Giant armadillos at London Zoo » London Zoo

Giant armadillos at London Zoo
03-07-2008

anyone know anything about the history of any giant armadillos at London Zoo; as in how many they have had, how long they lived, that sort of thing??

My interest was aroused by posts in http://www.zoobeat.com/2/animals-you...0/index12.html

and this photo I posted: giant armadillo, London Zoo - Photo Gallery

09-07-2008

nope, never heard anything about them, ive read the story of london zoo and havent seen them mentoined in there either

09-07-2008

I think they have lived just a short time at the London Zoo, a few zoos in europe has kept them just a short time and the animals died often a few month later after the arrival.

I've found in a book, which was published in 1966, the information, that London zoos has kept two giant armadillos, but that's all.

I can search the guidebooks for them, but the guidebooks from the sixties are not very detailed.

I try to find out more about the giant armadillos. Are you just interested in the London Zoo's giant armadillos ?

09-07-2008

I've found a few informations to the giant armadillos at the Duisburg Zoo in germany.
The zoos imported the first one in 1973 from argentina, a second in 1974 and a third one in 1975. In this year, one of the three animals died, the two others died the next year, both in the same night, after they were placed into the exhibit in the giraffehouse.Until that, the giant armadillos were kept behind the scenes.

I think, this three giant armadillos were the only ones in germany after the second world war.

I've found these informations in the Annual reports of the Zoo.

I posted a photo of the Duisburg animals in the same gallery as you have posted the armadillo picture.

09-07-2008

that's a nice photo. They are such amazing animals. I wonder if they would survive better in zoos today than they did back then?

09-07-2008

David Attenborough went to Paraguay in the late 1950s on one of his "Zoo Quest" expeditions specifically to look for armadillos, particularly the Giant, for London Zoo. He came back without one, but at the back of the book "Zoo Quest to Paraguay" is a picture of one that an animal collector had brought to the zoo after Attenborough had returned. It was going to another collection, if I remember correctly.

10-07-2008

If I remember London had a giant Armadillo around 1976. It was quarantined in London and then sent to Rotterdam.

11-07-2008

Just checked my"Zoo Quest" volume. The Giant Armadillo in question was sent from Guyana to an animal dealer in Birmingham, from whom the London Zoo acquired it. According to Attenborough, it was the first one to arrive in this country alive. This was in 1958.