ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2016

wayne4swfc said:
Thanks everyone, so there's a good chance il manage to get parked ok then? As a first time visitor is there anything particular to look out for or any tips?
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Lions, tigers, gorillas, an extremely good lower vertebrate collection (reptile house, aquarium and bugs house), lots of decent walkthrough exhibits (lemurs, squirrel monkeys, spiders, rainforest biome) and some rare species in European zoos (e.g. Moholi bushbabies, aye-ayes, bearded pigs, Sardinian brook salamanders, Philippine crocodiles)
 
Particular emphasis on the Bearded Pigs; these are among the last individuals in Europe full-stop.
 
According to Zootierliste, Munich and Berlin Zoo the only other European zoos with Bornean bearded pigs.
 
pipaluk said:
I hadn't realised there were so few, only 3 males according to ZTL, and there won't be any breeding at London!
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Nor at the other collections, given the extreme age of the individuals concerned; I suspect we will have lost the species in Europe by 2020.
 
Male bearded pig is called Mutley, he has been neutered. (The one with the tusks).

The girls are called Michelle (largest one), Holly (hairy tail), Prue (blackest legs of the five) and Greta (bulging throat)
 
First time posting on here but wanted to thank you all as have been following various Zoochat pages for the last year, very informative for our visit to London Zoo this year as we hadn't been for some time.

Had quick look through old threads so forgive me if I have missed this being answered but is the female hunting dog pregnant? One dog appeared to have a swollen belly but that may just be to my untrained eye. I also miss seeing the gibbons as I loved their song when I visited before. It's a shame if they are off show at Whipsnade, they must be a crowd favourite!
Tried to look out for an aye-aye baby but alas, no luck. Briefly saw an adult climb past the window! A lot of the day did seem to be based on luck with timings for visibility purposes of each animal, we felt we saw a lot but I did hear several families complaining.

In regards to lions, I must confess we have been very lucky. Many friends who live in London had stated disappointed with the new land and had said they always see them in the same back corner which is where they were the day we went. No matter how many times we walked past, they were up there and very hard to see which was disappointing.

We did however get to stay overnight in the lodges as we were celebrating a wedding anniversary and I must say the experience with the lions was completely different. We had a tour of land of the lions and as soon as we reached the end area, two females were on top of the wooden platform and one walking around in the temple 360 area. Over the next twenty or so minutes we witnessed them all playing actively infront of the lodges appearing very relaxed and by the time we returned at the end of the night, one was fast asleep in the village house and the other two infront of the lodges. From talking to guests who returned to their room earlier, they witnessed two of the lions playing in all the long grass for a portion of the evening. From talking to the keepers who looked after us for the night and having seen their photos, this is a daily occurrence. Managed to convince the in-laws to book a stay there and they went a couple of weeks ago but were fortunate to see the male lion. We had no luck when we went but they saw him walking around when the zoo was closed and heard a lot of activity during the night. They did say that the females were inside though.
Can't afford the lodges again but it was worth it for that alone. With all the posts about him and the twins being out in the daytime though, I'll keep my fingers crossed we see them all together when we visit in December!
 
Annie246 said:
First time posting on here but wanted to thank you all as have been following various Zoochat pages for the last year, very informative for our visit to London Zoo this year as we hadn't been for some time.

Had quick look through old threads so forgive me if I have missed this being answered but is the female hunting dog pregnant? One dog appeared to have a swollen belly but that may just be to my untrained eye. I also miss seeing the gibbons as I loved their song when I visited before. It's a shame if they are off show at Whipsnade, they must be a crowd favourite!
Tried to look out for an aye-aye baby but alas, no luck. Briefly saw an adult climb past the window! A lot of the day did seem to be based on luck with timings for visibility purposes of each animal, we felt we saw a lot but I did hear several families complaining.

In regards to lions, I must confess we have been very lucky. Many friends who live in London had stated disappointed with the new land and had said they always see them in the same back corner which is where they were the day we went. No matter how many times we walked past, they were up there and very hard to see which was disappointing.

