If the enclosure the bongo is pictured in is the other yard (attached to the cattle house), all I remember ever seeing in this exhibit was anoa, until around 1998 when the yard was added to the okapi enclosure.
In the early days of the Cotton Terraces this yard, between the Giraffe House and Horse & Cattle House, provided the outdoor area for Cape buffalo; I guess it would have been too risky to give these access to one of the moated enclosures
It's hard to imagine now, where they put all those animals only a few years ago. I'm sure I remember quite large herds of Scimitar Horned Oryx, Blackbuck and [I think] Axis Deer on the Cotton Terraces, not to mention a selection of wild cattle. All gone now, I believe. How did they fit them all in?
Enclosure 1: Lowland tapirs (these didn't rotate with anything else)
Enclosure 2: Vicuna rotating with (a) guanaco (b) 2 llamas and an alpaca
the above 2 enclosures and indoor stalls formed what is now the entire Malayan tapir area. As a result, I feel London has some of the best indoor space for its tapirs.
Enclosure 3: Bactrian camels rotating with ? Wild ass? zebra? (when mixing with giraffe wasn't working?)
This enclosure forms the area under the giraffe viewing platform and some of the current giraffe paddock. To my knowledge, none of the (3?) indoor stalls which used to service this enclosure are in use, and have been screened from public view (not that the tapir house is currently open), looking through cracks in the wood show them to be hay stores.
Enclosure 4: Equids rotating with (?) I remember zebra and wild horse in this yard, it is serviced by a stall in the current tapir house, and stalls in the giraffe house.
Currently this yard appears to be empty, although a male anoa was held here most recently.
Enclosure 5: Giraffe, sometimes mixed with zebra, nyala, gazelle, meerkat, but usually these mixings have been short-lived. Giraffe have never been rotated with another species here to my knowledge.
This now forms roughly half of the current giraffe paddock, the house is unchanged
Enclosure 6: Okapi. This enclosure was serviced by two stalls on the side of the giraffe house. The okapi did not rotate with any other species to my knowledge.
This enclosure now forms roughly half of the current zebra exhibit.
Enclosure 7: Cattle, possibly rotating with antelope, wild horses? I only remember seeing anoa in this yard. Is this yard attached to the giraffe house stalls like the yard the other side? How many stalls in the cattle house service this yard?
This now forms an offshoot enclosure for the zebra although I rarely see them given access to it.
Enclosure 8: Wild ass, cattle? I can't remember what this side of the cattle house held during the 1980s. This enclosure was a 'mirror' of the camel yard, and was serviced by I think, three, indoor stalls. Can anyone shed any light on what was rotated here?
This enclosure has now been combined with the old okapi yard to form the main zebra exhibit. While holding okapi in the early 2000's, I believe this was still used as a separate enclosure (for okapi) although at the time there were 2.1 okapis and they were breeding.The Indoor stalls for this, and the one serving the yard at the back, are similarly blocked out from public view and appear to now be used as keeper storage.
Enclosure 9: Gaur, rotated with? I'd be surprised if the breeding groupp of gaur didn't have all the indoor stalls for this yard and didn't rotate with any other species. If this is the case, they would have had access to three (?) indoor stalls.
After holding immature one-horned rhino (now the breeding females at Whipsnade), collared peccary, and then bongo, this now forms 2/3 of the outdoor okapi exhibit. The indoor stalls are visible to the public.
Enclosure 10: American bison, rotated with? Again, given the space was the equivalent to the tiny Lowland tapir exhibit on the other side of the terraces, I'd be fairly shocked if the breeding group of bison were rotated with anything. I believe they would have had access to two indoor stalls.
This now forms 1/3 of the outdoor okapi exhibit, and the indoor stalls are also available to the okapi.
Enclosure 10: This held, deer? Rotated with? now the warthog enclosure
Enclosure 11: Arabian oryx, scimitar horned oryx, blackbuck, gazelles, bontebok?
