ZSL London Zoo Your ideas for spare land at London Zoo

[Cat-Man]

Are they seriously making plans for the execution (for want of a better word) of the 2007 masterplan stulch?

 

[stulch]

Masterplan

I think two keys words were used in the quote in my previous post.

One of the main principles of the draft Masterplan is that the Zoo should gradually create a pattern of zones that reflect animals that are found in specific regions of the world. This area is identified as South American where Humbolt Penguins originate and the existing Macaw aviary, on the South side of the site, is also consistent with this theme. Even if an alternative location could be found for the penguins, it is unlikely that this would fulfill the aims of the Zoo Masterplan.

They tend to do something every year, hopefully after the reindeer the next one will be the Tiger HQ.

In my humble opinion I think since the dark days of nearly closing they've got London back on a firmer footing and started to gradually improve things I think their latest completed project, Penguin Beach, is fantastic.

So I see no reason why they won't carry on improving things at that the same pace, allowing for their continued funding of conservation projects.

Personally, allowing for the draft aspect and what I've said previously I've seen nothing to make me think they won't continue with the masterplan and there shouldn't be.

I do also wonder if the reason why parts of the Clore Small Mammals building are now off show is because of the masterplan. There would be no point spending money on it if they were to only change it later and in the meantime I think they use it for breeding.

But the next step is raising the money for the Tiger HQ.

 

[Cat-Man]

Thankyou very much stulch, I do hope that london zoo does gradually improve to create the zones, and now you've explained it, it is true that the penguin beach is in the appropriate zone. Tho I do think it would help if they have humbolts penguin (rather than the jackass penguin that I believe they hold) . Do you know what the next thing they're going to do after the completion of the tiger project? Personally, I'd like to see the re-development of the Casson pavillion.

 

[leiclad20]

Hi everyone, thought id post my two cents worth on the subject as I visited London zoo myself 2 days ago.

Im not going to post a long review as another zoochatter did a very comprehensive one a few days ago, but I will just say that I was very, very impressed. The gorilla kingdom really enables you to see the apes and monkeys easily, and I am strongly suspicious that one of the females is pregannt. Shes HUGE!!! And I mean huge, no-one gets that big off eating bananas and lettuce. However, there really is far too much electirc fencing on that enclosure. The male is aggressive towards pigeons so no wonder the colobus no longer share the island, so the fake tree at least could be taken down. The aquarium could do with a lick of paint but the displays are good, and animal adventure really is well designed. The new penguin shores and exit really are superb too. Its the largest penguin pool in the UK and they really use it too its full, the penguins spped round it and dive out the water! The north bank could do with a bit of redevelopment but i believe thats on the cards anyway.

I had a chat with a keeper and she said that the plan is to put a new entrance behind the shop with more admission kiosks and undercover waiting lines. Also they are still fund raising for tiger SOS. The australian themed mappin terraces is prob only a temp thing whilst they plan what to do with it, from an animal husbandary point of view its a bit of a nightmare. She also said the horticulture bit on the north bank will probably be moved to whipsnade so there's another bit of space that could be used for a big new avairy or summit else.

The reindeer pen was still under construction and frankly looked crap but itll be good for families and photo opportunities (by the way, they make a small fortune selling those photo packs at the exit - hence why they are so pushy about you having you photo taken when you go in!). The west side of the clore house is still shut and the rhea paddock was being relandscaped but everything else was open.

With regard to the subject heading, Im not sure how id use the spare space in london zoo but I agree with some that the green lawns are nice breathing space and shoudnt be built on.

I really dont get what everyones obsession with australian themed areas is - neither wallaby or emu are massive crowd pullers nor are they endangered (except parma's) so leave all that stuff to whipsnade. Ditto the reindeer, once xmas is over build better francois langur/spider monkey exhibit or somethig similar. I also think the bactrian camel should move back to whipsnade to avoid duplication and use that space for the new tiger enclosure (it wouldnt have to be netted over then). The malayan tairs and hippos could swap round the complete the themeing. This then frees up the lion terraces for clouded leopards/fishing cats or any other asian small cat species.

I was disappointed wiht how the mappin terraces looked, maybe replanting it and have a pack of dhole would suit it better, with goats on goat hills again?

 

[IanRRobinson]

..... The gorilla kingdom really enables you to see the apes and monkeys easily, and I am strongly suspicious that one of the females is pregannt. Shes HUGE!!! And I mean huge, no-one gets that big off eating bananas and lettuce. ...

Based on what we've been led to believe about Kesho, if one of the females is pregnant, then they'd better call the baby Jesus...

