ZSL London Zoo Advice for upcoming visit

[DesertRhino150]

I am planning on visiting London Zoo for the first time in ten years this coming Tuesday. I was wondering if anyone could give some advice on what not to miss, and where they can be seen.

A couple of species I am keen to know about are the African giant mosquitoes (the latest 2023 stocklist only shows six of these, so I am wondering if they are still present) and the Javan green magpies (are these on show?).

 

[Kalaw]

The Javan Green Magpies are on-show in Blackburn Pavilion, but only their outdoor area is public, and it is very densely planted, so they can require a little bit of patience. I find that they are usually most active around late morning, but this could just be coincidence.

The African Giant Mosquitoes were on-display on my visit in February, but I regrettably did not visit Tiny Giants when I went last month. They were kept towards the end of the circuit, near the bee hive and the Upside-down Jellyfish.

In terms of other advice, Senegal Galagos now live next to the Aye-Ayes in the indoor section of In With The Lemurs. As there are already Moholi Galagos downstairs in Night Life (now only held in the main mixed-species enclosure, which they share with Potto and Malagasy Giant Jumping Rats), it is nice to see them both at once. While in the Clore Pavilion, make sure to enter Rainforest Life, as the new White-faced Saki bring a lot of life to that area, and there are new Tambraparni Barb in the former angelfish tank there, which are decently rare.

The new Ostrich rotate between an onshow and offshow paddock with the zebras. If they are offshow during your visit, your best bet is to visit Into Africa at around 11:00 AM, as the giraffes will be locked inside so their outdoor area can be cleaned out, and the ostrich will be let into their outdoor enclosure.

Enjoy your visit!

 

[Dassie rat]

London Zoo is one of 5 ZTL collections with Javan green magpies
One of 4 with Hawaiian squirrelfish
One of 3 with staghorn damselfish
One of 2 with Chinese big-headed turtles and Round Island skinks
It is the only ZTL collection with southern tamanduas (nominate subspecies), unicolor coralgobies, scarlet-chested and splendid sunbirds, Congo caecilians, Lake Oku clawed frogs and Iberian midwife toads.

 

[Kalaw]

London Zoo is one of 5 ZTL collections with Javan green magpies
One of 4 with Hawaiian squirrelfish
One of 3 with staghorn damselfish
One of 2 with Chinese big-headed turtles and Round Island skinks
It is the only ZTL collection with southern tamanduas (nominate subspecies), unicolor coralgobies, scarlet-chested and splendid sunbirds, Congo caecilians, Lake Oku clawed frogs and Iberian midwife toads.

Although bare in mind that only the Iberian Midwife Toad tadpoles are onshow to the public, and at that age it can be difficult to tell them apart from the Mallorcan and Common Midwife Toads who they share their enclosure with. The nominate tamanduas are lovely, but can be difficult to see. Your best bet here is probably the tree opposite the viewing area for the spider monkeys. Other rarities that I forgot to mention include Collared Trogon and Ultramarine Grosbeak in Blackburn Pavilion, Natal Red Duiker who share with the Okapis and Hanuman Langurs in Land of the Lions.

 

[oflory]

The Congo caecilian is hard to see, though you may be lucky. As a burrowing species, it requires one to be close to the glass in the tunnels that they create through their tank. They are not in the Reptile House, but along the wall leading roughly west from the toilets by the old aquarium.

 

[polarbear]

I would suggest following the three routes - pink, blue and orange - introduced during Covid as they ensure you get to see everything on site, especially useful if you haven’t been for so long. The coloured markings are on the tarmac around the zoo. Enjoy your visit.

 

[DesertRhino150]

I am going back to London again on Wednesday, and the one thing I wanted to know is where the mongoose enclosure actually is in Land of the Lions? I missed it on my last visit (when it was just for the dwarf mongooses) - I started on the elevated walkway and briefly went around to the large semi-circular viewing area with the harp-wire, but never found the mongooses. Wouldn't want to miss the chance of seeing them, even if they are very shy.

 

[Kalaw]

I am going back to London again on Wednesday, and the one thing I wanted to know is where the mongoose enclosure actually is in Land of the Lions? I missed it on my last visit (when it was just for the dwarf mongooses) - I started on the elevated walkway and briefly went around to the large semi-circular viewing area with the harp-wire, but never found the mongooses. Wouldn't want to miss the chance of seeing them, even if they are very shy.

