Brookfield Zoo Brookfield Zoo News 2021
- Thread starter MeiLover
- Start date
Brookfield Zoo Visit Report, 8/21/21
After some serious intriguing bits of info from yesterdays posts, I decided to take a trip to the zoo to see whats going on. Once again I got stuck in a storm at the end of the day, but luckily this time I came prepared and spent a pleasant few hours at the zoo.
New Additions at the Pachyderm House: First off, the zoo does in fact have capybara (not that we ever doubted you @JVM
). They are not yet on exhibit, but will take up residence in one of the former Pygmy hippo exhibits - the one closest to the tortoises. They had signage up and the exhibit had signs placed in it that read “new exhibit coming soon.” This is a super neat addition and as I said this a species I’ve wanted to see at the zoo for a long time. The pachyderm house seems like a good spot for them, and it continues the idea of transitionIng away from a pachyderm house and making it more of a large animal house. Interestingly, the giant anteater that has been MIA all year in the pachyderm house is gone for good and that exhibit also has signs that say a new exhibit is coming. This could mean another new species could arrive as well as the capybara to replace the anteater. Nice to see some activity in the pachyderm house again.
Feathers & Birds & Reptiles & Scales: Also mentioned earlier in this thread, both of the reptile and bird houses have reopened. Feathers and Scales was what I was most excited about mainly for the rainforest aviary. However, something felt different. I'm not sure what but I feel like a few plants have been removed and it was less populated. I may need someone else to back that up and it could just be my imagination. Also, only nine species are now signed in the exhibit which is quite a bit less then before. Reptiles and Birds was also good to see again, but its worth noting that the walk in aviary is still closed. Its covered up but I peaked through and noticed that the perches for the macaws have been removed. I am unsure if this is temporary but its worth noting none the less.
Misc. Updates:
. Every visit the zoo seems to get more and more void of animals. In the Asian wing of Tropic World I saw a single male orangutan and nothing else. No gibbons, no otters, no birds. The slow lorises are also still off exhibit for some reason. Its a dead zone and it gets harder and harder to defend the zoo when things are as grim as they are. The addition of capybara is a pleasant surprise, but things like this have become few and far between now days. A new CEO will be brought on in the very immediate future and I am hoping and praying its someone with some ambition who knows how to get things done. The deterioration of the zoo has gone on for long enough and I want to see what new management can do.
Animal Highlights:
After some serious intriguing bits of info from yesterdays posts, I decided to take a trip to the zoo to see whats going on. Once again I got stuck in a storm at the end of the day, but luckily this time I came prepared and spent a pleasant few hours at the zoo.
New Additions at the Pachyderm House: First off, the zoo does in fact have capybara (not that we ever doubted you @JVM
). They are not yet on exhibit, but will take up residence in one of the former Pygmy hippo exhibits - the one closest to the tortoises. They had signage up and the exhibit had signs placed in it that read “new exhibit coming soon.” This is a super neat addition and as I said this a species I’ve wanted to see at the zoo for a long time. The pachyderm house seems like a good spot for them, and it continues the idea of transitionIng away from a pachyderm house and making it more of a large animal house. Interestingly, the giant anteater that has been MIA all year in the pachyderm house is gone for good and that exhibit also has signs that say a new exhibit is coming. This could mean another new species could arrive as well as the capybara to replace the anteater. Nice to see some activity in the pachyderm house again.Feathers & Birds & Reptiles & Scales: Also mentioned earlier in this thread, both of the reptile and bird houses have reopened. Feathers and Scales was what I was most excited about mainly for the rainforest aviary. However, something felt different. I'm not sure what but I feel like a few plants have been removed and it was less populated. I may need someone else to back that up and it could just be my imagination. Also, only nine species are now signed in the exhibit which is quite a bit less then before. Reptiles and Birds was also good to see again, but its worth noting that the walk in aviary is still closed. Its covered up but I peaked through and noticed that the perches for the macaws have been removed. I am unsure if this is temporary but its worth noting none the less.
Misc. Updates:
- The north entrance plaza is currently a giant construction zone. A large new gorilla statue is being added and should be done by next month.
- Various new signage poles have been added throughout the zoo. @MeiLover has uploaded a few photos of what these look like.
- A new eating plaza is under construction to replace the old stingray bay. Various food trucks and new seating areas are being added.
- Congo peafowl are on exhibit in Habitat Africa: The Forest Along side the red-flanked duiker and red-billed hornbills.
- The former large snake exhibit in Clouded Leopard Rainforest is once again empty. @The Speeding Carnotaurus previously mentioned it was home to Indochinese box turtles, but the only one I saw was in another terrarium near the end of the building.
