North Carolina Zoo North Carolina Zoo News 2021

He’s still mixed with his mother and it will be Years before I believe he will be able to become a breeding bull. Maybe theirs a small chance he could breed with the females but I doubt it and wouldn’t bet on a 7 year old elephant.
Tendaji should be in his mid to late teens by now, and was not imported along with his mother. Maybe you are thinking of Ajabu, who is Mlilo's 5 year old son (she arrived pregnant in early 2016 and gave birth to him a couple months later).
 
Tendaji should be in his mid to late teens by now, and was not imported along with his mother. Maybe you are thinking of Ajabu, who is Mlilo's 5 year old son (she arrived pregnant in early 2016 and gave birth to him a couple months later).

Oh yes. I actually didn’t know they had a bull. No signage on it but that explains why one elephant was not on display. I was confusing the two males. At the same point the clocks clicking and if a pregnancy doesn’t happen soon some it won’t be great for the population.!
 
He’s still mixed with his mother and it will be Years before I believe he will be able to become a breeding bull. Maybe theirs a small chance he could breed with the females but I doubt it and wouldn’t bet on a 7 year old elephant.
True, a mature bull would be around the 20-22 years of age range.

Do you think bull Louie will breed at NC Zoo? What about the overall outlook for elephants here?
 
True, a mature bull would be around the 20-22 years of age range.

Do you think bull Louie will breed at NC Zoo? What about the overall outlook for elephants here?

To be honest I don’t. I mean the zoo has one of the more progressive elephant programs, when it comes to welfare especially because they attempt to mix the bulls with the females as much as possible (Probably 80% of the time I visited). So natural breeding has always been on the table but C’Sar is pretty old and potentially infertile at this point if I am remembering correctly. Artie the other male until recently was similar to Louie in that health wise he could breed but either didn’t show interest or didn’t have the right technique. And now Louie may very well repeat this.

The zoo has kinda dug its grave on this. I mean they shoulda brought in a proven bull years ago to breed the two most likely females. Now they basically have only Batir, 19, as an option to breed. And the clock is ticking.

The zoo has always wanted a breeding herd, but has been too slow and indecisive imo to increase the likelihood. I mean they have allowed natural breeding and done some AI procedures, but beyond that I guess they got so focused around keeping the herd consistent that it got in the way.
 
I'm really sorry guys, the plan for today ended up being derailed quite a bit so I wasn't able to get much in the way of updates -- I'll be back in the park soon for round 2!

Today Tonga, Batir, Rafiki, and Samantha were together in North habitat, with Artie in South habitat. Louie's introduction process is going well, they're currently being kept "controlled and short" in the barn (thanks Dr. Jb!)

Not sure if necessarily news or not but I noticed a complete absence of any sea lion signage, they're also not listed on the website -- is Owen still at the park?
 
The sea lions were also off-exhibit when I visited the zoo a few weeks ago, although the signage was still up and the monitors in the food court still listed their exhibit as open. The polar bear and arctic wolf exhibits were also cordoned off for a private event, which I found to be a little in poor taste given the lack of notice and it being on a Friday.
 
The sea lions were also off-exhibit when I visited the zoo a few weeks ago, although the signage was still up and the monitors in the food court still listed their exhibit as open. The polar bear and arctic wolf exhibits were also cordoned off for a private event, which I found to be a little in poor taste given the lack of notice and it being on a Friday.
Same here.
 
Do we have more than one sea lion? I thought we only had Owen left after Diesel died last year. Owen was still reported at the zoo as of May this year, so if he was moved or passed it must have been very recently. I'll ask, I'm really curious about the zoo's plans from here
 
I got the following response from the zoo regarding Owen and the current status of sea lions at the zoo:

"Owen moved onto the Brookfield Zoo a couple weeks ago. There are no plans to house sea lions at the North Carolina Zoo in the next couple of years."

Thanks to Jennifer Ireland curator of mammals for the prompt response
 
I got the following response from the zoo regarding Owen and the current status of sea lions at the zoo:

"Owen moved onto the Brookfield Zoo a couple weeks ago. There are no plans to house sea lions at the North Carolina Zoo in the next couple of years."

Thanks to Jennifer Ireland curator of mammals for the prompt response
Shame, but it's a fine habitat for seals on their own. I do recall them having a brief period without sea lions in the past as well.
 
Some great news for the zoo. It seems likely that the state will be able to pass a budget by the end of this month. The unveiled legislative budget is really a best case scenario for the zoo. First of all it provides 1.5 million in funding to cover part of the losses suffered during the pandemic. It also funds the overall budget at similar levels compared to previous years.

More exciting though is that it is basically the same as the governor’s budget fully funding Asia and Australia over the next two years. Under the plan the zoo would receive 41 million in fiscal year 2021 and 34 million in fiscal year 2022. This means Asia should break ground in the Fall and Australia shouldn’t be far behind it.

Lastly the legislature is providing 5 million this year to expand the parking lots, purchase new trams, and renovate the tram roadway. Overall I am glad both sides Democrats and Republicans have both decided to invest in the state zoo like never before.
 
Found what appears to be the newest plan for the Asia exhibit. You can see the cafe (large building on left) and the exhibit building (right).

NCZ-Plan-scaled.jpg
 
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