Joker22Hero
Well-Known Member
Can I clarify what „the hillside“ refers to please? About where the Reindeer are now?
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo ZSL Whipsnade Zoo News 2025
- Thread starter Lafone
- Start date
Burribro
Member
Was it really 91?! I could have sworn I'd seen the Tigers on the hill but given that I was born in December 91 - that's clearly impossible!
Yes, the ‘hillside’ will refer to the Downs, above / along from where the white lion chalk figure is.
The reindeer are at the opposite far end to where the lions, tigers, jaguar (?) and polar bears were.
The lions and tigers in the now filled in flint pits (such a shame they were not left (empty though) as a huge part of Whipsnade’s history). The jaguar in a smaller enclosure above ground between them and the polar bear enclosure, which was next to the small car park next to the current ‘Viewpoint’ cafe / restaurant.
The lions were opposite the road that now leads up to the current lion enclosure / giraffes.
Now all returned to nature as a part of the SSSI with the lion, tiger and polar bear enclosures now hosting bat roosts (hibernaculum?) built into them.
Yes, Whipsnade had a huge development phase in the early 90s, which included ‘Tiger Falls’.
Apologies, got the lions and tigers mixed up. The tigers were originally in the pit opposite the current road up to the lions / giraffes, with the lions moving there when Tiger Falls was completed.
The leopards / jaguars were also inbetween the two cat pits.
I’ve attached a map that shows the true extent of the enclosures on The Downs, all the way from the penguins to the tigers. The outlines of many of these enclosures can still be seen by rings of wall hidden underneath the grass between the penguins and reindeer.
The map is from 1963.
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Yes "Tiger Falls" definitely opened in 1991 (on the site of the old Wolf Wood); this is confirmed in the ZSL Annual Report for 1991.
Here's the heads up on Lola and Hodor the Common Hippos who moved from Whipsnade to Longleat about 2 months ago now and you'll be pleased to know that they have settled in really well in their new home as I just been to Facebook and they were let out into their paddock next to Half Mile Lake
cerperal
Well-Known Member
It was about time, its official name has always been Half Mile Pond since its creation and for reasons unknown Longleat opted to change it just for the Jungle Cruise marketing...I still remember some rather confusing guide books that referred to the Pond as such when describing the House's grounds, and then back to calling it a Lake for the Cruise section!
Lovely news about the hippos, regardless. Hopefully it won't be too long before they're out in the pond. Certainly a slightly more water for them than they're used to! Given how well the tapir has settled, it sounds like a good move on all fronts...even the complaining has died down
Kalaw
Well-Known Member
The complaining has died down because everything bad to say has already been said and there are other things to talk about. Negative feelings towards the loss of the hippos have quite rightly not changed.
There is a nice photo of them grazing together in the paddock, with a glimpse of Longleat House
in the background. Looks like black screening behind them.
Strathmorezoo
Well-Known Member
This is the year I first visited Whipsnade and I can still remember those enclosures, especially the Kodiak bears. When the male Kodiak stood up on his hind legs, he was enormous. A memory I shall always cherish .
I visited yesterday for the first time. WOW! Obviously bank holiday and high temperatures made it a bit tricky…., I was very impressed. I’d like to do a ZSL review (I did a London Indian Lion chalet stay with family) at some point, but as a very brief Whipsnade summary;
- the Langur, Anoa and Celebes Macacque exhibits are wonderful.
- The penguin area seemed a strange location, though it is nice, unless there is a master plan to upgrade the Europe area and include polar regions?
- the chimp housing needs upgrading to be more naturalistic, unless these are Whipsnades last chimps?
- The giraffe area was good but seemed small compared to the enormous enclosures for elephant and rhino?
- the bird display was fantastic and seeing macaws free flying was emotional for me, in a truly positive way.
London Zoo;
- highlights were the new tortoise and reptile houses, okapi, Hanunaman Langurs, Aye-Aye and Blackburn Pavillion.
- the Langur, Anoa and Celebes Macacque exhibits are wonderful.
- The penguin area seemed a strange location, though it is nice, unless there is a master plan to upgrade the Europe area and include polar regions?
- the chimp housing needs upgrading to be more naturalistic, unless these are Whipsnades last chimps?
- The giraffe area was good but seemed small compared to the enormous enclosures for elephant and rhino?
- the bird display was fantastic and seeing macaws free flying was emotional for me, in a truly positive way.
London Zoo;
- highlights were the new tortoise and reptile houses, okapi, Hanunaman Langurs, Aye-Aye and Blackburn Pavillion.
The penguins have been there since time immemorial, I don't think there's any plan to make them make more sense geographically. The penguins they have are not from polar regions.
The chimps do have a big outside area with platforms etc.?
I guess the giraffe area is quite a bit smaller than the elephant/rhino area, but they breed pretty well and I find it much more appealing than the offering at London Zoo.
The chimps do have a big outside area with platforms etc.?
I guess the giraffe area is quite a bit smaller than the elephant/rhino area, but they breed pretty well and I find it much more appealing than the offering at London Zoo.
I guess I felt that the Penguin location seemed to not fit, whereas almost all other enclosures did?
I thought the chimp island was ok, but the outside cage area looked very dated?
Overall, I thought the zoo was truly fantastic and I loved it!
Yeah, the penguins (like the flamingos) just 'are'... they pre-date the geographical zoning and I guess finding another place for them in the zoo is trickier than swapping wolves for African hunting dogs.
The cage ('chimpnasium') has actually just had work done to it to give them some more shade in hot weather. In my (reasonably limited, as I'm not even that interested in apes) experience, they don't use the island area very much. They're a non-breeding group.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, it's one of my very favourite places to be
Like the Penguins as mentioned above, the footprint of the Giraffe house and paddock has hardly changed since the 1950's, probably longer, since opening the zoo in fact. The house has been modernised and outside shelter and viewing areas are more recent obviously but otherwise largely the same.
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I agree the penguins have always seemed out of place but you can see from this map photo posted recently that there used to be a lot more enclosures around there, so they didn’t always stick out like they do now!
I remember the Penguins originally- it was just a simple kidney -shaped pond with the usual low 'ZSL-brand' mesh fence surrounding it. Very bleak but it was for penguins. Between them and the Brown bears there was a range of small carnivore cages but they were horribly small and primitive. I think the remnants of these buildings may still be there, along from the bears(same side).