 

[Pertinax]

..... The gorilla kingdom really enables you to see the apes and monkeys easily, and I am strongly suspicious that one of the females is pregannt. Shes HUGE!!! And I mean huge, no-one gets that big off eating bananas and lettuce. ...

Based on what we've been led to believe about Kesho, if one of the females is pregnant, then they'd better call the baby Jesus...

Exactly.. 'Effie' was very slim when she first arrived but soon 'bulked up' once the stress wore off- she has been pretty big ever since.

 

[stulch]

Thankyou very much stulch, I do hope that london zoo does gradually improve to create the zones, and now you've explained it, it is true that the penguin beach is in the appropriate zone. Tho I do think it would help if they have humbolts penguin (rather than the jackass penguin that I believe they hold) . Do you know what the next thing they're going to do after the completion of the tiger project? Personally, I'd like to see the re-development of the Casson pavillion.

I have heard a rumour that they would like to spend money on the Casson if they had some money left over after the Tiger HQ but of course this would have to be their money.

I think they do have Humboldts.

A previous post of mine dated 24-07-2011:

"When I was there on Sunday 17th July they had written on the board inside the incubation room the following:-

Penguins in pool
----------------

5 Macaroni
6 African Black Foot
1 Rock Hopper
55 Humboldt

I assume this is up to date."

And I'm sure the vast majority were still Humboldts when I visited briefly Saturday.

Before the tiger plans were made public I was told the next projects were the lions and tigers. They did then do some sprucing up of the lions, new signage, new information boards, new glass viewing etc. and then later made public the tiger plans. Whether this then means they will do the lions fully I don't know. However, if it did I can't see it for some time as I imagine it would involve raising similar sorts of money to the tigers (for which they haven't fully raised yet). I think there would be a number of smaller projects before another big one, but I think we are getting a bit ahead of ourselves, the Tiger HQ plans need to be approved first and the full figure raised.

 

[kiang]

So what in zoochatters opinion is the largest piece of spare land on the site that is ripe for development?

 

[Shirokuma]

So what in zoochatters opinion is the largest piece of spare land on the site that is ripe for development?

If only one spot then in my view the entire north bank east of the Snowdon Aviary.

 

[kiang]

If only one spot then in my view the entire north bank east of the Snowdon Aviary.

Besides the architectural splendour of the Snowdon aviary, a walk over the canal seems to be a wasted effort, unless of course owls and pheasants are your thing.
Steep banks and narrow, does not make for a good basis to plan a decent exhibit on, but a series of smaller enclosures seem to be the way forward.

 

[Shirokuma]

I think you could level the ground out somewhat and there is a surprising amount of level ground there anyway. I would have some kind of wooden boardwalk along the steeper parts perhaps and use the rest for something or other. Not sure what though...

 

[gentle lemur]

Besides the architectural splendour of the Snowdon aviary, a walk over the canal seems to be a wasted effort, unless of course owls and pheasants are your thing.
Steep banks and narrow, does not make for a good basis to plan a decent exhibit on, but a series of smaller enclosures seem to be the way forward.

I think you could fit a nice gibbon enclosure there, with tree-top level viewing.

Alan

 

[kiang]

I think you could fit a nice gibbon enclosure there, with tree-top level viewing.

Alan

A good start (and i know there have been plenty others too), surely the management at the zoo can see this is a barren area of the zoo and probably vastly underused by the public, ideally laid out for visitor circulation.

 

[IanRRobinson]

Besides the architectural splendour of the Snowdon aviary, a walk over the canal seems to be a wasted effort, unless of course owls and pheasants are your thing.
Steep banks and narrow, does not make for a good basis to plan a decent exhibit on, but a series of smaller enclosures seem to be the way forward.

If part of RP's remit is to illustrate biodiversity, then using land that's most suitable for birds as a bird garden (and please God not with the Snowdon, in all its uselessness, being allowed to survive) doesn't seem out of place to me.

 

[devilfish]

Besides the architectural splendour of the Snowdon aviary, a walk over the canal seems to be a wasted effort, unless of course owls and pheasants are your thing.

I agree that a massive renovation of the north bank is in order - but if you're after reasons to cross the canal, don't forget the only Zoe's Imperial pigeon (officially) outside Southeast Asia.

 

[kiang]

I agree that a massive renovation of the north bank is in order - but if you're after reasons to cross the canal, don't forget the only Zoe's Imperial pigeon (officially) outside Southeast Asia.

