Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum News

The link below contains yet another interesting 'Zoophoria' conversation with a Zoo Director, and there is a brief mention of the upcoming packrat exhibit, a future jaguar exhibit and the fact that "we'd like to relocate the Mexican wolves". The entire interview is worth reading:

zoophoria
 
Visited today and saw the construction area for the upcoming packrat themed exhibit. It will be in the exhibit hall adjacent to Life On The Rocks. The exhibit hall was built as part of Life On The Rocks complex but has never been used (in spite of being there for almost a decade). It will include visitor amenities such as restrooms (needed on this part of the grounds) and a small snack bar.

A new corrugated metal ticket shed is nearing completion across from the stingray touch pool. It stands out and is a stark departure from the Museum's ethos of blending into the desert. I posted a photo of the backside here (though from the front it is even worse): ugly new ticket shed | ZooChat
 
Milwaukee Man said:
Ocelot kitten born:

A purrfect day: Endangered ocelot born with help of Cincinnati scientists
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If you click the link you see the news item is on a Cincinnati news channel, not a local Tucson news channel. The reason is that scientists from Cincinnati Zoo performed the artificial insemination. The other reason is that (much to my frustration and dismay) the Desert Museum is not announcing it locally because they are going to keep the kitten off exhibit until it is old enough to send to another institution.
 
Arizona Docent said:
If you click the link you see the news item is on a Cincinnati news channel, not a local Tucson news channel. The reason is that scientists from Cincinnati Zoo performed the artificial insemination. The other reason is that (much to my frustration and dismay) the Desert Museum is not announcing it locally because they are going to keep the kitten off exhibit until it is old enough to send to another institution.
Click to expand...

Interesting - thanks for pointing that out. Yeah, that is unfortunate - I thought of you when I saw this article, especially since the Museum is your neck of the woods (or desert :p).
 
The Museum has finally broken their mysterious silence on the ocelot birth by publishing a feature article in the new (Spring 2019) issue of ASDM News, the quarterly member newsletter. It also says the honor of naming the kitten will be auctioned off at their annual gala (evening fundraiser) on April 28, 2019. Unfortunately, it confirms the kitten will be sent to another zoo so it looks like we will never get to see it in Tucson. :( No indication of whether or not the person who pays to name her will get to see her behind the scenes (but I sure hope they do).

Speaking of the gala, their annual fundraiser will be held April 28 from 5-9pm. This year they have created a special Facebook page just for the gala: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Gala

The extremely popular Cool Summer Nights (formerly known as Summer Saturday Nights) will begin on May 18, 2019. This is earlier than years past. Originally it was every Saturday in June, July, August. For at least the last couple years (maybe more) it was extended one week on either end to include Memorial Day Weekend (last weekend in May) and Labor Day Weekend (first weekend in September). Now they are starting even earlier in May, presumably due to the overwhelming crowds that attend.
 
I had assumed the newsletter article on ocelot birth was referring to last year's kitten (since no dates were given in the article). During a visit today I found out it is referring to a second birth that took place about a month ago. Just like last year's kitten, this one is a female that resulted from artificial insemination performed by someone from CREW at Cincinnati Zoo. And just like last year's kitten, this one will not go on exhibit. :(
 
Whatever became of ASDM's plans for the exhibit complex with jaguar and American crocodiles? Is that still pending, or has it been permanently shelved?
 
Belize Zoo has a lengthy post on their Facebook page about jaguarundis and a pair that were born two months ago. They state they are willing to send them to "a quality zoo" and the only possibility they mention by name is Arizona Desert Museum! They left off the word Sonora but it is clear this is where they are talking about. So my dream of seeing jaguarundis in Tucson again may soon come true!
 
Arizona Docent said:
Belize Zoo has a lengthy post on their Facebook page about jaguarundis and a pair that were born two months ago. They state they are willing to send them to "a quality zoo" and the only possibility they mention by name is Arizona Desert Museum! They left off the word Sonora but it is clear this is where they are talking about. So my dream of seeing jaguarundis in Tucson again may soon come true!
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I thought Elmwood Park Zoo near Phiadelphia planned on getting this species.
 
The former thick-billed parrot aviary (adjacent to mountain lion) now houses a porcupine. The former porcupine exhibit (in Small Cat Canyon) is currently empty.
 
On Sunday, October 20 (2019), Canon cameras will be offering free one hour equipment loans (checked out at the Baldwin Education Center).

(I will not be there as I am flying home from northern California that day and also I recently switched from Canon to Nikon).
 
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