ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2013

volvox said:
Hah! Definitive proof. I will try and look for them this week. I thought we were told they'd gone to another zoo fairly recently, though I could easily be misremembering.
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I sincerely hope that the anoa haven't been phased out. If they have it would mean that London would have neither wild deer nor wild bovids.

At the risk of again being labelled (or libelled) a nostalgist for the days of Abraham Bartlett, there will be a point at which the hollowing out of the RP collection will remove any justification for the place being considered a major zoo.

The site now lacks elephants, rhinos, chimps, orang-utans, bears, sealions, or any large spotted cats. The elephants ought to have gone many years before they did, the sealion enclosure was probably beyond redemption, and there is room for debate about which great ape species should be held at London - but on many deeply reputable European zoos of comparable acreage more is done. Think Frankfurt; think Artis; think Antwerp; think Vienna.

Much as I admire Chester, it is not the natural home of the UK's leading collection. It may well, and should, mean, that the collection is held on two sites, but that position ought to be held by ZSL.
 
ZSL London Zoo

I couldn't agree more. No geese, no cranes, lots of insects, the only big iconic zoo animals being gorillas, tigers & giraffes...
 
FBBird said:
I couldn't agree more. No geese, no cranes, lots of insects, the only big iconic zoo animals being gorillas, tigers & giraffes...
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Pretty sure this is incorrect, unless they have gone out of Grus rubicunda
 
London Zoo ZSL

They may still have the Brolgas, but I cannot forgive the loss of the geese and crane paddocks on the North Bank. London have reduced the collection often without rhyme or reason over the past 30 years, often needlessly 'dumbing down' what should be our national zoo.
 
I believe a third anoa arrived earlier last year, and was housed for some time in the offshow yard behind the giraffes (although would have been visible if indoors from the giraffe house gallery). It could be that the old, (formerly) breeding pair which were housed where the tiger development is now being constructed, may have moved on, unless people start noticing three anoas in the giraffe house. The sudden arrival of a second male which was then housed separately from the existing 1.1 made me think the zoo was not planning to stop keeping anoas, but may be planning to replace the older pair with new, younger stock. Anoa reproduction, at least in the UK, seems to have slowed somewhat and I can see a number of collections losing this species, so I hope London isn't one of them.

That said, its possible that the last 1.1 in the old stork and ostrich house may not have been the elderly former breeding pair, and could have been replacements for these in the recent past.

It should be added that anoas do not occur in Sumatra and it would therefore not be particularly relevant to include them as part of the tiger exhibit itself. Bearded pigs and tapirs however, are found within the tigers' range in Sumatra. It wouldn't have been ridiculous though to have put them where the camels are; having bactrian camels so easily visible from parts of the tiger exhibit seems to be a distraction, when they could easily have gone in the donkey/llama paddocks.
 
FBBird said:
They may still have the Brolgas, but I cannot forgive the loss of the geese and crane paddocks on the North Bank. London have reduced the collection often without rhyme or reason over the past 30 years, often needlessly 'dumbing down' what should be our national zoo.
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I think i've made my feelings quite clear on the 'relegation' of London from number 1 to barely top 10 in 30 years, but i wont bother saying too much because the response is always what a great reptile house & aquarium the zoo has. They may be the best in a uk zoo, but even they aren't what they were 30 years ago,just like the rest of the zoo! Sad, but true.
 
IanRRobinson said:
Much as I admire Chester, it is not the natural home of the UK's leading collection. It may well, and should, mean, that the collection is held on two sites, but that position ought to be held by ZSL.
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I might say: "Much as I admire London, it is not the natural home of the nation's government". But so what?
If you mean that the collections at Regents Park and Whipsnade ought to be better, I would agree entirely.
If you mean that these collections ought to be better than Chester just because they are in and near London respectively, I think that is sententious rubbish: there is nothing natural about the relative qualities of zoos (or governments ;)).
The ZSL does have a unique position because of its history and its scientific and environmental record is unmatched in the UK. But that does not mean that it has to be top dog. At the moment I think that the staff at Chester are justified in thinking their zoo sets the standard by which the other zoos in the UK are judged. I think they very much want to continue to hold that position and will work hard to so.

Alan
 
gentle lemur said:
If you mean that these collections ought to be better than Chester just because they are in and near London respectively, I think that is sententious rubbish: there is nothing natural about the relative qualities of zoos (or governments ;)).
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Indeed; by that logic Marwell should be better than Chester too, because Winchester was the centre of power for centuries before London grew in importance ;)
 
johnstoni. said:
I believe a third anoa arrived earlier last year, and was housed for some time in the offshow yard behind the giraffes (although would have been visible if indoors from the giraffe house gallery). It could be that the old, (formerly) breeding pair which were housed where the tiger development is now being constructed, may have moved on, unless people start noticing three anoas in the giraffe house.
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I've seen two anoas next to the giraffes, unsure how many where there in December.
 
