I do believe it will be a "box office" species being planned long term for the Mappins, be it lion, tiger, another bear species, rhino, hippo or giant panda, i would like to see the mountains at the back used in some practical way rather than a nice frame for the enclosure i.e wild goat or sheep, an bird of prey aviary or for small cats something, anything!
conspiracy theories i love them, but alas knowing London zoo and their lust for the mighty pound, we would heard of it before now, but looking back a few years at the proposals for the Mappins be it a gorilla mountain or the Arctic development, i believe that the Mappins would have been ideal for some sort of display of Chinese animals, wait a minute, isn't this olympic year in where, oh yes Beijing CHINA, and then who holds the olympics after that in 2012?. Could it be?
From the look of the above photos of reconstruction activity.... Presumably the 'mountains' will remain as a backdrop but the original three-tiered 'Mappin Terraces' structure seems to have now gone. R.I.P.
Indeed....... Worth noting that the listed status of the building is based on the way it was constructed (early example of use of curved re-inforced concrete) rather than its design so I suppose as long as the main feature of the building is preserved (ie the 'mountains') then the listing authorities are likely to be flexible on what happens to the rest of the structure.....
Yeah and I guess at least the framework of the original 3 tiered construction will still be there- but hidden under mounds of surface material?
I don't see how they would have been able to do anything if they'd been made to keep the dividing walls....meerkats and porcupines maybe!?
I missed these photos of the Mappin Terrace refurb, I can't believe it! It is a considerable area. I really am hoping that this will become a big cat exhibit, and I think there is a chance it could. My plan would be a lion enclosure, with a redevelopment of the current cat terrace to house exclusively tigers. If they were to do this, they would need to secure funding for the new tiger area, before moving the lions out, maybe this is why there is a temporary wallaby enclosure? It'll also be a chance to test the new landscaping works- before building a big, all-sing all-dancing 'Lion Canyon' and finding that it subsides, or collapses or something. So, if the wallabies are temporary as people say, what are the odds? Lions 2/1? Tigers 3/2? Bears 5/1? Pygmy hippos 20/1?
Wolves may be fairly good odds too. Just flicking back through some other threads- are we certain that this Australian exhibit is temporary, or have members of the forum collectively come to this assumption? Is this Australian idea something that the zoo want to develop? Could the little gazebo on the Mappins ever hold koalas?
I don't think there's any 'concrete' evidence (haha, Mappins get it? ) that this is anything except a new Australian exhibit. However it does seem an awful lot of construction work(and therefore expense) has gone into the remaking of an exhibit for 'wallabies and emus'.
i doubt koalas but wolves and lions sound possible, wolves have been kept before so they are not new to the zoo. i think the australian theme wont last long! as you said they are testing landscaping works!
Highest probability will be one of "the" big cats (Lion or Tiger). I think I remember reading somewhere that the cat terraces were due for a renovation, so moving one of the species out of that area will mean the other species can get a larger area on the same site. Tigers would be my choice for the Mappins because a small islands link could be created with the Komodos near-by. The lions could then get a larger enclosure on the cat terraces (with seperation enclosures). Also, I can't see the London site getting wolves whilst Whipsnade are keeping a successful group in a more natural enclosure.
If the Tigers eventually using this new Mappins exhibit, it will be a very large area for just a couple of animals but otherwise it could lend itself quite well to them, the only danger being that they might also prove as retiring as the bears before them, creating another 'non-functional' exhibit. I also agree the cat area needs redeveloping badly now. Possibly the lions and tigers should not be living near each other anyway- are the tigers stressed by the proximity of the lions as well as people? The Monkeys living in the smaller 'cat' exhibits is a problem too. I would like to see the Francois Langurs kept but in a better exhibit- the other monkeys(Celebes Apes & Spider Monkeys) living there might be better at Whipsnade- adding more diversity to the Primates they have there. I don't think keeping smaller cats in close proximity to lions or tigers is a good idea- nor do these species show themselves well so this policy shouldn't be repeated in my opinion. I think the whole cat terraces area should maybe be redeveloped as a single larger exhibit just for the Lions- fill in existing watermoat, join up the two main exhibits, add glass viewing walls, landscape the extra space created with sandy floor & 'dry thorn forest' vegetation and you'd have an excellent exhibit for a somewhat larger (e.g six) group of lions. They could stay there while its being renovated too.
I've always thought that too, doubt it would happen though. I imagined pandas in the main area with Takins or something on the mountains.
I think it's fair to say that the top section will never hold animals again. I still like the idea of lions on the Mappin, if they could breed them it'd be just the right size for a little family of Asiatic lions. Plus, the coloration of the Mappin terrace somehow seems quite Indian, which is why I think it worked for the bears. Could the existing Cat terrace be flattened to build a new tiger exhibit on top? I think using that entire area to create one big tiger exhibit could be London's chance to build a truly world class exhibit (which, let's face it, Gorilla kingdom is not.) Expensive it would be, but not impossible. At the same time, building a brand new Gir forest exhibit, and giving the tigers the Mappin would work too. I like what Jimmy says about this linking the tigers and komodos to give an Indonesian area (not forgetting the anoa are nearby too.) An immersive Gir forest exhibit may be slightly cheaper than a Sumatran jungle, as well as more original. My only issue is that the tigers may not be quite as good a display on the Mappin, especially if they just lie in a shady spot at the back all day. Lions do this too obviously, but in a small group, there is more likely to be at least one lion up and about. Perhaps heated rocks could be used to encourage them to sleep on view?
Yeah I guessed they would never use the mountains again. Shame really. I agree with the idea of the big cats though, either the lions or tigers could do with a new exhibit, although I think the tigers more so. It would be great if they could just flatten the cat terraces, but aren't they listed?
Nope, London Zoo has 8 listed buildings (or structures) Mappin Terrace Penguin Pool Raven's Aviary Clock Tower Giraffe House (Part of the Cotton Terraces) East Tunnel North Entrance Gate Elephant and Rhino House (Casson Pavillion)
