Do you know what the current situation with younger female Alika is? e.g. is she contracepted at present perhaps- or not?I’d say especially since Kiburi has arrived the bond of the girls and the confidence in Effie has grown and I think she’s doing a good job to date she’s just has a more laid back style
Do you know what the current situation with younger female Alika is? e.g. is she contracepted at present perhaps- or not?
Effie is a rather 'lazy' mother as shown by her behaviour with past infants- two handraised (not at London) then she also allowed Mjukuu to take over Gernot. I'd been hoping she was improved this time but this behaviour sounds rather familiar- I hope Mjukuu doesn't get the chance to steal the baby as she has a very strong maternal instinct and would willingly carry and rear both together if she gets the chance.
She’s definitely has a different approach to rearing her young but I spent quite a few days at zsl recently and watched Effie push m’jukuu away from her and her baby so she’s more protective this time around but just has her way of rearing her young
Effie is consistently engaging with her infant when she sets it down - and, as Tankyboi says, will pick the baby up if any of the other gorillas get too close. I was chatting to somebody in a ZSL uniform who said this was the first time he’d seen Effie put the baby down, so this may be a new development (although it’s also possible he had confused Effie for Mjukuu, who didn’t set her infant down once in the time we were there).
I still don’t think you’re off-base for being concerned, though.
I should have been clearer in my initial post, but my reason for relaying that anecdote was partly because I found it noteworthy that Effie (who, to reiterate, is engaging well with her infant) set the infant down and stepped away from them briefly - but especially given the events that followed, with Mjukuu immediately swooping in with clear intent to grab Effie’s baby. Yes, Effie does seem to want to raise this infant herself, and yes, she’s appropriately protective of them being taken from her. I suspect, like you, that my concern is less for her maternal abilities, and more how her style of parenting will fare alongside Mjukuu’s much (much) stronger instinct to carry not just her own infant, but any other infant in the vicinity.
I wonder whether this exhibitionwill be staged in the old Reptile House.London Zoo’s Bicentenary (2026)
Ahead of their bicentennial year (2026), London Zoo are planning an exhibition and are asking the public to submit anything of interest:
Launching our national appeal for history | The Zoological Society of London
We are asking the public to submit everything from vintage zoo toys and historic tickets to correspondence and maps, enriching our understanding of our own history.
a limited-edition bear-shaped soap from the 1940’s which was produced by Cullingfords to mark the birth of baby Brumas the polar bear at London Zoo,
How long was it off show? I don't remember seeing it on my visit in 2022.The Mindanao Water Monitor is back on show in the side enclosure at the entry to the komodo house.
It was previously on-show in the old reptile house, prior to its closure.How long was it off show? I don't remember seeing it on my visit in 2022.
May I ask where this was taken? The Asian Fairy-bluebirds have been in the first, larger walkthrough since their arrival, and the Splendid Sunbirds in the smaller second walkthrough, which would suggest one of them has moved? Unless, of course, this is a more general sign near the entrance listing the inhabitants for the entire house.View attachment 700732 Blackburn pavilion spruce up mentioned last week was I suspect more about the general (new) bird signage and messaging rather than the species/enclosures themselves. Example of new signage shown
The Mindanao Water Monitor was onshow right up until the Reptile House's closure, so its strange that you missed it. Along with the Reticulated Python vivarium, to which it was immediately adjacent, its enclosure was the largest in the house, and could be found to the left side of the central 'island' of vivariums.How long was it off show? I don't remember seeing it on my visit in 2022.
People think of "Brumas" as a 1950s polar bear because the publicity generated by this famous polar bear cub resulted in London Zoo having more than three million visitors in 1950; the highest ever annual attendance of any UK zoo.I was going to say Brumas was born in the 1950's, but I checked and she was actually born in November 1949, so right at the very end of the 1940's. But in my mind she was really a '50's bear...
Is there a different yard for the camels to separate or is one kept indoors while the other outdoors?For a month now, maybe more, the camels have been separated. Initially, I presumed this was so the ribby looking one could get fed more, but they both seem to be in good condition now and yet they're still separated. Anyone know why?
Also, something was going on this morning, with a trailer being towed in the giraffe enclosure (normal livestock trailer, not something that would carry a giraffe). Didn't have the time to ask what was happening, so asking on here.