Excuse me Cracker, Firstly where and when have I stated that you can buy shares in Edinburgh Zoo?, secondly, is it not beneficial for the zoo to be of charitable status where all profits made are ploughed back into the zoo rather than into the pockets of share holders of a Leisure company who are obviously looking for a return on their investment in the form of share dividends?
ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2011
- Thread starter bongorob
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Excuse me Cracker, Firstly where and when have I stated that you can buy shares in Edinburgh Zoo?, secondly, is it not beneficial for the zoo to be of charitable status where all profits made are ploughed back into the zoo rather than into the pockets of share holders of a Leisure company who are obviously looking for a return on their investment in the form of share dividends?
My apologies, I mis-read your post. I agree all profits should be ploughed back into the zoo and I hope like you, that this can happen for Edinburgh asap.
The new penguin exhibit looks a fine well indeed.
(off-topic: can we keep the Edinburgh Zoo Crisis discussion where they belong in the said special Edinburgh thread? Thank you!).
Re: tiger exhibit. Are the anoas and wild suids being incorporated into the whole entire Tiger Area? The drawings show up Malayan tapirs only ...
(off-topic: can we keep the Edinburgh Zoo Crisis discussion where they belong in the said special Edinburgh thread? Thank you!).
Re: tiger exhibit. Are the anoas and wild suids being incorporated into the whole entire Tiger Area? The drawings show up Malayan tapirs only ...
johnstoni
Well-Known Member
Assuming they can keep the foxes out, and that none of the new birds take to ingesting twigs and leaves that fall into the water, from a welfare point of view, this will be the first decent penguin facility at London.
The photograph, to me, looks like a very large, but unremarkable, standard penguin exhibit. I am surprised the pool is very much of the 'swimming pool' variety of penguin exhibits, given the recent exhibits at Bristol, Marwell, and Living Coasts in the last few years, where the pools have resembled a rocky seashore much more than this. However, with the unavoidable inclusion of large deciduous tress overhanging the water areas, I guess a pool with a dark base would have been very difficult to clear leaves from.
The image makes me hanker for the return of sea lions to Regent's park.
The photograph, to me, looks like a very large, but unremarkable, standard penguin exhibit. I am surprised the pool is very much of the 'swimming pool' variety of penguin exhibits, given the recent exhibits at Bristol, Marwell, and Living Coasts in the last few years, where the pools have resembled a rocky seashore much more than this. However, with the unavoidable inclusion of large deciduous tress overhanging the water areas, I guess a pool with a dark base would have been very difficult to clear leaves from.
The image makes me hanker for the return of sea lions to Regent's park.
johnstoni
Well-Known Member
Re: tiger exhibit. Are the anoas and wild suids being incorporated into the whole entire Tiger Area? The drawings show up Malayan tapirs only ...
I'm sure you know this but, anoas are not found on Sumatra and therefore have no interactions with wild tigers. I would therefore be surprised if they were included in the exhibit. Bearded pigs, (though not the Bornean subspecies) are a prey species for Sumatran tigers and would fit with the exhibit. The artists drawings don't depict the east side of the Casson pavilion clearly, which is where the bearded pigs are currently kept. If they stayed here they would be very 'in context' with the tiger development over the path.
Personally, I would much rather they included a gibbon species on the footprint of the bearded pig outside enclosure, and stopped keeping gibbons in one of the old relics from what's left of the Sobell Pavilion.
Would be cool if they cleared the current parrot aviaries and butterfly house in a few years time for this for a nice themed area...
It went through my mind about leafs falling in the water. They will be emptying the pre-filter strainer baskets on the pumps quite a lot
Never build aquatic exhibits under trees - big mistake.In any event, I think it will be an excellent exhibit and as mentioned with the other developments at London Zoo very welcome.
And yes it does make wish they had pinnipeds back at London as it not as if they didn't have the room. I was looking at the old sea lion pool the other day that was empty and even now it still quite a large exhibit. Certainly area-wise better than Whipsnade in that respect. The sea lions at London were certainly a big attraction.
Here's some old footage from the film 'Miranda' taken of the pool in 1948!!
