ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2025

Meerkat exhibit now has two new meerkats on show.
Access to Gorrila Territory is now possible again via the track alongside the Meet the Neighbours aviary. The Meet the Neighbours aviary is closed currently for walk thru but still is occupied and some but limited viewing from outside.
 
I went for a short visit yesterday from 3.45pm onwards to avoid the crowds (though it was still much more crowded than mid-July before the school holidays, e.g. long queue to get into the butterfly house).

As is often the case, unexpected exhibits were the highlights of the day: I had great views of the Violet Turaco and the Lilac-breasted Roller in Bird Safari, and the Lac Alaotra Gentle Lemurs with their new baby were captivating - the young one jumping around and climbing independently. Well worth looking for just after exiting the Rainforest Life.

The new hunting dogs are still screened off, but it was possible to see one through a crack in the fence at one point. Finally. just before leaving, I saw a young penguin swimming fast enough to skim along in and out of the water like a dolphin, which I'd not observed before at the zoo.

All in all, a surprisingly good trip when I'd feared it would be too busy to be enjoyable.
 
cerperal said:
3 African wild dogs will arrive this week from Port Lympne. They should be on-show by midweek

A white-nosed coati has arrived, replacing the former brown-nosed coati exhibit
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The white-nosed coati is now semi on show, using the small outdoor aviary that used to have Patagonian conures in it. He'll be introduced to the main enclosure soon.
 
