True - though purely on a selfish "seen them before" point of view I'd prefer not 
Edinburgh Zoo Edinburgh Zoo news 2012 #1
- Thread starter TeaLovingDave
- Start date
I think both Giant otters and Smooth-coated otters have a chance of being the replacement - time will tell though and there are so many possibilities, it doesn't have to be an aquatic species, and it doesn't even have to be an animal exhibit. With it being at the entrance to the zoo, there is the chance to turn it into a nice 'opening feature' like a koi pool or a duck pond, or even a just a fountain?
IanRRobinson
Well-Known Member
Giant Otters do seem to be flavour of the month at the moment, not that I have a problem with them. Correct me if I'm wrong, but apart from Asian short-claws no other otter species is getting a great deal of encouragement from EAZA. They would seem the obvious choice for that facility.
I wonder just how many collections will be keeping pinnipeds in the UK in 15/20 years' time. They do seem to be heading out of our zoos.
It's actually quite a good-looking enclosure with lots of potential, plus it would cost a small fortune to landscape like that these days (and probably end up being tacky mock-rock anyway).
Giant otters would probably need some work to make the walls taller or add glass tops, but a smaller species would be right at home.
I really hope they don't turn it into a playground or fill it in for a meerkat exhibit.
Giant otters would probably need some work to make the walls taller or add glass tops, but a smaller species would be right at home.
I really hope they don't turn it into a playground or fill it in for a meerkat exhibit.
I've been pondering this a while now.
Given the massive costs of building and running a sizeable enclosure with associated filteration systems I can't see many zoos going into pinnipeds in the near future (there's so much more they could do with the money). All things considered there's a fairly strong argument that if you're investing large amounts in a "future proof" pinniped enclosure you may as well bite the bullet and move into ceteceans instead (more chance of charging extra and getting investment back).
Conversely, I can't really see Twycross justifying their enclosure in 5 years time let alone 10 or 20. I haven't been a while and can't quite remember the size, but I can't recall Banham's enclosure being particulary huge and wonder how that'll look in (say) 10 years.
In short, I'd expect the amount of collections holding pinnipeds to fall by a third to a half over the next 15/20 years.
They can't justify it now, let alone in five years time. The sea lion I saw there a couple of months ago also had significantly worse eye problems than the one at Edinburgh.
To put this into context, the images attached depict Edinburgh and Twycross' pools as they are currently.
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The long-threatened female Jaguar perhaps?
Re the Sealion pool - Edinburgh decided they didn't want to keep meerkats as everyone else had them, and replaced them with the (invisible) Sousliks, so can't see them doing that.
The issue is, what do you do with a deep pool enclosure without spending a huge amount of money on it? There is not a lot of dry land in the current enclosure (although the reed bed filtration behind it could give some usable land).
Lesley4444
Well-Known Member
There is also the enclosure behind the reed bed?.. its not had anything in it for years.. maybe linking them together if possible. I personally would love to see giant otters move in there.
I agree entirely, I was being "gentle" (in reality it's probably been unjustified for the past five years) -either I'm still in the tail of the season of goodwill or I just getting tired criticising Twycross all the time.
Moral of story, if you've got the smallest enclosure for the species in the country it had better be good (consider also Twycross' old Lion enclosure which may have been the smallest when actually built).
There's almost a new thread there.....
IanRRobinson
Well-Known Member
Really, I don't know what you could do with the Twycross sealion pool. It is awful. Regardless of the filtration issues, did nobody there realise that pinnipeds do need some land area? That little rock outcrop would be an insult to Coypus.
Regarding the negative comments concerning sea lion enclosures at several zoos,which I would say are justified,there is one sea lion exhibit that deserves praise, that is the one at Blackpool Zoo, it was a good/attractive exhibit initially, even better now after the large amount of money spent on it in recent years
Bulldozers would provide one answer.
The sea lion exhibit at Welsh Mountain Zoo - "Sealions Rock" [sic] - isn't brilliant, but it's an improvement on the one at Twycross.
Personally, I think the most inexcusable sea lion pool is the one at ZSL Whipsnade, which is tiny, has a very 1970's "show" feel and yet is surrounded by literally acres of empty space.
With apologies for the thread drift - perhaps a mod could split this under it's own heading.
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The second photo looks more like ZSL Whipsnade
.As far as WMZ's sea lion pool is concerned, I think it's actually the third [MAYBE second] best pinniped pool [that's still in use for pinnipeds on this date] that I've seen in the UK.
First is Blackpools, and second could be Bristol's and I must confess I can't recall many more, but the one at WMZ in my opinion beats Whipsnade, Twycross, Edinburgh, St. Andrew's Aquarium and Rhyl SeaQuarium. I'd potentially put it as equal to Dudley's, don't know though. I'm not a brilliant judge of pinniped enclosures, so this is all just opinion
As far as WMZ's sea lion pool is concerned, I think it's actually the third [MAYBE second] best pinniped pool [that's still in use for pinnipeds on this date] that I've seen in the UK.
First is Blackpools, and second could be Bristol's and I must confess I can't recall many more, but the one at WMZ in my opinion beats Whipsnade, Twycross, Edinburgh, St. Andrew's Aquarium and Rhyl SeaQuarium. I'd potentially put it as equal to Dudley's, don't know though. I'm not a brilliant judge of pinniped enclosures, so this is all just opinion
What about Colchester's? I'd put it second (and the walk through tunnel is a nice feature).
Urgh, obviously. Apologies for the typo. That pool is worse than Twycross' though, which is where my mind probably was at the time.The second photo looks more like ZSL Whipsnade
You know, I've just been sat in a nice warm bath and I suddenly slapped my head and nearly yelled "Colchester
"I was hoping to finish my bath and get down here before anybody noticed
.Seriously, I would put Colchester up there as a threat to Blackpool for the top spot, if not you're of course correct that it at least deserves 2nd
Yes after Blackpool, Colchester would be in my opinion worthy of second prize, no problem neither with the sea lions on the lake at Longleat, regarding Whipsnade, well I would suggest that ZSL replaced dolphins with sea lions as other establishments did when it became no longer trendy to keep dolphins, in fact no longer P.C. interesting that this exhibit was officially opened by Princess Margaret, how attitudes have changed
Regarding ZSL, many people on this forum lament about sea lions no longer living at Regent's Park, well I wonder what people's views on this enclosure would be now in 2012, perhaps Z.S.L. had the foresight before Mr.Shorts perhaps