ZSL London Zoo London zoo sealions/seals

Here is some more interesting information,

A clip from 1963 showing the seal pools including Baikal seals at a visit of Prince Philip to the zoo.

British Pathe - DUKE OF EDINBURGH AT LONDON ZOO

A clip showing the walrus in the Casson Pavillion in 1967:

British Pathe - QUEEN AT ZOO

and this shows the current hippo pool being used by a baby elephant

British Pathe - DUKE OF EDINBURGH AT LONDON ZOO

I've seen a clip somewhere of the contraption mentioned above but I can't find it, I'll share it if I do.
 
Excellent, you even managed to turn up film of the walrus in the Casson Pavillion in 1967.
Thanks.
 
Pacu said:
Thanks, Tim, for the information. It seems a strange decision to have bought a walrus and kept it in the elephant and rhino pavillion ......
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The elephant bathing pool was only ever intended as temporary accommodation for the walrus.
 
Pertinax said:
A scientific establishment like ZSL would never create an unnatural mixed exhibit like that. I don't think you will see Californian sealions at London again.
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ZSL have sealions at whipsnade though, they're not endangered at all.
 
Bele said:
I was discussing the old seal ponds at the Bartlett Society meeting at ZSL last weekend . The circular pool had a contraption fixed to the inside wall which could move around with a piece of fish attached , which the grey seal could chase - I think it was modelled on the 'hare' contraption at Greyhound Tracks . A very early piece of enrichment which featured on 'Zoo Time' with Desmond Morris . The Baikal seals held in the other pool also featured on these programmes .
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Yes, it is quite a coincidence that we were discussing these old seal pools at the Bartlett Society Meeting a week ago; I too can remember seeing those "Zoo Time" episodes.

Incidentally, checking through my old copies of the ZSL Annual Report, I can confirm some dates:-

Four Baikal seals were acquired in 1959; they were listed as being a species new to the collection.

The old panda pit was converted into the seal pond in 1960 with “an ingenious system for delivering fish to the seals from an electrically driven box which..........provides exercise for the seals and amusement for the spectators".
 
I do think that pinnipeds are a suitable exhibit for an urban zoo.

However, the relatively low availability of conservation-dependent species (eg. Steller's sealions) would require a world-class facility for London to be able to justify housing them. Also, seals do now come up on the radar of activists these days (see the opposition to Brighton bringing back seals a couple of years ago).

It is my opinion that Whipsnade only house Californian sealions as they are the most appropriate species for the park to still make use of that building.

I believe the rocky outcrop still visible at the back of the old sealion pool at London is listed? Are the viewing terraces also listed? The pool actually looked quite good in the old movie clip posted on here, before I realised it was because of all the waves, it made the pool look like a natural rocky shore. That gives you an idea of how small little space a boisterous group of sealions actually had.

I would not like to see hippo and sealions mixed at London. Longleat have a huge lake and probably the most spacious facility for either species in the UK. Plus the context of eccentric aristocracy sort of allows for that sort of thing, a serious zoological society-run garden in London cannot get away with such frivolous combinations.

I remember the old seal pool was used for (hand-reared?) young sealions by about 1985 and later for young penguins. At the time, penguins seemed to appear both in the old seal pool and in the Southern aviary (adjacent to the sealions).

I think old sealion pool works for hippos, but given that the penguins have an incredibly shallow pool in what is just a madeover wildfowl pond currently, I would think they may benefit from being relocated here.......people would also use the terraces to watch the feeding time as well.
 
johnstoni said:
However, the relatively low availability of conservation-dependent species (eg. Steller's sealions) would require a world-class facility for London to be able to justify housing them. Also, seals do now come up on the radar of activists these days (see the opposition to Brighton bringing back seals a couple of years ago).
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That was more to do with the fact that the development was to outside on a busy street junction. All the previous aquatic mammals at Brighton were housed within the aquarium building.
 
I know elephant seals have been kept in the past at Regents park, does anyone have any further info, such as where they were kept in the zoo?, and as far as i know, they have been kept singly.
 
johnstoni said:
I think old sealion pool works for hippos, but given that the penguins have an incredibly shallow pool in what is just a madeover wildfowl pond currently, I would think they may benefit from being relocated here.......people would also use the terraces to watch the feeding time as well.
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I agree, the penguin pool is far too shallow although the enclosure itself makes an attractive exhibit.
 
Shirokuma said:
I agree, the penguin pool is far too shallow although the enclosure itself makes an attractive exhibit.
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Ironically, the reason they kept the penguins at their current exhibit (which was originally temporarily, I believe) is that they are actually more successful in this location.

The current pool is deeper than the old Lubetkin penguin pool albeit that it is basic. I would rather have larger area than depth (within reason, of course) for penguins and aquatic mammals and underwater viewing if possible. Seeing penguins 'fly' underwater is an eduction in itself for many visitors.

But I tend to agree that the old sea lion pool would be much better used for something like penguins.

Personally I would like to see seals or sea lions back in it ;)

I would further add that it is considered quite expectable to have none conversational species, like California sea lions, on display at places like ZSL because they can serve as good educational tools, etc.
 
well if the masterplan states that sealions are in it? mabey if it becomes a zoo gegraphical zoo, mabey auzi sealions or new zealand fur seals?
 
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And you have seen this 'masterplan'?

And I don't know about any Oceanic Pinnipeds in Europe, unless someone can clarify.
 
kiang said:
I know elephant seals have been kept in the past at Regents park, does anyone have any further info, such as where they were kept in the zoo?, and as far as i know, they have been kept singly.
Click to expand...

I have several postcards from the 1920s / 1930s depicting elephant seals at London Zoo; one depicts two specimens, so they were not always kept singly.

I cannot identify the enclosure featured in these postcards, although one photo shows the old Lion House in the background. I will search through old guidebooks, in due course, to try to find out more details as to where the elephant seals were kept.

(Incidentally, the earliest London Zoo elephant seal listed by Flower (1929) was deposited at London Zoo on 23rd March 1911 by HM The King. Flower also records that two elephant seals were presented to London Zoo on 6th April 1914 by the Duke of Bedford, President of the Zoological Society.)
 
For the London Sea Lion Pool in 1910! See
British Pathe - ( ZOO SCENES IN FRANCE )

For the London seal feeding device see
British Pathe - THE DUKE AT THE ZOO

For the London Baikal seals (and the Snowdon Aviary under construction) see
British Pathe - DUKE OF EDINBURGH AT LONDON ZOO

A pool was built especially for elephant seals at London c.1910. It appears in my book We Went To The Zoo Today... The Golden age of Zoo Postcards See Ebay item 350267390922

We Went To The Zoo Today - Golden Age of Zoo Postcards on eBay (end time 19-Nov-09 09:43:06 GMT)
 
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