Actually, you suggested that it may remain as a 'display of architecture.' I don't think that'll be happening at all- the mappin is at least suitable for wallabies and emus, if not more ambitious species. If I was ZSL I wouldn't be spending good money on refurbing it if the long term plan was to leave it uninhabited. Likewise, we know that our speculation is only that, no-one ever suggested otherwise. We can probably just about keep our imagination and the reality separate, but thanks for the reminder.
That's what you said.... If it was going to remain a 'display of architecture', I am sure they would have kept all the concrete architecture of the three terraces, not buried it under tons and tons of soil !! Whether the Australian theme is a temporary stop gap exhibit or planned as a more permanent display remains to be seen....as sooty mangabey hints, it depends how far zsl are planning ahead. I'm not sure why this thread is under 'Whipsnade'- last time I looked the Mappins were in Regents Park...
Well, I have to hand it to London Zoo- they are making some very good new displays nowadays- this looks very much in place here whether its temporary or permanent. I'm sure our Australian friends would feel at home here, its even got ozz road signs... I tend to agree with Sooty Mangabey's comment about this redevelopment- I feel ZSL needed to redevelop the area quickly after the bear exhibit failed, and that probably there is no long term vision for the future..(at least at present)
Looks quite pretty really....... Shame the species involved are so common. A less seen wallably species or two would have been nice rather than the ubiquitous Bennett's. Seems they have screened off the rear of the terraces. As previously stated, the main part of the enclosure(s) represents no particular architectural speciality and thus can be re-developed to an extent. The 'mountains' cannot be re-developed under the listed status as they do represent something unique architecturally. The 'mountains' are unlikely to ever hold animals since the inside 'enclosures' are no longer suitable for holding/ maintaining animals. Much of the interior space also holds water tanks for the aquarium which prevents further development inside. I suppose it may be possible to give something access to the mountains (baboons.......geladas? would be nice) but the main enclosure housing would have to be adjacent and also public viewing would have to be re-instated in the upper part of the enclosure as if only viewing from the cafe area, you would struggle to see anything much.
I really like that! World's best wallaby/emu exhibit? Perhaps Kangaroos might've been a good choice as they would have been more noticeable than Bennett's Wallabies.
visually it is striking, but I very much doubt the inhabitants prefer treading around the equivalent of a sandy beach compared to the open grass paddocks they may have been used to previously. In fact, if ZSL just borrowed a few wallabies from Whipsnade, I imagine right now they are the world's most disgruntled wallabies
Everybody can name 10 more endangered & attractive species to fill this exhibit. London should rethink it's marketing strategy...
Except the only indoor facilities available are the langur or bear dens. It will be unwise of them to hold anything rare or difficult to keep because of the restrictions on altering the terraces. After all we are looking at the roof of the aquarium building. A modest baboon group is probably the only suitable exhibit in the long term. It would be great if they went for geladas. Sure, the space is great for cats until you try to create holding enclosures or suitable indoor dens on the existing structure. London's branding is now very much focused on the regent's park site being an urban oasis with no barriers visible, so I doubt they will house anything up on the mappins that require a great deal of fencing to contain them.
Is London Zoo able to expand into Regent's Park to the east of the mappins? I know they were allowed an extension for meet the monkeys, so if they were given an extension in this location, brand-new indoor dens could be built here which are connected to the mappins (so the dens are at the east side of the mappins rather than inside the terraces.) I can't remember exactly what the area looks like, so I may have made some loacation mistakes...
its beautiful! shame the mountains arent being used, maybe the future for this exhibit is going to be desert them, how about tasmanian devil or addax?
Is this new Australian exhibit. Exactly where there was a large bear exhibit in March of this year? I seem to remmer signage of how proud ZSL was of haveing such a large bear exhibit! Stuart R Webster
I doubt they can extend as the building is right by the road. There is a sizeable service area down behind the mountains though. Again, a separate new build for indoor quarters would only really suit primates in terms of acessing them from the existing construction. Do you know what modifications they made to the indoor dens/ holding area to accomodate the sloth bears? I seem to remember someone posting some shots on here of one of the original bear moats being used as a service passage for the bears, but I'm not sure whether it led to the old indoor pig stalls underneath all that soil, or somehow cut through to the old bear dens further up. The langur night quarters must have somehow been modified though, there was not an enclosure there until the sloth bears arrived.
Just out of interest when did the sloth bears arrive, and what was housed in the mappins before them? I know years ago it had polar bears etc, but what was there just before the sloth bears arrived? It looks pretty good now though.
That's very interesting, it's not quite what I imagined. The way the landscape has been remodelled is really nice, the space is much more useable. Overall, it looks very sterile, but I think that should get better over time- maybe a bit of grass will grow through, and the trees will mature... Which got me thinking, this enclosure maybe isn't as temporary as we hope. The theming is very Australian, surely if there was a plan for it to change purpose in the next 5-10 years it'd make more sense to get in trees and plants that are less Australian and more multipurpose. That'd allow some mature cover for any new developments. Well, that's what i'd do- maybe the long term plan is to stay Australian? (How available are dingos? )
I believe before being developed for the sloth bears the mappin was quite wasted, housing an amalgamation of left over animals from older days. Mountain goats, pigs, stuff like that.
I think they arrived in 1998 and I'm sure the mappins had been closed off since the early 90's because of the accessibilty issues.
