User:Chris huh/London Zoo

Areas and attractions
The zoo is currently (2008) undergoing a renovation project aimed at replacing cages with enclosures which recreate animals' natural environments, giving a better lifestyle to the animals, and a more realistic experience to visitors. In 2005 the "African Bird Safari" and "Meet The Monkeys" walkthroughs opened and in 2006 "Into Africa" and "Butterfly Paradise" exhibits opened, while in Easter 2007 the Duke of Edinburgh officially opened the new "Gorilla Kingdom" and "Clore Rainforest Lookout" a walkthrough rainforest replacing the small mammals building. During Easter 2008 the Bird House reopened as a tropical rainforest called the "Blackburn Pavilion".

Other plans include the redevelopment of the Children's Zoo and the Lion Terraces.

African Bird Safari
The African Bird Safari opened in Easter 2005 as a redevelopment of the Stork and Ostrich House, replacing three out-of-date enclosures. It is built around a walk-through design 51 m long and 10 m high, incorporating a bridge over a stream and high trees.

Species on display include Abdim's stork, superb starlings, Madagascar teals, Von der Decken's hornbills, lilac-breasted roller and blue-bellied roller.

Aquarium
There has been an aquarium at the Zoo since 1853 and was the first aquarium to be established in the world. The word 'aquarium' also originates at London Zoo, beforehand the term for a fish enclosure was 'Aquatic Vivarium'. The current aquarium was built in 1921 beneath the Mappin Terraces as the public demand to see the fish increased. In April 1924 King George V with his wife Queen Mary opened the aquarium.

The exhibit is separated into three halls, each home to different types of fish:
 * 1) The first hall contains species involved in various conservation projects, such as captive-breeding programmes and other ZSL-based initiatives. These include species such as rudd, European eels, pink sea fans, spiny starfish and seahorses.
 * 2) The second hall is a coral reef habitat with tropical species from across the globe, including copperband butterflyfish and clownfish.
 * 3) The third hall contains Amazon fish including electric eels, glass knifefish, lungfish and stingray.

The aquarium also includes the Big Fish Tank which holds fish rescued from private homes that had insufficient equipment to look after the fish. This includes catfish, tucunare, tambaqui and pirapitinga. The breeding room is also visible to the public.

Blackburn Pavilion
The Blackburn Pavilion opened to the public on 21 March 2008 as a revamp of the old Bird House. The Victorian building was originally built in 1883 as a Reptile House using funds raised from the sale of Jumbo the elephant to Barnum's Circus. The exhibit is named after the Blackburn family, who provided support to the Zoo during the early 1990s when the Zoo was faced with closure.

Recreating both rainforest and cloud forest environments the pavilion holds more than 50 different species of bird including toucans, starlings, kookaburras, lovebirds, and hummingbirds (the only place in the UK to hold them). The exhibit also contains several species in danger of extinction, or are already extinct in the wild, such as the socorro dove.

B.U.G.S
B.U.G.S (Biodiversity Underpinning Global Survival), formerly Web of Life, aims to educate the public on biodiversity itself. Displaying over 140 species, including leaf-cutter ants, Mexican redknee tarantulas, flamboyant flower beetles, anteaters and Malaysian giant stick insects. Since 98% of all known animal life are invertebrates the majority of the species on display are also invertebrates.

The building is environmentally friendly, constructed from materials requiring little energy to produce, and generating its heating from visitors' and animals' body heat.

B.U.G.S is also home to ZSLs Invertebrate Conservation Unit, a facility for the breeding of invertebrates.

Butterfly Paradise
The Butterfly Paradise exhibit, launched in May 2006, holds butterfly and moth species from several major regions, including Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central & South America. The species of both fauna and flora have been selected to complement each, with the plants having to provide nectar and breeding areas for the animals.

Species on display include clipper butterfly, great eggfly butterfly, zebra longwing and postman butterfly.

Like much of the Zoo the exhibit aims to educate the public on conservation projects, such as species recovery programmes, habitat protection initiatives and climate change issues. Alongside the free-flying exhibit there is a pupae breeding room allowing the public to see the development of new butterflies.

Children's Zoo
The Ambika Paul Children’s Zoo is based around two sections, the pet care centre and the paddock, and provides a hands-on exhibit aimed at children.

The pet care centre offers advice on keeping and caring for your pets and animals on display include species of rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, rats, stick insects, chinchillas, degus and snails. The paddock includes sheep, Anglo Nubian goats, pygmy goats, llamas, alpacas reindeer and Tamworth pigs.

It was set up in 1994 from a donation by Swraj Paul in memory of his daughter, Ambika Paul, who died of leukemia.

Clore Rainforest Lookout
The Clore Rainforest Lookout was opened by HRH Duke of Edinburgh on 29 March and opened to the public on 30 March 2007. The Lookout replaces the Charles Clore Pavilion for Mammals, which was built in 1967, with the aid of the Clore Duffield Foundation.

The exhibit recreates the South American rainforest and provides canopy and forest floor levels for the public to wander through. Species on display include two-toed sloths, agoutis, silvery marmosets, golden-headed lion tamarins, Goeldi’s monkeys, Geoffroy’s marmosets, pottos, slow loris, slender loris, emperor tamarins, gentle lemurs and pygmy marmosets.