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1. Its the golden rule even for a simple garden pond or water feature.
2. The Sealions were (IMO) one of the liveliest/best exhibits at ZSL - the day they went something of its spirit was lost from the zoo.
For some perhaps ....,
But if zoos are anything to do with overall being relevant zoological collections encompassing all orders and fyla of the animal/plant kingdoms and not be a rule of conformity (where every zoo copies the next and hence has a reduced number of target species), going to a zoo would be a total bore.
I for one love to see parrot aviaries and butterflyhouses. And in case of ZSL/London, there are relevant conservation priorities in there too.
I agree. There is something rather magical about the barking of male sea lions which (along with gibbons calling) always remind me of zoos.
They are classic sounds- and often heard from outside the Zoo before one arrives too. With the sealions I feel they were active much of the day too and of course the highlight was the 3(?) o'clock feeding time and the build-up to it. People would assemble well before in order to get a good viewing spot, and the sealions added to the anticipation with their expectant behavour, tearing around the pool at increasingly high speed and every so often heaving out to watch for the keeper's arrival, before throwing themselves back in the water for another circuit. Happy memories!!
If you look at the London Transport film archive site, there is a film entitled All that mighty heart made in 1962 featuring a family travelling to the zoo on a London Transport RTL, the elephants and also the sea lion feeding, worth a look if only for nostalgia.
Was at ZSL yesterday and the penguin pool is obviously now full and seem to be on target for open on the 27 May. The pool is calculated to have a volume of around 450,000 litre of water (+100,000 of water)
Posters are now up all over the London Underground Tube network. A taste of the style can be seen on the animate header of the zoo's web page for the beach HERE.
However, what stuck me was (to my mind) the rather inappropriate graphic which looks more like the advert of a animated Disney movie with penguins dressed up in beach wear and water wings with towels tucked under their wings. And, of course, the standard child model staring in wonderment.
I can understand why animal attractions owned by theme park operators would use such advertising but not The Zoological Society of London. This really is dumbing down IMHO.
I don't know what other think. I just find it depressing.
I think its just the style these days, promoting animals as cuddly, humanised versions of themselves- think Meerkats,(insurance) Bulldogs, animated Macaws etc. ZSL has just joined the trend full tilt with this. My main concern is that young visitors will then expect something more than the reality- a pool with penguins and a fishy smell.
Indeed. We seemed to have come full-circle to an extent. Someone joked that kids growing up will soon think that Churchill was not a famous Prime Minster during WWII but a dog that sells insurance.
And yes - meerkats the must have for all zoos now.
I think the bottom half of the advert is fine with the child model etc as it showing penguins swimming underwater. I just don't understand the dressing up of the ones on the beach. Penguins standing around being penguins should have been exciting enough as the exhibit looks like it's going to be very good and can stand own it's merits.
Meerkats have achieved their fabulous popularity by quite an interesting route. They first came to the notice of UK audiences with a couple of wildlife documentaries in the 1980's(?) era- firstly with a film called 'Meerkats United'. The ensuing interest meant a number of zoos started exhibiting them. This brought them further popularity, followed by another whole T.V. series and then the T.V. insurance/compare the Market.com adverts which made them a household name, ensuring they became virtually obligatory for Zoos- there are very few, even small ones, without them now.
The only problem is the real ones don't speak with Russian accents.
I'm strongly opposed to dumbing down but I wouldn't consider the penguin advertising guilty of this. It's quite an attractive and engaging design concept in my view and is much better than the London Aquarium posters I've seen promoting their penguin attraction.
I don't think it's a serious problem, the zoo needs to make sure it's advertising is distinctive and eye-catching and I think this does the job.
I don't think it's a serious problem, the zoo needs to make sure it's advertising is distinctive and eye-catching and I think this does the job.
I understand what John is getting at, however I must admit I like the penguin advertising, quite amusing.
Just a matter of interest, is there a zoological collection in the U.K. which does not have the obligitory meerkats?
This was discussed recently on another thread- don't ask me which
- I think it was mentioned there are about four that don't. Isn't Edinburgh one of them? (at least at present)