ZSL London Zoo London Zoo discussion thread

equidae said:
It wasn’t that long ago that they introduced the monkeys to Snowdon, and they’ve just added two new species: ostriches and Chinese water deer.

Just because they’ve not spent millions creating a Land of the Rhinos, or whatever, doesn’t meant that they’re not trying.
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I would not dispute that is a slight sign of improvement.
They don't need to spend millions on 'land of the rhinos', they have spent millions on several exhibits already mainly for single species . Some good some not so
 
It might well be popular, but nobody visits London Zoo to see a museum. There are plenty of free ones around London!
 
equidae said:
It wasn’t that long ago that they introduced the monkeys to Snowdon, and they’ve just added two new species: ostriches and Chinese water deer.

Just because they’ve not spent millions creating a Land of the Rhinos, or whatever, doesn’t meant that they’re not trying.
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I've always felt London Zoo needed another primate walk through :p
 
equidae said:
It wasn’t that long ago that they introduced the monkeys to Snowdon, and they’ve just added two new species: ostriches and Chinese water deer.

Just because they’ve not spent millions creating a Land of the Rhinos, or whatever, doesn’t meant that they’re not trying.
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Instead of a cut-and-paste job, how about releasing an ambitious and comprehensive masterplan that actually tells people your long term vision of how you want your zoo to be? Plenty of zoos have done this. I don't think it can be disputed that LZ needs considerable/radical amounts of change in the future to reach its potential compared to other better developed zoos.

So what are your long term goals and vision? You should inform patrons and the public.

There's nothing like that released; it's just an ad hoc improvement (or sometimes regression) in the form of minor changes over the years which isn't cutting it and isn't really inspiring most people. I'm not really sure there's much of a developmental strategy other than "keep things the way they are and make minor improvements where we can."
 
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Cat-Man said:
It might well be popular, but nobody visits London Zoo to see a museum. There are plenty of free ones around London!
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That's a bold statement that 'nobody' visits to see a museum. There are as many reasons to visit a zoo as there are people that visit. Yes, the majority will go for the animals, but there will be others that go for the history, or go because the family are going but aren't fussed about animals themselves. London has a long, well-documented history, in addition to numerous historic buildings which are still in-situ, and a large library and archive. London would do well to make the most of that, and re-using a building which has been deemed no-longer suitable for housing animals is a good use of the space; rather that than just letting it sit empty.

Edit to add that none of those other museums are museums of the history of London Zoo, so aren't really comparable. That's like saying why go to the NHM when you could go to Tate, the collections are completely different
 
Crowthorne said:
That's a bold statement that 'nobody' visits to see a museum. There are as many reasons to visit a zoo as there are people that visit. Yes, the majority will go for the animals, but there will be others that go for the history, or go because the family are going but aren't fussed about animals themselves. London has a long, well-documented history, in addition to numerous historic buildings which are still in-situ, and a large library and archive. London would do well to make the most of that, and re-using a building which has been deemed no-longer suitable for housing animals is a good use of the space; rather that than just letting it sit empty.
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How about instead of having two buildings, a library/archive AND a museum, you merge the two into one? That will allow the demolition of the existing archive building which has zero architectural value and reuse the land for housing animals?
 
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oca2073 said:
How about instead of having two buildings, a library/archive and a museum, you merge the two into one? That will allow the demolition of the existing archive building which has zero architectural value and use it for housing animals?
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As a note, I work in libraries and archives, so can confirm that they require a lot of dedicated space, often climate controlled for the best level of long-term care. I doubt the ZSL archive and library would fit into the old Reptile House, which wasn't built for the storage of archival materials, and definitely not at volume. The existing building, as far as I know, is outside the zoo boundary, and hasn't ever been used for animals ( @Tim May is that correct?).
 
Crowthorne said:
As a note, I work in libraries and archives, so can confirm that they require a lot of dedicated space, often climate controlled for the best level of long-term care. I doubt the ZSL archive and library would fit into the old Reptile House, which wasn't built for the storage of archival materials, and definitely not at volume. The existing building, as far as I know, is outside the zoo boundary, and hasn't ever been used for animals ( @Tim May is that correct?).
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Currently the library is in the main building and the archive is the smaller building behind that next to the canal which has no architectural value. My idea is for the main building/library to remain but the archive to be moved.

The idea is to use the previous exhibit areas of the Reptile House for the "museum", while the service areas for the previous animals is now unused and can be used to house the archives. The service area is climate-controlled to handle sensitive reptiles and amphibians breeding processes. So it could conceivably be used to keep old archives which are barely even looked at usually since we have copies and photographs of them all. An archive also fits well within an overall museum.
 
