Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo Discussion thread 2022

If we get another peacock pheasant, and I assume it will be on display, it could mean that our male Philip could also finally be back on display. As far as I'm aware he's still in the Malayan woods; getting a female could suggest a move to Indo for both of them. Arguably one of our most attractive bird species that's been criminally underexhibited. Even in the Woods he lives in an exhibit obscured by an ugly mesh cage and all of the pavilion's flora.
 
I gotta agree with @Kalvin. I wish our bird species had better exhibits all together. Not a fan of the large bird cage in the African Rainforest.
 
Dolf has posted a story on his Social Media of the installation of the Orangutan Towers! This is a huge as this shows they are really pushing through the winter and continuing to get that work done. Really nice to see him walk us through the process of the building of this new exhibit. Once again proving he is a tech savvy CEO and one that cares about the community impact. Really great Job and I for one love the updates every week.
 
I saw those post too @Akula. But I have a concern. Are they going to leave those towers as large unsightly metal poles in the exhibit? Or are they going to cover it up somehow?
 
cypher said:
I saw those post too @Akula. But I have a concern. Are they going to leave those towers as large unsightly metal poles in the exhibit? Or are they going to cover it up somehow?
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I have the same concern. Here’s a look from dolf’s IG: 826AEF20-C19A-4B2F-BCF5-31C4E4D65D85.jpeg And here’s the exhibit rendering
D7C09DB6-B3B0-4048-BA08-70D8EFBAFCFD.jpeg Maybe the 1st image isn’t the final look, and what looks like (wood ?) is added to the platforms later. Hopefully everything comes together closer as the exhibit is being finished.
 

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I think I remember the photos of the orang towers when they arrived were that they are actually brown and the platforms are green. I don't think the lighting in the photo really helps in seeing it. You can see a difference between the pole and tower but you really need to look hard. The look certainly isn't as amazing as some other orang exhibits out there but is still a massive upgrade from the indoor exhibit and better then concrete poles other zoos have.
 
@Flixox101, you would be right they are about to cover the poles. Best we can hope for is they really are brown and green.

I dont think there will be an exhibit opening date announcement until right a week or two before opening day. Gives them more flexibility if it takes longer to get the orangs comfortable coming out. Got to remember Puppe is the only one who has ever seen the outside world and even then that was before arriving at the zoo! They could adapt fast and love outside time or they could be timid and scared. They havent had grass under their feet. They dont know what a squirrel or bird is. They havent heard wind blowing threw the trees or felt rain. Could be an intimidating for them. Also could be a big adventure they adore. It could vary from orang to orang.

In other news the giraffe calf has met his big sister Amani and has begun to explore the indoor exhibit. From the photos Amani appears very interested in her little brother and Mstari seems at ease with both the kids being together. Next step hopefully is opening the giraffe house. Probably will still be a little before Kiko is thrown in the mix. I think Amani was a couple months old when he met her in order to prevent him from breeding Mstari.
 
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The only Orangutans that have felt grass are Puppe and Ramai, there was some minimal grass in the indoor exhibit before, maybe Sekali. But other than that, the 3 kids have never felt grass, the closest encounter to wildlife might've been the time I saw a mouse in the exhibit and Kembali and Budi climbed away from it and right to the very top of the indoor climbing frame.

The Climbing poles may look a bit drab, but many well respected institutes have structures just like that.
For example:
Perth Zoo
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Indianapolis Zoo
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Columbus
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Some of the structures are wood but they definitely do not look natural. So it goes to show that for an exhibit to be good, the structures don't need to look natural. But the natural aspect does look good, but not always better.
 
Going back to the towers here’s an image of a birds eye view, in the imagine we can see that there appears to be 3 main towers in the exhibit and 3 tree like towers so I guess that the towers we saw were the 3 main ones. And one outside of the exhibit.

upload_2022-3-4_16-43-11.jpeg
 

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Great photos!