We did however get to stay overnight in the lodges as we were celebrating a wedding anniversary and I must say the experience with the lions was completely different. We had a tour of land of the lions and as soon as we reached the end area, two females were on top of the wooden platform and one walking around in the temple 360 area. Over the next twenty or so minutes we witnessed them all playing actively infront of the lodges appearing very relaxed and by the time we returned at the end of the night, one was fast asleep in the village house and the other two infront of the lodges. From talking to guests who returned to their room earlier, they witnessed two of the lions playing in all the long grass for a portion of the evening. From talking to the keepers who looked after us for the night and having seen their photos, this is a daily occurrence. Managed to convince the in-laws to book a stay there and they went a couple of weeks ago but were fortunate to see the male lion. We had no luck when we went but they saw him walking around when the zoo was closed and heard a lot of activity during the night. They did say that the females were inside though.
Can't afford the lodges again but it was worth it for that alone. With all the posts about him and the twins being out in the daytime though, I'll keep my fingers crossed we see them all together when we visit in December!
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Very interesting to hear about the lion experience :) sounds like you had a good time then!

Don't feel too bad about the aye-aye baby; the only thing anyone has 'seen' of it was the announcement in the update saying it had been born!

And I hope Branca (the female hunting dog) isn't pregnant right this moment, as they really can't fit another batch of puppies with their enormous litter of 11 pups still around!
 
I'm not sure that the last picture is captioned correctly. Was it really 1976? Or was it another zoo? Or was it a stunt at London relating to the closure of the old Lion House?

Alan
 
gentle lemur said:
I'm not sure that the last picture is captioned correctly. Was it really 1976? Or was it another zoo? Or was it a stunt at London relating to the closure of the old Lion House?

Alan
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I didn't think this was from ZSL either- the mesh is quite different from the old Lion house cage bars- the name 'Dandy' isn't one I know from that era either. I think its from somewhere else- maybe a small zoo closing?
 
Visited today.

- No sign of any aye-ayes, first time in almost four months that I haven't seen any on a visit.
- Lots of lighting and enclosure changes in the night house
- Saw a giant anteater outdoors for the first time in I think a good seven or eight years...!
- Bhanu was in the main paddock yet again with Heidi and Indi. Rubi was in the train paddock. Bhanu is looking more and more like a true lion male, his mane is growing, he has put on muscle and weight and has a much more vibrant colour :) also at long last I believe the Indian lions may be at the zoo. All four were out and I heard roaring from out of sight. Bhanu promptly scent-marked on a nearby tree. It might have been Rubi as she was out of sight when I heard it, but I doubt Bhanu would scent-mark upon hearing a lioness roar...!
- Gorillas got fed outdoors. Zaire is now separated for the main feed due to her age (she was in the tunnel over the public's head).
- Only saw Melati, no sign of the tiger cubs or Jae.
- Both tapirs and all five bearded pigs were fed outdoors.
- Saw Forrest the kinkajou in the Casson for the first time ever! He is smaller than you'd think, and very very active. Was very amusing to watch the keeper try and coax him out for some food and water, he seemed very 'teenage' and kept dashing back to bed when her back was turned.
 
Can anyone tell me please what the building & tall cage are in the background of the Wolf picture (17)?
 
pipaluk said:
Can anyone tell me please what the building & tall cage are in the background of the Wolf picture (17)?
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The tall cage is one of the outside cages of the old Lion House.

The building is the old Antelope House.
 
Tim May said:
The tall cage is one of the outside cages of the old Lion House.

The building is the old Antelope House.
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Thanks Tim, I thought the cage looked like the Lion House, but the building confused me, I never saw the Antelope house and hadn't realised it was so close to the lion house.
 
pipaluk said:
...I never saw the Antelope house and hadn't realised it was so close to the lion house.
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The old Antelope House was built in 1860 and stood for about a century; it was an ‘L’ shaped structure with an extension at right angles to the main part of the building.

I remember the Antelope House as very young child in the mid / late 1950s; the antelopes were housed in the main building while the shorter part of the ‘L’ was used mainly for zebras (the old Zebra House having been bombed during the war). The black rhinoceros ‘Lorna’ was also housed in the zebra wing until being moved to the old Deer and Cattle sheds.
 
Lots of mistakes in the Evening Standard link. The postcard caption is wrong – it's a Bactrian camel with two flat humps; The zoo didn't originally open in 1928; it's not 'Jumbo', Jumbo was not a 'she', he wasn't there in 1935; Typical hack rubbish and poor photo agency captioning, why don't they check the facts?
 
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