ZSL London Zoo Your ideas for spare land at London Zoo

[johnstoni]

I think an Australian area based on the woodland by the canal and maybe looping up to the land behind the otters would be a good idea.

I think it would be quite effective and popular with visitors, could use the exisiting animals from the Mappin Terraces and have a couple of additions such as some simple aviaries with Australian birds. It would also be a more authentic habitat for the wallaby.

As much as I'd like to see this beautiful strip of woodland full of primates, tapir etc, I think your idea of a walk-through wallaby wood is actually genius.

 

[^Chris^]

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Are we talking about the area to the right of the roundhouse?
I like Kiang's idea of extending the otters and mixing with a monkey sp. but I think otters can be a bit nippy and bullying to some primates (see various youtube vids). Maybe a separate primate enclosure would be possible- I feel a bit sorry for some of those currently on the cat terrace. Perhaps sulawesi crested macaque enclosure with electric fence?

I can't quite picture this area in real life- I thinks it slightly raised if memory serves me correct- the path viewing the otters is higher on the east side of the enclosure isn't it? Perhaps alternatively it could be used for a few good large aviary(s) for some of the species (such as the owls) that are currently kept in the very small northbank aviaries. Those could then go on to house little birds.

I expect the zoo has kept that area clear for a reason though. Otherwise it'd be built on wouldn't it?

 

[^Chris^]

The old beaver enclosure at one time was used for rhino iguanas, and I think it may have had skunks in there at some point too.

Yes, I'm sure it did have skunk. (We are talking about the little square pit type enclosure on it's own?). I remember it housing meerkat. For so long now it has just said 'temporarily empty' or words to those effect. Maybe it could be netted and used for sand lizards or something? I seem to think it gets a fair bit of sun.

 

[Shirokuma]

Are we talking about the area to the right of the roundhouse?

That's correct. Very good view by the way, much better than google earth which doesn't even have Gorilla Kingdom on it.

 

[kiang]

Looking at that area, it does seemed very cramped, is there much room between the canal and the path?

 

[Shirokuma]

Not a great deal but it's quite wide as you look to the left towards the Cotton Terrace end. I think it would be ok for wallabies and a couple of emus, viewing could be from wooden decking rather than an actual walk-through.

The space I originally mentioned at the start of the thread seems larger than I had thought.

 

[gentle lemur]

The space I originally mentioned at the start of the thread seems larger than I had thought.

I think so too.
I feel it needs something quite spectacular, I don't think the ZSL is going to get much extra custom from kiwi and tuatara, much as I'd like to see them. It's too exposed to wind and noise for delicate things like koala (the last ones they had were kept inside the round house) and I don't think it's big enough for tapirs, even with the otter pen included.
So small-medium mammals, as I suggested before, or medium sized birds - unfortunately these are areas where the ZSL collection is quite strong already. Fossa pens? A bigger enclosure for the aardvarks and possibly another burrowing species like marmots or woodchucks with a viewing tunnel? Perhaps wombats?
My favourite, if they could get them, would be Tasmanian devils.

Alan

 

[johnstoni]

The 'Happy Families' exhibit area seems obsolete now they have effectively replicated these exhibits in the children's zoo. As popular as short-clawed otters are in their current exhibit, I think they are one of the few animals that could be well-suited to the lubetkin penguin pool, if furnished, with a 'retired' pair or single-sex group, putting them in the water-themed area of the children's zoo. The meerkats get much more attention in Animal Adventure now and there seems little point holding a second group by the Clore.

As for the ring-tailed lemurs, the problem with housing this species in an old concrete monster like the roundhouse (though masterfully redecorated and furnished) is that you can see this species in more attractive surroundings in almost any other UK collection, so it leaves the zoo looking like they can't somehow house their most identifiable lemurs in large open enclosures.

I hope ZSL has plans for this whole area, and that the Happy Families enclosures were just an experiment leading up to the opening of Animal Adventure. Meerkats and otters are certainly modern day, crowd-pleasing species for the general public.

I like the idea of bringing the primates in the lion terraces over to this part of the zoo. If Drusillas were able to create an open-air enclosure for its Sulawesi macaques on a relatively small patch of land, as they did so this year, perhaps it would be possible to do the same at London?

