ZSL London Zoo Gorilla Kingdom, London Zoo

thanks for the pics zoopro.

what did you think of the exhibit from a visitor, keeper, animal and design perspective? (if you have the time ;))
 
Overall, I was very impressed, but of course, as a hardened zooey, you get a little bit picky after a while.

Pros:
  • The interps and activities along the pathways were great - lifesize gorilla sculptures, material for kids to build their own gorilla nests with, info about the bushmeat crisis and descriptions of gorilla families and everyday life in the wild.
  • Nice naturalistsic pathways (gravel or mulch), although in some cases, even I thought that some of the paths were keeper access only. When so much of the zoo is concrete, these natural paths became a little confusing!
  • Fantastic viewing access into huge dens. With England's frequently bad weather, and the animals being inside a lot, this was a great alternative to viewing them in the exhibit. Having said that, I was thrilled with the effects of global warming - 25 degrees C and sunny every day. Bring it on!!
  • The exhibit space is very large, with plenty of space for the animals. They only have three gorillas right now, and the group is still being introduced, so only the silverback was on display while I was there, but the females were in the inside dens.
  • A large glassed overhead walkway for the animals to move from one of the dens to the other was a real hit with the visitors whenever one of the females walked across it. This was a great touch, and an "inisght" into the way apes are normally moved around off exhibit.
  • A massive set of viewing windows into the exhibit. The glass went right down to the ground, and the male was really comfortable being up close to the glass while visitors were there. Watching the reaction of the kids (and some adults) to a male gorilla just inches away from them is always inspiring. One thing that I did notice that impressed me was a distinct lack of people banging on the glass or yelling out at the male. This so often happens in many zoos, and it was geat not to see it here. I did wonder if he feeling that you were actually in the exhibit with the animal made people respect him and his environment a little more :confused:
  • Likewise, there is a large nesting area in one of the dens, right next to a huge viewing window, which means the visitors can get very close to the animals if the animals feel like hanging around.
Cons:
  • Like all new exhibits, the vegetation needs a couple of years to mature.
  • The exhibit space is a little flat, with very little vegetation in it. This means that you could pretty much see the entire exhibit space at once. I like the idea of areas where the animals can escape from visitors if they want to, and this wasn't the case with this exhibit.
  • There's a mesh walkway between the colobus exhibit and a large fake tree in the gorilla exhibit. The colobus weren't in with the gorillas yet, but eventually they will be. The fake tree is VERY fake, and the vast array of hot wires around the top of it was a real eyesore. I'm not quite sure what purpose they served either, as the colobus could only go through the walkway and down the tree - there was no where for them to go from the top of it. I guess there's a reason for the hot wires, but I'm not sure what it is.
  • I don't know why all gorilla exhibits have to have a mock rock cave (presumably with a heated, testicle-destroying floor to it!) in them. The one in this exhibit looked quite out of place in the green grassed area, giving the feeling that it perhaps accidentally fallen into the exhibit from outer space. There was no attempt to blend it into the surrounding area at all.
  • The planted areas around the public pathways run right down to the paths. Although this gave it a bush-type feel, kids had started walking all over the planted areas, and the effect of that was obvious. Even after only two weeks of public access, the planted areas were somewhat damaged, and had started to blend in with the paths.
As I said though, overall, I was very impressed with the area as a whole. :) I've got loads more photos - if anyone is interested, I can post some more.
 
love to see more! thanks for the detailed review.

from the photos i have to agree that the fake tree looks appaling. i have never seen a really good fake tree in real life, but from the photos, nobody beats the bronx when it comes to an artificial rainforest - and NYC gets damn colder than london.

as for boring flat habitats - i couldn't agree more. this is by far the most appealing feature of the melbourne exhibit. the fact that you can only see part of the exhibit from each point is offset by the ability to view the exhibit from every side - effectively raising your chances of seeing one of the gorillas at at least one point. they certainly have plenty of hiding space should they want it also. worth mentioning also was that the melbourne zoo got lucky in that the location for the gorilla exchibit already had numerous large trees, in particular mature ficus trees. that really adds to the jungle effect.

london appears to have gone a little crazy on grass overkill. gorillas apprectate grass, but i do like a bit of dark wood mulch for a more authentic rainforest feel. was their any transplanted mature trees? there are many temperate chinese plants that have the right feel to them and even quite a few palm species that can deal with a bit of snow..

oh and yep - i hate caves in gorilla exhibits.

the rest however looks good. i like the buildings indoor areas etc.. i imagine they are hoping to build up quite a large troop.

are gorillas only new to london?
 
I've just posted a load more pics in the London Zoo gallery.

Gorillas aren't new to London Zoo, but one or more of this particular trio is new. As I mentioned they were doing introductions when I was there, and they had the exhibit closed to the public for a few hours. I'm betting that grantsmb, the resident gorilla guru, can shed more light on the past gorilla population at London :)
 
Nice pics zoopro I enjoyed them, the tree does look a bit fake, should look even better when the real trees grow as you say. the old Gorilla exhibit was quite small this looks so much better they should do well there.
 
Welcome home ZooPro, hope you had a good trip....:)
Incidentally, that lovely weather you had in London ain't here now- its wet, very windy, typical British spring weather in fact.

