ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2014

TeaLovingDave said:
Downside with the new format for the inventories is that it only records the state of affairs on 01/01/2014, without noting births, deaths and departures in the previous year; as such, without a copy of last year's inventory it is difficult to spot the more obscure departures and arrivals, for instance those in the reptile and amphibian collection. ...................................


I did locate the 2013 inventories which are still on the ZSL site if you want them for comparison

http://static.zsl.org/files/2013-london-zoo-animal-inventory-2402.pdf


http://static.zsl.org/files/2013-whipsnade-zoo-animal-inventory-2403.pdf
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TeaLovingDave said:
in the past year the collection has gone out of the following species, some of which had been held in relatively high numbers:



Vipera berus berus
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Were these ever on show? There was a piece in the zoo's magazine a couple of years ago saying that they - and some other interesting venomous species - would see be on display. As far as I know, this never happened. Fair enough - plans change - but the shrinkage in this particular part of the collection is indeed, striking - and I must admit that I'm sorry that adders were not seen. I think they are a species to which the public would have responded.
 
I seem to recall seeing the adders once - but it could well be the Armenian Viper I am recalling (another species which has gone in the past year, incidentally) as the two species are akin in appearance.

Thanks to the links posted by tennisfan, this is the full list of snake species which London has gone out of in the past year, along with how many individuals were held at the start of 2013. No snake species appear to have been acquired

Broghammerus reticulatus - 1,0,0

Morelia spilota spilota - 1,1,0

Morelia viridis - 0,0,2

Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia - 0,0,7

Lampropeltis getula californiae - 0,0,1

Bothriechis aurifer - 0,1,0

Bothriechis lateralis - 2,2,0

Bothriechis nigroviridis - 1,1,0

Bothriechis schlegelii - 3,8,0

Bothriechis supraciliaris - 0,0,4

Parias flavomaculatus mcgregori - 1,3,0

Trimeresurus trigonocephalus - 1,2,2

Vipera berus - 0,0,2

Vipera raddei - 1,0,0


So that is a total of 14 snake species lost in a year - in terms of individuals across the whole reptile collection, they went from 296 animals in 2013 to 209 in 2014.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
I seem to recall seeing the adders once - but it could well be the Armenian Viper I am recalling (another species which has gone in the past year, incidentally) as the two species are akin in appearance.


So that is a total of 14 snake species lost in a year - in terms of individuals across the whole reptile collection, they went from 296 animals in 2013 to 209 in 2014.
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The Armenian vipers were certainly on show until relatively recently.

And that really is a striking reduction in numbers of species. Does anybody know why this has occurred?

With the decline in so many zoos' reptile collections, it is increasingly true that private collections and pet shops offer a better range of species; London hasn't quite sunk that low, but my local reptile shop - Fierce Creatures in Worthing - is possibly more wide-ranging in what it presents than the majority of UK zoos (I still haven't quite recovered from seeing Hamerton's "reptile house' last month).
 
Panthera1981 said:
Interesting!

I can only assume they're temporarily holding excess stock from another collection (Whipsnade?). I don't think cheetah have done very well in the past at London, though someone correct if I'm wrong. They can't be part of the new lion development can they?
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I guess they are fill-up and surplus stock waiting to be moved on fairly soon. Cannot imagine a group in close proximity to the lion development to be of any permanence. It is a welcome change though!
 
sooty mangabey said:
With the decline in so many zoos' reptile collections, it is increasingly true that private collections and pet shops offer a better range of species
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Certainly it bears consideration that even with many of their venomous species having been kept offshow, until recently London was pretty much the only public collection in the UK with a halfway decent selection of on-show venomous species - and even so, until my visit to Tierpark Berlin I had seen fewer than a dozen venomous species of snake in my lifetime :p

It also bears noting that although one or two other reptile species have departed London in the past year, it is only the snake collection which has been gutted.
 
sooty mangabey said:
The Armenian vipers were certainly on show until relatively recently.

And that really is a striking reduction in numbers of species. Does anybody know why this has occurred?

With the decline in so many zoos' reptile collections, it is increasingly true that private collections and pet shops offer a better range of species; London hasn't quite sunk that low, but my local reptile shop - Fierce Creatures in Worthing - is possibly more wide-ranging in what it presents than the majority of UK zoos (I still haven't quite recovered from seeing Hamerton's "reptile house' last month).
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I too have seen Hamerton's Reptile House. Enough said...:rolleyes:

I get bored of saying it, but it is this constant, relentless loss of diversity that so dismays me about London Zoo and prevents me from applauding the improvement in the Zoo's appearance and financial position that have undoubtedly occurred.

In the case of the Reptile House the transformation of the east wall for amphibians (and personally I can do without displays like the White's Tree Frog exhibit) has taken away a large chunk of the available space for smaller reptiles. Meanwhile, the two large bays either side of the entrance have been taken out of commission, seemingly permanently, for exhibit purposes. Granted, that on the East side was no good for giant tortoises, but in thirty years one would have hoped that some replacement usage could have been found.

Whatever the reasons, the then Director General told me in 1996 that he saw London's strong points, which should be maintained, as being invertebrates, reptiles and small mammals. The revamp of the Clore has destroyed the last (59 mammal species on the entire site, including domestic species :eek:) and the array of reptiles is shrinking.

This trend is, to put it mildly, worrying...:(
 
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Shirokuma said:
Is it clear that they are there on a temporary basis?
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As much as I'd hope not, I don't think they're included in the plans for the new lion exhibit. If they were, surely ZSL would source the Asian subspecies rather than North African? I don't know of anywhere that keeps Asian cheetah!
 
Panthera1981 said:
As much as I'd hope not, I don't think they're included in the plans for the new lion exhibit. If they were, surely ZSL would source the Asian subspecies rather than North African? I don't know of anywhere that keeps Asian cheetah!
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I suspect that you'd find it easier to get Sumatran Rhino than Asiatic Cheetah....
 
Oh! I meant to say at the time that I happened to bump into the Marwell keepers a couple of weeks ago, when they visited London to look at Daphne prior to the move. They are planning to import a male from Europe somewhere (sorry, can't remember) so she'll have a mate.
 
Some temporary barriers/screens appeared to be being errected at the Okapi residency today presummably to facilitate Daphne's transfer.

Elsewhere the smaller lion enclosure where the younger two lionesses (who were not visible) have been for a few weeks was being thoroughly cleaned and worked upon by a task force today . .. looks like Lucifer (male) move may be happening soon - speculation that the three sisters will then share the large enclosure.

Cheetahs up and about outside and looking happier.
Sloth baby very visible and the tiger cubs all put in an appearance in the late afternoon.
 
What's happening to the Francois langur when the lion build commences? It would be wholeheartedly stupid IMO to get rid of a successful breeding group of such an endangered primate.
 
oflory said:
Article on Lucifer's move!

Video: Lucifer the 30-stone lion gets a health check - Telegraph
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Nice video-I'm assuming they won't source another male until the new exhibit's finished?

On the subject of DNA that the video raises, there was a very interesting article on lion genetics on the BBC website a month or so back. Summarily, it states that West African lion (which seem to be even MORE endangered than Asian lion) are more closely related to Asiatics than they are to East Africans.

I'm guessing no one keeps pure W.African lion?
 
Is there any information on where Lucifer is moving to?
And anything on when the girls will be moved on and the building work starting?

I was speaking to a keeper yesterday who said they expect to have the Cheetah's for around 6 months, seems odd that there's no mention of them on the website or twitter feed, even if it's only for that long.
 
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