Liverpool Street is working again. Sort of. Calling all musical entrepreneurs: the tube needs a new sponsor for its busking pitches. The war on knife crime is getting graphic. American Airlines are to drop their Stansted-NY service. Vets at London Zoo are employing blood sucking bugs as phlebotomists. One pensioner at least does not agree with the Olympics, and she’s prepared to go to prison rather than pay for it. What fun if we......

Hmm. Londonist can’t help thinking that this gorilla was named for her rhyming potential. Anyway, London zoo’s new simian sexpot has shaken up the gorilla pound, and stirred the testosterone of Bobby, one of its favourite inmates. Staff at the zoo had previously feared for hunky Bobby’s libido, and his former liaisons had borne no fruit. In fact it has been twenty years since the pitter patter of small furry paws have been heard there.......

For those of you (like us) who just can't get enough of cute, cuddly little things, even if they look a bit like aliens, we introduce you to Conchita, a three-week-old white-naped mangabey monkey. This teeny-tiny, big-eyed, big-eared, pink-tongued furball is only the second mangabey ever born in the UK. Unfortunately, the species is seriously endangered in the wild. Delivered by emergency caesarean (yup, apparently they do that for monkeys), Conchita is being raised by......

London is trying to export its problems: mitten crabs may be a pest here but they’re a delicacy in China. Some London office computer keyboards apparently harbour more bacteria than the average loo seat. Shell aren’t fluffy bunnies: they have pulled out of a project to build a huge wind farm in the Thames Estuary. Londonist has a secret thing about wind farms and is very sad about this. Def Leppard have a new......

Should you think, That’s odd, I thought Queen Victoria had been dead some 107 years, you wouldn’t be wrong. But a new tropical bird exhibit housed in a renovated Victorian pavilion deserves a proper launch, and who better to do the deed than the Queen herself? Specially resurrected for the day in the form of aptly named impersonator Sylvia Strange (the most famous of the Queen’s impersonators, mind you), Queen Victoria was on hand......

A list of London's most popular attractions in the last year have been named. The British Museum took first place with almost 5.5 million visitors thanks to the help of a motionless army. Museum heads attributed the 12% spike in visitors to the First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army, the British Museum's most popular attraction since King Tut's goods were on display in 1972. If you want to go toe-to-toe with an army that won't......

Intrepid zoo visitor Steve Lowe took his thermal imaging camera to London Zoo and came up with pictures that show interesting things about animals not revealed just by gawking at them in their enclosures. He has now donated the photos to the zoo, where they will be used in education and even in veterinary work. How cool is the fact that a zebra's stripes put out differing amounts of heat? Very! If you also......

The Guinness Book of Records names London’s Lyle’s Golden Syrup the world’s oldest branded anything. We love him dearly, but God forbid that Beckham ever gets the urge to go into politics. EVEN MORE private records stray. Anarchy rules. Strange magnetic fields affect London City Airport. We just love Dean Koontz. It seems even London ZOO has to do a stock-check. Farewell Leicester Square - well, as you know it, anyway. Public consultation on......

While pigeons are getting a bit of stick today, heartwarming news of sparrows getting new homes at London Zoo courtesy of prisoners in Spring Hill prison balances the scale somewhat. After a long absence, sparrows have come back to London and are being housed in ten brand new bird boxes built by prisoners at Spring Hill prison in Buckinghamshire. The question "Where have all the sparrows gone?" crops up again and again in nostalgia-tinged......

So this week, we spent all our money on cold remedies and extra balmy tissues for our beleaguered noses. The plan is to be back and fighting fit by Monday so here are some of the things we could all get up to this week for very little wonga. Monday: Call the BBC Ticket Line on 0870 901 1227 and get free tickets for the recording of Clare in the Community - the radio......

It's very easy to get caught up in this city for all of it's music, clubs and big shiny loud stuff. Well, as much as we remain a fan of all that is big and shiny, Londonist occasionally needs some down time. Preferably with trees and tweety birds. And there's nothing more relaxing than a walk through the countryside. This is why The Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre is perfect. It's a short skip and......

21. The Beast Of Barnet For ten years the so-called Barnet ‘big cat’ caused confusion in the London suburbs – a few years before the ‘beast’ of Bexley reared its head, even though both were possibly the same animal, or at least part of the same puzzle. Strangely, in 2001 the press claimed that the elusive wild cat had been caught – after many years of frustrating police searches, fruitless tracking, and numerous sightings......

There. We’ve come out and said it. When did you last go to the zoo? Our zoo, I mean. You know, the one in Regents Park. The one you got dragged to thrice as a child. We can bet that most of you haven’t been much since then, if at all. Now London Zoo may not be the world’s oldest, or biggest, but it is one of the most highly respected, and the Zoological Society......

19. Freakish Falls! During the August of 1920 in Woodford, stones poured from the sky for three consecutive days without explanation. Four years later at Eltham, Plumstead, Woolwich and Shooters Hill a great ice storm battered the area, despite the afternoon being the hottest for two years! The hailstones were the size of eggs, and some jagged in nature, measuring five-inches which fell from the sky, cutting residents who ran for cover. In January......

Yearghh! Swab the decks and raise the middenmast. Ye Cutty Sark to be shipshape again. Secure the hatch. A a binnacle of landlubbin' lizards hatch at London Zoo. Avast! Gorelubber Tarantino visits Wimbledon (scurvy) dog track. Fifteen men on a dead-man's chest. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. Yearghhh!! Image courtesy of Peterkellystudios via Flickr.......

