ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2021

I think it’s been consensus on this site for a while that the giraffe enclosure could do with being extended and that London can’t afford to lose another prestigious species (especially one that is relatively low maintenance!)
 
Cat-Man said:
I think it’s been consensus on this site for a while that the giraffe enclosure could do with being extended and that London can’t afford to lose another prestigious species (especially one that is relatively low maintenance!)
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Absolutely, though I unfortunately wouldn’t expect London to start breeding giraffes again as they don’t have the facilities to hold a breeding bull. The issues lie with the Listed status of the buildings. However, the numerous correspondence from the Director General since Boris’ announcement regarding the spring/summer period do sound cautiously optimistic so who knows!
 
Panthera1981 said:
Absolutely, though I unfortunately wouldn’t expect London to start breeding giraffes again as they don’t have the facilities to hold a breeding bull. The issues lie with the Listed status of the buildings. However, the numerous correspondence from the Director General since Boris’ announcement regarding the spring/summer period do sound cautiously optimistic so who knows!
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But London had been successfully breeding giraffe for over 150 years in this house, so keeping a breeding bull is clearly not the issue. Of course methods of animal husbandry have changed so current policy may well be not to run a bull with females except when breeding is required; the house is not suitable to keep a bull in isolation and, I am sure, few zoos today would wish to keep bulls separately unless they had adequate facilities to do that. But animals can be moved around other collections for mating, as a number of places do, if London wish to have calves.
 
zooboy said:
But London had been successfully breeding giraffe for over 150 years in this house, so keeping a breeding bull is clearly not the issue. Of course methods of animal husbandry have changed so current policy may well be not to run a bull with females except when breeding is required; the house is not suitable to keep a bull in isolation and, I am sure, few zoos today would wish to keep bulls separately unless they had adequate facilities to do that. But animals can be moved around other collections for mating, as a number of places do, if London wish to have calves.
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The current group are all hybrid giraffe, therefore no breeding is planned.

I am not sure if expansion of the giraffe yard would be advisable. This would only be at the expense of okapi and pygmy hippo.
 
I can’t imagine crazy golf coming back with socially distanced measures, could the giant anteaters make a return?
Also would the old giant tortoise enclosure be large enough for amiss?
I also had a thought, could the old reptile house be renovated into a new aquarium, funds allowing?
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
The current group are all hybrid giraffe, therefore no breeding is planned.

I am not sure if expansion of the giraffe yard would be advisable. This would only be at the expense of okapi and pygmy hippo.
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I think that extending the giraffe paddock into the zebra paddock would make the enclosure large enough to keep two or three non breeding giraffes. London really can't afford to lose any more large species so I think it is vital that London should do everything they can to keep the giraffes at the zoo. The same goes for the gorillas, lions and tigers.
 
I am not sure if expansion of the giraffe yard would be advisable. This would only be at the expense of okapi and pygmy hippo.[/QUOTE]

Either of these could easily be rehomed at zsl whipsnade.
In fact I am amazed there isn't more movement of species between zsl's 2 zoos.
 
I’m tempted to agree with the above. It would be sad for London to lose their Okapi but I don’t think the average visitor would give it much thought
 
zooboy said:
But London had been successfully breeding giraffe for over 150 years in this house, so keeping a breeding bull is clearly not the issue. Of course methods of animal husbandry have changed so current policy may well be not to run a bull with females except when breeding is required; the house is not suitable to keep a bull in isolation and, I am sure, few zoos today would wish to keep bulls separately unless they had adequate facilities to do that. But animals can be moved around other collections for mating, as a number of places do, if London wish to have calves.
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not sure if im correct so correct me if wrong , i read somewhere that reasoin bull giraffe arent kept at london is a health and safety issue . yes it was safe for 150 years but as we all know health and safety has got stricter it all aspects of work .
 
aquilla1 said:
I can’t imagine crazy golf coming back with socially distanced measures, could the giant anteaters make a return?
Also would the old giant tortoise enclosure be large enough for amiss?
I also had a thought, could the old reptile house be renovated into a new aquarium, funds allowing?
Click to expand...

Nevermind the reduction in species at the zoo I'm quite heart broken about the downfall of crazy golf at ZSL London :p
 
sparkes12 said:
I am not sure if expansion of the giraffe yard would be advisable. This would only be at the expense of okapi and pygmy hippo.
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Either of these could easily be rehomed at zsl whipsnade.
In fact I am amazed there isn't more movement of species between zsl's 2 zoos.[/QUOTE]

As much as I would love to see Okapi at Whipsnade, I can’t see London ever giving them up. Considering the circumstances under which the species was discovered/described, they’re probably deemed one of London’s “crown jewel” species, so they’d be loathe to let them leave.

Im also not sure how Okapi would cope with the Whipsnade climate, particularly in winter! Are they particularly fragile? The only place I could see them housed is in the current Bongo paddock, adjacent to the hunting dogs, but with a bit more tree cover.
 
Panthera1981 said:
As much as I would love to see Okapi at Whipsnade, I can’t see London ever giving them up. Considering the circumstances under which the species was discovered/described, they’re probably deemed one of London’s “crown jewel” species, so they’d be loathe to let them leave.
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The fact the Okapi are pretty much the only breeding animal on that North Bank, I would say that is enough reason to keep them too!

The future plan for the improved giraffe area is to mix in Ostrich, they are calling it a new "savannah area". Longer term to try and open it all up to mix the Zebra as well, but that hasn't gone well when tested over the years.
 
LucasRyan said:
The future plan for the improved giraffe area is to mix in Ostrich, they are calling it a new "savannah area". Longer term to try and open it all up to mix the Zebra as well, but that hasn't gone well when tested over the years.
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Correct about the zebras! They tried that with the “Into Africa” concept a few years back, which ended up being a bit of a damp squib.

Granted there’s not much that can be done physically with the Cotton Terraces (silk purse/sow’s ear come to mind) but why not embrace the building’s history and architecture? It’s one of the few historical buildings that can still more or less function well.
 
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