ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2025

[Zoofan15]

Article on Darwin’s frogs:

Endangered frogs born at London zoo after rescue mission in Chile

The frogs arrived in good health and were transferred to a newly built biosecure room at the zoo that mimics the cool temperature, rainfall, lighting and foliage of the frogs’ natural habitat.

Once settled, the males that had been carrying tadpoles on capture released 33 froglets into the enclosure. Each measured about 5mm long.

“We have the founders, the first adults, and now we have this first generation of offspring born at the zoo.”

Full article in link.

 

[NMM]

There was an article about the Darwin's frogs on BBC Breakfast this morning.

 

[tennisfan]

One change

 

[cerperal]

Fairly quiet day at London, mainly school groups (9 I believe!)

Few things of note:

• Something seems to be happening at the warthogs, haven't a clue what as nothing was actually done but it looks like they're preparing for some engineering works
• Work on the painted dog exhibit is going well, lots of scaffold up. Also got confirmation the old pack killed each other. Lovely.
• Not sure if it was mentioned last year but the gentle lemurs have offspring, around 3 months old now. The former spider monkey exhibit is their permanent home now
• Mzimu has been introduced to Oni and it would seem a calf is to be expected if all goes well
• The Cassons is closed again, so no way to view the RRH or babirusa
• All the Ailanthus silkworms in Tiny Giants have pupated and I was lucky enough to watch one emerge. The Atlas moths in the butterfly house also seem to have been quite successful
• The komodo dragon exhibit has been slightly remodelled, mainly landscaping, but I found it gave much better views

Honestly not much of note from the past few weeks, it's pretty much business as usual aside from the Gorilla Kingdom expansion work. The tiger boys should hopefully be moving on in the next few months finally, and the lion young all looked very healthy.

Quite a few no-shows as expected of a chilly February day, but made up for by the aforementioned big cats. Was great to see the Darwin's frogs, the BBC story definitely worked because the window was packed even in a pretty empty zoo. The zebra and ostrich were outside all day together, giraffes locked inside. Still yet to see the tree shrew.

However, the impossible did occur. I finally saw the small Indian mongoose - although the only way I could photograph them was by standing about 15 metres away as not to scare it

 

[cerperal]

Completely forgot to add - the Colobus have been split up due to fighting, so were in their dens all day. Unsure of how the reintroductions they were trying today went but it didn't sound like anything too out of the ordinary

 

[cornu aspersum]

Mzimu has been introduced to Oni and it would seem a calf is to be expected if all goes well

They are okapi, for those that are unaware.

 

[JoB198]

• Work on the painted dog exhibit is going well, lots of scaffold up. Also got confirmation the old pack killed each other. Lovely.

Wowzers

 

[tennisfan]

There was discussion on the hunting dogs in last years thread and a link to

African wild dogs at London Zoo | London Zoo

 

[JoB198]

Yes, I read all of that at the time. So is the suggestion now that the information on the website is... a lie?

 

[tennisfan]

Article on Darwin’s frogs:

Endangered frogs born at London zoo after rescue mission in Chile

The frogs arrived in good health and were transferred to a newly built biosecure room at the zoo that mimics the cool temperature, rainfall, lighting and foliage of the frogs’ natural habitat.

Once settled, the males that had been carrying tadpoles on capture released 33 froglets into the enclosure. Each measured about 5mm long.

“We have the founders, the first adults, and now we have this first generation of offspring born at the zoo.”

Full article in link.

From the ZSl facebook post I think the Youtube film is 13 minuteslong

Tune in to watch the premiere of a Leap of Hope: A huge mission to rescue a tiny frog

TONIGHT

at 6pm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs1SIs0KRlk
Our conservationists embarked on an urgent rescue mission, to an island off the coast of Chile, to save these tiny frogs from their biggest threat - the arrival of the deadly chytrid fungus.
This 5-day expedition, filmed by Paul Glynn, shows how an international effort rescued 53 of these emerald frogs, who travelled by boat, car and plane to reach their new home at London Zoo.
These frogs might be tiny but they play an enormous role in safeguarding their species and fighting back against chytrid fungus.

 

[Panthera1981]

Yes, I read all of that at the time. So is the suggestion now that the information on the website is... a lie?

Does make you wonder doesn’t it?

Someone’s telling porkies!

 

[tennisfan]

There was a Facebook post on the two okapis from the zoo at Christmas

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1877547059315512

 

[GaryA]

Does make you wonder doesn’t it?

Someone’s telling porkies!

I expect there was infighting, they all suffered injuries that left them in an even poorer state or even one near death and it was decided quality of life for an un-unified pair or single elderly animal used to being in a pack was not considered viable, for quality of life and even to an extent, continued maintenance issues.