Re the new Gorilla Kingdom- I have been yet, but my only comments are i. the Fake tree looks awful, I don't know why they couldn't have provided some method of access for the Colobus. As others have commented the cave looks bad too,- BUT in some situations these caves do provide a welcome relief from stress for gorillas- they really don't like being under open sky for too long. London's enclosure is still newly planted with little cover(unlike say Melbourne's, which is ideal) - but okay I think the cave is ugly too!

The three Gorillas are f. Zaire(born Jersey, she is Motaba's older sister)
m. Bongo.wildcaught, lived at Rome Zoo, then Bristol for two years before coming to London in 2003, in exchange for previous London male(Jock).
f. Effie. 14 years, a new arrival, from Berlin via Leipzig. She's had two young in Berlin but doesn't mother rear. Sent to Leipzig but was disruptive so they asked for another transfer,and hey ho, here she is in London....

Bongo and Zaire know each other well. I guess Effie is still being introduced to both the others from what ZooPro says.

London Zoo have had Gorillas continuously since the famous 'Guy' arrived 5th November 1947(hence his name - 'Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder plot/firework night is 5th November) But London is not really a 'Gorilla zoo'- they have only ever bred four in all that time, and never had a large group. Quite a few problems with old and incompatible animals plus some bad luck too...:(
 
im hoping, and hoping, to be in london in september, and ill be taking a trip to the zoo of course! i think the reason why the exhibit is grassed in this way is because of the rain; mulch or soil in the winter just gets trampled into mud. overall, the exhibit looks good, and is an effective compromise for an area that is practically littered with heritage buildings in that precinct.
other animals are apparently mangabeys, and reptiles including monitor lizards plus a second african aviary.
as for raising height of exhibit, in terms of outdoor area, there may be perfectly absurd reasons from english heritage about sightlines, etc. as for no tapping on glass, its bacause theyre english (not american/how do i do a spew icon face? )
 
zoo pro, or anyone else who has seen the exhibit...how muchof theoriginal sobell pavilions for primates were demolished for the new exhibit? does london still display the macaques, francois langur, wc gibbon, spider monkeys or chimpanzee? and where have all the lemurs gone to make room for the new exhibit?
also, zoo pro, what did you think of the african section? is it any good?
 
glyn said:
zoo pro, or anyone else who has seen the exhibit...how muchof theoriginal sobell pavilions for primates were demolished for the new exhibit? does london still display the macaques, francois langur, wc gibbon, spider monkeys or chimpanzee? /QUOTE]

The last two chimps were sent to join Whipsnade's small group. I too would be interested to know exactly if any sections of the Sobell Pavilions remain and what monkeys are now on show. I believe they still have Diana monkeys, have recently added White Crowned Managabeys,- and the b/w Colubus to go with the Gorillas, but I don't know what other monkeys are still exhibited? Their last Owl-faced Monkey(a male) has recently left for Antwerp Zoo to join others.
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in 2005 london still had a very diverse range of primates in the sobell pavillions...gorilla, chimp, sulawesi macaque, francois langur, diana monkey, spider monkey, red ruffed lemur, squirrel monkey, white cheeked gibbon, owl-faced monkey, golden-headed tamarin. a fair range. would just be interested to know where they all ended up?
 
well, the squirrel monkeys would be in the meet the monkeys section im guessing, unless zoopro says otherwise (an australian being the most recent visitor to london zoo hahaha). the group in the sobell pavillions in 2005 were newly imported males headed for MTM's. london had tamarin groups scattered everywhere when i was living in the UK, inside sobell and casson pavillions, the clore, BUGS. in fact londons primate collection overall was impressive.
wonder how well the two london chimps integrated with whipsnades group? grant???
 
London Monkeys- I know they have kept the Diana monkeys, but Hamlyn's owl faced no longer there(last male sent to Antwerp) Can't help you on the other species at present but will visit sometime....

Chimpanzees- they were an old pair- I saw them at Whipsnade zoo last year but they had only recently arrived and were not mixed in with the residents at that stage. These two seemed a lot bigger than the others.. Whipsnade's chimps are an oddly balanced group ratiowise, about five males of different ages(some born there) and only one or two females..

Gorillas- London expect to get two more females for the new exhibit which will than give them 1.4. I remain doubtful about them breeding with the existing male Bobby/Bongo- though I would be very happy to be proved wrong on that as he's a w/c male with no offspring...
 
whipsnade does have an oddly skewed group of chimps. as taronga is my home zoo im still not used to seeing small groups of chimps. and primrose, the lead female, what a character. 40 (in 2005), and a newish mother.
the exhibit, the crappy holding area besides, is very good and natural i thought, and the barrier, what seemed to be heavy guage mesh, quite good. i lked the moat, well vegetated, save for the pond liner sticking out in places, but all in all a great exhibit!
 
glyn said:
well, the squirrel monkeys would be in the meet the monkeys section im guessing
Click to expand...
Yes, but no..... That's where they normally are, in a really cool walk-through exhibit. The day I was there though, something had spooked them, and their keeper said that they wouldn't come out of the holding cage. They all looked pretty happy in their holding area, but even though the door was open, and it was great weather, they had no interest in coming out.
 
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