I'm honestly not very upset about that tbh. This will be huge for the giraffes, as their enclosure isn't very good.
Philadelphia Zoo Philadelphia Zoo News 2020
- Thread starter CarLover
- Start date
What don't you believe about it? They have to apply for the grant with what the money is for.
Draining an entire lake after investing in a "wetland" feature, as well as how they will build the giraffe barn and just the general logistics. Also, giraffes in with... ostrich and ankole cattle. About as predictable a mix as one can get.
Do fish live in the lake? It would be very difficult to fill it in if there are fish. I'm sure there are also amphibians, too.
That is an interesting development. Why would they need to remove bird lake when they have that big area in the middle of the zoo that would be perfect for a savanna(maybe they have other plan for this exhibit?). Hopefully they can add one or two more interesting ungulates than the overused ankole cattle. I wonder what will take up residence in the old giraffe exhibit, possibly the zebras?
That's cool. And I agree, I'm so tired of seeing Ankole. I'd prefer bongos. I was told they behave a lot like cattle.
I suppose it could work, depends on individual animals though as I do remember hearing about giraffes and bongos being mixed at the North Carolina Zoo and that falling through due to the layout of the holding area.
I'm thinking they have other plans for that area (hopefully better exhibit for cheetahs is involved...) that they're using private funding for, so they haven't had to be publicly disclosed yet.
I LOVE bongos, but I'm not sure they would mix well with giraffes. There's plenty of gazelle species they could use, bontebok, etc.
Maybe the site of the old Children's Zoo could be used for an animal that is large, grey, and hasn't been seen at the zoo since 2009...
I think elands would mix well with them, but I think the fact that they have probably 1-3 acres that are unused (old children's zoo, picnic grove area), there must be something else big in their plans. If they used the entire south side of the zoo, they could have a killer African complex. I just hope COVID isn't messing up any funding for the hippo and rhinos. They've lost enough cool species over the years and that would mean no more animals left from the pachyderm house.
I hope . . .
Me too!
2020 will go down in infamy as one of if not the worst year in human history. The pandemic resulted in the Philadelphia Zoo being closed to the public for 16 weeks. Due to the pandemic, the zoo saw very little change this year.
In recent news, the zoo acquired a new giraffe. There has also been news that Bird Lake will be converted into an exhibit for giraffes, and may see the return of ostriches to the zoo and the addition of ankole cattle.
I had not been to the zoo since January 2020, before the pandemic occurred. This year was really hard for me. I am a struggling university student and the pandemic has put my future career of working at a zoo, preferably at the Philadelphia Zoo in danger.
In recent news, the zoo acquired a new giraffe. There has also been news that Bird Lake will be converted into an exhibit for giraffes, and may see the return of ostriches to the zoo and the addition of ankole cattle.
I had not been to the zoo since January 2020, before the pandemic occurred. This year was really hard for me. I am a struggling university student and the pandemic has put my future career of working at a zoo, preferably at the Philadelphia Zoo in danger.
The zoo did hold a charity event about a month or two ago. They got a decent amount of money, but not a lot. I don't know who much the zoo actually made. The zoo does get donations from guests and friends of the zoo. So financially, the zoo seems stable.
personally I would say it's not even top 10.
I believe that the zoo has always been in good financial hands as I remember reading that the director, Vikram Dewan purposefully set aside money for the maintenance of several existing/new facilities and even pushed for newer facilities like McNeil Avian Center or KidZooU to be somewhat self-sustaining. In terms of potential expansion/renovation, while I do appreciate the bird curator's push to introduce more species (I'm not sure if steamer ducks are new, I believe the screamers they have are relatively new), I am absolutely disheartened by Philly's reduction in their overall collection. I can understand reducing the amount of animals to give remaining ones more space, however IMO there must be a line drawn in the sand. Ideally Philly would have three bear species, 6 big cat species, at least 4 or 5 hoofstock species, 3 pachyderms, a plethora of birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects, and a couple marsupials and small mammals to boot. Philly has the space and the historical significance to warrant substantial fundraising and community TLC, and Zoo360 has legitimately proven to be a truly innovative way to provide more space for animals in a landlocked site. If it must go so far as to dedicate buildings to people or firms to secure funding (hypothetically speaking, the Sylvester Stallone Elephant Care Center or First Niagra Bear Country), then that's the most prudent way to go. If the Philadelphia Zoo is willing to sacrifice the swan boat rides and the wetland trail for a new giraffe/ostrich/ankole habitat, I would wholeheartedly get rid of the biergarten (or move it to Impala Lawn) and the PZExpress train to get elephants back in the zoo, even if it is just a bachelor group of 2 or 3.
Zooplantman
Well-Known Member
Apparently some of us need to actually learn about history.
It wasn't even the worst year in the history of the Philadelphia Zoo!
*cough cough Civil War cough cough*
*cough cough World of Primates cough cough*