ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2024

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Went for a good long visit to ZSL London today (something my perforated right foot might not have appreciated, but oh well). This is what I noticed:
  • The signage at the toad display (formerly for caecilians) has been updated, showing them as Oriental fire-bellied toads rather than small-webbed bell toads.
  • For the first time, I managed to see every single species in Secret Life of Reptiles and Amphibians. It was good to see a well-grown Luristan newt tadpole with the adults, and also got my first view of two of the mossy frogs.
  • The Philippine crocodile was active on my second trip around the SLORA house. The window had a stand-off barrier to prevent the public from getting too close. On my first trip around, the educational material (such as the interactive crocodile skin cast) were being reattached to the window.
  • In Tiny Giants, a juvenile great raft spider has gone back on-display, and the jellyfish tank has four Japanese sea nettles now on-show.
  • Saw four grosbeak starlings in one of the outside aviaries at the Blackburn Pavilion.
  • Inside the Blackburn, there seem to have been a huge number and variety of nesting and hatching birds. A sign indicates that two purple-naped lory chicks hatched on the 5th July. There were several fledglings of both orange-headed and chestnut-backed thrushes, a Fischer's turaco chick was sitting at the entrance to a nesting box by the exit of the larger walkthrough and the scarlet-chested sunbirds appear to be nesting as well.
  • I will say there was absolutely no sign of any hummingbirds.
  • A big flag has been put up to advertise the dik-diks, to the left of the dwarf mongoose enclosure. Not sure if that means they will be mixed with the mongooses, end up replacing the Chinese water deer (of which I did not see any today) or are appearing elsewhere.
  • For the first time, I managed to see all eight species in the Into Africa section - normally the wild dogs are completely invisible when I go around. Both okapi were coming very close to the fences.
  • Also managed to see almost everything in the nocturnal sections - only the treeshrew and possibly pygmy lorises evaded me (I might have seen a loris, but it was completely immobile and might have been a coconut shell).
Will definitely be planning for a return trip later this year.
 
Some upset and drama at the Gorillas the other day when Alika (Mjukuu's older daughter) kidnapped Effie's baby and kept her for some hours. During that time a Youtube video emerged of her playing roughly with the baby and also carrying it outside high up on the climbing apparatus. Effie, the baby's mother, seemed unperturbed and didn't try to get it/her back. Some viewers went as far as saying Alika was 'torturing' the baby (obviously she wasn't, this was playful but she was manhandling it rather) and accused the zoo of not caring etc. In response to this ZSL released a statement saying this sort of behaviour was normal in gorillas but that the situation was being monitored.

Does anyone know the outcome of this?. Are things back to normal at the gorilla enclosure now i.e. the baby back with mother Effie? Or have they needed to intervene in some way?
 
Pertinax said:
Some upset and drama at the Gorillas the other day when Alika (Mjukuu's older daughter) kidnapped Effie's baby and kept her for some hours. During that time a Youtube video emerged of her playing roughly with the baby and also carrying it outside high up on the climbing apparatus. Effie, the baby's mother, seemed unperturbed and didn't try to get it/her back. Some viewers went as far as saying Alika was 'torturing' the baby (obviously she wasn't, this was playful but she was manhandling it rather) and accused the zoo of not caring etc. In response to this ZSL released a statement saying this sort of behaviour was normal in gorillas but that the situation was being monitored.

Does anyone know the outcome of this?. Are things back to normal at the gorilla enclosure now i.e. the baby back with mother Effie? Or have they needed to intervene in some way?
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When I eventually saw the gorillas, yesterday afternoon, everything seemed fine. One of the babies was playing on a low-hanging rope, while the other was asleep on a platform next to an adult female. Unfortunately, I cannot identify the adult gorillas enough to know which is which, but both of the females accompanying babies were asleep.
 
Another thing I noticed yesterday that I forgot to mention is that there is no longer a Lake Patzcuaro salamander on-display in SLORA. The tank was darkened and the species sign had been replaced by one stating that nothing was living there at the moment.
 
ajmcwhipsnade said:
Sorry if this has been mentioned but the website mentions that two babirusa piglets have been born
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Fallax said:
This is fantastic, means there is a second breeder in the UK now. Chester has been doing all the leg work with the species for a long time. :p
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Excellent news.
Flower (1929) records a babirusa was born in London Zoo in 1884. More recently, the ZSL Annual Report for 1933, lists a female babirusa born at London Zoo in April 1933 and successfully reared.
It's good to see babirusa being born at London Zoo again.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
When I eventually saw the gorillas, yesterday afternoon, everything seemed fine. One of the babies was playing on a low-hanging rope, while the other was asleep on a platform next to an adult female. Unfortunately, I cannot identify the adult gorillas enough to know which is which, but both of the females accompanying babies were asleep.
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Sounds like peace has returned but I'd like to know if the subadults Alika and Gernot are currently present in the group or have they been temporarily removed following this incident?
 
Pertinax said:
Sounds like peace has returned but I'd like to know if the subadults Alika and Gernot are currently present in the group or have they been temporarily removed following this incident?
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This response by ZSL on socials to a comment implies the seven gorillas remain together (response clipped to highlight key points):

We have seen this behaviour from Alika only in the last few days and we are watching it carefully.

Our experienced zookeepers and veterinary teams are monitoring these interactions between Alika and Effie's baby both in person and via remote cameras to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all members of our seven-strong gorilla troop.

The infants are clearly a novelty to nine year old Alika (who also has no offspring of her own to occupy her); and combined with Effie’s infant becoming more mobile (i.e. accessible to an opportunistic Alika), it’s natural she’d be showing a strong interest.

I’ve seen similar rough housing from adolescent females when playing with juveniles, who thrive on these interactions. Alika will hopefully learn over time what is age appropriate play with an infant (versus juveniles).
 
Zoofan15 said:
This response by ZSL on socials to a comment implies the seven gorillas remain together (response clipped to highlight key points):

We have seen this behaviour from Alika only in the last few days and we are watching it carefully.

Our experienced zookeepers and veterinary teams are monitoring these interactions between Alika and Effie's baby both in person and via remote cameras to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all members of our seven-strong gorilla troop.

The infants are clearly a novelty to nine year old Alika (who also has no offspring of her own to occupy her); and combined with Effie’s infant becoming more mobile (i.e. accessible to an opportunistic Alika), it’s natural she’d be showing a strong interest.

I’ve seen similar rough housing from adolescent females when playing with juveniles, who thrive on these interactions. Alika will hopefully learn over time what is age appropriate play with an infant (versus juveniles).
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Yes, but that response was made around the time it was all happening. I am not sure what the situation is now and I'm interested to know, if as DesertRhino150 reported above, things have reverted to normal since, whether they are still altogether at present. I'm a bit surprised if Alika, after learning she can take the baby, has equally quickly just lost interest in her new 'plaything' and so wasn't still carrying, or trying to carry, her around. But perhaps that is the scenario.

I've seen similar behaviour at one or two other zoos in the past, but not over such a protracted period as this appeared to be. It seems Effie may be further loosening her ties with the baby as on the video there was no sign of any interest from her over this.

Incidentally, I'm sure Alika will be an excellent mother herself- her own mother Mjukuu has strong maternal instinct and Alika's interest in the baby demonstrates this too- she also carried her expertly when running/climbing with her. It was the rough handling while playing with her that upset a lot of people watching.
 
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