Work, rest, and play.

ZSL London Zoo 

 Clips I've taken at work at ZSL London Zoo over the last year or so.

Either from behind the scenes or from the visitor's side.*

 Xenopus longipes in ampexus

Xenopus longipes are a poorly know frog of the Pipidae family, these frogs are currently housed at the Herpetology department of ZSL London Zoo which is one of the only collections to hold them. Although seemingly easy to care for very little is known about their breeding. We are getting set to trial different sex ratio groups, different temperatures and water levels. Watch this space. 

This was one of the few times we have seen them in amplexus, and look at little Sebby hang on!!

 Scheltopusik

These scheltopusik or European glass lizards Pseudopus apodus have been in the zoos collection for years, soo much character and soo interesting a story.

Nothing too exciting in the clip, just hunting crickets and showing how surprising it is that they manage to catch anything.

Philippine crocodile Crocodylus mindorensis

The pair of Philippine crocodile Crocodylus mindorensis at the zoo are going to be introduced for breeding, and as they've been kept separately we wanted to house them near each other so we could judge their behavior.
The slightly larger female is very bold and we were worried she may dominate (i.e. try to kill) the male.
 The male, seen here on the right, asserts himself straight away giving us more confidence in a successful outcome.

You can just hear me using my radio to call my colleagues to come and see as I'm soo pleased at his behavior.

Varanus komodoensis, the Komodo dragons at the zoo.

Raja and Rinca have been put together for breeding a few times now but with no success. This time we tied a carcass to a tree to hopefully get them used to being together.

My colleague Grant and I enter to get a better view, it's without a doubt the closest I'll ever get to
Jurassic park!

"And at that point"...

 Grant and I re-enter the paddock to see how they are getting along.

As we get near they have had their fill and start the mating ritual again,
(basically chasing and biting, we've all been there.... )
And its at that point, discretion becomes the better part of valour and we beat a hasty retreat.

 Puff adder, giving birth.

The Bitis arietans at the zoo recently gave birth on exhibit. We have planned to move them that day so we could monitor the female but as always, things go faster than planned and the call went out the the female was giving birth.

You can see the first youngster cruising around the enclosure but then at 53 seconds in, little Sebby makes his appearance.

 

 

*On my Kodiak play-sport, the screen is a bit cracked so I cant always see what I'm filming, so you may see more knees and walls than you'd expect.....