So congratulations to the keepers at London Zoo's reptile house who have just become the proud parents to nine Utila Iguanas (Ctenosaura bakeri). These critically endangered critters, a rare species of spiny tailed black iguana, are native to a small area of mangrove swamp on the Honduran island of Utila and their hatching is another successful step in a wider programme to save them from extinction. After a ten year breeding programme, the domesticated......

Gorillas have been getting a rather good press of late in London. The Gorilla Kingdom at London Zoo, which opened in March, has seen huge numbers of visitors trudging up Regent's Park way to gawp at resident lowland gorillas Bobby, Zaire and Effie swing about their new home. Meanwhile, a television ad featuring a sullen simian being sparked into life by the crashing drum break of Phil Collins 'In The Air Tonight' has become......

Fivefold rise in stop-and-searches since foiled terrorist attacks. Polish university sets up a London-based campus. Crystal Palace dinosaurs get listed status. Grandmother of all granny flats is rejected for planning permission. Cutesy muppet-like birds at London Zoo. Awwwww. Image courtesy of atharabidi via the Londonist flickr group.......

Now it’s properly August there’s not much coming up on the tellybox. However, if you really can’t be arsed to get out there and catch some cheap London, Camden Fringe or Shoreditch Festival then you could keep your London head in check by paying attention to the following: On TV, Londonist likes: Monday, 6 August Super Vets (BBC1, 19:30-20:00) Terrible title but a nice opportunity to catch a behind the scenes look at London......

And no, it's not just some made up word. You could be excused for not knowing what a marmoset is; unless you've spent time in South American rainforests or really a lot of time hanging out at small mammal houses at zoos. Really, what you need to know is that they're related to monkeys, and are really, really cute. London Zoo has just opened their new rainforest exhibit, where you can get up close......

The House of the Orange Monkey chronicles the adventures of a very special tourist. Mr Monkey is one of the few simian visitors to our city. He certainly makes the most of it, exploring the parts other tourists cannot reach, and writing up surprisingly useful field notes. We caught up with him to ask a few questions. 1. Tell us a bit about yourself I'm a pocket sized beanie monkey living in the north-west.......

Following the BBC new story “scare” scandal of London Zoo’s too easily leapable perimeter fence they now bring to light a year old report that points out Chessington Zoo just hasn’t got round to building the new 22 acre enclosure promised to their gorillas back in 2003. London Zoo, in smug contrast, had the right royal opening of their flagship “Gorilla Kingdom” at the end of March. So, whilst Londoners Zaire, Bobby and Effie......

It's a good day for fans of caged simians. First, the dastard who stole SpongeBob the monkey from Chessington has been sentenced. Monkey rustler Marlon Brown will serve a year behind bars himself after what the judge described as "an act of devilry". In the event the monkey was recovered but it was traumatised and still is traumatised. You showed no remorse. SpongeBob has since been moved to Battersea Zoo. He infrequently updates his......

In a piece of late Friday afternoon no-newsness yesterday the BBC reported the terrifying findings of a Defra security inspection of London Zoo: "Tigers and lions kept at the zoo could leap over the 6ft-high perimeter fence if they escaped from their enclosures." Argh! Forget the BoB. This is where this shit gets real. Lions and tigers (and bears)… loose in Regents Park…. Oh my! Of course, the ‘could’ and the ‘if’ and the......

This Day In London’s History 1826: The founders of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) hold their first meeting. In 1824 Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, founder of the city of Singapore, returned to England in poor health. After a period of convalescence in Cheltenham he moved to London and turned his attention to establishing a ‘learned society’ for the purpose of studying animals. On 26th February 1826 he held the society’s first meeting, with......

This week, we dip into the London, Old & New Flckr pool for a couple of shots of Camden Lock. Hard to beleive the Camden has had a market for only around 30 years, so strong is the association these days. Today, there are officially six separate markets, collectively attracting half a million visitors a week. The first of the market spaces nestled up against the Regents Canal at Camden Lock in 1972. Old warehouse......

Londonist: So they had a virgin birth at London Zoo. Cronenburger: "Earlier in the year" it says. Did they make a big deal about it back then? Londonist: Don't think so. But it's all Christmassy now that Flora is due to give birth in December. Cronenburger: Not a good time to be a Creationist or one of those Intelligent Design wankers. Maybe God didn't plant dinosaur evidence to test our faith, maybe he left......

London Zoo is a rather empty place at this time of year. Bashful sun, chilly days and fatter rainclouds conspire to keep both animals and humans indoors. So Londonist's recent visit was a very peaceful affair. Although not all of the beasties were on show that day, we did manage to spot a very peculiar creature on our way home. This tangled miscreation can be found lurking on a wall in Parkway, Camden.......

Heart warming animal story of the week: A dove that became extinct in the wild more than 30 years ago has been successfully bred at London Zoo. Planning on going to the 2012 Olympics? Then you will be expected to use public transport. Oh joy. Michael Jackson is coming to town to make a 'rare public appearance' next month for the World Music Awards. Looks like the Profumo affair may be turned into a......

We slipped up on Photo of the Day yesterday. Does being threatened with a cavity search in Minnesota* sound like a feeble excuse? Well we have a doozy of a pic today and as long as we don't fall foul of the Patriot Act we may even have a couple of weekend posts to make up for the lapse. nic0's London Zoo: Masticating giraffe does exactly what it says on the tin and then......