Zoo Tampa at Lowry Park Zoo Tampa at Lowry Park News 2021

Jaxton

Jaxton

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
The Zoo has a new female Masai Giraffe, Rafiki, from the Phoenix Zoo. Randall and Bingwa have been moved to the Philadelphia Zoo.
 
Jaxton said:
The Zoo has a new female Masai Giraffe, Rafiki, from the Phoenix Zoo. Randall and Bingwa have been moved to the Philadelphia Zoo.
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Any corroborating evidence? Philadelphia Zoo's habitat seems kinda cramped for five giraffes. :confused:
 
Jaxton said:
The Zoo has a new female Masai Giraffe, Rafiki, from the Phoenix Zoo. Randall and Bingwa have been moved to the Philadelphia Zoo.
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Does this mean Philadelphia has Masai Giraffes now?

tampasteve said:
There are a few species I would really love to see, but the space is a little odd. It would be tough to have any climbing/arboreal species as the main animal since the space is designed more for ground animals. Not that it could not be reconfigured, but that would end up costing quite a bit. It was really designed for chimps or chimp like species as built. I think it is a more appropriate space for a species of baboon or macaque maybe?
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Well if it's true it was designed for more terrestrial primates then it was never appropriately built for chimps either ;) But as far as baboons or macaques go the AZA is only interested in Hamadryas and Japanese so Tampa's options are limited, particularly given their climate.

~Thylo
 
ZooTampa’s two remaining generic giraffe bulls did NOT go to Philadelphia, despite what the zoo’s social media team’s response to a comment on Instagram might say. Philadelphia didn’t have adequate space for the one bull they did have (thus shipping him out in the fall), so they certainly don’t have space for two! The two boys, instead, have moved to the Pittsburgh Zoo.
 
I hope it is better than their paper map. The old paper maps they had were really good at one time, the current ones were pretty terrible, IMO.
 
A Siamang has been born:
Hutan and Sensei the siamang gibbons are happy parents with the birth of the newest addition to the ZooTampa family. These swinging primates are part of the gibbon family and are the largest of all gibbons. Their legendary vocal talent can be heard up to 2 miles away and is primarily used to establish territory, which can be as large as 50 acres. Unfortunately due to habitat loss and illegal animal trade all gibbons, including the siamang, are on the endangered species list. The birth of this young siamang is a positive step forward to maintaining populations of these amazing animals for generations to come. #ZooTampa #ZTsavs
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ZooTampa at Lowry Park
 
Not sure if this is new news but the zoo has just tweeted about a new Shoebill enclosure:

ZooTampa at Lowry Park on Twitter: "ZooTampa became the first wildlife institution in North America to hatch shoebill storks outside of their native range. Their new habitat is located in the Africa realm of the zoo and will provide guests their first glimpse of these incredible animals in more than a decade. https://t.co/lFSYHhETAy" / Twitter

The wording of 'first glimpse of these incredible animals in more than a decade' caught my eye, as they were very definitely on show in October 2013. :D
 
Maguari said:
Not sure if this is new news but the zoo has just tweeted about a new Shoebill enclosure:

The wording of 'first glimpse of these incredible animals in more than a decade' caught my eye, as they were very definitely on show in October 2013. :D
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The big walk-through in which they were kept previously was demolished in 2017, so at most they have been off-show for just over three years.
 
Maguari said:
The wording of 'first glimpse of these incredible animals in more than a decade' caught my eye, as they were very definitely on show in October 2013. :D
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I had the same thought when I saw the post :p

Chlidonias said:
The big walk-through in which they were kept previously was demolished in 2017, so at most they have been off-show for just over three years.
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The zoo also had a secondary aviary for them that exhibited additional animals in 2013. It was probably demolished before the massive one but I don't know either way.

~Thylo
 
I wish that they had posted pictures of the enclosure. I am going to go there in a couple of weeks, I will get some pictures.
 
Sarus Crane said:
There was a Shoebill in the Ituri Forest aviary when I visited in January 2017.
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Yeah, their post about it being off exhibit for so long wasn't really correct. It's too bad that the large aviary in that area was demolished/built poorly, it was a really interesting habitat.
Here is an update from the news with footage of the new Shoebill habitat. It looks like they have only one shoebill named Lady and seems that the zoo got rid of Clouded Leopards and replaced them with Binturongs.
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I wish the video had some context on where this exhibit is located in the section. I am sure it is in the same general area as it used to be, but still....
I wonder if the Clouded Leopards are gone or just off exhibit. They used to cycle animals in and out of that enclosure at different times, with the Persian Leopards going on and off.
 
This article states that the zoo "is home to three of only four shoebill storks in the United States". There is also mention of the zoo's trio of binturongs going on exhibit soon, as well as 'Expedition Wild Africa' (a safari truck ride) and a new mascot ('Manny T the Florida Manatee'):

ZooTampa to open new exhibits, experiences this spring
 
snowleopard said:
This article states that the zoo "is home to three of only four shoebill storks in the United States". There is also mention of the zoo's trio of binturongs going on exhibit soon, as well as 'Expedition Wild Africa' (a safari truck ride) and a new mascot ('Manny T the Florida Manatee'):

ZooTampa to open new exhibits, experiences this spring
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That must mean DWA is the only other one left to hold them as I've heard the San Diego ones have passed away.
 
snowleopard said:
This article states that the zoo "is home to three of only four shoebill storks in the United States"
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That sort of blows. It's a grater shame that there isn't even a specialized bird park like Sylvan Heights willing to try to breed these birds (I know that it's probably because they rather try to preserve what they can but still, shoebills need more attention imo).
 
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