ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2018

SHAVINGTONZOO said:
So through the tunnel and "Happy Families". Silly name, decent exhibits. Nothing special.

CLORE: I was really worried by what I'd find here. I'm partial to small mammals and the Clore I remember was a real treasure trove. And ... well, it was very good!
The Rainforest Life was great. Really, really good. Sloth at (literally) armslength; very relaxed, in fact fast asleep. (Which was interesting, given the criticism that Chester's sloths were stressed by the proximity of the public.) Titi monkey, bats and Bullet the one-armed Tamarin! My sort of enclosure - reminded me of the pioneering free flight aviary at Aberdeen (c. 1968). And so it continued ... really good throughout rainforest and nocturnal section. Only slight quibble was the erratic labelling, especially in the nocturnal section where some backlit signage would be useful.
IN WITH THE LEMURS: after passing the sign at the entrance featuring six species a little disappointed that it was basically ... some Ring-Tailed. But there are Aye-Ayes inside so I was a happy boy! To see three Aye-Ayes in ten days - wow! Never thought that would ever happen.

On to INTO AFRICA which remains a highlight for megamammalme ( :) ). Even the zebra seemed special - add in Okapi and Giraffe. Good (but, I suppose, no longer exceptional). Didn't see the Hunting Dogs which was a shame as we are both rather partial to them.

By now it was almost closing time, so we skipped the North Bank (is there anything there now apart from pheasants and owls?)

A final trip to the toilets meant we saw the Caracara in "those" aviaries with the piano wire fronts and - a late bonus - a group of around 8 Passer domesticus - something of a London rarity these days.

to be completed
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Pheasants and owls on the North Bank? Unless things have changed since my last visit a few years ago, most of those have gone.
 
SHAVINGTONZOO said:
To summarise:

Still a decent collection with some outstanding species (but not the array of unusual species that once made it so special).
Some good exhibits, some very ordinary. Too many redundant buildings.
Welfare standards seem good.
Very quiet given that Central London was very busy.
Difficult to navigate; too cluttered.

What would I do if the ZSL took the wise step of appointing me as Sole Director and Supremo?

Demolish and redevelop redundant buildings (Mappin, Casson etc)
Remove 40% of tree cover and 70% of clutter.
Put in more signage.

Resign when Camden Council/ English Heritage refused permission for most of the above.

:cool:
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Getting rid of 40% of trees is probably the opposite of what ZSL is all about
 
SHAVINGTONZOO said:
a late bonus - a group of around 8 Passer domesticus - something of a London rarity these days.
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Are these rare over there now? I knew various of the passerines which were formerly common in the UK are now rare, but House Sparrows too?
 
@SHAVINGTONZOO Did you skip the Reptile House and BUGS because of time constraints, or because they're really not your cup of tea? On a busy day the former gets a little hellish I think, but BUGS is arguably the best exhibit in the zoo.

sooty mangabey said:
And I do find the evocation of India to be deeply uncomfortable....
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On what grounds? Unlike Dvur's 'African Village' or pretty much any temple exhibit I can think of I found 'Land of the Lions' to be the most convincing and reasonable evocation of an urban or semi-urban environment in a developing country that I've seen in a western zoo. Granted I haven't been to India, but it really did feel like a lot of other parts of Asia I have been to.
 
Chlidonias said:
Are these rare over there now? I knew various of the passerines which were formerly common in the UK are now rare, but House Sparrows too?
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They've certainly declined in recent years. More focus tends to be on the 'disappearing' farmland species like Yellowhammer, Grey Partridge, Skylark, Turtle Dove etc.
 
FBBird said:
Pheasants and owls on the North Bank? Unless things have changed since my last visit a few years ago, most of those have gone.
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I was working off the map which suggests that the North Bank has the Snowdon Aviary, pheasants and owls (since the latter two are pictured). Doesn't necessarily mean they're there of course! ;)
 
robert everett said:
Getting rid of 40% of trees is probably the opposite of what ZSL is all about
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But what is ZSL* all about? After my visit I'm not at all sure ...

* I know they do important research work and support in situ programmes etc etc, but the purpose of the Zoological Gardens in RP is less obvious.

On the matter of the trees I can understand that it seems odd to call for a cull of trees, but they do make the site feel cluttered and - IMO - difficult to navigate.
 
Chlidonias said:
Are these rare over there now? I knew various of the passerines which were formerly common in the UK are now rare, but House Sparrows too?
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House Sparrows in London have declined catastrophically. "Cockney Sparrow" (or as pronounced locally Sparrer) was a common expression; a railway depot in East London used a sparrow as its logo. These days they are absent across most of Central London.
 
I would agree with your assessment of the zoo. I think (like the rest of the UK), it is still soaring on the high of being a super-power. Removing, or redesigning, the listed buildings is vital for the continued running of the zoo. To lose London zoo would be catastrophe for the zoological world.
 
