ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2020
- Thread starter aquilla1
- Start date
The conversion of the Snowdon Aviary to the colobus walkthrough was due to open this summer, but its now set for summer 2021. No real surprise of the delay there, no work has started yet and there is still a bit of a funding gap. Design has changed since the first brief, same principle but less fancy to reduce costs, no longer "over designed".
Red River Hogs which arrived in December, still not out in the paddock as work continues on that as of this Monday. As the Casson is not open to public, there is no way to see them yet. However, one has recently died, leaving 7.
Benugo who recently took over the catering has invested money in the Zoo which is being spent on improvements to the giraffe paddock and redeveloping the Galapagos tortoise exhibit to bring visitors closer to them.
Red River Hogs which arrived in December, still not out in the paddock as work continues on that as of this Monday. As the Casson is not open to public, there is no way to see them yet. However, one has recently died, leaving 7.
Benugo who recently took over the catering has invested money in the Zoo which is being spent on improvements to the giraffe paddock and redeveloping the Galapagos tortoise exhibit to bring visitors closer to them.
This was mentioned in the 2019 thread - their last animal (the male) was euthanised late last year.
Bonobob
New Member
Are there any plans to fill the empty exhibit? Being such a prominent enclosure you would think they would want to find a replacement ASAP
Very very sad news - Zaire has sadly died.
Statement from ZSL "We are extremely sad to let you know that Zaire passed away in her sleep yesterday.
At 45, she was one of the world's oldest western lowland gorillas and had been at the Zoo since 1984.
Affectionately known as ‘Ziggy’ by her keepers, her calm and placid nature meant she was much loved by all who worked with her and will be hugely missed."
Statement from ZSL "We are extremely sad to let you know that Zaire passed away in her sleep yesterday.
At 45, she was one of the world's oldest western lowland gorillas and had been at the Zoo since 1984.
Affectionately known as ‘Ziggy’ by her keepers, her calm and placid nature meant she was much loved by all who worked with her and will be hugely missed."
I don't like this. Poor ZSL gorilla troop 
So the new year begins for London much like the last one ended-on an incredibly depressing note. How very sad.
I suppose one could argue that Zaire went out on her own terms and that the age she attained was incredibly good for a captive gorilla...but where do you even begin to try and salvage the long term future for this group?
I suppose one could argue that Zaire went out on her own terms and that the age she attained was incredibly good for a captive gorilla...but where do you even begin to try and salvage the long term future for this group?
This is sad news, but 45 isn’t a bad age to reach.
Zaire (born 23/10/1974) was the second of Jambo and Nandi’s eight offspring and has survived all but two of them - Assumbo (born 15/07/1973) and Motoba (born 23/12/1983).
Zaire has four living direct descendents:
Offspring:
0.1 Kamili (born 01/06/1987 at Belfast Zoo) Kumba x Zaire
Grandchildren:
0.1 Unnamed (born 10/12/1996 at Belfast Zoo) Keke x Kamili
1.0 Kumbuka (born 15/11/1997 at Belfast Zoo) Keke x Kamili
0.1 Kibibi (born 30/03/2014 at Belfast Zoo) Gugas x Kamili
Great Grandchildren:
0.1 Alika (born 10/12/2014 at London Zoo) Kumbuka x Mjukuu
1.0 Gernot (born 25/11/2015 at London Zoo) Kumbuka x Effie
Zaire (born 23/10/1974) was the second of Jambo and Nandi’s eight offspring and has survived all but two of them - Assumbo (born 15/07/1973) and Motoba (born 23/12/1983).
Zaire has four living direct descendents:
Offspring:
0.1 Kamili (born 01/06/1987 at Belfast Zoo) Kumba x Zaire
Grandchildren:
0.1 Unnamed (born 10/12/1996 at Belfast Zoo) Keke x Kamili
1.0 Kumbuka (born 15/11/1997 at Belfast Zoo) Keke x Kamili
0.1 Kibibi (born 30/03/2014 at Belfast Zoo) Gugas x Kamili
Great Grandchildren:
0.1 Alika (born 10/12/2014 at London Zoo) Kumbuka x Mjukuu
1.0 Gernot (born 25/11/2015 at London Zoo) Kumbuka x Effie
Nowadays 45 is not that old for a female gorilla, some are getting into their early sixties though that's the exception rather than the norm. 45 is still a more average span.
As to the future, it isn't that difficult. No doubt they are fearful of bringing in a new adult male while the two youngsters are quite small. As an alternative, a young male of around 8-9 could be added without much danger, though the downside there is that the adult females might dominate/reject him for a long while to come as he matured. Even better would be a young male/female pair of unrelated animals, which, if they keep Alika would give them two more breeding females for the future.
But with only four animals in the group now a decision about a replacement for Kumbuka may have to brought forward sooner than was intended,
Last edited:
She also has a niece Emba living at Howletts( daughter of her sister Bamenda) though that's not a direct descendent.
Not sure how keen Twycross would be with another UK collection getting Bonobos?
What about Chimpanzees or Orang-Utans or even ditching the whole Ape idea all together as the land space is probably large enough for some sort of medium-sized mammal like a wolf pack or water buffalo / anoa?
From what I gather past owners/managers of twycross weren’t keen (Sharon Redrobe I believe is more open to other UK holders) - but the studbook have already told Twycross that they won’t be the only UK holder forever. They’ll still be the only place with ‘all four types’ so I don’t think they’ll be massively fussed...
Whilst the zoo has moved away from the exhibit being geographically themed - I highly doubt they would use the island for anything other than apes. I can’t see them replacing the gorillas with anything else, maybe chimpanzees or bonobos but I do suspect that they’ll just continue with gorillas.