ZSL London Zoo London zoo impressions and thoughts

Tim May said:
Since you're interested in the zoo's history it might be worth commenting that:
  • The Blackburn Pavilion was built in 1882 as a Reptile House and the construction was financed by the sale of the famous African elephant "Jumbo"
  • The "building with the spire for First Aid" is known as the Clock Tower. It is the oldest surviving building in the zoo and dates to 1828. It was originally built for llamas and subsequently housed camels.
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Thank you! I'm sorry for describing the oldest building in the zoo so terribly, but it was all I could think of at the time :(
It is interesting that the Blackburn pavilion was for reptiles - I can't quite imagine it for reptiles - surely the roof would be lower than it is. When I first went in I was struck by the 3.5 - 4 metre high walls.
Was the Clock tower just an indoor enclosure or did the llamas/camels have an outdoor area?
 
amur leopard said:
It is interesting that the Blackburn pavilion was for reptiles - I can't quite imagine it for reptiles - surely the roof would be lower than it is. When I first went in I was struck by the 3.5 - 4 metre high walls.
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The building served as the zoo's Reptile House until the current Reptile House was built in 1927. It was long before my time but, to the best of my knowledge, I don't think the roof was any lower originally. (Incidentally, manatees were sometimes kept in this building in a pool originally intended for crocodilians.)

amur leopard said:
Was the Clock tower just an indoor enclosure or did the llamas/camels have an outdoor area?
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There was a small outside yard too. It would seem very small by today's standards but, don't forget, the camels would probably spend much of their time giving rides.
 
Re. The clock tower:

“The earliest extant building in the Zoo, the Clock Tower was designed by Decimus Burton in 1828, the same year that ZSL received its Royal Charter from George IV. In the minutes of ZSL of the 18th March 1829, "It was ordered that a clock be prepared for the Gardens to be placed on top of the Llama’s hut and that Decimus Burton be requested to prepare a drawing of the intended addition to the building for its reception. The expense of the clock and building is not to exceed the sum of £100, including the putting up the same in the turret."

The clock was added in 1831 and it was rebuilt in 1844 as a Gothic house for Llamas; it is now considered far too small for animals of any description and was reconstructed in 1898 by the architects Charles Brown Trollope.

It suffered, like other parts of the Zoo, from bomb damage in 1940. Rebuilt in 1946-7 by the architects Burnet, Tait & Lorne, it was converted into shops in 1988 and now serves as a First Aid post. In the eaves are the nests of the Zoo’s resident colony of house sparrows.”

Architecture at ZSL London Zoo, Regent's Park

I’d also recommend “The Zoo: The Wild and Wonderful Tale of the Founding of London Zoo” by Isobel Charman. It gives a great account of the history of London Zoo, including an entire chapter on Decimus Burton (the zoo’s official architect from 1826 to 1841). He was asked to layout the grounds of London Zoo and did some amazing work.
 
Zoofan15 said:
I’d also recommend “The Zoo: The Wild and Wonderful Tale of the Founding of London Zoo” by Isobel Charman.
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There are numerous books about the history of London Zoo. I think that the two best are:

“The Zoological Society of London : a Sketch of its Foundation and Development, and the Story of its Farm, Museum, Gardens, Menagerie and Library" (Henry Scherren; 1905)

“A Centenary History of the Zoological Society of London” (P. Chalmers Mitchell; 1929)

Unfortunately both are hard to find these days although the full text of Scherren's 1905 work is available on-line.
 
I know I'm late for the party, but I share many points of view with you Amur. I also saw all the species in nocturnal house, and I also think that the aye-ayes are a lot bigger than expected! I'm sad that I was in time to see the Bearded pigs, but they weren't visible:(.
 
I'm sorry, but I simply cannot agree with anyone regarding London Zoo needing to lose any more species, suggestions of giraffe, zebra, warthogs going seem ridiculous to me, the okapi, hunting dog enclosures are fine!
London does not have enough species as it is! The closure of the Casson, the waste of the mappins, closure of the North Bank, Aquarium ( and please don't mention Land of the Lions) are an embarressment for somewhere which would like to be considered a major zoo. Please no one claim this is the 2nd best zoo in the UK currently, as they used to, like Marwell, Edinburgh, Belfast, Whipsnade.... London is certainly not a zoo on the up currently, which saddens me to say. This at a time when so many smaller zoos (Hamerton, Exmoor, Wingham, Yorkshire wildlife Park), which charge a fraction of ZSL entrance fees are on the rise!
As for the male tiger, move it on before it gets the chance to kill yet another mate and bring in a new young pair - another dead female tiger is the last thing ZSL need!
 
Tim May said:
There are numerous books about the history of London Zoo. I think that the two best are:

“The Zoological Society of London : a Sketch of its Foundation and Development, and the Story of its Farm, Museum, Gardens, Menagerie and Library" (Henry Scherren; 1905)

“A Centenary History of the Zoological Society of London” (P. Chalmers Mitchell; 1929)

Unfortunately both are hard to find these days although the full text of Scherren's 1905 work is available on-line.
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Where abouts can I find the Henry Scherren work online? I would be really interested to have a read of it.
 
pipaluk said:
the okapi, hunting dog enclosures are fine!
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I walked around the okapi exhibit in 9 seconds :(
I really wouldn't call the okapi enclosure fine. The painted wolf enclosure is fine, but the giraffe and zebra enclosures are most certainly not good. Somebody has to leave in into Africa, and it should probably be the giraffes and zebras.
 
tigris115 said:
London Zoo strikes me as a place that needs a ton of capital and a super ambitious/imaginative director.
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Yes, it could do with the capital, but it depends what is meant by 'super ambitious /imaginative director'?
If you mean one who would waste the money on a couple of £multi million exhibits, London Zoo can do without that kind of ambition! The imagination it needs is how to bring back into use as cheaply as possible (forget the theming etc), all the unused or underused areas. The ambition should be to exhibit as many animals as possible surely. It's also a case of choosing suitable species for the space available.
Edit - how did I forget to mention turning the anteater /Vicuna enclosures into a model dinosaur area, then golf course- that certainly isn't the kind of imagination I want to see!
 