If you are entering through the main archway, then instead of going up the raised walkway turn left, towards the street food area, and continue walking until you approach the exhibits. Alternatively, go up the walkway, but once you get past the langurs, take the stairs down to their lower viewing area, which will take you straight to the mongooses. It is right against 'Tiny Giants,' and is even visible from one point within said invertebrate house if you look out the window. It is indeed well-hidden and took me many visits to discover it, but once you know where it is it shouldn't be too difficult to find, as Tiny Giants is of course impossible to miss. Hope this helps!

 

[amur leopard]

I am going back to London again on Wednesday, and the one thing I wanted to know is where the mongoose enclosure actually is in Land of the Lions? I missed it on my last visit (when it was just for the dwarf mongooses) - I started on the elevated walkway and briefly went around to the large semi-circular viewing area with the harp-wire, but never found the mongooses. Wouldn't want to miss the chance of seeing them, even if they are very shy.

As Kalaw says it's just at the bottom of the blue metal stairs down to the 'train station'. Seeing them is tough, you just have to watch the tunnel out of the black box in the bottom left corner for a while and hope one pokes its head out. Good luck

 

[Mo Hassan]

There's currently (as of Thursday) barriers set up quite some distance from the enclosure for the mongooses, so it's virtually impossible to see them at all (I could not). Not sure if the barriers were there when @amur leopard visited and photographed the shy fella but I could not get closer than this:

 

[amur leopard]

There's currently (as of Thursday) barriers set up quite some distance from the enclosure for the mongooses, so it's virtually impossible to see them at all (I could not). Not sure if the barriers were there when @amur leopard visited and photographed the shy fella but I could not get closer than this:

View attachment 681116

The barrier situation has been constant with regards to the outdoors shown above but the little telephone box to the right of that (the mongoose indoors) had the canvas removed from the windows a few weeks back. Fingers crossed that should still be the case. That's where I took the photo anyway.

 

[Rhino00]

Hello everyone,
I will be visiting London Zoo for the first time next week and would like to ask a few questions,
because I would hate to miss some species.
1) When is the best time to go see aye-aye and potto? Is there a chance to take any, at least a bad photo?I could see that the aye-aye might have some light spots, but the potto looked very dark.
2) What is the situation with Cayenne and Congo caecilians? Are they on-show? I read about them in news thread, but I am still a bit confused.
3) Are the Small Indian mongooses still in the same exhibit? Are they still shy?
4) The aforementioned fishes (Hawaiian squirrelfishare, Staghorn damselfish or Unicolor coralgoby) are in Tiny Giants?
5) Are Chinese water deers commonly seen? I don't have the best experience with them from Berlin.
6) Any other tips for rare species?

 

[cerperal]

Hello everyone,
I will be visiting London Zoo for the first time next week and would like to ask a few questions,
because I would hate to miss some species.
1) When is the best time to go see aye-aye and potto? Is there a chance to take any, at least a bad photo?I could see that the aye-aye might have some light spots, but the potto looked very dark.
2) What is the situation with Cayenne and Congo caecilians? Are they on-show? I read about them in news thread, but I am still a bit confused.
3) Are the Small Indian mongooses still in the same exhibit? Are they still shy?
4) The aforementioned fishes (Hawaiian squirrelfishare, Staghorn damselfish or Unicolor coralgoby) are in Tiny Giants?
5) Are Chinese water deers commonly seen? I don't have the best experience with them from Berlin.
6) Any other tips for rare species?

I recently made my first visit, and there's some very helpful comments with information on seeing pretty much everything in the London Zoo thread (from early April iirc).

As I've only visited once don't take my word as gospel, but I think I can do a decent job at answering your queries.

1. The aye-ayes come and go throughout the day, they have an outside area with a larger viewing window that they rarely use unless the weather is good and the wind is low. If you hang around the small porthole into the main enclosure, you're bound to see them eventually but likely too far to get a good view. Late in the day - around 5pm when I went - both them and the gentle lemurs are fed, and though it's hard to get a good photo due to the low light and reflective perspex it's the closest you can get to one anywhere in captivity. As for the potto - it's hit or miss, the entire nocturnal section was a bit of a disappointment when I visited but your best bet is either first thing in the morning when the lights are on or later in the day.

