ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2024

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DesertRhino150 said:
Managed to see the small Indian mongoose for the first time. I visited the enclosure three times - the first was a dud, the second time (at about 11:50) I saw one quickly disappear back indoors and the third time (at about 1:45) one came out and started basking - managed to get a pretty decent picture on the last visit.
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I saw one of them basking on a log around 11:50 so we might have stumbled upon each other by accident then!

Small Indian mongoose - (29/06/2024)

Small Indian mongoose - (29/06/2024)

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DesertRhino150 said:
Just got back from a very pleasant visit to London Zoo today. These are some of the things I noticed, or good things I spotted:

Land of the Lions
  • Had a great view of the three lion cubs, with the first visit to their enclosure being the best view (Bhanu was let in with Arya and the cubs at this point, so there was a lot of greeting and playing around).
  • Managed to see the small Indian mongoose for the first time. I visited the enclosure three times - the first was a dud, the second time (at about 11:50) I saw one quickly disappear back indoors and the third time (at about 1:45) one came out and started basking - managed to get a pretty decent picture on the last visit.
Tiny Giants
  • The little pot of biting midges inside the African giant mosquito enclosure have been removed, and their signage taken down.
  • The Mombasa train millipedes are back on-show, and the signage indicates that there are fen raft spiders waiting to go on-show again but they are being kept off-show until they are larger.
  • The tank next to the entrance and exit of the spider walkthrough (that I think was previously full of spider memorabilia) now had a pinktoe tarantula in residence.
  • The gooty sapphire ornamental tarantula enclosure was empty and being refurbished.
Blackburn Pavilion
  • The Brazilian tanagers have a fledgling in one of the indoor aviaries.
  • As well as the pair of collared trogons in the corner aviary before entering the indoor walkthrough, I definitely saw a male in the second smaller walkthrough section - I know there were some questions earlier in the thread if they were still present.
  • I was just wondering if this is news - there are a pair of hill mynas now in their outdoor aviary (labelled as common rather than Javan hill-myna); I know that in January there was just the one, but I don't know when the second arrived.
Reptiles and Amphibians
  • Managed almost everything that I missed last time in the reptile and amphibian house - saw the Laos warty newts and an adult Mallorcan midwife toad, but again I missed the mossy frogs.
  • Some breeding successes were in evidence - although the tank was very cloudy, I could see a large Titicaca water frog tadpole, and the Sardinian brook salamander tank by the entrance doors also had several tiny little salamander tadpoles swimming around in it.
  • Got a single poor view of the mystery toad in the old Congo caecilian area - for what it's worth, I think they are Oriental fire-bellied toads. None of the pictures I have seen, nor the live animal I saw today, look like the pictures of small-webbed bell toads online.
  • Also had a good view of the Mindanao water monitor in the Komodo dragon house.
Clore
  • Had probably my best tour of the Night Life section on any visit - saw everything bar three species (the Malagasy giant rats, the pygmy lorises and the new tree shrew), including the aye-ayes and mouse lemur next door.
  • The tenrec tank had a sign indicating that there are no longer any animals in that display.
Other areas
  • Went to see the gorillas a couple of times - on the second visit, the babies were both visible indoors. One of them was laying on its back right next to the window - while I'm not an expert in such matters, I think it may have been a male. The other baby did try to walk around a bit, but was very wobbly and fell over fairly quickly. Hopefully by the time of my next visit in a couple of months, they might be more active.
  • The other thing that stands out in my mind was seeing the okapi very close to the glass barrier in its first enclosure. Unfortunately, didn't see the duiker and there was still no sign of the dik-diks.
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Thanks for confirming that the second Collared Trogon pair is still doing well, although it is quite a shame that the tenrecs have left the collection. The Okapi has been close to the barrier on all of my last three visits, indicating that she is certainly no longer started by crowds. If a new bull does arrive, then this could be exciting news indeed. I definitely agree, based on images, that the toads are Oriental, which leaves one wondering how the zoo got the signage so wrong. Could the Orientals be a placeholder while we await the arrival of Small-webbeds to fit the signage? After all, the species did leave Tierpark Berlin earlier this year, so there is certainly the prospect of it arriving at another European collection soon.
 
I was able to add a couple of hours at the zoo today onto a work trip before I head home to Australia, and as usual I spent most of it with the nocturnal primates (since they're what I most miss about living away from London).

The aye aye and mouse lemurs were all active and visible - the aye aye in particular - and with 90 minutes downstairs I was able to get good sightings of the potto, both loris species and both galagos. Such a great collection to have in one place. As ever the lorises were much harder to see than the galagos, but with patience more than one emerged. The potto remained hidden for over an hour, but to my delight started moving around shortly before I head to leave. (I remember there being two pottos, but only saw one today. Are/were there two, or is my memory deceiving me?)

I had just long enough for a brief walk around the neighbouring African mammals on my way out. Very sad to miss Thug by just a couple of weeks, but Amara looks like a beautiful replacement for Nicky. I saw one okapi, but no duiker; are they still housed together? (The okapi was actually stretching its head over the hedge to get scratched under the chin by a guest...I don't like seeing visitors do that, but the animal was clearly not distressed - exactly the opposite.)
 
Chrispj - you asked about the duiker . She is still with the Okapi and i did see her on Thursday in the outside paddock. Both (okapi and duiker) seem to have both paddocks acess and on show and off show dens again at the moment. Generally the Okapi indoor feed is onshow and the duiker in the offshow area.
 
