ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2015

IanRRobinson said:
With the best will in the world, this is a stupid idea. If you're going to have people in the zoo overnight (staff excepted) then surely to goodness it's done on the edge of the zoo site to minimise any disturbance.

TBH, I don't think it's possible to put overnight lodges in anywhere at London without causing issues. And it seems doubly daft when a better thought out development at Whipsnade would probably cost less and could be built to have more guests.

Sometimes it's hard to avoid the feeling that the marketing department have taken over London Zoo.

:confused:
Click to expand...

Absolutely right, and a complete and utter waste of money, London Zoo is just not the place for such things.
 
Visited London yesterday (along with one Zoochatter, and accidentally running into some more - they do let in some very strange characters in these places...).

Generally speaking, the place is looking good, I think. The North Bank and the area affected by the building works aside, there's little now feeling like it needs immediate attention (unlike when the aquarium looked like it collapse around you, for example!).

The Madagascan area means the Clore no longer feels like it is half closed down around you - it may not have the species numbers it had even in the nineties but this time it felt like the Clore was back to full operation for the first time since the Rainforest was installed. We saw all the mammals on show in the building bar the cloud rat - including the young Moholi Galagos, an Aye-aye and even three Lesser Hedgehogs Tenrecs, two of which were awake and active(!).

The new spider section of BUGS/Web of Life is superb. Really, really good. A very handsome adult Fen Raft Spider was my highlight.

A very good day, capped with a quick half hour in the delightfully eccentric Grant Zoology Museum to round off the day.
 
Nanook said:
Absolutely right, and a complete and utter waste of money, London Zoo is just not the place for such things.
Click to expand...
Agree with you & Ian 100%.
The money & space would be better used building new enclosures for the dozens of animals lost over the last 30 year's, a situation already worsened by the decision to build the New Lion exhibit !
 
I do think the Snowdon needs some serious attention, the mesh is falling apart. Bird-wise there are way too many Sacred Ibis in there at the moment making a great deal of mess - as only they can in a huge flock!!
I have a soft spot for the old aviary and hate to see it looking in a state.

Talking about the BUGS house - there is one aspect of the building which is
unsuitable and that is the two tall triangular corner aviaries, one was empty on my last visit, the other occupied but these two aviaries do not really suit birds, they are a poor design for keeping birds.

While I am having a moan, it was a shame to see the Tecton Penguin Pool left empty, apart from the Autumn leaves. Since the penguins vacated this enclosure what has it been used for so far ?? Anyone know ???
 
Nanook said:
While I am having a moan, it was a shame to see the Tecton Penguin Pool left empty, apart from the Autumn leaves. Since the penguins vacated this enclosure what has it been used for so far ?? Anyone know ???
Click to expand...

The plan was to turn it into an ornamental fountain, though last time I visited it looked more like an anaemic trickle!

Ultimately, it's design proved unfit for animals. The penguins developed foot problems, and the cauldron-shape of the exhibit "cooked" the eggs!

My fear is it'll turn into even more of an eyesore once the new lion exhibit opens.:(
 
Hello Bongorob

I remember seeing porcupines in the penguin pool. After this, it became an ornamental fountain for a short time.
 
pipaluk said:
Agree with you & Ian 100%.
The money & space would be better used building new enclosures for the dozens of animals lost over the last 30 year's, a situation already worsened by the decision to build the New Lion exhibit !
Click to expand...

Moan as you will and as long as you like ..., but the reality is that is never ever going to happen now as modern zoo development, aesthetics and husbandry guidelines now dictate quite differently.

Unless, the promised chunk of Regent's public park being integrated into ZSL / Zoo becomes a reality - which I would sincerely applaud - no larger mega vertebrates that had called these crammed boxed enclosures home in the past will not return here.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Moan as you will and as long as you like ..., but the reality is that is never ever going to happen now as modern zoo development, aesthetics and husbandry guidelines now dictate quite differently.

