It has changed and improved so much since the last time I went there (which was about 4 years ago). They have updated their enclosures either by building new ones or revamping the old ones to modern enclosures, so much work and dedication has gone into ensuring the best possible welfare of the animals is to high standards and to modernize the enclosures.
There are many reasons to visit and love a zoo; whether be it architecture, choice of species, design, conservation and/or nature, with many more reasons... but there is one reason why I love going to zoos, and that reason is for the reason of conservation and my passion for these species.
Walking around zoos, I generally look at the enclosures (and of course the animals) but generally evaluate the enclosures. I found that most of these enclosures are better than they were when I last went to the zoo, but some of them could be improved (as does many zoos enclosures, not just ZSL London Zoo). To be honest, in my opinion, zoos will never be able to get the right perfect enclosures, even if they do give the best enrichments, browse, substrates, heating, lighting and general design of the enclosures, to ensure the natural habitat is mimicked as closely as possible, but zoos nowadays will do everything possible to ensure the enclosures and the welfare of the animals is at a high standard.
One part of the zoo that I have never visited before is the tiger territory enclosure as it has only just recently opened. The enclosure is well thought out to be honest (well from the old enclosure anyways), it has space indoors for the tigers to go if they want to be out of view, it also has good space for the tigers to roam around freely. It has a large tall platform where the tigers can relax up high as they would do in the wild, as they observe their territories from high vantage points. I like the fact that this enclosure has tall browse as well, purely because I feel the more browse there is in the enclosure the more relaxed and natural behaviours the tigers will show.
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| Mum tiger and three cubs on the platform (Taken by author at ZSL London Zoo) |
Other enclosures I love are the rainforest walk through where the monkeys are walking/jumping around above you, you can watch for hours (because the monkeys are free to roam in a large enclosure with protection and shelter if needed, the fact that it is a hot and humid walk through enclosure that engages with the public), the new hippo enclosure (because the hippos have a much larger space with private areas for the species to roam; also with two swimming areas- one indoor heated pool and one outdoor swimming pool at the side of the enclosure)
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| Outside enclosure of Pygmy Hippos (Taken by author at ZSL London Zoo) |
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| Inside heated pool of Pygmy Hippos (Taken by author at ZSL London Zoo) |
and the penguin beach enclosure (this is purely because they have much more space to roam around and a much bigger pool to express their natural behaviours more often, and the fact that the public have much better views looking almost all around the beach with plenty of space to view the penguins without pushing and shoving!).
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| Penguin beach information sign (Taken by author at ZSL London Zoo) |
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| Penguin beach (Taken by author at ZSL London Zoo) |
Another building I also love at London Zoo is the BUGS building, this is because it has small enclosures with lots of information around them- kinda like a museum! Also another one I love is the Reptile House and the Aquarium, the old looking buildings in the zoo, it makes you think you are going back into history (but you get a feel to the fact that keepers ensure their animals are kept in modern enclosures and standards!), you can never get enough of small bugs (they are awesome!!).
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| Tarantula (Taken by author at ZSL London Zoo) |
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| Locust enclosure (Taken by author at ZSL London Zoo) |
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| Reptile House building (Taken by author at ZSL London Zoo) |
All of the new, modernized enclosures (or even the old ones, maybe not as much though) have made a real difference in the way the public learn, understand and investigate about the species and conservation. When zoos design enclosures, it allows (well I sure do hope it does) the public to get involved in helping and conserving these animals and how important it actually is.
When zoos design enclosures, they should have an idea of what interactive and informational signs they will show, to include the public to get involved, learn and help save these species. I feel that the more interactive enclosures and signs are, the more chance the zoo has to encourage people to start thinking about conservation and how to get involved with helping these species.
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