ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2014

Yeah I don't want this to become about Shepreth (as soon as I posted I realised I had come down hard on a collection that tries its best for the size!). Its been interesting hearing everyone's views.

I guess there will always be people who stand up/feel strongly about ay collection if one has a connection with the zoo! Me, I'm looking forward to the new Lion enclosure and also to others views! I hope I have not turned this thread away from its initial purpose.
 
IanRRobinson said:
But it will need money to house (say) 2:3 extra rhino at Whipsnade.
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They could maybe put them in the building that is near the Giraffes that housed the last Black Rhinos they had (and then Gaur for a while). I don't know what is in there at present. Gemsbok? However it would need a considerable upgrade and enlarging considerably, with perhaps an indoor public viewing area, so it actually might be no more expensive to build a new purpose-built house for them.

I do agree about the Common Hippo situation, really needs expansion.:(
 
I would comment again on the Hippo's at Whipsnade, but I know this is not the place for that! (Is it something for the Whipsnade forum on here?).

Couple of questions about London Zoo in 2014, Is there anything in the old Langur indoor quarters at the Mappin's? It used to have a window just past the toilets. Maybe its not on show these days?

and secondly Is there anything in the old Beaver enclosure?
 
The black rhino would be better suited to ZSL London / Regent's Park IMO. Even though it was at the time suggested it would be better not to have any pachyderms in Regent's Park. These fare a lot better on hardstanding …, which is not available at Whipsnade (and due to which some antelope taxa do not fare well there either).

In the short term it will not happen …, unless that is that ZSL / London Zoo gets serious about the 10 acre extension area …. than this and a host of other species could conceivably come back to Central London.

What some have suggested as to species loss and does not inspire them to re-visit London is fine, but I suppose most tourists and Londoners will stick with their good ole Regent's Park site.

As for Colchester Zoo being a better option. Perhaps for some, I have found it takes me a couple hours to get there from Central London. No wonder suburbans or commuters communities around London will perhaps choose Colchester over ZSL Regent's Park and for the London populace vice versa. But enough for now about Colchester versus London.

I myself feel everything has now been said by those with applause and those with serious reservations and were are getting to a stage where we are in the usual everyone his own ditch to oneself. Seems to me not much point in taking it any further. Perhaps if some of us do feel it warrants further discussion, it may have to be a separate thread from the usual London 2014 news threads. Perhaps ...
 
Shirokuma said:
No it is empty. That part of the zoo really needs some work in my view.
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Agreed. I'm not sure that there is much that can be done with what is basically a pit. It's a bit scary to think that it was once a seal pond! :eek:

And there really does need to be some use of the Canal bank. The nature trail, to say nothing of the empty space where the Crane & Goose paddocks once stood, represent wasted space.
 
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Kifaru Bwana said:
The black rhino would be better suited to ZSL London / Regent's Park IMO. Even though it was at the time suggested it would be better not to have any pachyderms in Regent's Park. These fare a lot better on hardstanding …, which is not available at Whipsnade due to which some antelope taxa do not fare well there either).
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I think the problem at ZSL would be providing them enough space and building entirely brand new quarters too(expensive). One problem with the Casson was the outsides were too small for Rhinos, though they were lucky to have compatable animals(the Blacks) which bred repeatedly nonetheless. Whipsnade could just as easily incorporate decent hardstanding areas for them in any new design,, doing a proper upgrade for them as they have recently done with Giraffe, and they would still have access to a large grass paddock too, which they never could at London. Port Lympne's Black Rhino are not kept on hardstandings, apart from the tiny concrete yards attatched to the houses, and as you know, they do very well. I think space is still the essence for all the Rhinos.

Most of Whipsnade's antelope do have access to hardstandings too, but spend most time out on the grass paddocks if given the choice, which I think is what you may be referring to. I think grass isn't so good for some of the African arid-dwelling species at least.
 
ajmcwhipsnade said:
Couple of questions about London Zoo in 2014, Is there anything in the old Langur indoor quarters at the Mappin's? It used to have a window just past the toilets. Maybe its not on show these days?
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Last time I went it was empty. IMO its not really a fit place to show animals as it is/was then.
 
zooboy28 said:
Where is the old beaver exhibit? And where are the old crane and goose paddocks?
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The old beaver exhibit is on its own on the south bank of the canal near the tunnel entrance/exit between the Clore and the Into Africa section (Cotton terraces). It is a sunken rectangular exhibit, but there is quite a lot of open space around it, so it could be enlarged. The last species I saw there, several years ago, was a rhino iguana (in the summer of course).
The crane and goose exhibits were on the north bank of the canal, on the other side of the path from the small aviary that now holds lovebirds, the exit gate and the old building with little aviaries for small/delicate birds. The fences have gone and the only things I recall seeing there recently were tree trunks and branches. The flat area is not very large, but it could easily be developed as an exhibit for small or medium sized species.
I think it is unfortunate that ZSL seems only to concentrate on large and expensive projects; they are usually done well and they certainly attract publicity, but the rest of the zoo looks increasingly shabby by comparison.

Alan
 
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Pertinax said:
I think the problem at ZSL would be providing them enough space and building entirely brand new quarters too(expensive). One problem with the Casson was the outsides were too small for Rhinos, though they were lucky to have compatable animals(the Blacks) which bred repeatedly nonetheless. Whipsnade could just as easily incorporate decent hardstanding areas for them in any new design,, doing a proper upgrade for them as they have recently done with Giraffe, and they would still have access to a large grass paddock too, which they never could at London. Port Lympne's Black Rhino are not kept on hardstandings, apart from the tiny concrete yards attatched to the houses, and as you know, they do very well. I think space is still the essence for all the Rhinos.

