 6am). Fortunately no animals hurt at all..
 
London seems to have suffered rather rotten luck over recent festive periods-a wayward gorilla last year, and now this.

As stated earlier, however, with such a confined space it could have been a lot lot worse!
 
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