Enclosure 12: Roan antelope, bongo, these two enclosures are now the main wild dog exhibit
Enclosure 13: Greater kudu, after holding collared peccaries, common rheas, and then red river hogs, this is now the extension to the wild dog exhibit
These were the lower level yards, I seem to remember these being serviced by 4 indoor stalls, and there was at least one species shut inside for each one on exhibit outside, suggesting that by the time I visited (1986), they were rotating maybe just two species per outdoor yard? Does anyone remember more clearly than me? As you can no longer go into the underground viewing galleries for the indoor stalls for this area, I can't remember 100% how many indoor stalls there actually were.
If anyone would like to modify what I've written, I'd be fascinated to build a picture of what the Cotton Terraces actually held during the early to mid 1980s (ie before the downsizing started).
If anyone would like to modify what I've written, I'd be fascinated to build a picture of what the Cotton Terraces actually held during the early to mid 1980s (ie before the downsizing started).
Thank you for sharing this johnstoni, it is exactly what I was going to ask about and I too would be very interested to know more about the past inhabitants of the Cotton Terraces. It seems amazing that they managed to fit them all in.
Extracted from the 186/87 annual report:
The return of a male gaur from Howletts zoo (who subsequently managed to jump out across the paddock moat, but fortunately leapt back)
The most significant arrivals were a male and three female Arabian oryx, which came after the loss of the only female of this species in Britain.
Looking at the stocklist it looks as though at that time there was on the Cotton terrace:
0.1 common zebra (burchelli)
1.2 Przewalski's wild horse
1.1 Brazilian tapir
2.0 guanacao
3.2 vicuna
1.6 Bactrian camel
1.2 okapi
2.4 giraffe
2.3 bongo
2.3 greater kudu
2.2 gaur
1.2 American bison
1.6 roan antelope
1.3 Arabian oryx
1.1 bontebok
0.1 blesbok
2.14 blackbuck
2 addax left that year too
1.1 anoa arrived that year , but not sure if they were on the Cotton along with 0.1 pygmy hippo, 1.0 alpaca, 5.0 llama and 1.2 reindeer.
The pygmy hippo (I always only saw facilities for a single animal), was always housed in the small indoor pool in the casson (where the hippos overwinter now). The Casson pool in the 1980s had no dividing fence so I assume a pair was never kept. It was given access to the elephant 'paddock' infrequently.
I believe the first pair of Anoa did live in the Cotton Terraces, I believe I saw them in the back yard between the cattle house and the giraffe house. I wonder if they were actually kept in the front yard on the right of the cattle house, too, as they weren't housed in the Stork and Ostrich house until about ten years after they'd first arrived (pudu were held there until the late 90s).
The reindeer were always kept with the Mara in the paddock opposite the elephants by the children's zoo, as I'm sure people remember.
I can't actually believe 1.6 Bactrian camels were kept on the Cottons!
The pygmy hippo (I always only saw facilities for a single animal), was always housed in the small indoor pool in the casson (where the hippos overwinter now). The Casson pool in the 1980s had no dividing fence so I assume a pair was never kept. It was given access to the elephant 'paddock' infrequently.
I believe the first pair of Anoa did live in the Cotton Terraces, I believe I saw them in the back yard between the cattle house and the giraffe house. I wonder if they were actually kept in the front yard on the right of the cattle house, too, as they weren't housed in the Stork and Ostrich house until about ten years after they'd first arrived (pudu were held there until the late 90s).
The reindeer were always kept with the Mara in the paddock opposite the elephants by the children's zoo, as I'm sure people remember.
I can't actually believe 1.6 Bactrian camels were kept on the Cottons!
The pygmy hippo (I always only saw facilities for a single animal), was always housed in the small indoor pool in the casson (where the hippos overwinter now). The Casson pool in the 1980s had no dividing fence so I assume a pair was never kept.