Went for a good visit to London Zoo today - quite a lot has happened since my last visit.
  • New species: In Bird Safari, there are now three white-headed ducks (a male and two females), which were easy to see. Common hill myna is also signed here as well, but I did not see one here - there is still a pair in one of the outdoor aviaries next to the Blackburn Pavilion.
  • The Meet the Neighbours aviary (the walkthrough leading to the gorillas) was closed in order for, according to the sign, new birds to be added. On my second trip past the aviary, I did see the pair of Madagascar crested ibises and a number of keepers were also present inside the aviary.
  • I managed to see every main on-show species in the reptile and amphibian house, including some new young - there has been a litter of aquatic caecilians born recently (I saw two or three individuals much smaller than the adults swimming around) and there was also a young Luristan newt tadpole. Also in here...
  • New species: A shoal of white cloud mountain minnows have been added to the crocodile lizard tank, and are signed.
  • Finally, also in the reptile house, I also managed my first sighting of two Peters' keeled cordylids in one of the off-show enclosures behind the rhinoceros ratsnake tank.
  • It was lovely seeing all four macaw species on-display, including my first-ever great green macaw.
  • There have been a lot of changes and updates in Tiny Giants. This is what I noticed:
    • New species: The giant dead-leaf mantis is now gone. Its enclosure is now signed for bullhead cockroaches, Archimandrita tessellata (a species not listed in the January 2025 stocklist), but although food was present in the display, one of the sheets on the side of the enclosure had fallen down and obscured much of the view.
    • There is more information about the deathwatch beetles now - there are live animals in there, contained within wood fragments from HMS Victory, but they spend most of their time as larvae and the signage warns they are therefore very difficult to see. I certainly didn't see any adult beetles active.
    • The jewel wasp tank has been renovated and is now home to the buffalo beetles, moved on from their tank further down next to the giant mosquitoes.
    • The apple snails are now no longer on-show. Their tank has been renovated into what looks to be a marine display, with some sort of seaweed or seagrass growing in it, but the signs indicate nothing has moved in yet.
    • The sea nettle tank remains empty.
    • The old buffalo beetle tank has been turned into what looks like a freshwater display, but again the signs say that it is as yet uninhabited.
    • The medicinal leech tank has been renovated, removing the large land area on the right of the tank and replacing it with a large rock with some moss on top of it at the back of the tank.
    • There is a honeybee colony again, although they are in a hive located in the garden viewable from the window opposite the medicinal leeches, and as yet there are none inside the show hive.
  • The signage for the black kite at the vulture aviary in Land of the Lions has been removed, and I didn't see the lone bird at all.
  • New species: There is now a spotted laughingthrush in the indoor walkthrough in the Blackburn Pavilion.
  • Got a good but brief view of the new white-nosed coati in its smaller enclosure. The nearby sign suggests it will be a matter of days until it is introduced to the larger enclosures.
  • I had my first-ever view of the Southern three-banded armadillo active in the diurnal Rainforest Life enclosure.
  • The new wild dogs were perfectly visible - although the large semi-circular viewing windows were still fenced off, the windows on the slope between there and the warthogs were open and accessible, with the three dogs all sleeping in front of one of the windows.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
Went for a good visit to London Zoo today - quite a lot has happened since my last visit.
  • New species: In Bird Safari, there are now three white-headed ducks (a male and two females), which were easy to see. Common hill myna is also signed here as well, but I did not see one here - there is still a pair in one of the outdoor aviaries next to the Blackburn Pavilion.
  • The Meet the Neighbours aviary (the walkthrough leading to the gorillas) was closed in order for, according to the sign, new birds to be added. On my second trip past the aviary, I did see the pair of Madagascar crested ibises and a number of keepers were also present inside the aviary.
  • I managed to see every main on-show species in the reptile and amphibian house, including some new young - there has been a litter of aquatic caecilians born recently (I saw two or three individuals much smaller than the adults swimming around) and there was also a young Luristan newt tadpole. Also in here...
  • New species: A shoal of white cloud mountain minnows have been added to the crocodile lizard tank, and are signed.
  • Finally, also in the reptile house, I also managed my first sighting of two Peters' keeled cordylids in one of the off-show enclosures behind the rhinoceros ratsnake tank.
  • It was lovely seeing all four macaw species on-display, including my first-ever great green macaw.
  • There have been a lot of changes and updates in Tiny Giants. This is what I noticed:
    • New species: The giant dead-leaf mantis is now gone. Its enclosure is now signed for bullhead cockroaches, Archimandrita tessellata (a species not listed in the January 2025 stocklist), but although food was present in the display, one of the sheets on the side of the enclosure had fallen down and obscured much of the view.
    • There is more information about the deathwatch beetles now - there are live animals in there, contained within wood fragments from HMS Victory, but they spend most of their time as larvae and the signage warns they are therefore very difficult to see. I certainly didn't see any adult beetles active.
    • The jewel wasp tank has been renovated and is now home to the buffalo beetles, moved on from their tank further down next to the giant mosquitoes.
    • The apple snails are now no longer on-show. Their tank has been renovated into what looks to be a marine display, with some sort of seaweed or seagrass growing in it, but the signs indicate nothing has moved in yet.
    • The sea nettle tank remains empty.
    • The old buffalo beetle tank has been turned into what looks like a freshwater display, but again the signs say that it is as yet uninhabited.
    • The medicinal leech tank has been renovated, removing the large land area on the right of the tank and replacing it with a large rock with some moss on top of it at the back of the tank.
    • There is a honeybee colony again, although they are in a hive located in the garden viewable from the window opposite the medicinal leeches, and as yet there are none inside the show hive.
  • The signage for the black kite at the vulture aviary in Land of the Lions has been removed, and I didn't see the lone bird at all.
  • New species: There is now a spotted laughingthrush in the indoor walkthrough in the Blackburn Pavilion.
  • Got a good but brief view of the new white-nosed coati in its smaller enclosure. The nearby sign suggests it will be a matter of days until it is introduced to the larger enclosures.
  • I had my first-ever view of the Southern three-banded armadillo active in the diurnal Rainforest Life enclosure.
  • The new wild dogs were perfectly visible - although the large semi-circular viewing windows were still fenced off, the windows on the slope between there and the warthogs were open and accessible, with the three dogs all sleeping in front of one of the windows.
Click to expand...
Very good news about the spotted laughingthrush, the previous one in the external aviary was one of the most characterful animals in the whole zoo, in my opinion. It may be the same one, I suppose, just having been offshow for a bit?
 
DesertRhino150 said:
The new wild dogs were perfectly visible - although the large semi-circular viewing windows were still fenced off, the windows on the slope between there and the warthogs were open and accessible, with the three dogs all sleeping in front of one of the windows.
Click to expand...
The fencing was removed around 2pm, but the enclosure closest the tunnel still has its view obscured. The dogs have access to both enclosures if they wish
20250809_142800.jpg
They're absolutely gorgeous and appear to be settling in well
 

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oflory said:
Very good news about the spotted laughingthrush, the previous one in the external aviary was one of the most characterful animals in the whole zoo, in my opinion. It may be the same one, I suppose, just having been offshow for a bit?
Click to expand...

I did wonder if it had been a previously off-show animal as well, but the January 2025 animal stocklist for London doesn't mention it at all. Likewise, they wasn't one at Whipsnade either at that time. I can only assume that the species must be a returnee.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
Went for a good visit to London Zoo today - quite a lot has happened since my last visit.
Click to expand...

I don't suppose you happened to notice whether or not they have a new guidebook out? I know that Whipsnade have just released a new one, but haven't heard anything about the same being true for London as yet?
 
