First visit since December last year, but not really much has changed. 3 month old Tamandua 'Star' very visible in Rainforest Life, nearly as big as mum 'Ria' Red River Hogs look great in the refurbished Bearded Pig enclosure on the Casson. Lots of shrubs have been planted (and protected), which will hopefully grow in nicely. The Hogs were being trained by two keepers with bells; they stood one at each end of the enclosure, first one would ring their bell and the Hogs would come running and be rewarded with a scatter feed of nuts, then the keeper at the other end would ring their bell and repeat the reward feed at the other end. Pavlov's Pigs I guess? Asian lion females surprisingly active and vocal. Male Bhanu, not so much. A pair of Bali Starlings have been added to the main flight room in the Blackburn Pavilion. Lucky enough to see a scatter feed for the zoo's four remaining gorillas - adult females Effie and Mjukuu, and youngsters Alika and Gernot. Overheard the keeper saying that they want to wait a few more years before introducing a new male to the group, to allow Gernot a bit more time to mature and grow. Sulawesi Macaques now have access to both indoor areas on the left as you enter Gorilla Kingdom (ie, their 'old' indoor area, and the area which used to house the Congo Peafowl). The Macaques were a no-show. A couple of the Blue-Throated Macaws have paired off in the largest aviary, the male was feeding the female and then mating. All the old insect enclosures in Rainforest Life bar-one have now been covered over with a display panel about wildlife surveillance technology. Pete the Plant, however, is still in residence. Okapi house was closed, most likely due to Oni's pregnancy (although I did see her running around the paddock briefly). No sign of any advance in work on the Snowden Aviary. Even the scaffolding that was inside has gone. Even though it was a slightly chilly (but sunny) schoolday in March, I was surprised at just how empty the zoo was of visitors. This could be Covid-19 related, or could just be because it's March. Pictures to be added to the gallery tomorrow.
..or the lack of visitors could be a reflection of the very sad fact that London Zoo is now a pretty grim place to visit. I can’t remember the last time I spoke to a non zoo nerd who’d visited London and who had any positive comment at all: it’s expensive / dirty / unfriendly and there’s nothing to see, is the consensus. Which breaks my heart!
I haven't been for a few months, which is unusual for me, just because I know that it will make me sad at the moment.
Surely you mean “management” in the loosest possible sense! The same issues are now also beginning to creep in at Whipsnade.
I rarely visit zoos these days and have not posted on Zoochat for some time now . I visited London Zoo last week and , like everybody else , found the experience depressing . Most of the exhibits are good , it is just there are too few of them with large empty areas . The North Bank is now totally closed off . I enjoyed time my spent bird watching in Regent's Park more , particularly seeing a green woodpecker very close to the Zoo perimeter . All the exotic waterfowl are now in a large pen near the centre of the Park .
It is such a shame to see this happen to London zoo with so much history there behind it. Bad management over a long time has brought it down to what it is now, When the UK government stopped the money flow years back they gave the zoo a ten million pounds as its last kiss goodbye, It was reported much of that money was wasted on up market cars for the bosses and other areas of waste with very little being spent of the animals or enclosures. I have often thought about how the zoo never really managed to create a long term Gorilla troop or really breed that many young when a small fun park/small zoo not that far away like Chessington zoo put together a working breeding troop of some note!
Worth noting London have had incredibly bad luck with their gorillas, having lost several males in succession for various reasons. But management -wise they wasted an earlier chance to form a larger cohesive group back in the 1980'/90's period, when they allowed the two zooborn female youngsters born to Zaire and Salome to go to Belfast. Retaining them and changing males could have set them on the road to a bigger breeding group with four breeding females. Big mistake.... Chessington on the other hand retained their female young to produce a cohesive social group of related females which grew to the point they have needed to contracept them for a long time now..
I do agree with your post but this problem of not being able to build a notable Gorilla troop has been over many years where the lost of several males has been in much resent times!
Actually its been virtually continuous. After those young females were sent away the whole thing went from bad to worse, with no more breeding and exchanges/ male deaths continuing right up almost to the present, until Kumbuka's arrival put a temporary stop to the cycle- until his untimely death. Though this time a replacement male(in time) is all that is needed really.
That's an interesting move, I wonder if this means that we'll finally get something new to go in at least the lower area of the Mappins. Maybe the wallabies could join the emus in their new home.
Emus in an iconic zoo animal exhibit is like displaying domestic dog breeds in a touch and feel animal farm for goats, chickens, cows, horses and like. Let me not take it any further as it is the adage exhibit filler iller here!
I don't think it's ideal but at least they're making use of the empty space rather than having yet another unused exhibit. Hopefully there's a plan to get in some other species for there. The emus may just be a filler for now.
I'd love to see bears return to the Mappin Terraces. It would have been amazing to have seen this exhibit at its height with all the bear species. I appreciate the standards of accommodation were lacking back when it was built; but a compromise i.e. the housing of a single bear species (as was done with the Sloth bear) would be better than nothing. The concept of Mappin Terraces - with it's tiers giving the impression of species housed together (that could not otherwise be housed together) was certainly something special; and must have seemed even more groundbreaking at the time.
I have a vague recollection of seeing the sloth bears on the Mappins back in the early 2000s and I thought it was a good exhibit. Does anyone know the situation regarding the walkway around the back of the Mappins which is closed off. Is it unsafe or is it closed for other reasons?
