ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2012

The macaronis were moved from London (as was always the plan) once the breeding season hove into view as they didn't want any interbreeding between species. I daresay this will lead to lengthy esoteric discussions about breeding penguins but that was what I was told anyway. Ricky the rockhopper was indeed going to be moved but he was still there last time I looked... perhaps he's just not amorous and no chance of breeding! So there are now just Humboldts, Jackasses, and Ricky. He is such a character they probably want to keep him if at all possible!

By the way, if you're into birds, there is now a most beautiful great Indian hornbill in the north bank aviaries, well worth a visit.
 
By the way, if you're into birds, there is now a most beautiful great Indian hornbill in the north bank aviaries, well worth a visit.
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Very pleasing. A big hornbill species had been a conspicuous gap in the collection. Where at London do others think would be a suitable long-term home for the species?
 
volvox said:
The macaronis were moved from London (as was always the plan) once the breeding season hove into view as they didn't want any interbreeding between species. I daresay this will lead to lengthy esoteric discussions about breeding penguins but that was what I was told anyway. Ricky the rockhopper was indeed going to be moved but he was still there last time I looked... perhaps he's just not amorous and no chance of breeding! So there are now just Humboldts, Jackasses, and Ricky. He is such a character they probably want to keep him if at all possible!
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That's interesting. Is the plan then to bring them back again after the breeding season or were they just there to add to the opening of the exhibit? I thought the press releases surrounding the opening of penguin beach talked about breeding all of the species, but I can't say I remember for sure now.

I'll try my best to avoid this next bit becoming esoteric but there is a very low risk of interbreeding between macaronis and jackasses or humboldts. The macaronis at Living Coasts have lived alongside their jackasses for quite a few years now and there has never been anything close to an attempt at interbreeding (in fact they mostly ignore each other. Macaroni penguins have a set breeding season which neither jackasses or humboldts have (they can breed all year round excluding when they are moulting). Macaroni penguins nest in rocky areas where they gather pebbles as part of their courtship, while the other 2 species prefer burrows which macaronis never use. Other parts of courtship also differ, such as the courtship/territory display and they also look quite different, with the yellow feathers of the macaroni thought to play a role in mate attraction, which the other 2 species lack. I would have thought the risk of interbreeding was much higher between the humboldts and the jackasses as their breeding behaviours are more similar.
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Tunanta said:
volvox said:
The macaronis were moved from London (as was always the plan) once the breeding season hove into view as they didn't want any interbreeding between species. I daresay this will lead to lengthy esoteric discussions about breeding penguins but that was what I was told anyway. Ricky the rockhopper was indeed going to be moved but he was still there last time I looked... perhaps he's just not amorous and no chance of breeding! So there are now just Humboldts, Jackasses, and Ricky. He is such a character they probably want to keep him if at all possible!
QUOTE]

That's interesting. Is the plan then to bring them back again after the breeding season or were they just there to add to the opening of the exhibit? I thought the press releases surrounding the opening of penguin beach talked about breeding all of the species, but I can't say I remember for sure now.

I'll try my best to avoid this next bit becoming esoteric but there is a very low risk of interbreeding between macaronis and jackasses or humboldts. The macaronis at Living Coasts have lived alongside their jackasses for quite a few years now and there has never been anything close to an attempt at interbreeding (in fact they mostly ignore each other. Macaroni penguins have a set breeding season which neither jackasses or humboldts have (they can breed all year round excluding when they are moulting). Macaroni penguins nest in rocky areas where they gather pebbles as part of their courtship, while the other 2 species prefer burrows which macaronis never use. Other parts of courtship also differ, such as the courtship/territory display and they also look quite different, with the yellow feathers of the macaroni thought to play a role in mate attraction, which the other 2 species lack. I would have thought the risk of interbreeding was much higher between the humboldts and the jackasses as their breeding behaviours are more similar.
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What about the risk of rockhopper and macaroni? (And I would have thought it made more sense to move a single rockhopper than five macaronis, but I just wondered).
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IanRRobinson said:
What about the risk of rockhopper and macaroni? (And I would have thought it made more sense to move a single rockhopper than five macaronis, but I just wondered).
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Yeah that would be more of a risk, but I ignored it as all the macaronis that were at London (if it was just the Living Coasts ones) and the rockhopper are male, so it wouldn't be a problem just yet.
 
I actually doubt Volvox was given the real answer. Rockhopper and macaroni hybrids are sometimes found in the wild but, as you say, all the individuals of 'crested' penguin species were male, and are kept without issue alongside humboldt and African penguins in other collections where they breed. There is no risk of interbreeding.

If the two missing macaroni penguins died, I strongly suspect the zoo wanted to avoid a further PR disaster following the criticism in the national press of the husbandry (and losses) of penguins in the previous two exhibits. So, if they lost a couple of macaronis, I imagine they'd want to create some reason to need to move the rest of the group in case they all died.

It makes no sense that the small group of Jackass penguins remain if fear of hybridisation is sufficient to remove some species from the exhibit. I believe these are 2010(?)-hatched birds which are tame, and therefore hand-feed during the 'shows', along with the male rockhopper penguin.

Its just a shame it didn't work out, it would have been great for such an excellent enclosure to have hosted a breeding group of macaroni penguins. I sincerely hope they build up the rockhopper group with new birds as I believe the issue with previous losses was down to foxes, and the new exhibit appears very well fox-proofed. However, I hope they don't move the existing Whipsnade rockhoppers as they are breeding almost yearly at Whipsnade currently.
 
I wonder if it wouldn't be an idea to bring in eggs, or birds, from Tristan da Cunha. The UK's responsibility for the endangered Northern rockhopper could do with being highlighted, and i would have thought that EAZA collections generally could do with fresh blood.
 
