London Zoo Notes Oct 08 » London Zoo

London Zoo Notes Oct 08
26-10-2008

Just added some pictures of a visit to Regent's Park last week to the London Zoo gallery and thought I'd add a few notes to go with it.

I'd not been to London for almost exactly a year and there were a few more changes than I actually expected. London's Philippine Crocs are a bit more impressive than Chester's (though not a patch on Wroclaw's!).

It was one of those odd days when a lot of areas seemed to be roped off or empty for maintenance - new arrivals meaning half of the upstairs Clore was closed, the wonderful Cloud Rats offshow, the Aye-Aye house closed while a new pair of Aye-Ayes 'are introduced' (not sure if this means new arrivals to the zoo, the mixing of a new pair or both), a number of empty aquarium tanks, one side of ZooWorld roped off, no close access to the hummingbirds, no access to the tapir house... in truth, nothing too problematic for the average visitor but a bit annoying for the likes of us! In particular, note the Panay Cloud Rats being off show if you were thinking of travelling to see these I'd hold off for a while!

In terms of new exhibits, the significant ones are the Blackburn Pavilion and the Outback. The Blackburn Pavilion... well, I can see what they were trying to do and it almost works. Some of the preserved fittings just look a bit tatty and the hummingbird area in particular seems to be torn between the two stools of Victorian bird house and modern landscaped flight areas. The Sunbirds and (unidentified) Zosterops have access to the free flight area but the three Amazilia hummingbirds do not, as yet. It certainly makes for a more enjoyable experience than the old house though - the amount of light in particular being greatly increased.

The Outback finds me very conflicted. I don't particularly like the idea of the Mappins being made into an emu and wallaby paddock, but it has to be said that it's a very attractive emu and wallaby paddock. If they add a second macropod species and a few more birds it'll be very nice indeed. Gah, I can't stand the confusion in my mind...

In other news, I seem to remember a discussion on these boards about whether London still had Entellus Langurs - they have 3 individuals in surviving portion of the Sobell Pavilions. The Children's Zoo is emptied and fenced off but there's no particular sign of any work being carried out. The cages for the display animals behind the hippo poola re also closed off - the animals have been moved to the exhibits inside ZooWorld/the Casson Pavilion, which I suspect will be a permanent arrangement. The half that was on show included Striped Skunk and an oddly diurnal exhibit for Greater Galago (cue ball of fur in nest box...). One of the tigers was in the small enclosure behind the lions and opposite Web of Life/B.U.G.S. rather than the main exhibit.

I still think London is looking better these days than it has since I've been going - it was good and busy and overall the place looks great. African Bird Safari is still one of my favourites. Just still not sure about Gorilla Kingdom... and hopefully Lion Terraces will be next for a tarting up after the Children's Zoo. It's starting to look distinctly out-of-place.

26-10-2008

we must have been there the same week...though from memory one of the small hummingbird flights was actually open when i was there. personally, i really like the new Blackburn Pavillion and cant get over how much its changed....i liked everything about it.
you're dead right about the lion terraces....in my mind ive mulled over half a dozen ideas about what it would be good as. i think ive finally decided that an asian monsoon forest themed exhibit would be best. i think mappin terraces is good, though they need a few more truck loads of red dirt to cover up the brown dirt patches.
tapirs.....so disappointing. if i had my way and a deep pocket id make the asian monsoon forest, a new butterfly house, entrance. and id convert the current tapir exhibit into a pygmy hippo house with a 'clore style' interior viewing gallery and matching exhibits for okapi further up. as for the tapirs and anoa, id display them on the ground behind the stork house and komodo dragon with a large covered display covering the entire sealion pool. off the old owl aviaries id create an exhibit for sulawesi macaque. i think that a macropod walk-thru could be effectively squeezed into the area currently used for the bird of prey display and id turn the casson pavillion into a new enclosure for orangs, with bearded pigs in their current area (but id bring in some mock rock earth banks etc to dress it up a little). ok, thats enough braided river inspired talk.

26-10-2008

thanks for the review, interesting to here about the langurs

what exactly are the display animals on show in zoo world?

26-10-2008

I went to London on 22nd October and I was going to post a report, but Maguari has already posted everything I was going to say.

I was disappointed that so much of the zoo, as Maguari posted, is roped off or boarded up.

I now doubt that the aquarium will ever be restored, it seemed to me that less than half the exhibit is open to the public, and parts have been closed off for several years.

I was hoping to get my first ever look at the cloud rats. No such luck. Another animal I would have liked to have seen was the rhinoceros snake. Their vivarium was empty due to refurbishment.

I liked the Blackburn Pavillion and had the whole area to myself for 15-20 minutes. A great way to observe the birds. I had to disturb a sun-bathing sun bittern who was standing in the middle of the path, wings open, in a patch of sunlight. I tried to ease past it but it moved away. I doubt I would enjoy the aviary so much at the height of the summer holidays when more visitors would be in the building.

Three species of sunbird were labelled in the second section but I could only find the Splendids.

A first for me at London was an anteater actually walking about. It declined to go outside though.

I did not like the Australian outback very much. Maybe if there were more species it would be better.

Unfortunately my visit co-incided with that of a school party. They were not very well behaved.

Aquarium
childen told off by a keeper for banging on the glass.

Rainforest lookout
children told off by a volunteer for running around nosily.

Gorilla Kingdom
children told off by me for trying to feed the ducks.

Butterfly tunnel
children told off by a keeper for trying to catch the butterflies.

In each of the above incidents, the teacher just stood and watched. She's obviously in the wrong job.

27-10-2008

is this because its towards the end of the main visiting season?

Wow! everytime i have been they have always been asleep, have you ever seen them outside bongorob?

Oh dear, sometimes kids can be very off-putting, and sack that teacher!

27-10-2008

Why would they close off parts of the zoo because it is now off-peak period?

Surely its all down to something else, like maintenance or building work?

27-10-2008

Good review, i was planning to visit soon, but may postpone it for a while, now that it seems a lot is closed off.

Tigerlemurguy, there is an image in my gallery of the anteaters outside.

Maguari, are the show animals in cages in the closed off elephant bays?

27-10-2008

ta czjimmy

taun - every time i go to my local zoo at off-peak season they always seem to be doing building work etc, does that explain it

27-10-2008

Buliding work is usually done in the off-peak season, it's much easier with less visitors around.

I've never seen an anteater outside at London. I did at Chester about 1975 I think.

27-10-2008

I don't know, but think about it. Most zoo's will do work off-peak because there is less vistors around less disruption to the visitors.

The way you asked your original question is not clear, I wanted to know what you actually mean't?

27-10-2008

Snap, bongorob!

So do you know what some of this building work was for?

27-10-2008

the only time ive seen one outside is this year in france at zoo de les sables..or somthing

27-10-2008

We've seen the Giant Anteaters out a few times at London, I'll put some photos in the galley. One year we also saw excellent views of mother and baby, but that was indoors. We also saw anteaters outside at Howletts & Colchester. The one that eludes us is at Edinburgh: it's always curled up in the same corner of the maned wolf house!

27-10-2008

theyre mixed with maned wolves?

i lied i also seen them outside at marwell too!

27-10-2008

Yes, tigerlemurguy, the Giant Anteater at Edinburgh shares a large paddock with a pair of Maned Wolves. Or would do, if he ever came outside!