Thanks tennisfan - good to know. Hopefully I'll see the duiker on my next visit to the UK! (Also hopefully the Alaotran lemurs, which were never on show when I came through the diurnal lemur area.)
 
chrisjpl said:
(The okapi was actually stretching its head over the hedge to get scratched under the chin by a guest...I don't like seeing visitors do that, but the animal was clearly not distressed - exactly the opposite.)
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This is the Zoo's female Oni, she is quite visitor-orientated; I've seen her reaching over for leaves offered by visitors. The keepers know she does this and stop her when they catch her at it! Hopefully when the zoo receives a new male this behaviour will subside
 
Anyone know what’s happened at SLORA? The crocodiles were off show when I went yesterday and today they’ve tweeted that the whole thing is closed for a week (think it was a week anyway)
 
ZSH said:
Anyone know what’s happened at SLORA? The crocodiles were off show when I went yesterday and today they’ve tweeted that the whole thing is closed for a week (think it was a week anyway)
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When last I visited one of the window panes of the crocodile enclosure had been damaged, so they’d temporarily boarded up that singular pane. Possibly they’re replacing it and that’s why the house has been closed/crocodile has been taken off exhibit?
 
ZSH said:
Anyone know what’s happened at SLORA? The crocodiles were off show when I went yesterday and today they’ve tweeted that the whole thing is closed for a week (think it was a week anyway)
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That's very interesting - I don't think there's any risk the crocodile's passed given the wording of the tweet (they're making some 'improvements', for anyone who hasn't seen it, followed by a crocodile emoji and a picture of the croc). The exhibit is pretty much perfect as-is so maybe it's an upgrade visitor-side - have they been allowing people up to the glass yet or are there still barriers?

ShonenJake13 said:
When last I visited one of the window panes of the crocodile enclosure had been damaged, so they’d temporarily boarded up that singular pane. Possibly they’re replacing it and that’s why the house has been closed/crocodile has been taken off exhibit?
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How on earth had that happened, given the constant staff presence and general strength of that glass? Perhaps they're taking the chance of replacing it as an opportunity to add something more interesting for visitors.
 
On Friday, SLORA was still open, but the crocodiles were off-show and there were multiple staff in their enclosure. I didn't notice anything wrong with the glass, but it seemed like some kind of water / pump issue because they were sucking sediment out from the bottom of the pool.
 
cerperal said:
That's very interesting - I don't think there's any risk the crocodile's passed given the wording of the tweet (they're making some 'improvements', for anyone who hasn't seen it, followed by a crocodile emoji and a picture of the croc). The exhibit is pretty much perfect as-is so maybe it's an upgrade visitor-side - have they been allowing people up to the glass yet or are there still barriers?


How on earth had that happened, given the constant staff presence and general strength of that glass? Perhaps they're taking the chance of replacing it as an opportunity to add something more interesting for visitors.
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I hardly see any staff, keepers or volunteers in the reptile house. Get fed up telling visitors not to bang on the glass. I believe the crocodile has been taken back to the old reptile house. Bearing in mind the new house opened in March, very disappointed that it is closed for a week
 
Regent said:
I hardly see any staff, keepers or volunteers in the reptile house. Get fed up telling visitors not to bang on the glass. I believe the crocodile has been taken back to the old reptile house. Bearing in mind the new house opened in March, very disappointed that it is closed for a week
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I was just super impressed by how good the Giant Chinese salamander exhibit is now, compared to that one little window for viewing "Professor Wu" in the past.
 
cerperal said:
How on earth had that happened, given the constant staff presence and general strength of that glass? Perhaps they're taking the chance of replacing it as an opportunity to add something more interesting for visitors.
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The barrier was still in place on both of my visits last month, unfortunately. Hopefully not long until it is removed.
chrisjpl said:
On Friday, SLORA was still open, but the crocodiles were off-show and there were multiple staff in their enclosure. I didn't notice anything wrong with the glass, but it seemed like some kind of water / pump issue because they were sucking sediment out from the bottom of the pool.
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That is most likely, as not only is, as you mention, sediment being damaged, but the pool has been drained to half of its possible depth on recent visits, having previously been up to the land portion, so that underwater viewing was created and the offshow cave portion at the back could be accessed. Hopefully all is well.
Regent said:
I hardly see any staff, keepers or volunteers in the reptile house. Get fed up telling visitors not to bang on the glass. I believe the crocodile has been taken back to the old reptile house. Bearing in mind the new house opened in March, very disappointed that it is closed for a week
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Personally, I have never seen too many behavioural issues from visitors in SLoRA, and there have always been a few staff members supervising at any one time. That said, if the crocodile really has been moved back to the old Reptile House, then it may be something of a concern, given the great lengths that the zoo went to in order to ensure that the initial move was effective (for example, introducing the crocodile to the crate in which it would be moved several months before the move actually took place). Won't panic until we get more information on the matter, and a week is by no means too long.
 
ShonenJake13 said:
Incorrect - the individual in question passed away whilst living behind the scenes. She was an elderly female that was initially brought in by the zoo as practice of sorts before potentially getting a breeding pair in the future. No way of knowing if there are still plans to continue with the species or not as this was all pre-Brexit/pandemic!
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Apologises, I've crossed my wires - I was thinking of the original female aye-aye Chester received from ZSL London.
 
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