London Zoo/Whipsnade Zoo

Loxodonta Cobra said:
Where can that plan be found online? Or what else was included in it?
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Will try and find a link for you - fairly sure it was online at one stage, at least. As far as I can remember, other plans included an African savannah on the Cotton Terraces (with separate areas for the okapi and pygmy hippos) and Australia on the North Bank (Tasmanian devils, koalas, wombats and rock (?) wallabies). The Mappins were also to be refurbished - can't remember but I think it would have been for giant pandas and/or Amur leopards.

The only aspects of the plan that have got off the drawing board are the new lion enclosure and colobus aviary.
 
The following species appear in most animal collections in London and Bristol:

Ring-tailed lemur 7
Meerkat 6
Red-necked wallaby, lesser hedgehog tenrec, Azara’s agouti, South American coati 4
Lac Alaotra gentle lemur, emperor tamarin, Patagonian mara, lion, plains zebra, giraffe 3
 
I have a copy somewhere of a 1990's master plan that never saw the light. Amongst a still very varied collection it includes:
  • Elephants and rhinos included but larger paddocks.
  • Gorillas on the mappins.
  • Carnivore terraces including hunting dogs.
From what I can remember without finding it!
 
Tau said:
I have a copy somewhere of a 1990's master plan that never saw the light. Amongst a still very varied collection it includes:
  • Elephants and rhinos included but larger paddocks.
  • Gorillas on the mappins.
  • Carnivore terraces including hunting dogs.
From what I can remember without finding it!
Click to expand...

I have a copy of a similar (the same?) plan, complete with a separate artist's impression of 'Gorilla Mountain' - I believe a bear species (probably spectacled) was to be housed on the site of the then sea-lion pool.

This was something of a 'compromise' between the three or four masterplans that had been proposed by various factions at the time, one of which included bears in a refurbished Snowdon and gorillas in the Casson. I think another mooted the possibility of bringing in Spanish lynx. All of the above would have seen the old Parrot House converted for invertebrates.
 
Tau said:
I have a copy somewhere of a 1990's master plan that never saw the light. Amongst a still very varied collection it includes:
  • Elephants and rhinos included but larger paddocks.
  • Gorillas on the mappins.
  • Carnivore terraces including hunting dogs.
From what I can remember without finding it!
Click to expand...
Gorillas were definitely slated for the Mappins mid 90s. Talking with keepers at the time, suggested that this had been the plan for some time, but they weren't holding collective breaths.
 
There were a few plans for the Mappins over the decades. One was a North American tundra exhibit. Another was a China exhibit including giant and red pandas.
 
Gavialis said:
I think another mooted the possibility of bringing in Spanish lynx. All of the above would have seen the old Parrot House converted for invertebrates.
Click to expand...

Personally I think that it is quite a shame that this plan ended up being scrapped.

The addition of Iberian lynx to the zoo would have been a far better decision in my opinion than the whole Sumatran tiger thing which I felt was a bit overblown / overrated.
 
I suppose that after a lot of thought and reading the comments my conclusion is that both London & Whipsnade seem to go in cycles where they seem to get muddled in their thinking and somewhat lost. The little big brother Whipsnade to me just seems so much under used so much space and having vast enclosures with just 1 or 2 animals in it.
and as for London Zoo it is iconic and not only represents our capital city but represents the country as well but sadly fails massively - it should be the best inner city zoo in the world - everything it does should be state of the art concentrating on being a zoo and not having gimmicks like crazy golf .
 
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