I read on the whipsnade website than the sloth bears from london zoo are moving to new enclosures at whipsnade. this leaves the mappin terraces empty, i recieved an e-mail from the zoo which said that the mappin terraces are going to be home to wallabies and emus! why has such an amazing enclosure gone from housing polar bears and sloth bears to tiny wallabies?
We had this discussion months back. I do agree with you though, it is going to look very barren and empty but yet it wasnt really a big attraction with the bears who didnt make a good attraction and a few langurs hardly made up for it. At least Emus, Wallabies and the like will be active. I've said this before but what id like is to see Spectacled Bears displayed alongside Coatis and some Howler/Spider Monkeys. The Australian theme is only temorary i believe so hopefully a better attraction will arrive soon.
Now the australian animals are moving in, where does this leave the Langurs? I can't see them staying on the mappin terraces, but I can't imagine where else the zoo could keep them (unless they stay in the zoo hospital). I guess they'll have moved them to another collection...
Whipsnades collection has centred on hoof stock for many years they used to have a really good collection before the LZS hit the wall
Chimps were all ways there even a long time back, I dont think they were ever really into primates that much, apart from the hoof stock they used to have a good collection of big cats, bears, and Rhinos, I have not been there for quite some time now so maybe some of our UK members could say whats on show now
Apart from the chimps, the only primates at Whipsnade are a few marmoset and tamarins in the discovery centre (there is also another monkey species in there, but i can't remember which)
yes, yes, i was more enquiring about the past primates they had i asume its basically the same as what they have now
Yeah it is Saki Monkey, thanks. As for past primates, i'm fairly certain it was just chimps (and possibly some 'hardier' primates that London sent up during the war). ZSL's original philosophy regarding animal choice at Whipsnade was animals that would be able to withstand the wind and temperature on the downs and could live in more realistic group settings than at London Zoo. Complex tree-dwelling primates wouldn't have suited this, especially in the earlier days when the facilities weren't available. I guess a baboon species (gelada, olive, hamadyas etc) could've worked at one point... As for Mark's quote "they used to have a really good collection", I think he was referring to the hoofstock collection.
Mappin Terraces update Was at London Zoo on Saturday and there is pretty large-scale work going on on the Mappins. Whole landscaped area has been reduced to dirt and some further walls and the old walkway from the original Mappin Terraces construction have been demolished. Works look pretty big for something temporary? Inceidentally, could not find the langurs elsewhere in the zoo (although did not go everywhere), so could be off show or moved on.....
With the old walls from the old bear dens pulled down and the ditches filled in and adjoined to the front area of the paddock, we have ourselves a very considerable area to play with here, the Australian paddock must be purely experimental, it has to be with all that construction work going on it can't be for a couple of wallabies and some brolga, there must be something up the sleeves of the imagineers at Regents park.
One of the big cats perhaps? The cat terraces are due for renovation and if Tigers (f.e.) were moved to the mappins, then a larger area can be given towards Lions on the cat terraces...