2. They're visible but barely, the new reptile house has some smaller tanks on the way in that house a variety of species but behind them is the off-show area where if you're lucky you can spot a congo caecilian. There's a different species on show in the main house.

3. Yes, and yes. Another member had a confirmed sighting last week, if you hang around a while you might catch a glimpse of one which is helped by their indoor exhibit being fairly nondescript and therefore quiet.

4. Hopefully someone else can help here! There's one main tank in tiny giants, and I can't say either way because it was impossible to view thanks to a large number of small mammals some refer to as 'children' blocking my view.

5. I've read some people have had trouble spotting them, but when I visited there was one stood in the middle of the enclosure. Midafternoon seems to be your best bet, and just hanging around for a bit as they will eventually wander about the on-show area. It's quite out the way and benefits from the otters being next door, so you don't need to worry about other visitors scaring them off.

6. Well, I'd say the gentle lemurs are certainly worth waiting for. They rotate between the entrance to their on-show exhibit and the offshow area during the day, but if you're around for aye-aye feeding you'll want to see them being fed as well. The mouse lemurs are opposite the aye-ayes and can sometimes prove troublesome to spot, but the male (right-hand exhibit) is fairly hyperactive so hopefully you won't struggle there. There's more detail in the other thread, but the aviaries near the gorillas house woolly necked storks and African harriers, the ever-elusive Javan green magpies near the lions and a list of rarities in the Blackburn Pavillion that I can't possibly fully list. There's also the duiker mixed with the okapi, which is fairly shy but again later in the afternoon prefer the paddock between the okapis and warthogs. Oh, and it's worth taking time in the reptile house - with a few exceptions, every species in rare or in some cases only found in London on a UK-wide or Europe-wide basis.

Enjoy your visit, I certainly thoroughly enjoyed mine and you can easily take away some fantastic experiences with both incredibly rare and more ABC species.

 

[Rhino00]

Thanks a lot! Hopefully I'll be lucky with aye-aye and potto, they are my biggest goals along with African harriers. Fortunately, we have many of the other rare animals you recommended in our Czech zoos, so I would love to see them, but the goals are different.
Maybe one more question, do you know if the zooshop has a book about the fascinating history of the zoo?

 

[cerperal]

Thanks a lot! Hopefully I'll be lucky with aye-aye and potto, they are my biggest goals along with African harriers. Fortunately, we have many of the other rare animals you recommended in our Czech zoos, so I would love to see them, but the goals are different.
Maybe one more question, do you know if the zooshop has a book about the fascinating history of the zoo?

Unfortunately, I don't believe so - the current zoo guidebook very much focuses on the current zoo and its species, though it does contain information on the general history of the zoo as well as famous landmarks such as the penguin pool and old reptile house. Mentioning the reptile house - I believe that the current plan is to turn that into museum covering the history of the zoo, so in a few years hopefully you can revisit and see that.

A quick look at the ZSL shop shows that they do sell a book on the very early days of the zoo and its original opening, which will doubtless contain some very interesting stories and is likely worth a read.

 

[Kalaw]

Hello everyone,
I will be visiting London Zoo for the first time next week and would like to ask a few questions,
because I would hate to miss some species.
1) When is the best time to go see aye-aye and potto? Is there a chance to take any, at least a bad photo?I could see that the aye-aye might have some light spots, but the potto looked very dark.
2) What is the situation with Cayenne and Congo caecilians? Are they on-show? I read about them in news thread, but I am still a bit confused.
3) Are the Small Indian mongooses still in the same exhibit? Are they still shy?
4) The aforementioned fishes (Hawaiian squirrelfishare, Staghorn damselfish or Unicolor coralgoby) are in Tiny Giants?
5) Are Chinese water deers commonly seen? I don't have the best experience with them from Berlin.
6) Any other tips for rare species?

1. Mid-afternoon for the Aye-aye and early morning from the Potto, although you can see both all day long, and especially the Aye-ayes are almost a guaranteed sight with a little bit of patience (in recent visits, the longest that I have had to wait at the enclosure to see an Aye-aye is around ten minutes, although it is of course possible that I have just been getting lucky).

