ZSL London Zoo
Overall I thought the zoo was really good. I thought most of the exhibits were very nice, with good sized enclosures and a nice variety of species. The most noteworthy exhibits to me were the Reptile House, Aquarium, B.U.G.S., Blackburn Pavilion, and Rainforest Life/Nightlife. I was less impressed by Land of the Lions and Outback.
While I think it's safe to say that American reptile collections tend to be larger and more diverse, the zoo's Reptile House is still probably one of my favorites and certainly one of the largest I saw over there. My only complaint is that there seemed to be a good few repeated species and empty enclosures, the number of which grew between my two visits. Considering the fact that they have a number of other species off-exhibit, you'd think this would be less of a problem.
The aquarium was truly fantastic. Very large for a zoo aquarium, with a very diverse collection of species from all over both freshwater and marine ecosystems. Personally I think it would have been nicer if they displayed some of their more rare and endangered species, especially from Madagascar, but can't complain too much with what I saw.
B.U.G.S. has the size and quantity, Bristol has the exhibitry and quality. Both are fantastic invertebrate houses, but that's how I'd best compare them. While London boats a much bigger building and larger array of species, they're often displayed in much smaller enclosures (although size isn't always a big necessity for inverts I suppose). By far the standout of this exhibit is the spider walk-through, which features two species of orb-weavers and a few other species in stand-alone terrariums. A few vertebrate species can be found in the building, too, such as a few cichlids and birds.
The Blackburn Pavilion is a very nice bird house. Now I've found I can be a little biased on bird houses, being so used to the two-story World of Birds at Bronx, but I think this one was of decent size. It certainly had a very lovely collection of species, many of which you don't see too often in captivity. The house pretty much consists of three sections: a room with multiple enclosed aviaries, a walk-through with a handful of separate enclosed aviaries, and a walk-through with a handful of open aviaries that the birds can freely pass between. The last room was probably my least favorite as it had a much more concrete and cagey feel to it. My feelings may also be due to having hit my head on multiple low-laying branches as well
There are a couple of outdoor aviaries here as well, which were quite large and well vegetated.
The remains of the former Clore Pavilion seems to be a building surrounded by a lot of negativity, and I can understand why having heard what it used to be. I, however, quite liked it for what it was. I thought the rainforest section was quite well done and had a good mix of species, though for its size the mixed enclosure did feel a tad empty. The nocturnal house is one of the best I've ever seen and, apart from the Brown Rats, is home to a very nice selection of species. My main complaint is that there are quite a few repeated species, though when those species are Mohol Bushbaby and Northern Ceylonese Slender Loris I suppose it's more forgivable. I also personally found the house to be quite bright for a nocturnal house with the exception of the cloud rat enclosure which was very dark.
Now with risk of getting my head put on a spike, I will say that I didn't think much of Land of the Lions. I'm not sure what the area looked like before, but I found what it is now to be a bit of a waste of space. Being a city-locked zoo, proper use of space is important, and I found this exhibit to be a whole lot of space spent on nothing but unnecessary theming and only a handful of species. Not to mention the whole area is very confusing to get around. In fact, on my first visit I managed to miss a large chunk of it because it seems to split into two completely different paths, one that takes you to an elevated platform and another on ground level that takes you to more or less a dead end. But that dead end path is the one with many of the animals, although I'm not sure if the muntjac are actually part of the exhibit, as their main viewing seems to be outside of this exhibit. There's also the fact that the exhibit is designed around India, and then features Ruppell's Vulture and Common Dwarf Mongoose. Personally, I also don't like that they exhibit hybrid grey langurs. I just find it to be a waste to give valuable exhibit space to continue working with and breeding animals that are as pure as McDonald's meat when there are other, more endangered species that need holders.
As for Outback, there isn't anything wrong with the exhibit per say, I just think it's another wasted space. It's quite a large area with some pretty impressive looking ex-Caprine enclosures that's now just a small handful of the more common kangaroos, wallabies, and Emu.
Highlight Mammals
Natal Red Duiker
Cephalophus natalensis
Panay Cloud Rat
Crateromys heaneyi
Australian Water Rat
Hydromys chrysogaster
Northern Ceylonese Slender Loris
Loris lydekkerianus nordicus
Bornean Bearded Pig
Sus barbatus barbatus
Highlight Birds
Scarlet-Chested Sunbird
Chalcomitra senegalensis
African Grey-Headed Gull
Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus poiocephalus
Red-Legged Honeycreeper
Cyanerpes cyaneus
Superb Fruit-Dove
Ptilinopus superbus
White-Throated Toucan
Ramphastos tucanus
Highlight Reptiles
Amazon Basin Tree Boa
Corallus batesi
Black Mamba
Dendroaspis polylepis
Vietnamese Pond Turtle
Mauremys annamensis
Inland Taipan
Oxyuranus microlepidotus
Mount Kenya Chameleon
Trioceros jacksonii xantholophus
Highlight Amphibians
Majorcan Midwife Toad
Alytes muletensis
Chinese Giant Salamander
Andrias davidianus
Sardinian Brook Salamander
Euproctus platycephalus
Rio Cauca Caecilian
Typhlonectes natans
Lake Oku Clawed Frog
Xenopus longipes
~Thylo