Oh dear, I seem to have caused offence in the North...;)

London IS a great world city, it IS the leading financial centre in Europe, it IS a natural meeting point for scientists of all hues and nationalities, and it IS English speaking. ZSL has the potential to bring together strands in conservation that few other organisations can globally,and to create collections that reflect this.

For that matter Whipsnade is pretty much equidistant from London, Oxford and Cambridge - with the present Institute buildings at London over fifty years old, serious thought should be given to moving the Society's reseearch arm to Bedfordshire.

As potential centres of zoological excellence golobally, not to mention the UK, the two ZSL sites are underachieving, IMHO. Chester is not - arguably it is the only "institutional" UK zoo that is demonstrably where it should be.
 
Hello to all my fellow zoochatters across the pond. One of my co workers is going to the zoo in march. 2 questions. When is the new tiger exhibit opening in march? and Is there any special events going on at the zoo from march 13th threw the 31st? thks mates
 
jusko88 said:
Hello to all my fellow zoochatters across the pond. One of my co workers is going to the zoo in march. 2 questions. When is the new tiger exhibit opening in march? and Is there any special events going on at the zoo from march 13th threw the 31st? thks mates
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I think the date for 'Tiger Territory is the 13th March, which I saw somewhere. Incidentally, what is the plan for ZSL Sumatran Tigers, I've heard the plans were to acquire a breeding pair, then 1.2, plans changed to 2.2. Could somebody clarify the situation?:confused::confused:
 
The official public opening date for Tiger Territory is Easter, which is the weekend of 29–31 March. And as usual, we will find out how many/what sex the new tigers are when it happens – I think London Zoo always reserves the right to make last minute changes and decisions, which seems reasonable when it comes to dealing with something as unpredictable as animals!
 
volvox said:
The official public opening date for Tiger Territory is Easter, which is the weekend of 29–31 March. And as usual, we will find out how many/what sex the new tigers are when it happens – I think London Zoo always reserves the right to make last minute changes and decisions, which seems reasonable when it comes to dealing with something as unpredictable as animals!
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I thought so. ;) ZSL London have got a great pair on their hands, 'Jae Jae' moved to San Francisco with his siblings 'Courtney' and 'Eric/Mark'. Originally 'Jae Jae' was named 'Eric' or 'Mark'. I quite like the new set up, a female from Australia ('Melati') and a male from America. A good genetic set up.
 
Just for the record, the anoas are still there (next to the giraffes as Stulch said) and the brolgas are in the Snowdon aviary, looking very fine. If you go down the steps and walk along the towpath (still inside the zoo) you can see them really close up.
 
volvox said:
Just for the record, the anoas are still there (next to the giraffes as Stulch said) and the brolgas are in the Snowdon aviary, looking very fine.
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Thanks for this confirmation - two species I'm very glad are still around.
 
I went to the zoo today. No news to report but I was glad it was open in the snowy weather. They have closed for less in the past.

It was lovely and quiet and I took a few pictures which I will post tomorrow.
 
IanRRobinson said:
Oh dear, I seem to have caused offence in the North...;)

London IS a great world city, it IS the leading financial centre in Europe, it IS a natural meeting point for scientists of all hues and nationalities, and it IS English speaking. ZSL has the potential to bring together strands in conservation that few other organisations can globally,and to create collections that reflect this.
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I think you'll find Chester is also English speaking in the main. :)
 
Newzooboy said:
stood by the clownfish and listened to every single person come by and say 'oooh, look, there's Nemo'! I don't know why they dont just rename it it Nemo nemo /I] and be done with it!
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I personally think this is great! It's fantastic that the world's children have something (the movie, Finding Nemo) that helps them relate to an interesting animal species. In the same way, The Lion King introduced children to meerkats. Such movies make going to the zoo more appealing for children, so they are wonderful. God bless Disney!
 
ANyhuis said:
I personally think this is great! It's fantastic that the world's children have something (the movie, Finding Nemo) that helps them relate to an interesting animal species. In the same way, The Lion King introduced children to meerkats. Such movies make going to the zoo more appealing for children, so they are wonderful. God bless Disney!
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Though of course it becomes a problem when wild numbers of clownfish and regal tangs begin to decrease in the wild, all because of wild-catching them for the pet trade to supply demand produced by so many children wanting them as pets because of the movie. I would also argue that, due to them being a marine fish, most of them probably went into inexperienced hands and didn't last long.
 
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