A keeper told me back then that he was around 21 when he passed away, so he wasn’t as old as he could’ve been but wasn’t a spring chicken either. He had previously been at Rotterdam for a number of years before his move to London. The zoo now have four Chinese giant salamanders, with three of them being behind the scenes and this one, Professor Lew, on display. All four were given to the zoo by the Border Force after an attempt to smuggle the animals illegally into the country.
I see, that is interesting, edited my post as realized I did not know enough about this individual and its history. Sadly, though I looked extremely hard to try and spot one of these salamanders on both of my visits to ZSL in 2019 I had no luck at all and didn't manage to see them.
The salamander onshow has only recently started to show itself more - for the first six or so months I never saw it! It has a specific crevice it likes to sit in near the back.
The back of the enclosure looked to be full of crevices for it to hide in so I assumed it would have been hidden away in one. Is it a relatively large sized animal or still fairly young ?
When this giant salamander went on show in spring 2019, it was estimated as being about four years old, so still fairly young for a long- lived species.
Random question, but what's the best tube for the zoo. May be in London next week so may try and sneak in a quick visit and try and get a look at the Antsangy!
Camden Town; Great Portland Street; Regent's Park and Baker Street are the four best tube stations for the zoo. Camden Town is the closest but the other three provide the opportunity for a pleasant walk through Regent's Park.
It is still a baby then considering that this species often has a lifespan comparable to that of a human.
I visited London Zoo early last week and I was pleased to catch the baby okapi Ede who was running around the outside enclosure with her mother. She seemed very energetic and was enjoying the experience! Here are a couple of pictures.
The Komodo House is now one large enclosure so Ganas now has a larger area to roam and has a larger pool.
@tennisfan Do you know what's happened to the Galapagos tortoise hatchlings that used to be in the second dragon enclosure? On another note: a reminder to ZSL Fellows that the deadline for submitting questions for the AGM is tomorrow (Friday 13th). Please do make your concerns about the animal collections heard!
Five Central American bushmasters have recently hatched at London Zoo. It is the first time that this species has reproduced in a UK zoo. As well as the adults and new babies at London, there are only twenty-one other Central American bushmasters in zoos around the world; the offspring will move on to new zoos once they have grown further. More information can be found in the link below: Question: How do you weigh a baby snake? Answer: very carefully…
The three Asiatic lionesses are due to move to Zoo Scherwin on December 15th. This will 'pave the way' for the arrival of a new female, to join the male 'Bhanu' currently at the zoo.
Was just posting this when an alert came through. I just hope it isn't too long before a new female arrives!