SHAVINGTONZOO said:
House Sparrows in London have declined catastrophically. "Cockney Sparrow" (or as pronounced locally Sparrer) was a common expression; a railway depot in East London used a sparrow as its logo. These days they are absent across most of Central London.
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For most of my life, house sparrows were extremely common throughout Central London and, with the possible exception of feral pigeons, were the birds I saw most frequently. However the population declined catastrophically during the 1990s so these once ubiquitous birds almost disappeared from much of Central London.

In my experience as Londoner, though, the numbers appear to be slowly increasing again. Whilst the population is still considerably less than pre-crash levels, at least in the part of London where I live, house sparrows are seen much more frequently than they were a few years ago. I am pleased to say that several pairs nested outside my house this year.
 
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I remember the House Sparrow colony in the ZSL Giraffe House used to contain several white ones. I haven't noticed sparrows in there recently though.
 
SHAVINGTONZOO said:
But what is ZSL* all about? After my visit I'm not at all sure ...

* I know they do important research work and support in situ programmes etc etc, but the purpose of the Zoological Gardens in RP is less obvious..
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Your observation here has been discussed on here in the past. Its always felt to me rather as if the animal collection at Regents Park is subsidiary to other work of the society- it almost seems to be a historical thing.
 
SHAVINGTONZOO said:
I was working off the map which suggests that the North Bank has the Snowdon Aviary, pheasants and owls (since the latter two are pictured). Doesn't necessarily mean they're there of course! ;)
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There used to be major owl collection on the North Bank, that had a lot of breeding successes over the years. There was also the North Pheasantry, with a representative collection of pheasant species, complementing the other Pheasantry (now long demolished) near the Bird House.
 
FunkyGibbon said:
@SHAVINGTONZOO
On what grounds? Unlike Dvur's 'African Village' or pretty much any temple exhibit I can think of I found 'Land of the Lions' to be the most convincing and reasonable evocation of an urban or semi-urban environment in a developing country that I've seen in a western zoo. Granted I haven't been to India, but it really did feel like a lot of other parts of Asia I have been to.
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  • I think my 'problem' with Land of the Lions (and other similar exhibits) is severalfold:
  • It just seems silly - the turning of animal exhibitory into a child's theme park. It is possible to evoke the exotic without going down this route (London's tiger exhibit being a case in point).
  • The animals become secondary to the tat that surrounds them (qv Paira Diaza)
  • There is something deeply patronising about recreating a slice of faux India in a London Park. If I saw the Mumbai Zoo displaying European Badgers and Red Foxes in a mocked up recreation of Croydon, I would find it distinctly puzzling!
SHAVINGTONZOO said:
But what is ZSL* all about? After my visit I'm not at all sure ...
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V good question. I do get the feeling that, fo some in ZSL, the zoo is almost an embarrassment. Look at the appalling members' magazine. You might not appreciate that ti was connected to a collection of animals on display in a European city.....

Dylan said:
Removing, or redesigning, the listed buildings is vital for the continued running of the zoo.
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I totally disagree with this argument! London Zoo should be able to embrace its older buildings, just as zoos as diverse as Vienna, Toledo, Berlin and Lincoln Park have done. Bulldoze those old buildings - if that were possible - and you're left with what is, fundamentally, just a patch of a park in central London (and not the most interesting such park, by a long chalk). I would love to see something imaginative and brilliant happening to utilise, say, the Casson Pavilion. But I won't hold my breath for it....
 
sooty mangabey said:
I totally disagree with this argument! London Zoo should be able to embrace its older buildings, just as zoos as diverse as Vienna, Toledo, Berlin and Lincoln Park have done. Bulldoze those old buildings - if that were possible - and you're left with what is, fundamentally, just a patch of a park in central London (and not the most interesting such park, by a long chalk). I would love to see something imaginative and brilliant happening to utilise, say, the Casson Pavilion. But I won't hold my breath for it....
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Is the aquarium rotted beyond repair? What do you think that they will do with this facility and the Mappin Terraces in the long-term? Will they just be left there to decay?
 
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SHAVINGTONZOO said:
But what is ZSL* all about? After my visit I'm not at all sure ...

* I know they do important research work and support in situ programmes etc etc, but the purpose of the Zoological Gardens in RP is less obvious.

On the matter of the trees I can understand that it seems odd to call for a cull of trees, but they do make the site feel cluttered and - IMO - difficult to navigate.
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I am actually writing a dissertation on this as we speak and the simplest answer is, one ZSL contributes such large amounts of money to conservation in 2017 I believe it was nearly £15 million. Two the educational side of actually seeing an animal and learn about it rather than seeing it on a screen. And three breeding programs are in fact the last chance for certain species all of this you probably already know
 
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