Penguin eggs were collected from Georgia in the late 1980s, infusing a number of UK collections (particularly Belfast) with new king and rockhopper penguins (and possibly a third species, I don't remember). However, I'm not sure how successful these birds were, ie I'd be interested to know the success rate of hand-reared penguins never kept alongside breeding adults.
 
Edinburgh Zoo has just brought in some Northern Rockhoppers from Europe to hopefully encourage breeding in their group-maybe if those breed the offspring may filter through to London?

It is a shame if they have given up on macaronis already, as they are a lovely species. I honestly can't think of anything Living Coasts do for theirs above what they do for their African penguins, beyond providing a mister over the nest area to keep incubating parents and moulting birds cool (which I know London have) and they have a separate nesting area (although that is more to do with the penguins segregating themselves and the macaronis defending their nesting area from curious african penguins than any effort from keepers). I suppose 5 is not a large group number, so maybe that had an impact and they didn't settle. All Living Coast's macaronis were mostly hand-fed-does anyone know if they (the macaronis) hand-fed at London?
 
I think it would be really worth ZSL trying to source mates for the two adult offspring still with their parents at Whipsnade, while establishing a second group at London. The surviving Drusillas birds are very old now (hatched 1992 at Edinburgh), and the Belfast birds were from the egg collecting expedition and so appear a different subspecies on ISIS, aren't breeding and are down to 1.2, so ZSL have the only successful (albeit from one pair) group of Rockhoppers outside of Edinburgh (and Edinburgh haven't had much breeding success in recent years, I assume this is why new birds from Vienna have been imported).
 
ZSL London Zoo Developments

I was there very briefly on Monday and I noticed:-

In the Reptile House, the entire left most row of exhibits is boarded off (minus the 'display table area' at one end (near the entrance) and the raised area at the other (at the rear)). A notice reads: We are currently rebuilding a section of our Reptile House, which was built in 1926, in order to provide new homes and exhibits for our amphibians.

There is a Red Ruffed Lemur (Sid) and a Kinkajou (Honey) in the Casson both with notices saying they are living there temporarily whilst building work for Tiger Territory is completed near their usual home.

In Nightlife there've finished remodelling two enclosures so that, you can now see (potentially) the Australian water rats diving, and the blind cave fish now have a bigger tank. Both these areas had been empty for a while while they did these improvements.

Also, I don’t know if anyone is interested but there’ve had in the shop for a month or two now a number of copies of the 1993 book ‘The Buildings of London Zoo’.
 

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ZSL London Zoo Developments

I forgot to say they've also applied for planning permission to extend the Regent Restaurant.

A number of times I've tried to go in there (on quite quiet days) and been turned away as it's too full!

Each time I've been left thinking how much money are they loosing (which could be spent on conservation or on the zoo itself) when they are turning away people (and their food, in fairness like most, is not cheap).

The plans are on the Westminster Council planning website.
 
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I have posted a few photos on the galleries from my visit today (12 April 2012) to London Zoo. These include a couple of the extensive work now taking place on the new Tiger enclosure. Also I took a picture of the Ambika Paul Memorial fountain which is now running dry. There is a note saying that the water is normally recycled in the fountain. However this may not be possible due to the water restrictions that are currently in place in most of the south-east of England. For example other fountains like in Trafalgar Square have now been turned off.


Del
 
I visited London Zoo in December last year, and despite taking well over 1000 photos, and aiming to record every species label, I missed the birds in the very first aviary. This is the one that you have to walk past to get into the zoo proper after you have paid your entry. I have a photo with a red/orange+black passerine on a branch, and would love to know what it is, and am hoping that London Zoo regulars can tell me. I think this was a mixed species exhibit, were there lovebirds in here too? Thanks in advance for any help you can give.
 
Some three years ago when I visited, there was a flock of one of the orange/red& black bishop weavers in here; lovebirds would be too agressive to keep with them successfully.
 
zooboy28 said:
I visited London Zoo in December last year, and despite taking well over 1000 photos, and aiming to record every species label, I missed the birds in the very first aviary. This is the one that you have to walk past to get into the zoo proper after you have paid your entry. I have a photo with a red/orange+black passerine on a branch, and would love to know what it is, and am hoping that London Zoo regulars can tell me. I think this was a mixed species exhibit, were there lovebirds in here too? Thanks in advance for any help you can give.
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Until recently I think there were West Nile red bishops. The mix with lovebirds sounds familiar but I'll need to check my photos.

The aviary has now been demolished and replaced with the statue of Guy the gorilla.
 
Ricky the Rockhopper

A bit late in the day to post this, I know, but Ricky the Rock Hopper is one of a relatively small number of named animals available for adoption, so moving him to Whipsnade or elsewhere would have a negative effect on adopters and this may affect the decisions. Both my children have 'adopted' animals and I have always been a bit cynical about it. However, I have recently found out that it isn't just a modern marketing ploy, it in fact started during the second world war and was raising a massive £35 a week during times of extreme hardship for many people, so maybe I shouldn't be so cynical after all. I still think it may be why Ricky is still in London, though.
 
Thanks FBBird and DevilFish, I hope you can confirm the other species in that aviary too.

I have another question, does anybody know what species of white-eye is kept in the Blackburn Pavilion? Neither ZSL website nor zootierliste is helpful for this species.
 
devilfish said:
I don't have access to the hard drive with my photos on at the moment, so maybe someone else will be able to get back to you before me.

I think the white-eyes are just labelled as Zosterops, with no specific name.
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Thanks for that, that might have been why I didn't take a photo of that sign.
 
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