I don't know and I didn't find any information by Google searching.
Philadelphia Zoo Philadelphia Zoo News 2022
- Thread starter Kevin2342
- Start date
Yesterday was 90 YEARS since Mommy arrived at the zoo 
https://www.instagram.com/p/CctOoLNMATc/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
https://www.instagram.com/p/CctOoLNMATc/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_linkI visited the zoo today.
-The king cobra was back on exhibit. I visited her 2 times, the first time she was moving and the second she was sleeping.
-The new ankole cattle have arrived, and there are three of them. The red river hogs and gazelle are not currently on exhibit as the cattle just came and the zoo wants to gradually introduce them. The whole gazelle/stork sign has been replaced by a new sign of the cattle, but they are still there. There is not enough space to keep every sign in place.
-An employee told me that the animals in Small Mammal House are gradually being moved to other locations in the zoo. She also said it’s possible the Small Mammal House might eventually turn into something new like mentioned on here previously as it’s over 100 years old.
-The fossa exhibit says “new animal coming soon” so there will be a new animal there in the future, but today the otters were there. The second pair of otters that are in the main exhibit weren’t out due to the cold
-Giraffes were off exhibit for renovations of their exhibit and I could see some work being started on the feeding station for guests.
Species I did not see(except birds):
Mhorr Gazelle
Red River Hog
Crocodile Lizard
Standing’s Day Gecko
Fire Salamander
Meerkat
Red Panda
Andean Bear
Giraffe
Maned Wolf
Black-headed Spider Monkey
Jaguar
Black-and-white Colobus Monkey
-The king cobra was back on exhibit. I visited her 2 times, the first time she was moving and the second she was sleeping.
-The new ankole cattle have arrived, and there are three of them. The red river hogs and gazelle are not currently on exhibit as the cattle just came and the zoo wants to gradually introduce them. The whole gazelle/stork sign has been replaced by a new sign of the cattle, but they are still there. There is not enough space to keep every sign in place.
-An employee told me that the animals in Small Mammal House are gradually being moved to other locations in the zoo. She also said it’s possible the Small Mammal House might eventually turn into something new like mentioned on here previously as it’s over 100 years old.
-The fossa exhibit says “new animal coming soon” so there will be a new animal there in the future, but today the otters were there. The second pair of otters that are in the main exhibit weren’t out due to the cold
-Giraffes were off exhibit for renovations of their exhibit and I could see some work being started on the feeding station for guests.
Species I did not see(except birds):
Mhorr Gazelle
Red River Hog
Crocodile Lizard
Standing’s Day Gecko
Fire Salamander
Meerkat
Red Panda
Andean Bear
Giraffe
Maned Wolf
Black-headed Spider Monkey
Jaguar
Black-and-white Colobus Monkey
So there is not enough room on the guardrail of that huge habitat for signs for four species, so they chose to take up the space of two signs for cows...?
~Thylo
~Thylo
Animallover360
Well-Known Member
Just curious, what are some of the possibilities that the small mammal house could possibly become?
By the sounds of things, another playground. Unless Habitat Hollow actually has some animal exhibits... (please have prairie dogs or armadillos or *something* other than being yet another playground)
Animallover360
Well-Known Member
Destroy a historic building for a stupid playground? That’s ridiculous
It's sad that they're sending away the small mammals. That means the zoo won't have meerkats. What will this mean for Meerkat Maze, which is a part of Zoo360? Also, what about the vampire bats and sloths. I feel like it is a waste to do this. I can understand that the building itself definitely needs renovations but I hope they find another solution instead of sending the animals away.
Animallover360
Well-Known Member
I agree. Many zoos have renovated historic buildings to be functional again and to be a good home for the species that call it home. I think Philadelphia Zoo should do the same.
The sloths are already kept in Rare Animal Center, not the Small Mammal House.
There are sloths kept in both buildings, but either way, the post said that they are moving the animals to other parts of the zoo, not to other zoos, so if this is true then there is no need to worry about any of them leaving.
It should be clarified that no one has any official statement been made about the fate of the building or its inhabitants.
In the past, there were plans to demolish the building but perhaps that no longer the case and I do hope they find a use for it.
The Meerkats I doubt are going anywhere. Meerkat Maze was built to be easily de-and-reassembled so as to locate it to a new area of the zoo if necessary.
~Thylo
In the past, there were plans to demolish the building but perhaps that no longer the case and I do hope they find a use for it.
The Meerkats I doubt are going anywhere. Meerkat Maze was built to be easily de-and-reassembled so as to locate it to a new area of the zoo if necessary.
~Thylo
Apparently that’s what they chose to do. If they would like to replace the gazelle/stork sign, there is plenty of space spread throughout but they chose to put all the signs in one area, which I don’t like because if more species are added some signs will be removed. However, the stork sign was out of date, it showed saddle-billed stork and there was a small part of that sign showing white stork that fell off eventually.
So the employee today(she was actually a vet) gave me a full species list of Small Mammal House. I just happened to run into her, I didn’t actually know she was the vet. There is still sloth, meerkat, degu, zebra mice, Eurasian harvest mice, vampire bats, and Damaraland mole-rats. Not sure about chinchilla and hedgehog, I forgot to ask. Pygmy marmoset and tenrec have moved to other zoos.
I wouldn’t imagine Meerkat Maze would move to a new area, as it’s a lot of work constructing a Zoo360 system. I would think there would be a separate exhibit for meerkats in RACC or KidZooU(maybe mixed with other African/Madagascar species, like red-capped Mangabey or blue-eyed lemur, or a separate exhibit of their own(speculation). Many zoos have meerkats mixed with other species of animals, and it makes environment more natural.
What zoos have meerkats with primates? The only mixed exhibits I can think of are Omaha with klipspringer, and Smithsonian with VdD.
I’m not specifically saying primates, I was just giving examples of what it could be. I labeled it as a speculation(see parentheses)
Smithsonian has no meerkats currently but when they get new ones they will be mixed with Von der decken’s hornbills like they used to be.
You specifically mentioned primates as examples, and then said "many" zoos have mixed meerkat exhibits. What other ones have them mixed?
I know.
I also didn’t see golden lion tamarin, pied tamarin, Geoffroy’s marmoset, white-handed gibbon, Madagascar giant jumping rat, Mohol bushbaby, pygmy slow loris,Coqurel’s sifaka and Madagascar ground boa. Sifakas are off exhibit as there have been some behavioral issues with them, meanwhile the elderly mongoose lemur pair have that space. Looking through the windows I saw one of the lemurs. You cannot go inside the small building due to covid. Additional news, the Merten’s water monitors in the Reptile House are expecting babies, and a new trash can has been put in their exhibit for privacy.
Toronto used to have them with Cape Porcupine, until the meerkats died. Although that’s not in the US. I’m sorry about saying ‘’many’’, it just popped out of my mind, I just know of around 4 or 5
Persephone
Well-Known Member
Henry Vilas has them with hornbills. It, uh, didn’t go great but they’re still doing it. I’ve heard of an attempt to put them with aardvarks that didn’t go well because the meerkats got territorial. Don’t know which zoo that was off the top of my head. I can’t remember another mixed exhibit with them. Even Indy keeps a net over the exhibit so the quails in the desert dome can’t get in. I think they’re a touch too aggressive to be with anything small and wouldn’t be readily visible if sharing an exhibit with something too big.