Crowthorne said:
As a note, I work in libraries and archives, so can confirm that they require a lot of dedicated space, often climate controlled for the best level of long-term care. I doubt the ZSL archive and library would fit into the old Reptile House, which wasn't built for the storage of archival materials, and definitely not at volume. The existing building, as far as I know, is outside the zoo boundary, and hasn't ever been used for animals ( @Tim May is that correct?).
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I agree Crowthorne. I do voluntary work at the ZSL library, which has many volumes and wouldn't fit in the current Reptile House
 
oca2073 said:
Currently the library is in the main building and the archive is the smaller building behind that next to the canal which has no architectural value. My idea is for the main building/library to remain but the archive to be moved.

The idea is to use the previous exhibit areas of the Reptile House for the "museum", while the service areas for the previous animals is now unused and can be used to house the archives. The service area is climate-controlled to handle sensitive reptiles and amphibians breeding processes. So it could conceivably be used to keep old archives which are barely even looked at usually since we have copies and photographs of them all. An archive also fits well within an overall museum.
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I am no expert, but would guess that the ‘Climate-controlled’ back of house areas of a century-old reptile house are not conducive to keeping historical documents/books/etc. in good condition.

To add, how do you know they are a) barely looked at or b) mostly digitised? Do you have any evidence of such. The ZSL library and archive is a vast source of valuable information and should be treated appropriately.
 
Dassie rat said:
I agree Crowthorne. I do voluntary work at the ZSL library, which has many volumes and wouldn't fit in the current Reptile House
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Have you been in the archive building next door? I only suggested moving the archives in the back not the main library.
 
Rajang21 said:
I am no expert, but would guess that the ‘Climate-controlled’ back of house areas of a century-old reptile house are not conducive to keeping historical documents/books/etc. in good condition.

To add, how do you know they are a) barely looked at or b) mostly digitised? Do you have any evidence of such. The ZSL library and archive is a vast source of valuable information and should be treated appropriately.
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The reason I believe this is the archives are located in the back building next to the canal, not in the main building and it seems rather secluded and unremarkable looking. I'm not sure many people regularly visit the archives compared to the main library.

I would disagree about the state of climate control in the old reptile house since it has been repeatedly modernised over the years and has been successful breeding all kinds of climate sensitive reptiles and amphibians.
 
oca2073 said:
The reason I believe this is the archives are located in the back building next to the canal, not in the main building and it seems rather secluded and unremarkable looking. I'm not sure many people regularly visit the archives compared to the main library.
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So you’re speculating with the only evidence being that the building is unremarkable. Got it.
 
Rajang21 said:
So you’re speculating with the only evidence being that the building is unremarkable. Got it.
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If the archives were frequently consulted, wouldn't they be part of the main building and library? Why put them out of the way in the back in a building hardly anyone seems to know? Also, why is the Reptile House LESS accessible than a building in the corner of the zoo next to the canal?
 
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oca2073 said:
If the archives were frequently consulted, wouldn't they be part of the main building and library? Why put them out of the way in the back in a building hardly anyone seems to know? Also, why is the Reptile House LESS accessible than a building in the corner of the zoo next to the canal?
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Do you work for ZSL? If not it’s safe to assume you have zero knowledge of their frequency of use.

They don’t need to change where the archives are - putting them in the middle of the public area of the zoo, away from the library and the offices, wouldn’t make sense given that those staff most likely to use them are currently located in the same / adjacent building.
 
Rajang21 said:
Do you work for ZSL? If not it’s safe to assume you have zero knowledge of their frequency of use.

They don’t need to change where the archives are - putting them in the middle of the public area of the zoo, away from the library and the offices, wouldn’t make sense given that those staff most likely to use them are currently located in the same / adjacent building.
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Old fragile books are usually perused as rarely as possible (if there are other ways to access the information) in order to preserve them. It's highly unlikely that staff will be encouraged to frequently flip through them when they can access them all electronically.

I'd also note the main research building is not located in that area but on the other side of the zoo behind the Mappins.
 
oca2073 said:
Old fragile books are usually perused as rarely as possible (if there are other ways to access the information) in order to preserve them. It's highly unlikely that staff will be encouraged to frequently flip through them when they can access them all electronically.

I'd also note the main research building is not located in that area but on the other side of the zoo behind the Mappins.
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Can they all be accessed electronically? Even if they are, moving the archive would then seem pointless as surely these old, fragile books and documents are better preserved in their current location, rather than in a building designed to keep tropical reptiles warm.
 
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