Nightzone, a darkened section, provides an insight into nocturnal rainforest life. This area includes Rodrigues fruit bats, long-nosed potoroos, emperor scorpions and Malasay giant jumping rats.

Gorilla Kingdom
Gorilla Kingdom is a flagship 6000 m2 exhibit which opened in Easter 2007. It is a 5.3-million pound development that took 18 months to build, was launched by HRH Duke of Edinburgh on 29 March and opened to the public on 30 March 2007.

It replaces old monkey enclosures with a giant moated island and indoor gym that is home to a group of western lowland gorillas. There are currently four gorillas in the enclosure: Bobby, a 23-year-old male; Zaire, a 32-year-old female, Effie, a 14-year-old female and Mjukuu, a 9-year-old female brought in from Chessington. The area also holds black-and-white colobus monkeys.

The exhibit is also home to mangabeys, monitor lizards, a variety of bird species and Diana monkey.

The exhibit was inspired by a conservation project that is managed by ZSL in Gabon. It has been planted with plants and herbs that the gorillas can eat while the island itself represents a natural forest clearing in the Central African rainforest.

A visitor to the exhibit will learn about the plight of western lowland gorillas in the wild and conservation of rainforests, while being separated from the animals on the island by either a moat or a floor to ceiling window.

Into Africa
Into Africa opened on 1 April 2006, and features a high level viewing platform to bring the public face-to-face with the giraffes. Zebras were reintroduced to the Zoo after an 8-year absence, joining the Rothschild giraffe in the main enclosure.

After a survey found that 95% of visitors preferred enclosures without bars the decision was made to use glass windows instead, to bring the public closer to the animals and gain a more intimate experience.

African hunting dogs can be observed through periscopes and observation pods while other species include warthog, okapi and red river hogs.

Komodo Dragons
The Komodo Dragon enclosure, opened on 12 July 2004 by Sir David Attenborough, mimics a dry river bed with a curving 20 m glass wall. There are two adult dragons, Raja (male) and Sungaï (female), and four babies. The Komodo dragons were introduced as part of the European Conservation Breeding Programme.

Mappin Terraces
When the Mappin Terraces opened in 1913, it was the first time that members of the public could see animals in an arctic environment. . In the past it has been home to Polar bears, Ibex, Snow Leopards and other mountain creatures.

The Mappin Terraces will soon hold wallabies and some other species, possibly emus. Work is currently underway on site to get the new exhibit finished.

When visitors visit the aquarium they do not realise that they are in fact walking underneath the artificial mountains and the reservoirs that hold the water for the aquarium.

Meet The Monkeys
Meet The Monkeys is a 1500 m2 enclosure which was opened on 21 March 2005 by Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt, of The Mighty Boosh. The exhibit is open, with no roof, and no boundaries between the public and animals. Designed to recreate the Bolivian Rainforest, it holds black-capped squirrel monkeys which are part of the European Conservation Breeding Programme.

The Zoos outer boundary had to be increased to accommodate the new enclosure, encroaching into Regent's Park to the south-east.

Reptile House
The Reptile House opened in 1927 and was designed by Joan Beauchamp Proctor and Sir Edward Guy Dawber. Visitors may notice Reptiles and other animals carved by George Alexander on the front of the building.

It is currently home to various reptiles including lizards, tortoises, crocodiles and snakes, adjacent to the house is the Komodo Dragon house (see above).

Snowdon Aviary
The Snowdon Aviary was designed by Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, Cedric Price and Frank Newby, and built in 1964.

Over the years a variety of birds have been kept in the aviary from birds of prey to waterfowl. The current birds in the aviary include green peafowl, sacred ibis, little egrets, cattle egrets, night herons, waldrapp, ducks, pigeons and African grey-headed gulls.

The Snowdon Aviary was spoofed in the Scotland and The Goodies and the Beanstalk episodes of The Goodies television series.

Zoo World
Built around the Casson Pavilion, originally the old Elephant and Rhino House, Zoo World is now home to bearded pigs, bactrian camels and also provides a winter home for the pygmy hippos. Previously this house was a temporary home to monkeys and birds while the Clore Rainforest Lookout and Blackburn Pavilion was built.

Inside the house displays inform visitors about the zoo and its various conservation programs.

Others
There are also other animals not part of any specific exhibit; these incluse gibbons, vultures, tigers, lions, servals, parrots, spider monkeys, penguins, meerkats, otters, lemurs, aye-ayes and tapirs.

Field crickets
http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/exhibits/aquarium/hall-3-conservation-projects,667,AR.html http://www.zsl.org/field-conservation/about-field-conservation/ http://www.zsl.org/info/support-us/wild-adoption,179,AR.html http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/exhibits/butterfly-paradise/conservation,745,AR.html http://www.zsl.org/field-conservation/uk-native-species/london-zoo,238,AR.html http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/exhibits/gorilla-kingdom/gorilla-conservation,608,AR.html http://www.zsl.org/field-conservation/island-ecosystems/snail-wars-in-the-pacific,45,AR.html http://www.zsl.org/field-conservation/island-ecosystems/komodo-dragon-conservation-in-indonesia,294,AR.html http://www.zsl.org/field-conservation/carnivores-and-people/zoo-tigers-and-tiger-conservation,359,AR.html http://www.zsl.org/field-conservation/deserts-and-rangelands/antelope-conservation-in-africa-and-asia,420,AR.html