ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2015

Unlike some people in this thread who couldn't help me at all :mad:
I give a really really big thanks to Shirokuma and Devilfish to help me to know some of the animals found at BUGS ;)

leafcutter ant (Atta cephalotes)
desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria)
American cockroach (Periplaneta americana)
garden fruit chafer (Pachnoda sinuata)

black beauty stick insect (Peruphasma schultei)
jungle nymph (Heteropteryx dilatata)
Asian giant stick insect (Pharnacia jianfenglingensis)
leaf insect (Phyllium philippinicum)

edible gold silk spider (Nephila edulis)
salmon pink bird-eating tarantula (Lasiodora parahybana)
black widow spider (Latrodectus mactans)
African mantis (Sphodromantis sp.)
giant millipede (unknown species)
giant West African snail (Archachatina marginata)
Ghana tiger snail (Achatina achatina)
desert darkling beetle (Tenebrionidae) / domino beetle
jewel wasp (Ampulex compressa)
cave cricket (Pholeogryllus geertsi )

two-spotted cricket (Gryllus bimaculatus)
naked molerat (Heterocephalus glaber)

Florida apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata)
sunburst diving beetle (Thermonectus marmoratus)
shanny (Lipophrys pholis)
two-spotted goby (Gobiusculus flavescens)
sand goby (Pomatoschistus minutus)
European shore crab (Carcinus maenas)
common hermit crab (Pagurus bernhardus)
starlet cushion star (Asterina gibbosa)
sea anemone (unknown species)
upside down jellyfish (Cassiopea sp.)

Barombi Mbo cichlid (Sarotherodon linnellii)
hard and soft coral (unknown species)
regal tang (Paracanthurus hepatus)
candy pipefish (Dunckerocampus pessuliferus)
sea apple (unknown species)
sea cucumber (unknown species)
sea anemone (2 unknown species)
clownfish (unknown species)
turban snail (unknown species)
fanworm (unknown species)
brittle star (unknown species)
moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita)

Mexican red-knee tarantula (Brachypelma smithi)
Bangaii cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni)
long-spine black sea urchin (Diadema sp.)
axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum)
Frégate Island beetle (Polposipus herculeanus)
Seychelles giant millipede (Seychelleptus seychellarum)
Enid snail (Pachnodus fregatensis)
brown rat (Rattus norvegicus)
narrow clawed crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus)
European medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis)
silkworm (Bombyx mori)
bluebottle (maggot) (Calliphora vomitoria)

red tailed green ratsnake (Gonyosoma oxycephalum)
golden mantella (Mantella aurantiaca)

Bali starling (Leucopsar rothschildi)
Montserrat oriole (Icterus ober)

there are 4 unknown species, but this what I know so far
 
Sunbear12 said:
An article on the progress of Alika at three months old- {mods: url removed}
Click to expand...

I am so much the more hopeful / confident that London as an inner-city zoo can now progress to the next stage: A) either getting the other gorillas perhaps to breed to the new male (following on to the successful rearing of the 3-mo youngster) and B) perhaps acquire another young female for breeding!!!

Happy all-around! :D
 
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Good progress so far, touch wood!

For obvious reasons Zaire can't breed with Kumbuka but I'm suprised with Effie-is it a case of "won't" rather than "can't"? How many gorillas could Gorilla Kingdom feasibly hold?
 
Panthera1981 said:
Good progress so far, touch wood!

For obvious reasons Zaire can't breed with Kumbuka but I'm suprised with Effie-is it a case of "won't" rather than "can't"? How many gorillas could Gorilla Kingdom feasibly hold?
Click to expand...

Effie is a proven breeder from the past( in Berlin) but rejected both her young. There shouldn't be any reason why she doesn't breed with Kumbuka too, unless a.they have contracepted her for some reason, or b. he doesn't like her. Another baby in the group would be welcome but it might well have to be handraised in the initial phase and then reintroduced. Mjukuu's present example of mother rearing might help the chances of Effie rearing a baby, but there again it may make no difference at all as she is fully adult. If she doesn't breed again perhaps they would in time be allocated another younger female now Kumbuka is a proven breeder. I think one more adult is about all they could hold, given the size of the 'dayroom' where they spend a lot of(most of) their time.

I'm always slightly amused at the hype they give these Gorillas- rearing babies is 'simple as' in most places these days- Mjukuu's home group at Chessington have consistently reared all their young with no problems-Mjukuu had good group experience and it was always obvious she would be a competent mother (as she was with the ill-fated Tiny) just like the other females there.
 
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The lemur walkthrough will open on the 28th March and they were working yesterday on the west wing of the Clore, to make it a sort of continuation of the walkthrough. That's where the (new) aye-ayes should be (though nothing is certain in zoos!) so you will be able to see them with any luck. Twin emperor tamarins were born a few days ago and look very good, clearly visible on their mother's back in the rainforest.
 
The full species list for the lemur walkthrough has been confirmed as:

Ring-tailed lemur
B&W ruffed lemur
Gentle lemur
Aye-Aye
 
Appears the occupants have moved in. Whilst walking past outside the exhibit.
Several Ring-tailed lemur & a single B&W ruffed lemur were exploring the Lemur Walkkthru today.
A pair of Gentle lemur were visible inside exhibits inside the west wing of the Clore. There were other exhibits inside that were not visible from the window.
 
Visited today despite the rain, to see the new lemur walkthrough, and am pretty impressed :) The main enclosure is spacious with plenty of height. The west wing of the Clore has been turned into a 'sawmill' with lots of use of wooden planks to hide the brickwork, and interconnecting tunnels for the Ring-Tailed and B-W Ruffed Lemurs to access the various old enclosures, which they were making full use of! The Alaotran Gentle Lemurs were in two connected enclosures without access to the walkways but they might have an outdoor area at the back. To one side is a nocturnal area with Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec, Malagasy Giant Jumping Rat and Aye-Aye (although these have not yet arrived, the sign said they would be here soon).

Finally saw the Panay Cloud Rat.

Mujuuku is encouraging Alika to start sitting up and climb around a bit on her own.

One down side, the mouse problem in the Clore can't be ignored any more. In the double size loris enclosure at the end they were running around, fighting and making the loris visibly agitated. You can hear the mice in the trees in the public area, one fell out and landed at my feet! Not sure what they can do about them but its pretty off putting...
 
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The zoo plans to submit a funding application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the redevelopment of the Snowden Aviary into a Colobus monkey walk through.

Makes me wonder if they could, or should, go down this route with the Mappins.
 
A colobus walkthrough would be very nice indeed :)
 
An interesting development. I would suggest that if the Snowden becomes another walkthrough, maybe they should get rid of the squirrel monkey one & use that area to accommodate a few small cat or other carnivore species!
 
pipaluk said:
An interesting development. I would suggest that if the Snowden becomes another walkthrough, maybe they should get rid of the squirrel monkey one & use that area to accommodate a few small cat or other carnivore species!
Click to expand...

Or wolves... ;)
 
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