ZSL London Zoo ZSL - Childrens Zoo Concept
- Thread starter JamesB
- Start date
Zooplantman
Well-Known Member
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
It sounds even more stupid,realy sure the Red Pandas are going to love screaming KIDS in the tree tops with them it just sounds like a gloryified childrens playground with built in animal exhibits,looks like London may have another Gorilla Kingdom on its hand great to look at but not much else.
taun
Well-Known Member
I have children and I know this would be wasted on them, ZSL could spend a 1/4 of the money on this and the children wouldn't notice one bit.
The cost am moaning at not that there building something to try and educate children
taun
Well-Known Member
Its not an exhibit thou, its a glorified playground!
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Yep but that cost will go up its London most things they do end up costing more than when they start them,Gorilla Kingdom suppose to be a modern zoo exhibit but as far as i`m concerned the best thing about is the Monitor enclosure,the Aviary would be brilliant if the path in it was so narrow and caused a major bottle neck right at the start of Gorilla Kingdom.London seem to do alot better when they don`t throw lots of money at a project like the re-built Clores which is to me still a brilliant exhibit that has been brought into the 21 century with a little clever thought.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Listen it might not be aimed at my age group but i know a stupid idea when i see one and this is one however you dress it up,if they want to build a new childrens playground fine but why subject the animals to kids running through the enclosure would love to see them do studies on the stress level`s on the animals when it opens as i`m pretty sure the results would not be good,if Blair Drummond can fence off their Llamas in the walk around area their because they where getting stressed by people walking on the paths on what used to be a walk through enclosure then i can only imagine what the animals at London will be going through with this idea.
I don't see anything wrong with these ideas: indeed I like the idea of using imaginative and interactive designs.
I think the ZSL people know enough about animals to put suitable ones into the exhibits - for example coatis and red pandas are pretty phlegmatic species and they may be able to get hand-reared specimens which might be even more tolerant of the children. Of course the devil is in the detail - the designs must allow the animals sufficient space and security and, funnily enough, they must do exactly the same for the children.
I think that our small city-centre zoos, Bristol and Regents Park, are having to cater more and more for young children. Providing areas where they can have exciting encounters with animals and then let off some steam safely is a good investment for the future.
Alan
I think the ZSL people know enough about animals to put suitable ones into the exhibits - for example coatis and red pandas are pretty phlegmatic species and they may be able to get hand-reared specimens which might be even more tolerant of the children. Of course the devil is in the detail - the designs must allow the animals sufficient space and security and, funnily enough, they must do exactly the same for the children.
I think that our small city-centre zoos, Bristol and Regents Park, are having to cater more and more for young children. Providing areas where they can have exciting encounters with animals and then let off some steam safely is a good investment for the future.
Alan
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I agree, whats wrong with letting kids have thier own space to run, play and learn about nature? Yes the area is large but its better than having kids running round the park treating it like a playground
This takes me back to what bongorob said when he visited and the kids were feeding the duck (?) at gorilla kingdom, my opinion is its better for them to have thier own space where they can run and shout as much as they like!
One thought: will the exhibit be patrolled, i imagine the keepers wont want the red pandas or meerkats to have any extra food!
This takes me back to what bongorob said when he visited and the kids were feeding the duck (?) at gorilla kingdom, my opinion is its better for them to have thier own space where they can run and shout as much as they like!
One thought: will the exhibit be patrolled, i imagine the keepers wont want the red pandas or meerkats to have any extra food!
...but they'll probably still be doing that as well...
I don't think the overall concept is a bad one, and the children won't come into direct contact at least with the exotic species. Coatis and meerkats/mongooses probably lend themselves well to this type of exhibit but not so sure about Red Pandas, which are often innactive during the day so maybe not such a good subject and they could suffer from stress/disturbance from the continual daytime noise too.
Even some domestic species can suffer considerable stress from being overhandled by eager or clumsy children. I have seen domestic lambs in a farmpark run and hide behind bales of hay rather than endure the attentions of yet more children, so I'm glad to hear handling sessions will be carefully monitored too.
To be honest I think the ring-tailed lemurs should swap enclosures with the red pandas; they would fare better in Animal Adventure (why is it that they're calling the exhibit this when Longleat are also opening a similar attraction with the same name this year?), and I remember going in the round house to feed them when I did a behind-the-scenes film for Level Up. They came right over to me, plucking food from my hand without second thought.
Especially with the size of the enclosures...
http://www.zoochat.com/43/children-s-zoo-site-london-zoo-58364/
If you're going to have a load of screaming kids running around, at least give the animals space to hide from it.
I agree with MD - lemurs would have been a better option, at exmoor I had their four jumping on my shoulders to get at the bannanas i was holding!
Lemurs are ideal for this sort of display- bold and inquisitive and (usually) harmless too.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Well Chesters use the trees a lot on their island when they are not sunning themselves.
I don't think realism is a major factor in this children's zoo...
And aren't coati going into the exhibit anyway?