ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2018

I am reliably informed that the discovery centre houses various breeding stock off show as the area is now too decrepit to be suitable for public viewing. there are staff facilities on the upper level.
 
Rehoming fishes to Sealife Centres etc may help in a few specific cases, but commercial public aquariums usually have very little space off-show.
 
Panthera1981 said:
That’s a hell of a lot of money to find/spend in the space of 8 years!!!

At least the Cotton terraces are functional, but realistically HOW do you solve the Casson and Mappins without breaking the bank? The latter’s a multi-million pound project on its own! Where would you find that type of investment and justify it? We’ve all got our own ideas I’ve no doubt, but I’m sure ZSL will probably let both just slowly rot.

My prediction? The Casson will become an indoor soft-play area/coffee shop and Mappins gets sold off to Go Ape!

Stranger things have happened!
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Maybe the Casson could become a raptor facility and the Mappins a Himalayas Range for vultures, snow leopards, red panda and ibex?
 
monster said:
I hear from a very good source that the aquarium would cost at least 8 or 9 million to even make safe for staff to work in let alone improve animal and public facilities. sadly that means goodbye to the aquatic collection. I'm afraid that years of neglect of infrastructure in favour of over priced projects like lions and tigers are starting to take their toll on both sites. ...
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I've often wondered whether the plumbing and water tanks needed for the aquarium takes up space and adds to the cost of refurbishment. As it's fully enclosed with no windows, could it be used as a nocturnal house instead, all the plumbing/water filtration systems and tanks removed to allow for more exhibit space?

Regarding the outdoor mappin ranges, if it was able to accommodate emu and kangaroo with free standing wooden accommodation, i dont see why it couldn't be planted up again (as it was for the sloth bears) and used for tapir, capybara, pudu, agouti, armadillo, sloths and tamarins/marmosets and/Or saki monkeys. Would make use of the ground space, water bit at the front and won't need tons of extra barbed wire or electric fences to contain. Thoughts?
 
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Bear in mind that the roof of the aquarium forms the structure of the Mappin terraces and I believe is structurally unsafe, not to mention full of water tanks, so not a lot can be done with that area until the aquarium problem is solved.
 
volvox said:
Bear in mind that the roof of the aquarium forms the structure of the Mappin terraces and I believe is structurally unsafe, not to mention full of water tanks, so not a lot can be done with that area until the aquarium problem is solved.
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Which is the very reason it should be completely demolished. It is a shambles that Listed Building status really creates this inertia and inaction.To me, same is true for the Casson.

Building a new and afresh is far more effective.
 
Going back to the Snowdon (which is now closed to visitors, incidentally) – does anyone know if there is a colobus monkey walkthrough in any other zoo, and if so, how it works? Colobus are big animals with sharp teeth and I'm intrigued to know how everyone is going to be kept safe.
 
volvox said:
Going back to the Snowdon (which is now closed to visitors, incidentally) – does anyone know if there is a colobus monkey walkthrough in any other zoo, and if so, how it works? Colobus are big animals with sharp teeth and I'm intrigued to know how everyone is going to be kept safe.
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Muenster has one and it has been successful for years. Colobus monkeys are pretty harmless and gentle animals, I would say Barbary macaque enclosures are a lot more risky and those are everywhere...
 
Okay, well that's good and I'm looking forward to it, as I dare say volunteers will be involved! It's just hard to imagine as squirrel monkeys aren't particularly aggressive but can (and do) deliver quite a nip out of plain inquisitiveness, and they're a fraction of the size.
 
well I am worried about the Colobus interactions with visitors as London zoo couldn't even manage the squirrel monkeys without incident and had to send them back to Whipsnade . also look at the lemur walk through and how many lemurs died there in the last few years......
 
The squirrel monkey walkthrough is very much up and running by my last check, though I’m not familiar with Whipsnades group. As for the lemurs they are Whipsnades males that were expelled from the group by the females because they were too old which might have more to do with any deaths then the walkthrough nature of the exhibit.
 
pipaluk said:
When did this happen? If they have gone, what is in the enclosure now?
I very much doubt they've all gone.
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I just visited last week and they were still there but half the walkthrough was closed off so you could only access it via the entrance next to BUGS and the anteaters
 
Yeah that sounds right, because of where they’re doing construction on the old cafe right? I’d wager Whipsnade has a bachelor group made up of London’s surplus males.

Edit: yeah the 2018 inventory lists 7 males at Whipsnade.
 
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monster said:
well I am worried about the Colobus interactions with visitors as London zoo couldn't even manage the squirrel monkeys without incident and had to send them back to Whipsnade . also look at the lemur walk through and how many lemurs died there in the last few years......
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I can assure you that last Friday the troop of squirrel monkeys were at London Zoo and were very active. The lemur troop in the walk through does consist of some old male lemurs although younger ones are gradually being introduced. Any deaths have been age related or health issues and certainly nothing to do with neglect or lack of attention from the keepers
 
Yup, squirrel monkeys very active yesterday, no problems there; and the lemur walkthrough is up to strength in numbers again as new youngsters have been introduced and are now more or less integrated (there's always a lttle difference of opinion over hierarchy!).
Minor other bit of news: a no-smoking policy is about to be introduced with a few special smoking areas around the zoo.
 
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