I would love to see the roundhouse used to house the gibbons, with an overhead rope bridge into the trees on the South bank. I'd actually REALLY love to see overhead primate bridges connecting open-air compounds on the north and south banks crossing high above the canal. If Dudley can get the funds together to fence off a bit of dense vegetation, I am sure London can too.

As for the lemurs, I've often thought 'Meet the Monkeys' would work better as a lemur exhibit, given that the Clore lookout is kind of a walk-through monkey enclosure, and possibly a better place to exhibit the ring-tailed lemurs than outside the Roundhouse?

 

[Shirokuma]

Fossa, wombats and Tasmanian devils would all fit in well with the general theme of the area. Or how about giant otters? An unusual (increasingly less-so) species which would make a nice contrast to the Asian small clawed next door.

Could there even be a Central Park style snow leopard enclosure?

Edit: I just read johnstoni's post and it makes a lot of sense, the happy families theme could easily be changed now Animal Adventure is in place and the gibbon idea sounds marvellous to me.

 

[Tim May]

Any idea which species were kept there?

I’m going back more than forty years and, unfortunately, haven’t got a definitive species list, but I recall the old Central Mammal House holding:-
sloths, squirrels, marmosets & tamarins, various small carnivores such as mustelids and mongooses.

 

[Ned]

I’m going back more than forty years and, unfortunately, haven’t got a definitive species list, but I recall the old Central Mammal House holding:-
sloths, squirrels, marmosets & tamarins, various small carnivores such as mustelids and mongooses.

Thanks for the information. I remember the cages but only with macaws in them.

 

[Little Lion Man]

How about a area dedicated to british wildlife. As I bet over half the inhabitants of London have ever seen a stoat or a partridge?

Maybe have the woods down by the canal as a muntjac walkthrough. The area behind the otters dug out with sets added for Eurasian Badger. The Asian short clawed otters swapped for European Otter. Meerkats traded for weasels or stoats and use the round house for a mixed avery of English Partridge, Pheasant and Red squirrel and MAYBE a enclosure for Scottish wildcat if there is space.

All using native plant life so cost should be kept to a minimum to stick with ZSL tight budget

 

[Shirokuma]

That's an interesting idea and one I hadn't thought of. I've often thought that a small ZSL operated British wildlife centre in somewhere like Richmond Park would be cool if unrealistic but there's no reason why the zoo couldn't focus more on native species.

 

[Pertinax]

Unfortunately many of the UK's more interesting species are essentially nocturnal, particularly in captivity. Otters, wildcats and Badgers would be virtually invisible (unless they had views into sleeping chambers) while smaller mustelids like Stoats wouldn't make good displays either.

 

[Zambar]

Actually at the native specialists (Wildwood, British Wildlife Centre, New Forest Wildlife Park etc) many species shy in the wild such as otters and wildcats are actually quite showy. Though I often think native wildlife is done best by such specialists, as going to a zoo means exotics for many people and it may not be the best investment of a large area.

 

[Pertinax]

Actually at the native specialists (Wildwood, British Wildlife Centre, New Forest Wildlife Park etc) many species shy in the wild such as otters and wildcats are actually quite showy.

Wildcats aren't too bad, but I believe the UK/European Otter is notorious as no-shower- the Asian otters are far more active by day in zoos. Can the European otters at the NFWP centre be seen easily and if so is that because they have been partially handreared.?

Badgers will just sleep in their underground chambers in daylight hours too.

 

[Zambar]

AFAIK most if not all the european otters on show there are rescued animals that proved to be too badly injured or unstable to go to the wild; I don't think many are very humanised, but they will often put themselves on view. You're right on the badgers, though I hear the ones at Wildwood emerge at the end of the day.

 

[Shirokuma]

Well the zoo decided to do something in the end it seems:

By the way, the open, slightly hilly area to the east of the otters (between them and an admin block) is currently being prepared for some reindeer who should arrive soon!

 

[IanRRobinson]

Typical of the limited vision for RP under present management IMHO. Reindeer are held at Whipsnade, do not link in with the present exhibits in this area and are neither unusual in UK collections nor rare in the wild.

I fear that the present regime really don't envisage the site as much more than a glorified Drusilla's.

 

[gentle lemur]

It's a quite a small area for a permanent display - or are the reindeer only for Christmas, not for life?

Alan