 

[Zorro]

Completely forgot to add - the Colobus have been split up due to fighting, so were in their dens all day. Unsure of how the reintroductions they were trying today went but it didn't sound like anything too out of the ordinary

Do you know if they have introduced another mature breeding male to the group yet I believe this was on the cards around one year ago?

 

[cerperal]

Do you know if they have introduced another mature breeding male to the group yet I believe this was on the cards around one year ago?

Forgot to ask, sorry! I should be back in a couple of weeks so if nobody else knows I'll ask then

I expect there was infighting, they all suffered injuries that left them in an even poorer state or even one near death and it was decided quality of life for an un-unified pair or single elderly animal used to being in a pack was not considered viable, for quality of life and even to an extent, continued maintenance issues.

This is the impression I got, they were fairly geriatric animals as it was and even minor injuries inflicted by in-fighting would be significantly more tricky to deal with. I have no reason to doubt ZSL's official statement, and in a species that's known for being infamously tricky to hold due to fighting I think it's reasonable they didn't go into detail as to exactly why

 

[Zorro]

Forgot to ask, sorry! I should be back in a couple of weeks so if nobody else knows I'll ask then


This is the impression I got, they were fairly geriatric animals as it was and even minor injuries inflicted by in-fighting would be significantly more tricky to deal with. I have no reason to doubt ZSL's official statement, and in a species that's known for being infamously tricky to hold due to fighting I think it's reasonable they didn't go into detail as to exactly why

Thank you

 

[Panthera1981]

Forgot to ask, sorry! I should be back in a couple of weeks so if nobody else knows I'll ask then


This is the impression I got, they were fairly geriatric animals as it was and even minor injuries inflicted by in-fighting would be significantly more tricky to deal with. I have no reason to doubt ZSL's official statement, and in a species that's known for being infamously tricky to hold due to fighting I think it's reasonable they didn't go into detail as to exactly why

Aside from the 2015 litter, ZSL doesn’t seem to be having much luck with African hunting dog, particularly at Whipsnade. A shame

 

[tennisfan]

well yesterday one giraffe, all 3 zebra and the 3 ostriches were all eating outside yesterday mid morning , in the early afternoon the 3 giraffes were mostly in their house feeding with the opportunity to go outside.
i did see 3 warthogs wandering around their outside enclosure mid morning.
Other than the scafolding errected at the end of the hunting dogs enclosure which adjoins the warthogs a few weeks back i 've not noticed any direct work to their area. A small part of top walkway viewing above the warthogs (closest to the hunting dogs) has been partitioned off for a couple of months seeming used as a work storage or access point for the long running hunting dog works.
The Casson had scaffolding errected a couple of weeks ago to the right of the entrance (ie before the closure weeks).
Gorilla enclosure inside day area has been spruced up with more flat wooden resting plaforms and timbers added.
Penguin pool and beaches have a a very clean look.
The blocked off area (original plain white) barriers have all been painted with information about the gorilla development. The new home for the a fun-loving group of black mangabeys is mentioned.
A recently arrived female goeldi monkey is in the rainforest (currently in one of the side enclosures)

 

[cerperal]

well yesterday one giraffe, all 3 zebra and the 3 ostriches were all eating outside yesterday mid morning , in the early afternoon the 3 giraffes were mostly in their house feeding with the opportunity to go outside.
i did see 3 warthogs wandering around their outside enclosure mid morning.
Other than the scafolding errected at the end of the hunting dogs enclosure which adjoins the warthogs a few weeks back i 've not noticed any direct work to their area. A small part of top walkway viewing above the warthogs (closest to the hunting dogs) has been partitioned off for a couple of months seeming used as a work storage or access point for the long running hunting dog works.
The Casson had scaffolding errected a couple of weeks ago to the right of the entrance (ie before the closure weeks).
Gorilla enclosure inside day area has been spruced up with more flat wooden resting plaforms and timbers added.
Penguin pool and beaches have a a very clean look.
The blocked off area (original plain white) barriers have all been painted with information about the gorilla development. The new home for the a fun-loving group of black mangabeys is mentioned.
A recently arrived female goeldi monkey is in the rainforest (currently in one of the side enclosures)

I only got to the giraffes late afternoon (had some admin in the morning) so that's lovely to hear. Sounds like they've finally managed to get all 3 species to get along, Wilfred seemed to be separated from the female giraffes in the house though. Glad you mentioned the penguins as well because the new look is fantastic, completely rejuvenates it.

RE the goeldi monkey - when the original female died, they thought they'd have to euthanise the male on compassionate grounds, and the assumption the other monkeys would attack him given the tamarins especially can be quite savage. Instead, both other species have effectively adopted him which is quite lovely.

 

[Jambi]

The Cassons is closed again, so no way to view the RRH or babirusa

I'm hoping this isn't still the case by mid-May when I'm planning a visit to London, I'm quite fond of both babirusa and red river hogs, so it would be a shame to miss out on seeing them.