ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2014
- Thread starter sooty mangabey
- Start date
Where are the lions going to be housed at whipsnade?
Offshow so they say..
Offshow, behind the kudu/impala stables afaik.
BongoHardwood
Well-Known Member
Correct. The same for the three primate species.
I really do hope they do a re-think on some of the primate species!
Re-housing some of these at Whipsnade instead would be surely improve the general appeal of the park. Perhaps not so much suited are the Francois leaf monkeys to all weather terrain Whipsnade, however gibbons and spider monkeys surely are. Add on a few other iconic primate species like say lion-tailed macaque, colobus monkeys and geladas would add further body to the collection too.
For London Zoo either mandrill / drill at Gorilla Territory. Mangabey and some Cercopithecinae - Dianas or DeBrazzas would really add to the gorilla Central African theme at ZSL.
Elsewhere, I really also do hope they can find room to have a Sulawesi themed area, the black crested macaque with anoa and babirusa and perhaps further species from the Wallacea area like tarsiers or loris …!!!
They do already have Dianas and White-naped Mangabeys, as well as the Colobus in this area. IMO either Drill or Mandrill would complement the existing range of African Monkeys on show- the enclosure currently housing the Sulawesi Macaques is the fourth one left from the Sobell design, in that area- it could house a small group only though, say 1.2 plus young.
Re Whipsnade- they could build primate enclosures in one of the more wooded areas e.g. the 'BlueBell' wood area near the Chimps- these areas are more sheltered than the rest.
@Pertinax, Dianas and mangabeys … you are right, my bad …! Drill or mandrill would really be best for Gorilla area as an addition!
Colobus to Whipsnade perhaps?
To me, the Sulawesi macaque are out of place in Gorilla Kingdom.
Any long term plans for them?
Are there any plans for redevelopment / renovation of the Sobell Pavilion?
Colobus to Whipsnade perhaps?
To me, the Sulawesi macaque are out of place in Gorilla Kingdom.
Any long term plans for them?
Are there any plans for redevelopment / renovation of the Sobell Pavilion?
So were the Spider Monkeys before them. I do not know what London's plans are for the non-African Monkey species they still have, either on site or(now) at Whipsnade. I doubt there are any immediate plans for the ex Sobell enclosures either.
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IanRRobinson
Well-Known Member
It REALLY wouldn't be difficult to erect new primate accommodation on the Canal banks at London.
For that matter, there is underused space in the Sobells; the walk-through aviary (itself holding little) leads through to an area dominated by some unremarkable bronze gorillas. It's not too hard to envisage another primate species being housed here with some fine tuning.
For that matter, there is underused space in the Sobells; the walk-through aviary (itself holding little) leads through to an area dominated by some unremarkable bronze gorillas. It's not too hard to envisage another primate species being housed here with some fine tuning.
Yes, nice enclosure for Drills would be good.
I appreciate the present reasons, but the presence of even just one non African species (Sulawesi Macaques apparently now) in this area thwarts any attempt to make it a Zoogeographic(?) Zone. Perhaps in time they will be replaced by another African species- plenty to choose from.
An interesting titbit-ZSL is in the process of rebranding itself and the zoos (again!). Think the last time anything like this happened was around 2007. Only tentative steps at the moment though.
IanRRobinson
Well-Known Member
Yes, nice enclosure for Drills would be good.
I appreciate the present reasons, but the presence of even just one non African species (Sulawesi Macaques apparently now) in this area thwarts any attempt to make it a Zoogeographic(?) Zone. Perhaps in time they will be replaced by another African species- plenty to choose from.
Or maybe give up the idea of it being zoogeographic. White-naped Mangabey (Ghana) and Kikuyu Colobus (Kenya) aren't sympatric with Western Gorilla (Cameroon, Gabon, Congo and CAR).
If the area was rebranded "Cousins in Peril" and held a selection of African and tropical Asian species it would be just as good a spectacle to the public and probably more useful for species planning purposes. Neotropical primates could be housed on the Canal banks; as arboreal animals they would not be anywhere near as destructive as macaques, mangabeys or -God forbid- Drill or Mandrill.
AGAIN?! What a waste of money that could be used to improve the collections!
ZSL London Zoo is a daft name anyway, but what is wrong with them being called London Zoo & Whipsnade Zoo - & permanently?! Marketing is everything, why not concentrate on the collections?
I've only just got used to the 'ZSL London Zoo' thing
Its repeated at all the keeper talks with great regularity too.General conversations with a member of staff at Whipsnade the other day.
Only tentative steps at the moment as far I could fathom. However, this may well have something to do with the major developments/respective new masterplans at both sites (which were mentioned, briefly, in the ZSL 2014 Annual Report)
Personally, Ive lost count of the amount of times Whipsnade's been rebranded: Zoo, Zoo Park, Park Zoo, Wild Animal Park?
My personal favourite is the latter-it describes the site perfectly IMO. Just dont rebrand it as "ZSL Whipsnade Wild Animal Park" - that REALLY would be too much of a mouthful!
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Oh a couple of other things I noticed this week.
- the fencing and barriers were being erected around the vacated Lion/primate/cheetah area.
- the repair work to the entrance of the outback appears to have been completed
- the lemurs looked like they were being prepared for a move to facilitate the lemur walkthru work
- a new zoo map reflecting the closed off Lion area etc is now issued to visitors.
- a small part of the Rainforest Life is still roped off (closed)
- the new (small) exhibit opposite the Galapagos tortoises looks like it is close to completion.
- the fencing and barriers were being erected around the vacated Lion/primate/cheetah area.
- the repair work to the entrance of the outback appears to have been completed
- the lemurs looked like they were being prepared for a move to facilitate the lemur walkthru work
- a new zoo map reflecting the closed off Lion area etc is now issued to visitors.
- a small part of the Rainforest Life is still roped off (closed)
- the new (small) exhibit opposite the Galapagos tortoises looks like it is close to completion.
If so, it will be good to have the species back in the UK subsequent to nearly a century of absence - the only holdings in more recent years having been the related Japanese Giant Salamander, which was held at Bristol and Thrigby Hall from the 1980's until the 2000's.