TeaLovingDave said:
I don't suppose you happened to notice whether or not they have a new guidebook out? I know that Whipsnade have just released a new one, but haven't heard anything about the same being true for London as yet?
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I think they do, I noticed a new design in the shop last week but was rushing, so couldn't stop to look at it.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
I don't suppose you happened to notice whether or not they have a new guidebook out? I know that Whipsnade have just released a new one, but haven't heard anything about the same being true for London as yet?
Click to expand...

Sorry, I didn't notice any new guidebook - I was rushing in through the gates to get past the crowds at opening and bypassed the shop on the way out.
 
First visit today in over a year, so am a bit out of date. Was great to see the place again and catch up with whats happening.

The zebras are mixed with the giraffe again, wasn't expecting this after reading they had been separated. The zebras were temporarily put into the back holding pen whilst the keepers refreshed the browse, they got a bit over excited to be let out again, but no issues between them and the giraffes

Got lucky with the Small Indian Mongoose, saw all 3(?) first time! Mostly just faces looking out of the tunnels to the inside, but one was very brave and came into the main outside enclosure. Great view of one inside too

Also excellent view of the Giant Salamander, it's head was right out of the tunnel near the model

Great to see the BokiBoki and Javan Green Magpies, very special animals

Wasn't expecting to see the Grey Mouse Lemurs, don't think they were there last visit. Does this mean the Greater Galago are gone (think this was the second galago species they had?)

No shows included the AyeAyes, Tigers, Babirusa, Malagasy Jumping Rats, Collared Trogons, Lorids (except the Potto). Are the Trogons still at the zoo? They're labelled but didn't see them
 
Sounds like a successful visit - glad to hear the zebras are back with the giraffes, hopefully that means Wilfred is leaving them alone.

Crowthorne said:
Got lucky with the Small Indian Mongoose, saw all 3(?) first time! Mostly just faces looking out of the tunnels to the inside, but one was very brave and came into the main outside enclosure. Great view of one inside too
Click to expand...
Should be 4, 2.2, but to be quite honest I've only ever seen 3 - and in the exact same way as you, with a single one heading outside.

Crowthorne said:
Wasn't expecting to see the Grey Mouse Lemurs, don't think they were there last visit. Does this mean the Greater Galago are gone (think this was the second galago species they had?)
Click to expand...
The zoo still holds the Senegal and Mohol subspecies to my knowledge, but no Greater anymore unfortunately.

Crowthorne said:
No shows included the AyeAyes, Tigers, Babirusa, Malagasy Jumping Rats, Collared Trogons, Lorids (except the Potto). Are the Trogons still at the zoo? They're labelled but didn't see them
Click to expand...
The Trogons should still be there unless something has changed very recently, split between the main walkthrough in Blackburn and one of the separate aviaries there. The tigers are proving very difficult to spot recently unfortunately. Hopefully once Crispin leaves the parents become slightly more forthcoming
 
cerperal said:
The zoo still holds the Senegal and Mohol subspecies to my knowledge, but no Greater anymore unfortunately.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the info! I was probably thinking of Senegal rather than Greater, so good to know they're still there. Think only saw the Mohol today, but Nightlife seemed to be quite quiet for animals, earlier or later might have been more productive.

Also good to know the Trogons should still be around, must have just happened to miss them. Last time they were in the smaller secondary walkthrough in Blackburn, but that was over a year ago now
 
Crowthorne said:
First visit today in over a year, so am a bit out of date. Was great to see the place again and catch up with whats happening.

The zebras are mixed with the giraffe again, wasn't expecting this after reading they had been separated. The zebras were temporarily put into the back holding pen whilst the keepers refreshed the browse, they got a bit over excited to be let out again, but no issues between them and the giraffes

Got lucky with the Small Indian Mongoose, saw all 3(?) first time! Mostly just faces looking out of the tunnels to the inside, but one was very brave and came into the main outside enclosure. Great view of one inside too

Also excellent view of the Giant Salamander, it's head was right out of the tunnel near the model

Great to see the BokiBoki and Javan Green Magpies, very special animals

Wasn't expecting to see the Grey Mouse Lemurs, don't think they were there last visit. Does this mean the Greater Galago are gone (think this was the second galago species they had?)

No shows included the AyeAyes, Tigers, Babirusa, Malagasy Jumping Rats, Collared Trogons, Lorids (except the Potto). Are the Trogons still at the zoo? They're labelled but didn't see them
Click to expand...
Yesterday in Blackburn Pavilion
 

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