. Every visit the zoo seems to get more and more void of animals. In the Asian wing of Tropic World I saw a single male orangutan and nothing else. No gibbons, no otters, no birds. The slow lorises are also still off exhibit for some reason. Its a dead zone and it gets harder and harder to defend the zoo when things are as grim as they are. The addition of capybara is a pleasant surprise, but things like this have become few and far between now days. A new CEO will be brought on in the very immediate future and I am hoping and praying its someone with some ambition who knows how to get things done. The deterioration of the zoo has gone on for long enough and I want to see what new management can do.Animal Highlights:
- The cats were the stars of the show today. I saw all except the lions and fishing cats and each one was some of the most active I have ever seen. The ocelot who I had only seen once sleeping in the corner, was up and moving throughout the floor of the exhibit before scaling the ledges and finding a place to rest. The Amur leopard was dashing all over the exhibit and climbing up and down. Two snow leopards were chasing each other, etc. All around awesome time seeing animals that I usually see doing nothing being incredibly active.
- All of the bears were super neat. The polar bears were both enjoying the rain and lounging by their pools and the grizzlies were busy digging up part of their exhibit.
- This one was a first; I saw two okapi running! Never seen that before but they were being called over by a keeper and came running to the main exhibit from the one by the nature trail.
Hold up, we have capybaras? I knew that a Nile Hippo wasn’t going to happen, but capybaras as a species are a welcome addition. Not only this is the first time Brookfield ever had them, but they fit in so much.
And if what you say about the Tropic World construction is true, then I can only wait to see the apes outside that cramped building for once. Even if it takes until next year.
And if what you say about the Tropic World construction is true, then I can only wait to see the apes outside that cramped building for once. Even if it takes until next year.
Bengal Tiger
Well-Known Member
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I hope they improve it soon.
The Indochinese Box Turtle moves between the smaller terrarium by the Squirrels and the old Snake exhibit, last time I visited I saw the Turtle in each exhibit over the day
Cool to find out I actually reported new information!
Ahh, so that's why the tamarin are absent. I should have seen that coming. Is that why Africa won't reopen, protecting the gorillas from transmission maybe? I hadn't considered that.
Thank you for clarifying on the otters. If I stopped and thought it through long enough it would have clicked in my mind that transferring the Clouded leopards to the first exhibit ruled out the otters being present there.
Has anyone heard about when Stahl is stepping down for retirement and the new person is stepping in? I was just trying to look it up, but I cannot find anything, really.
When covid first started, I was told he was extending his tenure to at least the end of August of this year, which is right now. So really we could hear news of his replacement at any time now.
I was thinking that, too. Tropic World needs more species.
I think the zoo is wanting to move away from keeping larger mammals indoors; the removed of the tapir and pygmy hippo from tropical world several years back is proof of that. However, considering the anteater is still there and capybara aren't nearly as demanding as pachyderms, I wouldn't mind seeing them there in the future. I hope when the pachyderm house is demolished they are moved there, hopefully then Tropic World will have gotten some improvements and they would be an easy choice to transition there.
As long as a biofloor and real tropical plants are in place (along with Dennis Pate-caliber renovations realismwise), I'm cool with seeing capybara and the anteater in Tropic World. Tropic World hopefully will be Tragic World no more.
I think the real issue is that nothing can coexist with the gibbons because they are so territorial. The Asian section of the Tropic World will always be the weakest link to me.
Plenty of animals have been successfully mixed with gibbons. Orange, porcupines, otters, etc. Are there no longer otters in Tropic World?
The otters are still there.
Jungleworld at Bronx zoo once displayed gibbons and malayian tapirs together.
The problem comes is that gibbon's don't mix well with other primates besides orangutans. The land space is Tropic World Asia is much more limited then the other rooms. Half of it is water for the otters and the rest is taken up by the faux trees for the gibbons and the orangutan island. That leaves a super limited slice of space in between those areas that makes adding another land mammal like a porcupine or tapir really impractical and wouldn't be very good for the animals.
The only species I could maybe see added in the future would be a species of langur. They are one of the only monkeys that has been mixed with gibbons, even then it's not always the most successful. I think Tropic World is a large enough space to where both species could coexist without interfering too much with one another.
The only species I could maybe see added in the future would be a species of langur. They are one of the only monkeys that has been mixed with gibbons, even then it's not always the most successful. I think Tropic World is a large enough space to where both species could coexist without interfering too much with one another.
Would silver-leaf langur or François langur work better in the space?
Either species could work hypothetically. Omaha has a single Mueller's gibbon alongside some François langurs in a space much smaller then Tropic World, but I am unsure how that would play out if there were more gibbons present.
GibbonGuy95
Well-Known Member
I always miss them. Is it a breeding pair?