So excited to see the upcoming outdoor exhibit and the new baby soon! Puppe has been left around in the lame indoor exhibit for the majority of her life, so it could be very cool seeing her witness the outdoor nature after nearly half a decade! Also thanks for the updates, looking forward for more soon!
 
While wandering about we checked out the view from the doors - and the poles are indeed up in the outdoor habitat!

Other items to note:

1) One of the Indian rhinos was outside (guess it was mild enough), and one indoors.
2) Africa - lions, cheetah, hyena and baboons were out in Africa and active
3) Americas pavilion is still closed - so that’s been at least a week
4) Mila and Mazy were back on their side of the tiger exhibit - so I’m not sure if they’re just rotating now? Mazy was trying to convince Mila to play and chase her outside
5) Pemba (snow leopard) - this is the third time I’ve seen Pemba on top of the central pole look out in a row - so it’s not as close as Ena’s perch - but still very visible
6) red pandas - two were sharing an exhibit - so presumably Suva and Paprika? First time I’ve seen them together
7) wolf pack - the wolf pack was active - I hadn’t realized a couple were moving to Moncton

other than that - it was a little bit busier than it has been - but nothing crazy
 
Man it's so exciting to think that this year we're getting a big zoo update. The last one was like what, Eurasia Wilds in 2014? Crazy that it's finally almost ready.

Asha's probably off exhibit right now due to her illness so Vishnu and Kiran are on their own at the rhinos. Still crossing my fingers and hoping they've finally got her on the path to recovery.

That's incredibly weird that Americas has been closed for this long with no explanation. Maybe since crowds are low they just don't feel the need to operate the least popular pavilion right now? Maybe they're doing some light reno work?

Thanks for the update, you've got me excited for when I'll get to go next, hope the weather starts to heat up a bit cuz I don't do well in the cold lol
 
@Zooer, the red pandas on exhibit would almost definitely have been Suva and Paprika. It is breeding season so they will want him with her as much as possible so they dont miss that tiny window for breeding. Likewise they would want to keep Adira from him to prevent breeding since she is old enough to breed.
 
Adira could stay to be a breeder and I guess that 2 breeding pairs are possible, but its the indoor space that would be an issue, because they definitely have enough outdoor space. but its probably the side space. Toronto doesn't compare to Knoxville(AKA the red panda capital) sadly.
 
@Akula I dont think there is space in the red panda barn for 2 breeding pairs and young. We could probably hold 4 adults but its the young that would cause the space issue. I would like to think their cubs would go to the US so it will take time but hard to say because inbreeding with Canadian red pandas seems to be a great idea according to the SSP.

@ProjectGames, very possible the pavilion is closed for some work. My guess... totally a guess with no inside intel whatsoever... its probably work around the beavers and otters to complete this summers project. They put a lot of time and work into their outdoor exhibits and the viewing area so maybe they wanted or needed to do a few final touches inside. Probably easier to do it while the pavilion is closed then open to the public and blocking off the star attraction of the pavilion. They also might be hoping with no guests in the pavilion it might spark a little romance for sakis Maderia and Cora.
 
As we all know Jingga will be gone soon.... as well as Kembali (probably). If Ramai's baby does come out maybe at the end of the year, then I'd expect Jingga to be around the infant's life for around a few months, then she'd be gone. I don't know if anyone will disagree with this, but since Budi had successfully bred Sekali and made her pregnant, I suggest the keepers pair Ramai and Budi up for most of the time, so that way, Budi will spend most of his time breeding Ramai and she will be pregnant and have her baby asap.
 
@ProjectGames they are not pairing Budi and Ramai all the time to allow Jingga to remain with Ramai most of the time. They don't want to really risk breaking that bond between mom and daughter, especially given Ramai's lets say difficult nature. Firstly if Jingga is around long enough to meet her sibling they want her to watch Ramai with the baby. But secondly if Ramai wont tolerate being around her then there is yet another orang they have to give time on exhibit to. Sure maybe you can put her with Budi and Sekali or maybe Kembali but there is no guarantee that will work. Right now you want to go with what works.
 
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