Unless, the promised chunk of Regent's public park being integrated into ZSL / Zoo becomes a reality - which I would sincerely applaud - no larger mega vertebrates that had called these crammed boxed enclosures home in the past will not return here.
Click to expand...
No-one has mentioned ' larger mega vertebrates'! There are plenty of smaller mammals that could be put in the vacant space, rather than the lodges and a New lion exhibit filled with assorted junk in the name of 'theming' ( old suitcases etc have been requested!).
I accept we will not see elephants or rhino without an expansion to the current site.
 
pipaluk said:
No-one has mentioned ' larger mega vertebrates'! There are plenty of smaller mammals that could be put in the vacant space, rather than the lodges and a New lion exhibit filled with assorted junk in the name of 'theming' ( old suitcases etc have been requested!).
I accept we will not see elephants or rhino without an expansion to the current site.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. A serious conservation zoo on a 36 acre / 14 hectare site really ought to be capable of finding space for Striped Possum, Belanger's Tree Shrew, Pigmy Slow Loris, Fat-tailed Dwarf Lemur, Red-bellied Lemur, Francois' Langur, Northern White-Cheeked Gibbon, Sand Cat, Amur Leopard, Sloth Bear, Red Panda, Southern Pudu, Lowland Anoa and Arabian Oryx. ALL have left London in the past fifteen years. And you'll notice I've not mentioned the birds.

I sometimes wonder if those who say "London hasn't got the space" have ever properly walked round the site or looked at older maps. Large chunks of the canal banks are untouched or have been abandoned. Pathways between the Casson Pavilion and the Mappins are now fenced off, where serviceable accommodation could have been installed for birds.

Somebody, somewhere just isn't interested in non-box office species at London. The old Tiger enclosure could have become a lovely space for Fishing Cats - a species in trouble in the wild and by small cat standards quite a good exhibit.

Instead of which high income visitors will be given an ersatz safari lodge. Sorry, but it's not what I'd have done.
 
IanRRobinson said:
Totally agree. A serious conservation zoo on a 36 acre / 14 hectare site really ought to be capable of finding space for Striped Possum, Belanger's Tree Shrew, Pigmy Slow Loris, Fat-tailed Dwarf Lemur, Red-bellied Lemur, Francois' Langur, Northern White-Cheeked Gibbon, Sand Cat, Amur Leopard, Sloth Bear, Red Panda, Southern Pudu, Lowland Anoa and Arabian Oryx. ALL have left London in the past fifteen years. And you'll notice I've not mentioned the birds.
Click to expand...

Agreed, London could do so very well with smaller and unusual species. They could build upon their EDGE work, improve it's visibility with the general public, and introduce them to a range of unusual species they probably wouldn't come across otherwise.

But the public still want ABCs. Overheard a couple of families on my last visit moaning that they hadn't seen any elephants
 
IanRRobinson said:
Totally agree. A serious conservation zoo on a 36 acre / 14 hectare site really ought to be capable of finding space for Striped Possum, Belanger's Tree Shrew, Pigmy Slow Loris, Fat-tailed Dwarf Lemur, Red-bellied Lemur, Francois' Langur, Northern White-Cheeked Gibbon, Sand Cat, Amur Leopard, Sloth Bear, Red Panda, Southern Pudu, Lowland Anoa and Arabian Oryx. ALL have left London in the past fifteen years. And you'll notice I've not mentioned the birds.

I sometimes wonder if those who say "London hasn't got the space" have ever properly walked round the site or looked at older maps. Large chunks of the canal banks are untouched or have been abandoned. Pathways between the Casson Pavilion and the Mappins are now fenced off, where serviceable accommodation could have been installed for birds.

Somebody, somewhere just isn't interested in non-box office species at London. The old Tiger enclosure could have become a lovely space for Fishing Cats - a species in trouble in the wild and by small cat standards quite a good exhibit.

Instead of which high income visitors will be given an ersatz safari lodge. Sorry, but it's not what I'd have done.
Click to expand...

Believe me I HAVE ...!

I just beg to differ. It is a matter of opinion.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Believe me I HAVE ...!

I just beg to differ. It is a matter of opinion.
Click to expand...

With respect, then why do you describe those opposed to current London policy as being nostalgic for megafauna in boxes? Leopards and Sloth Bears apart (I thought Sun Bears would be a better species for London, but again each to their own) NONE of those mammals that I listed are megafauna.

Asian Elephant, Chimps, Black Rhino and Bongo also went in that period and Bongo excepted I wouldn't want to see them back unless the Zoo got more land. In the elephants' case I wouldn't want them back at London full-stop: two groups of elephants being managed by one organisation is a very expensive undertaking indeed.

Each to their own but a trip to Antwerp, Artis, Frankfurt or (maybe) Vienna ( which perhaps doesn't have the freedom to dispose of so many ABCs that is made possible by the proximity of nearby bigger sister zoos) show a very different way of doing things IS possible.
 
Presumably if its 1.1, the male will head the group at London with the three existing Whipsnade females. The female might be very difficult to integrate with those females, but she may be destined to go somewhere else anyway e.g. Bristol(?) to spread the new gene flow more widely.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top