ZSL London Zoo London Zoo Notes.

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Hello my Britannia masters, I NZ Jeremy bid you hello from the COMMONwealth..!

(j/k)

I had a look at the London Zoo map today and for lack of a better term it looked a little "higgilty piggilty"...

Are there any plans for a geographical or biome focused structure to exhibits, a master plan if you will..?
 
NZ Jeremy said:
Hello my Britannia masters, I NZ Jeremy bid you hello from the COMMONwealth..!

(j/k)

I had a look at the London Zoo map today and for lack of a better term it looked a little "higgilty piggilty"...

Are there any plans for a geographical or biome focused structure to exhibits, a master plan if you will..?
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I think it'd be very hard for London to do, they have enough trouble working with the limited space and the listed buildings as it is, without having to stick to some greater structure. There is beginning to be some evidence of moving away from taxanomic displays towards geographical ones i.e. The Into Africa area has mostly savanna animals whilst the The Gorilla Kingdom has all African rainforest animals. However these two african areas, which are both pretty new, are not located close to one another, and there are South American areas distributed in between. I guess there are localised areas of geographically planned exhibits, which do not fit to any overall masterplan.
 
I may seem overly critical but I grew up with stories of London being "the zoo", the first, 1828 etc... Its always sad when reality outpaces youth...
 
in many respects London Zoo really is still 'the zoo' setting benchmarks. particularly when it comes to the work of the zoo, beyond the zoo! its portfolio of in-situ work is amazing. much of the time people patronize london zoo when in fact the work carried out there drives the future of zoos the world over, past present and future.
 
Interesting to see that London Zoo's planning is being examined critically, as indeed its exhibits are literally all over the map. But the San Diego Zoo also does not adhere to the geographic/biome/biosphere master plan to exhibit animals, and like London it might be too late to adopt such a strategy. It appears that the future of zoos, and the majority of the top zoos already are under such planning, is to continue to exhibit animals geographically.
 
The problem I see with London's layout is that they had spent decades building exhibits taxonomically. The casson pavillion (pachyderms), Lion house and subsequent terraces (cats), mappin terraces (bears) and so forth are clear examples.

This has left them in the position that is hard to get out of...
 
Really, though, geographic representation is already out of date, as biome-based exhibits seem to be on the up lately.....

the two african areas could easily be linked via the tunnel to the current malayan tapir area from gorilla kingdom and the african bird safari....
 
londoner said:
the two african areas could easily be linked via the tunnel to the current malayan tapir area from gorilla kingdom and the african bird safari....
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not to mention the pygmy hippos during the summer months...

Now, the mappins need to "africanised" to complete that section.
 
londoner said:
Really, though, geographic representation is already out of date, as biome-based exhibits seem to be on the up lately.....
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I personally find geographical and biome based the best... I.e. African Rainforest etc...
 
CZJimmy said:
The problem I see with London's layout is that they had spent decades building exhibits taxonomically. The casson pavillion (pachyderms), Lion house and subsequent terraces (cats), mappin terraces (bears) and so forth are clear examples.

This has left them in the position that is hard to get out of...
Click to expand...

To be honest, I'd prefer they didn't try to get out of it too much. The site isn't large enough for decent-sized themed displays; something the size of Into Africa is about as large as an individual area could go without taking over the place.

Besides, where would the fun be if every zoo were arranged in exactly the same way? Most of the current zoo Master Plans look unnervingly similar. Obviously, if you're going to do major rebuilding then it's worth having some kind of logic to what you're doing, but I wish someone would take a bit of a different tack. Actually, someone is, with Dudley's plans to exploit the history of the site by creating a zoo zoned not just by location but also by time and science, complete with the story of exploration of the world through the major animal zones, a mediaeval farmyard in the Castle keep and the story of Darwin, Wallace and natural selection through a refreshingly taxonomic ape area.
 
I suppose having it arranged zoogeographically isn't that important really, as long as all the animals have decent enclosures, and each small section sticks to some sort of theme. I don't think the average visitor will care, I won't.
 
Maguari, I wasn't arguing for London to become geographically arranged I was just stating why I thought they hadn't become so. I do quite like the taxonomic arrangement for some of the same reasons that you gave.
 
Maguari said:
To be honest, I'd prefer they didn't try to get out of it too much. The site isn't large enough for decent-sized themed displays; something the size of Into Africa is about as large as an individual area could go without taking over the place.

Besides, where would the fun be if every zoo were arranged in exactly the same way? Most of the current zoo Master Plans look unnervingly similar.
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I couldn't agree more. There is nothing wrong with biogeographical layouts - but the ZSL could not adopt one without a 50 year masterplan, and a lot of de-listing and demolition too.
Some sort of themed planning and design is important - even if you only notice it when it's not there! I remember my first visit to Colchester, where there is no way of knowing which animal is going to be in the next enclosure. The layout should guide and educate the visitor in some way, but there is no one-size-fits-all formula: the design must suit the site, the building style(s), the needs of the visitors and the needs of the animals (of course). I think there is plenty of scope for more imaginative and sensitive planning at London and in most other zoos as well.

Alan
 
CZJimmy said:
Maguari, I wasn't arguing for London to become geographically arranged I was just stating why I thought they hadn't become so. I do quite like the taxonomic arrangement for some of the same reasons that you gave.
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Oh, I undestand that; I was just throwing my thoughts into the mix!
 
Saw this on youtube, of the hippos in their "new" pool
 
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Wow, that was inaccurate...

His wife..?

Now heaps of kids are going to think Pygmy Hippos are running around killing thousands of Afrcians... Oh dear...

Methinks Jimmy or Jonathan may be doing that interview in a few years..!
 
I thought it was odd that it was referring to pygmy hippos being Africa's top killer of humans, what with living in dense forest...

Also the use of the term "breed"... they're not dogs!

Although I shouldn't expect too much accuracy with it being in the "and finally" section, Bill Bailey sums it up perfectly "It's the type of light-hearted story which makes you go 'aww' such as the otter skateboarding to the school to put out a fire!" ;)

Just a point, has that wooden backdrop always been there? I can swear it was tiles and concrete when I last visited...
 
CZJimmy said:
Bill Bailey sums it up perfectly "It's the type of light-hearted story which makes you go 'aww' such as the otter skateboarding to the school to put out a fire!"
Actually, I think Bill Bailey says weasel but precisely, yep. Your point is fairly spot on- its all spin. The wood was being put up last time i was there, (summer 07) so yeah, fairly new.
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^Chris^ said:
The wood was being put up last time i was there, (summer 07) so yeah, fairly new.
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This is an example of the kind of aesthetic use of money we talk about quite frequently on this site, that doesn't add much of the functionally to the exhibit but sure looks better...
 
NZ Jeremy said:
This is an example of the kind of aesthetic use of money we talk about quite frequently on this site, that doesn't add much of the functionally to the exhibit but sure looks better...
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The phrase, "polishing a turd" springs to mind...

The hippos need a brand new house!

Can't the old ostrich house be torn down and replaced with heated indoor quarters and the anoa paddock combined with the old sealion pool?
 
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