First visit of the year, on a chilly but nicely empty day. Sumatran tigers Melati and Jae-Jae have been separated, which Jae-Jae was clearly unhappy about, never heard him so vocal before. At the keeper talk this was said to be to give Melati some quiet time now her last litter of cubs have been moved on, but might be also for Jae-Jae's impending move? The young Striated Caracara have been separated from their parents, they're now the other side of the African Harrier Hawks in that row of aviaries. Scaffolding is up inside the Snowdon Aviary, but a lot of birds are also still in residence, could see Sacred Ibis, Egrets, the pair of Kites and also heard Whistling Ducks. Giant Anteaters still in the small paddock visible behind the giraffes. Didn't get up to their usual paddock by BUGS, so not sure if there are any there too?
When I was last there they were digging up the old anteater paddock seemingly to turn it into some kind of walkthrough? I also distantly remember a keeper telling me that the anteaters were possibly going to have a new enclosure as part of the “Happy Families” area, which I’d forgotten about until the reindeer moved to London. Could be they’re being moved up there?
Jae and Melati were certainly together with access to both enclosures yesterday. The 2 gentle lemurs from the roundhouse are now in part of the interior of lemur walkthrough so are likely to be more visible.
Were they not in there previously? in the exhibit immediately to your right as you enter the indoor area?
They were when In with the Lemurs first opened and then for some reason they got moved into the Casson I think and were replaced by golden lion tamarins.
If I remember correctly that particular location you are describing has been used in the past for Gentle lemur and mongoose and then the newer ring tails. That location I believe remains used by the general ring tail lemur population. The Gentle lemurs are slightly further down on the right so the 2 windows I think before the turning to the AyeAye area
When lemur walk through was opened 4 years ago, there were a pair of gentle lemurs in the first window as you entered. They were moved to Casson House. The two gentle lemurs now living in the lemur house did reside in roundhouse but were move a few weeks ago. I think they are male ( Rocky) and a female (Sausage)
With the Aloatra lemurs and the bats now in the Clore, the Round House is empty - does anyone know of any plans for it? Elephants or gorillas maybe...?
From what I understand there are no immediate plans to house any animals in The Roundhouse. It maybe that there needs to be extensive building work to bring it up to scratch.
I think the Roundhouse is too small to house elephants or gorillas but it would make a good koala exhibit which is what it used to be actually.
It used to house gorillas and elephants as well, but not at the same time obviously. That would have been stupid!
I think that was a joke with reference to its previous inhabitants many years ago. It was actually built as a gorilla house for the pair of gorillas 'Mok' and 'Moina'. However it has also housed over the years- breeding Chimpanzee colony, Orangutan male, Lemurs(?) & AyeAyes to name but a few.
I'm just glad that it doesn't exhibit any of these creatures nowadays although I remember the aye-ayes and they seemed quite happy but having the apes in there is pushing it for space let alone an elephant! On a different topic does anyone know what's happening to the old anteater paddock (which personally I thought was awful for viewing). Is there some sort of new enclosure being built there or is it just a rennovation to the old one?
Indeed this building originally housed two Kodiak bears. A zoo guide that I have from 1958 states that the building contains "two young male Kodiak bears, born at Whipsnade in January 1954". However, all the zoo guides I have from the early 1960s only mention one bear in this exhibit, "a huge male ....born at Whispnade in January 1954". I can only remember seeing a single Kodiak bear in there but 1958 was sixty years ago and I was only a very young child then.
Memory lane- I can certainly remember the Kodiak bears at Whipsnade- the big deep pit partway between the polar bears and the big cat dells. I don't know how often they bred but I have seen somewhere/got a postcard of cubs in there.
I think the deep concrete pit which housed Whipsnade's Kodiak bears (and which once held tigers) was probably the worst exhibit at Whipsnade. The Kodiak bears continued to breed regularly at Whipsnade throughout the 1970s with several young being born alternate years during that decade (1971, 73, 75, 77 and 79), Whipsnade's last Kodiak bears left the collection in 1985.
I would agree completely: except that the polar bear enclosure near by was a little worse in my opinion, as it seemed even smaller and was surrounded with black bars with curved tops that ended in downward pointing spikes. Last week I looked out a photo of mother bear with four small cubs from 1973, which I hope to scan within the next few weeks. Watch this space