For a zoochatter yes, but will the great unwashed, charge in their masses to see one pigeon?, don't they have Trafalgar square for that

 

[Cat-Man]

Ahh, thankyou stulch what would you personally wish the next phase would be? I agree that they probably will be more small scale developments, prehaps adding some small cat species (clouded leopard, fishing cat? Oceltot?) To make sure that area does not feel empty, and then place the cats into their respective zones as the masterplan gradually developes. As for the north bank, I believe the plan is for an asian wetlands zone + a northern forest zone. I'd like to see the land next to the snowdon + xyz zoo club building into a small deer paddock, then boardwalk the steeper bits of land then really 'forest' It up. I'd like to see a small surplas pack of wolves take residance here, while aviaries become home to owl's + other eurasian birds, and any spare space given over to artic fox and/or wolverine. Would this be realistic?

 

[stulch]

Ahh, thankyou stulch what would you personally wish the next phase would be? I agree that they probably will be more small scale developments, prehaps adding some small cat species (clouded leopard, fishing cat? Oceltot?) To make sure that area does not feel empty, and then place the cats into their respective zones as the masterplan gradually developes. As for the north bank, I believe the plan is for an asian wetlands zone + a northern forest zone. I'd like to see the land next to the snowdon + xyz zoo club building into a small deer paddock, then boardwalk the steeper bits of land then really 'forest' It up. I'd like to see a small surplas pack of wolves take residance here, while aviaries become home to owl's + other eurasian birds, and any spare space given over to artic fox and/or wolverine. Would this be realistic?

I know this thread is about ideas for spare land but I would really prefer them to concentrate first on the areas that look untidy or a bit unnatural first, which in fairness I think they are doing. Visitors see these areas and they leave a bad impression where as areas of lawn / trees won’t and if looked after quite often leave a positive impression. Areas that need attention are needless to say the mappin terraces and the casson (which I mentioned a rumour I had heard about in a previous post) and I think the big cat terraces and aquarium (which they are improving).
It will be interesting to see what they do with the current tiger enclosure after the Tiger HQ is built that might give some clues about that area and time spans.

I went to Zurich Zoo with ZSL in 2007 in a trip organised for members, incidently they had zones whether that influrenced the masterplan or if it had already been conceived by that point I don’t know, but they have a biome there and I heard another rumour at the time about building one where the mappin terraces where. However, as fantastic as it would have been I couldn’t see it happening due to the huge expense and it being listed in part. This could have lead to how the Clore roof was developed.

It’s good though if you think about it how much progress they have made in the last ten or fifteen years. If you walk from Gorilla Kingdom, past the Bird Safari, the Galápagos tortoises, the Komodo dragons, where the tiger HQ is proposed, Animal Adventure, the Blackburn Pavilion, Meet the Monkeys, BUGS, the anteaters, Butterfly Paradise, Penguin Beach, and round to the otters and the meerkats (and you could include the Clore Rainforest Lookout), with really only the macaw aviary as an exception this has all changed (or is going to change in respect of the Tiger HQ) which is a good effort while maintaining their levels of funding for conservation.

Of course sorting some of these areas out will be a big project and like I said I can see a number of smaller projects before another big one (after the Tiger HQ) so it could end up them developing some unused areas and an area that looks untidy in part and is unsed in another is the north bank and this could possibly be developed as per the masterplan without compromising for less.

Personally, as I’ve mentioned before, I would like to see leopards somewhere as they are a personnal favourite and they don’t have any at Whipsnade, by the same token I wouldn’t like them to have wolverine or wolves because of the duplication with Whipsnade (although I like both) and I don’t think they will because of it.

 

[Cat-Man]

ahh, tnakyou for your opinion stulch you seem to be very in the know and i like to hear your personal opinions because of it. I believe London has massively improved since the free fall of the 90's. my school runs a yearly trip too the zoo and hopefully i will get to go on the trip this year (last year i was on a trip too france with the school in which i visited Nausicaa sealife centre, which was worth it). I would love to see leopard at london zoo, what sub-species would you personally like to see? Have they decided what they'd like to do with the mappins yet? on the masterplan it says 'wild china, madagascar or part of wild indonesia' however, the only thing i think they could put on there to link with wild indonesia would be dholes or Sun bear. Possibly Orang-Utan.

Thanks for the Info

Dan

 

[Dicerorhinus]

I agree that a massive renovation of the north bank is in order - but if you're after reasons to cross the canal, don't forget the only Zoe's Imperial pigeon (officially) outside Southeast Asia.

This species is found in a few private collections in the USA. I have seen them at one in California.