Most of Whipsnade's antelope do have access to hardstandings too, but spend most time out on the grass paddocks if given the choice, which I think is what you may be referring to. I think grass isn't so good for some of the African arid-dwelling species at least.
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The latter is also true for black rhino. Allthough, as you quite rightly put it Port Lympne and to a lesser extent Chester keep them on rather rich grassy outdoor paddocks and do well with them.

Making my point about when and if rhinos to come back to ZSL / Regent's Park - much preferred here by me - I was thinking of completely new digs (and this then on the extension of the 10acre if that ever become a reality).
 
I don't think the 10 acres will ever become a reality. As long as they have Whipsnade and space going unused within the zoo I don't think it could really be justified to the outside world, despite the fact that this is land the zoo has a right too.

I think people would be up in arms about losing part of their precious park despite the fact that it is enormous and other open spaces such as Primrose Hill, Hampstead Heath and Hyde Park aren't exactly far away.
 
Shirokuma said:
I don't think the 10 acres will ever become a reality. As long as they have Whipsnade and space going unused within the zoo I don't think it could really be justified to the outside world, despite the fact that this is land the zoo has a right too.

I think people would be up in arms about losing part of their precious park despite the fact that it is enormous and other open spaces such as Primrose Hill, Hampstead Heath and Hyde Park aren't exactly far away.
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Which is why any proposal should be about putting on a show - African megafauna |(rhino, giraffe, zebra, Ostrich) tick the box neatly, and would free up space on the Cotton Terraces. And perhaps, too, a covered play area that could be accessed, for a price, by visitors from the Park, with an attached coffee shop.

London really does need space for some bigger mammals. The choice of emulating Bristol, ie keeping virtually no large mammals, or of phasing out a lot of non-box office animals that really have a better claim on housing in an urban zoo (which could be said to be what is being done currently) is a pretty unattractive one. Getting more land from the Park would make life a great deal easier.
 
As Regent's Park is a royal park, would any request for extra space need to go to the house of commons? I would assume that any real request would be extremely difficult to get accepted. As suggested, I would think it would have to be more about what they can bring to the park (coffee shop etc) rather then what the zoo ideally wants (larger animals etc). Seeing as Regents Park is such a historic one (as all the parks are) I honestly cant see it happening.

Not to say it would not be fascinating!
 
IanRRobinson said:
Which is why any proposal should be about putting on a show - African megafauna |(rhino, giraffe, zebra, Ostrich) tick the box neatly, and would free up space on the Cotton Terraces. And perhaps, too, a covered play area that could be accessed, for a price, by visitors from the Park, with an attached coffee shop.

London really does need space for some bigger mammals. The choice of emulating Bristol, ie keeping virtually no large mammals, or of phasing out a lot of non-box office animals that really have a better claim on housing in an urban zoo (which could be said to be what is being done currently) is a pretty unattractive one. Getting more land from the Park would make life a great deal easier.
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I really DO think that if ZSL London Zoo would make a bid for those 10 acre they should raise the megafauna as the vehicle and flagship by which they would NEED to have that acreage to realise a better / more attractive zoo that caters for all visitors.

It remains puzzling to me that a national zoo is not able to charter the Royals / play the card of the Royal Parks in terms of getting London on the platform for their innercity zoo.
 
The area adjacent to the Childrens zoo, tiger territory, etc is used for sports fields anyway, so as all the schools in my area seem to be allowed to sell off sports fields for expensive housing, why shouldn't some of Regents Park be used for something else much more beneficial than that (homes for the rich) to the public in general?!
 
London Zoo Space

There's quite a bit of space here. :)

Between the new lion enclosure (to the left/east), Animal Adventure (far south of the zoo) and Tiger Territory (to the right/west).
 

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gentle lemur said:
The old beaver exhibit is on its own on the south bank of the canal near the tunnel entrance/exit between the Clore and the Into Africa section (Cotton terraces). It is a sunken rectangular exhibit, but there is quite a lot of open space around it, so it could be enlarged. The last species I saw there, several years ago, was a rhino iguana (in the summer of course).
The crane and goose exhibits were on the north bank of the canal, on the other side of the path from the small aviary that now holds lovebirds, the exit gate and the old building with little aviaries for small/delicate birds. The fences have gone and the only things I recall seeing there recently were tree trunks and branches. The flat area is not very large, but it could easily be developed as an exhibit for small or medium sized species.
I think it is unfortunate that ZSL seems only to concentrate on large and expensive projects; they are usually done well and they certainly attract publicity, but the rest of the zoo looks increasingly shabby by comparison.

Alan
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Thanks Alan. :cool:

I agree that much of the zoo is looking worse-for-wear (and some parts almost look abandoned!), and that it isn't enough to build large exhibits every couple of years - renovations and improvements to existing enclosures and grounds are also vital. While increasing the area of the zoo would be beneficial, I think they need to focus on working with what they already have for now, utilising available resources and space appropriately. (I realise this has all been said before, just my two cents worth.)
 
zooboy28 said:
Thanks Alan. :cool:

I agree that much of the zoo is looking worse-for-wear (and some parts almost look abandoned!), and that it isn't enough to build large exhibits every couple of years - renovations and improvements to existing enclosures and grounds are also vital. While increasing the area of the zoo would be beneficial, I think they need to focus on working with what they already have for now, utilising available resources and space appropriately. (I realise this has all been said before, just my two cents worth.)
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I really would think that exhibit would re-lend itself to exhibiting reptiles (all be it seasonal). Either European or with an African flavour.
 
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