ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2018

Any news on whether the servals are coming back?

 

So I've been asked to inquire about the seeming national obsession with peas -- are they really that popular? They're on the menu twice at the zoo!

 

They’re not!

 

Over-cooked, dried-out peas are part of our national heritage!

Here’s former prime minister, John Major, enjoying them:

 

A vital part of rations in the Royal Navy - in Georgian times each man was entitled to half a pint of pease on four days each week: I presume in the form of pease pudding (dried peas boiled with water into a thick paste - the ancestor of chip shop mushy peas).

 

Mushy peas and garden peas? It’s quite a normal thing to offer these two choices, I thought?

 

Shakespeare knew this. "Two pea or not two pea? That is the question"

 

I always thought it was ‘tapir or not tapir - that is the question’ ?

 

Perhaps in dear ol' Blighty, but not in the states. You'll never see them on a zoo menu, that's for sure.

Now that makes perfect sense!

 

Aha - yes, most good places that serve fish and chips offer both options, because it’s so easy to hate one of them!

 

If you're not sure, you could have a mixture. Hopefully, you'll be able to sing, "I'm h-a' p-e-a. I'm h-a' p-e-a. I know I am. I'm sure I am. I'm h-a' p-e-a."

 

Or remember what John Lennon said: " Give Peas a chance!"

 

Or Elvis Costello singing, "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peas, Love and Understanding?" The use of the word 'Bout' is contentious.

 

Bringing this thread back to the topic of London Zoo, there is a piece about colobus monkeys on the BBC News this morning

Colobus monkeys outgrow London zoo home

 

Any ideas what will happen to the current Snowdon Aviary residents? By 2020 they could build some new aviaries across the zoo for them surely?

 

I think the obvious question is why not rehome some of them by starting a new troop? That should alleviate some of the pressure in the short term.

 

I too thought this whilst watching the video. My thinking is perhaps the zoo want to retain the entire troop for maximum effect for when the exhibit opens. A handful of colobus in such a vast area could end up being a damp squib.

 

I believe I read somewhere they have already rehomed some colobus from London elsewhere. Cannot remember where I read that though ... Must check.

 

They must have done- I read it too somewhere( a recent post by Maguari)- as if they have bred 18 in the last twelve years, the current group is nothing like that number, more like about nine(?). As you know they are very free freeders- Twycross had a large group many years ago also and bred a lot of them- so I think this bit of 'news' perhaps is advertising the upcoming change of location for them..