2. Cayenne Caecilians are very much on-display, in a tank to the left side of SLoRA opposite the giant salamanders. They share this tank with Rio Cauca Caecilians and Bristlenose Plecos, and due to the number of individuals held and how active some of the larger individuals are, you are guaranteed to see them. Regrettably, as mentioned by @cerperal , the Congo Caecilians are much more of a challenge, with their main enclosure (in a glass window next to the old Aquarium) now being boarded up. As you enter SLoRA, there are enclosures for Laos Warty Newt and Big-headed Turtle to your right; if you look behind these, some offshow tanks are visible, with Congo Caecilians being kept in a few of them. Sadly, these are very challenging to see.

3. Yes, they are still in the same exhibit by the lions, but are indeed very shy. Sadly, I am yet to see one myself.

4. Not sure about the goby, but the squirrelfish and damselfish were definitely kept in Tiny Giants on recent visits. Like the rest of the fish in said building, they can be found in the large coral tank on the lowest level of it. Unfortunately, as cerperal mentions, it can be very busy.

5. They are shy, but love grazing on the open grass, so it is unlikely that you will miss them. The only risk is that they can be startled by large crowds, so visiting either in the early morning or late afternoon will increase your chances slightly, as there are fewer visitors, but personally I have never had trouble seeing them.

6. Most of the other rarities have already been touched by cerperal, but to be more specific about the other rarities in Blackburn Pavilion, they include the only Scarlet-chested Sunbirds in captivity, the only Splendid Sunbirds in Europe, two pairs of Collared Trogon, Ultramarine Grosbeak and Purple-naped Lory, with all except the lories being in walkthrough spaces. He is also correct in stating that almost every species in SLoRA is worth seeing, but in particular don't miss out on Europe's only Lake Oku Clawed Frogs and Round Island / Telfair's Skinks, of which London is one of just two European holders.

Enjoy your visit and feel free to ask any further questions!

 

[Rhino00]

1. Mid-afternoon for the Aye-aye and early morning from the Potto, although you can see both all day long, and especially the Aye-ayes are almost a guaranteed sight with a little bit of patience (in recent visits, the longest that I have had to wait at the enclosure to see an Aye-aye is around ten minutes, although it is of course possible that I have just been getting lucky).

2. Cayenne Caecilians are very much on-display, in a tank to the left side of SLoRA opposite the giant salamanders. They share this tank with Rio Cauca Caecilians and Bristlenose Plecos, and due to the number of individuals held and how active some of the larger individuals are, you are guaranteed to see them. Regrettably, as mentioned by @cerperal , the Congo Caecilians are much more of a challenge, with their main enclosure (in a glass window next to the old Aquarium) now being boarded up. As you enter SLoRA, there are enclosures for Laos Warty Newt and Big-headed Turtle to your right; if you look behind these, some offshow tanks are visible, with Congo Caecilians being kept in a few of them. Sadly, these are very challenging to see.

3. Yes, they are still in the same exhibit by the lions, but are indeed very shy. Sadly, I am yet to see one myself.

4. Not sure about the goby, but the squirrelfish and damselfish were definitely kept in Tiny Giants on recent visits. Like the rest of the fish in said building, they can be found in the large coral tank on the lowest level of it. Unfortunately, as cerperal mentions, it can be very busy.

5. They are shy, but love grazing on the open grass, so it is unlikely that you will miss them. The only risk is that they can be startled by large crowds, so visiting either in the early morning or late afternoon will increase your chances slightly, as there are fewer visitors, but personally I have never had trouble seeing them.

6. Most of the other rarities have already been touched by cerperal, but to be more specific about the other rarities in Blackburn Pavilion, they include the only Scarlet-chested Sunbirds in captivity, the only Splendid Sunbirds in Europe, two pairs of Collared Trogon, Ultramarine Grosbeak and Purple-naped Lory, with all except the lories being in walkthrough spaces. He is also correct in stating that almost every species in SLoRA is worth seeing, but in particular don't miss out on Europe's only Lake Oku Clawed Frogs and Round Island / Telfair's Skinks, of which London is one of just two European holders.

Enjoy your visit and feel free to ask any further questions!

Thanks for all the info! I hope to see everything I wish.