ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2010

so i am guessing the black foots r either joining whipsnades or going else where,shame if thats the case.
Wonder where they are getting fairy penguins from,will their be more than one pool then hope they survive and don't all die like bristols did.
 
I was on the zoo's facebook recentley and swear I saw a fairy penguin in the visitor photos that came up, so they could be there already.
 
Zambar said:
I was on the zoo's facebook recentley and swear I saw a fairy penguin in the visitor photos that came up, so they could be there already.
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Think that might have been a photo of a rockhopper juvenile, as they look quite "blueish" and don't get their crests until they're a year old.
 
Would be nice if London did get Little Blues. I notice on Zootierliste that Wuppertal are down to 1.0 now, so the species is really on it's last legs in Europe.
 
Maguari said:
Yup. Well, walk-in. There's a little gate and you can just walk in. A bit pointless really as you can get perfectly close enough from outside the exhibit.

This photo from Al illustrates it perfectly: http://www.zoochat.com/212/penguin-exhibit-south-lakes-wild-animal-38702/


To be honest I'm being a bit unfair by picking on them as there are plenty of other penguin walkthroughs that are not rigidly monitored. (Is there continual monitoring at Living Coasts? I suspect not but I couldn't swear to it)

As someone who's not likely to cause trouble I much prefer unsupervised walkthroughs, but of course there will always be times that's not possible, unfortunately.
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I'm a volunteer at Living Coasts and cover tea and lunch breaks for the members of staff who are 'Penguin Patrollers'. Their job is to ensure that the penguins and visitors mix well and without incident and so, yes, the penguins are continually monitored at LC whilst open to the public.

Off topic a little, I had e-letter from Woburn back in July regarding their new 'Penguin Cove' -

'Woburn Safari Park is currently planning some exciting changes to its Foot Safari area, key to these changes is a proposed feature “Penguin Cove” to be introduced as an authentic natural environment which will allow visitors to experience the Humbolt and Gentoo penguins up-close and personal in their natural habitat.

This new exhibit will for the first time in the UK, bring visitors closer to these inquisitive and social birds and will allow people to walk through their nesting area, over their aquatic habitat via a foot bridge as well as have the opportunity to see them swim underwater!'

Does anyone know how this will be a 'first' for the UK as visitors can already walk with penguins at LC, and as I have also now found out, South Lakes. I have emailed Woburn but not got a reply, even though the bottom of the e-letter stated 'As a visitor to Woburn Safari Park, we'd love to hear your feedback and thoughts for Penguin Cove by emailing marketing@woburn.co.uk'

Also LC sent their Gentoo penguins back to Edinburgh as the temperature was too warm for breeding so how will they get on at Woburn?
 
polarbear said:
I'm a volunteer at Living Coasts and cover tea and lunch breaks for the members of staff who are 'Penguin Patrollers'. Their job is to ensure that the penguins and visitors mix well and without incident and so, yes, the penguins are continually monitored at LC whilst open to the public.
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Fair do's - thanks for the confirmation. :)

EDIT: Just occurred to me to say, the fact I've not noticed them means they're doing their job well, to my mind!
 
I'm surprised - but slightly relieved - that the exit is at the side of the shop rather than having to go through the shop.
 
polarbear said:
Also LC sent their Gentoo penguins back to Edinburgh as the temperature was too warm for breeding so how will they get on at Woburn?
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Well, quite. Zoos without good climate often start off new penguin exhibits with a heady mix of species only for these to dwindle in number or be sent away, leaving the common or garden (but more conservationally-relevant) African and Humboldt penguins to do the job.

I am surprised at the plans for little blues at London; not only are they not a 'South American' species, I struggle to think of many mixed exhibits where they have thrived in captivity. Furthermore, to any regular visitor at ZSL, they will just resemble immature African penguins. I did note from the drawings that there is potential to separated them from at least the Humboldts, which would be a good thing. My experience of humboldts is that they can interfere with other species when nesting.

I did find the paragraph about the existing penguins having suffered slight indignity of having to struggle to get out of their current pool a bit much, especially as the current birds will not see this new exhibit. However, a large mixed colony of macaroni and Humboldt penguins will be a good addition to London, even if I do think going into little blues is very risky, I'm sure ZSL London Zoo know better than I....

