ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2012

I agree with Ian about the off-show exhibits. There was a notice outside the Roundhouse for many months saying that the aye-ayes were off show on that day. That may be acceptable to a one-off visitor, but was irritating to regular visitors. When the Biome was revamped a couple of years ago, much of the ground floor was closed off, including the area where the aye-ayes were rehoused. If the aye-ayes are too shy to adapt to people, couldn't the zoo use CCTV with an indoor enclosure. I saw this used with kiwis at Stuttgart Zoo years ago and surely this would be better than having such an unusual and endangered species permanently off show.
 
IanRRobinson said:
The Aye-Aye set-up baffles me; they had no less space or privacy in the Round House than the pair at Bristol have.
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...or indeed any of the other zoos in which they seem to do pretty well. While I have defended London in previous threads, I do find the apparent policy of making it hard to see (a number of the) animals rather annoying. It's notable that on the film review linked-to above, there is very little in the actual zoo - the majority of stuff is about what is happening in various conservation projects here, there and everywhere. That's great, of course, but most visitors want to see interesting animals presented in interesting ways, doing interesting things.
 
A mere detail, I know, but the aye-ayes are no longer in the Round House – no idea where they are (though I believe still in the zoo). The Round House has been home to Rodriguez flying foxes for many months now.
 
This is slightly (well completely) off subject, but I watched the video and hearing the people pronounce ZSL made me realize something I never knew. The letter Z is pronounced zee by us Americans, but you Brits pronounce it zed.

Anyway, back on topic, the new tiger exhibit looks promising.
 
Thanks for the reply on the sealions volvox, a shame I was thinking of snatching a visit & return to my youth before they left!

At the risk of repeating what I've said about Marwell, zoos need to utilise the space they have to a maximum and in the case of one as small as London this is of even greater importance. When people visit London, they expect to see animals & lots of them, not empty enclosures or empty space. I agree the Clore is a prime example of this, more than half of it shut off when the building can't be beyond renovation given whats been done with the rest. Although many single enclosures are too small by todays standards, they could easily be combined, as some had been for tamarins when I visited about 3 years ago before that wing was shut off.

Other areas that come to mind as under used are the Mappins and areas on both sides of the canal and along the boundary between the cat terraces and the penguins. I know some of these areas couldn't accomodate large animals, but could be used for smaller mammals or aviaries.
 
Arizona Docent said:
This is slightly (well completely) off subject, but I watched the video and hearing the people pronounce ZSL made me realize something I never knew. The letter Z is pronounced zee by us Americans, but you Brits pronounce it zed.
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If it's any reassurance, it's just as weird the other way around!
 
volvox said:
A mere detail, I know, but the aye-ayes are no longer in the Round House – no idea where they are (though I believe still in the zoo).
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Yes, the aye-ayes are still in the zoo; they are housed, off-exhibit, in the Clore Pavilion.
 
Unless either animal has been replaced since their arrival in the late 90s, the male was a very nervous animal and displayed frequent sterotyped behaviour in his side of the Roundhouse exhibit, which intensified when mixed with the female or exposed to other stressors. I'm assuming that either (a) ZSL are still trying to breed a (by now, hopefully) regularly compatible pair, or (b) they are now too old and have been retired....either presumably taking place off-exhibit due to the disposition of the male.

If anyone can shed light on that it would be interesting.
 
ISIS are no longer showing any macaroni penguins at London, having shown just 3.0 a month ago.....have they gone? If so, what happened to them? The rockhopper appears to have remained despite plans for him to leave (presumably to Whipsnade) last year.
 
johnstoni. said:
ISIS are no longer showing any macaroni penguins at London, having shown just 3.0 a month ago.....have they gone? If so, what happened to them? The rockhopper appears to have remained despite plans for him to leave (presumably to Whipsnade) last year.
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Macs are back at Living Coasts.
 
I'm not sure if this has been brought up on here yet, but an inventive if reprehensible way to smuggle cocaine has resulted in London Zoo gaining a number of new tropical fish. There's a 2.19 minute video on the link, with shots of arowana, stingrays, leporinus and geophagus

BBC News - Tropical fish plot cocaine smugglers jailed
24 Feb 2012

Two men have been jailed for trying to smuggle cocaine with a street value of £1.6m from Colombia to Nottingham in bags of tropical fish.

Olaf Urlik, 33, and Norbert Jarzabek, 32, both from Poland, admitted conspiracy to import Class A drugs at an earlier hearing on 5 January.

The cocaine was dissolved in fluid in plastic bags within larger bags holding the fish, thousands of which died.

Urlik and Jarzabek were both jailed for 11 years at Nottingham Crown Court.

Last April, Urlik and Jarzabek carried out a trial run without the cocaine in which all 16,000 fish were left to die, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) said.

Jarzabek and a friend from Strelley, Nottingham, collected the consignment and took it to a lock-up garage in Islington, north London, where the fish were abandoned.

A second cargo, plotted by Urlik and Jarzabek and containing 17kg (37lb) of cocaine, arrived at Heathrow Airport on 9 July last year labelled "Live Tropical Fish, Handle With Extreme Care".

The fish were in intensive care at London Zoo for several weeks It contained 25 double boxes of almost 550 tropical fish.

Soca and UK Border Agency found 10 of the boxes to have dissolved bags of cocaine stored in the water with the fish.

The fish were left for two days at the airport before being picked up.

Once the boxes were collected they were taken to a flat on Glade Avenue, Nottingham, which Jarzabek had rented a month before.

Investigating Soca officers arrested the men at the property with the evidence.

The fish had limited oxygen for at least 96 hours and many were found dead or lay dying. Only 26 survived and were taken to London Zoo for treatment.

The fish are now in an aquarium at the zoo.

Rachel Jones, team leader of the aquarium, said the case was "really quite unusual".

"We do work with the authorities to take confiscations but they're usually of marine creatures like corals."

She said the fish were "very poorly" when they first arrived and were in intensive care for several weeks.

"They were really skinny and they'd been in terrible water quality for many, many days.

"A lot of TLC was involved in encouraging them to feed. Now they're quite plump and doing really, really well," she said.
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What happened to the other two, as five arrived originally? I would normally assume species of penguin other than Jackass and Humboldts suffer in warmer Southern English zoos, but the only successful colony of Macaronis in the UK sits right on the 'English Riviera', so I don't know why they wouldn't have thrived at London.
 
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