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amur leopard said:
I walked around the okapi exhibit in 9 seconds :(
I really wouldn't call the okapi enclosure fine. The painted wolf enclosure is fine, but the giraffe and zebra enclosures are most certainly not good. Somebody has to leave in into Africa, and it should probably be the giraffes and zebras.
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If you walked round it in 9 seconds, you would probably walk round it in 18 if they doubled its size! What would be the point of that, I'm sure more exhibits with more animals would take more of your time than a single large exhibit.
We will never go back to the days of London Zoo needing more than a day to see, I understand that, but currently after the closure of the aquarium it is only a 2-3 hour zoo at best, less exhibits and animals would make it less than 2 hours. At 9 seconds for the okapi, you could probably get round in 40 minutes!
 
pipaluk said:
If you walked round it in 9 seconds, you would probably walk round it in 18 if they doubled its size! What would be the point of that, I'm sure more exhibits with more animals would take more of your time than a single large exhibit.
We will never go back to the days of London Zoo needing more than a day to see, I understand that, but currently after the closure of the aquarium it is only a 2-3 hour zoo at best, less exhibits and animals would make it less than 2 hours. At 9 seconds for the okapi, you could probably get round in 40 minutes!
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Tbf the okapi wasn't outside. However, I struggled to see the whole zoo in a day (partially because the settings on my camera went wrong and all my photos of the gorillas and lions were ruined), but also because I went fairly slowly in the main part of the zoo.

I enjoyed Land of the Lions, I think it is a very good enclosure. However, London simply cannot afford to get more species. If they do, they will simply not have enough space to house them. The solution? Get rid of large animals that need a lot of space (i.e. Giraffes, zebras) and which don't currently contribute to the zoo much (i.e. again, giraffes and zebras). I'm really not a fan of Animal Adventure, it takes up a lot of space for animals with zero conservational importance and zero interest unless you are a 5 year old.

Either they get a breeding population of a large mammal not already found in zoos (eg Mountain bongo) or they start rebuilding the zoo gradually by getting rid of unsuitable enclosures and superfluous animals and then making nicer, larger and more suited enclosures to the remaining animals. Casson is being wasted - it could be a Rainforest House or something like that with exterior monkey aviaries around the outside. Mappins is being wasted. All this wasted space needs to be used. It is not a 2-3 hour zoo yet, but it could well be if it continues building exhibits like Animal Adventure!

I did actually not get around to seeing everything in a day. I didn't see most of Animal Adventure, any of BUGS and the farm.
 
B.U.G.S is great, you really missed out. Unless you are interested in them, which is fine. Definitely one of the best invertebrate houses in the UK (Bristol has the best imo). I ignored the Animal adventure and farm except to see the parrots.

I think Tiger trail could be improved if they moved the tapirs to where the camels are, and did as you said. Large outdoor monkey aviary for Sulawesi crested macaque. Indoor area with walkthrough aviary with a few terrariums/smaller enclosures for reptiles, fish and small mammals. Tie all together with themeing.
 
amur leopard said:
I enjoyed Land of the Lions, I think it is a very good enclosure. However, London simply cannot afford to get more species. If they do, they will simply not have enough space to house them. The solution? Get rid of large animals that need a lot of space (i.e. Giraffes, zebras) and which don't currently contribute to the zoo much (i.e. again, giraffes and zebras). I'm really not a fan of Animal Adventure, it takes up a lot of space for animals with zero conservational importance and zero interest unless you are a 5 year old.

Either they get a breeding population of a large mammal not already found in zoos (eg Mountain bongo) or they start rebuilding the zoo gradually by getting rid of unsuitable enclosures and superfluous animals and then making nicer, larger and more suited enclosures to the remaining animals. Casson is being wasted - it could be a Rainforest House or something like that with exterior monkey aviaries around the outside. Mappins is being wasted. All this wasted space needs to be used. It is not a 2-3 hour zoo yet, but it could well be if it continues building exhibits like Animal Adventure!
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London have already got rid of most of their large animals and spent vast amounts on exhibits for single major species which will attract the public. That is the point, too much money has been directed at a few projects whilst much of the zoo is left to rot or turned into non animal 'attractions'! Yes the lions needed a bigger enclosure, but it didn't have to cost half the £6m spent on it!
I agree the wasted space needs to be used, but think this needs to happen BEFORE any animals need to be lost!
 
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Dylan said:
I think Tiger trail could be improved if they moved the tapirs to where the camels are, and did as you said. Large outdoor monkey aviary for Sulawesi crested macaque. Indoor area with walkthrough aviary with a few terrariums/smaller enclosures for reptiles, fish and small mammals. Tie all together with themeing.
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One problem with the Indonesian theme, they are putting red river hogs next to the tigers, which is why babirusa would have been better. If they are going to have zoogeographic areas they should at least do it properly!
 
pipaluk said:
One problem with the Indonesian theme, they are putting red river hogs next to the tigers, which is why babirusa would have been better. If they are going to have zoogeographic areas they should at least do it properly!
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Although the red river hogs are also next to Gorilla Kingdom if you look at it from another angle ;)
 
pipaluk said:
Maybe, but when the bearded pigs were there it wasn't considered part of Gorilla Kingdom, was it?!!
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Maybe so, but if Gorilla kingdom were to extend a bit with the smaller monkeys gone to the Snowdon aviary, they might seem closer together and therefore one and the same.
 
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