I actually really liked the 2007 masterplan idea, I would love to see a zoo (possibly a larger one than London) attempt a vaguely representative mixed Patagonian coastal exhibit with guanaco, rhea, mara and humboldt penguins.
 
Shorts said:
Can anyone confirm whether this has ever happened?

Two memories I have from the news during my 1970's childhood was a Giraffe "falling over" and not being able to get up and a schoolchild stealing a penguin from a zoo. The first is obviously true (Marwell) but I've never traced the second to any concrete facts -I swear it was a news story but I am very aware of how memory plays tricks (and feeds urban myths).

The nearest I can think of is the Black-footed Penguin that went missing from Amazon World a few years back but, whilst I can't recall all the facts, I don't think any schoolchildren were implicated.
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A friend of my mums daughter apparently stole a juvenile penguin from chessington around 20 years ago and the parents knew nothing of it till they caught her filling a up the bath for the penguin. Whether the story is true or not I am not sure as the parents speak a lot of BS!:D
 
Gavin123 said:
A friend of my mums daughter apparently stole a juvenile penguin from chessington around 20 years ago and the parents knew nothing of it till they caught her filling a up the bath for the penguin. Whether the story is true or not I am not sure as the parents speak a lot of BS!:D
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Exactly the same scenario in the story I overheard!
 
johnstoni said:
I actually really liked the 2007 masterplan idea, I would love to see a zoo (possibly a larger one than London) attempt a vaguely representative mixed Patagonian coastal exhibit with guanaco, rhea, mara and humboldt penguins.
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Sounds like a great idea ...! :)
Care to reproduce it out of interests' sake?

Is this part still envisaged / planned for today?
 
Just returning to the penguin species topic: as far as I can tell, the current African/blackfooted penguins will remain in the new pool, with two other species, "possibly" including fairy blues. There has been no mention of the Africans being replaced by Humboldts.

Thanks so much for the link to the plans, they are really helpful and interesting! I couldn't work out what would happen to the schools lunch room and picnic outlet till I saw them. I suppose a lunch room won't be so essential in future, with the free visits being curtailed next year. The tunnels with the viewing bubble will be popular, kids love the one in the meerkats in "Animal Adventure".

By the way, plans for the new tiger enclosure have been put back a bit: the fundraising campaign will apparently start in February 2011 with a view to opening the exhibit in 2013.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Sounds like a great idea ...! :)
Care to reproduce it out of interests' sake?

Is this part still envisaged / planned for today?
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I'm sorry, I wasn't sure what you meant, here is the link someone posted earlier on the thread. I was referring to the 2007 masterplan, a rough drawing of which is included as a pdf document on the list when you open this link:

Westminster City Council

The plans for a mixed south American exhibit with humboldt penguins, mara, skua, etc clearly aren't going to be used now, this exhibit would have been constructed on the site of the macaw flight according to the 2007 masterplan. My comments about rhea, guanaco, mara and penguin sharing an exhibit were my personal wish and not one suggested in the masterplan.
 
volvox said:
Just returning to the penguin species topic: as far as I can tell, the current African/blackfooted penguins will remain in the new pool, with two other species, "possibly" including fairy blues. There has been no mention of the Africans being replaced by Humboldts.
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The plans refer to 3 specific beach areas, one for Humboldt penguins, one for macaroni penguins, and one for little blue penguins. The accompanying documents go into some detail about the landscaping on the humboldt penguin beach being designed to suit their nesting habits, and that this area would continue a south American theme along this side of the zoo. It may be the case that, in reality, the African and rockhopper penguins remain, however I would expect the design to be slightly different given the success of the nest holes in the current enclosure and the need for a greater number of these.
 
Well! It will be interesting to see how it turns out, and which penguins will be living there. We won't have long to wait if they meet the Easter 2011 target. ZSL building projects usually have a deadline penalty clause built into them, so they'll have to get a move on!
 
all sounds very exciting and I like the look of the new plans especially the seating, will be a lovely place for a picnic in the summer!
Seeing as Whipsnade have Humboldts and rockhoppers is it possible that they will do a swap so that London will have all the Humboldts (adding Macaroni and Fairy penguins) whilst Whipsnade will get the African Penguins and add to their rockhoppers by having London's rockhopper penguins?
 
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