Brookfield Zoo Brookfield Zoo News 2022

Alongside reiterating the plans for outdoor Tropic World habitats, Dr. Adkesson announced a few smaller projects he wants to be done at the zoo in the near future. Some of the proposals include a praire dog exhibit with an interactive tunnel system, a new macaw exhibit, and the potential addition of koalas. There is also a much bigger desire that is all dependent on available funding; a new elephant complex.

Call of the Wild | Classic Chicago Magazine
 
Jambo said:
Any idea which sub species they plan to hold; African or Asian?
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It's all very tentative at the moment. Considering how few American zoos are investing in new elephant exhibits in modern day and a very limited population, there's no certainly it will actually happen. In the event the zoo is able to go through with the project, it would most likely be African elephants, as the areas surrounding the existing Habitat Africa footprint are the only slices of land large enough to accommodate such a development.
 
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“If we were to bring elephants back, we would want to house them in a dynamic environment where they are truly comfortable. We want to replicate how they live in the wild.”

Now this caught my attention that they want to replicate how elephants live in the wild given the lack of multi generational breeding herd a bachelor herd could be more visible I would recommend moving Titan from the Sedgwick County Zoo, Samson from the Maryland Zoo and Kedar from the Indianapolis Zoo, and Ali from the Jacksonville zoo to from a bachelor herd, but if the zoo is willing to have a breeding herd I would recommend moving mother and daughter pair Christe and Zuri from Hogle, and Mikki and her son Fritz and bull Tamani to form a breeding herd.
 
Jambo said:
Any idea which sub species they plan to hold; African or Asian?
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I’m sure they would *like to house African. Asian elephants have proven better breeders recently though and African elephants are very difficult to come by. All they’d need to do to get a herd of Asians would be to look over to African Lion safari, Columbus, OKC, White Oak, Houston, or Fort Worth to aquire any number of bachelors. Heck, considering the time it would take to fundraise and build even Cincinnati or the Smithsonian could be viable options at that point.
 
pachyderm pro said:
It's all very tentative at the moment. Considering how few American zoos are investing in new elephant exhibits in modern day and a very limited population, there's no certainly it will actually happen. In the event the zoo is able to go through with the project, it would most likely be African elephants, as the areas surrounding the existing Habitat Africa footprint are the only slices of land large enough to accommodate such a development.
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Plus, this would justify tearing down the Pachyderm House in its entirety given its already reported-on deteriorating infrastructure...
 
Some more tidbits in this Daily Herald piece:

“By early next year, Adkesson hopes to unveil a master plan for the development of animal enclosures, visitor amenities and infrastructure over the next decade. In the northwest section of a re-imagined zoo, ostriches, antelope and zebra would roam around new savanna landscapes re-creating the grasslands of Africa. Zoo officials also are looking at new rhino habitats.”

"We'd love to bring Nile hippo back in an underwater viewing experience," Adkesson said.”

“The largest of the great apes, gorillas would stay outdoors except during cold snaps. The zoo would look to repurpose the gorilla lair in Tropic World, either for additional small African monkeys or some other species altogether.”
 
Joseph G said:
Some more tidbits in this Daily Herald piece:

“By early next year, Adkesson hopes to unveil a master plan for the development of animal enclosures, visitor amenities and infrastructure over the next decade. In the northwest section of a re-imagined zoo, ostriches, antelope and zebra would roam around new savanna landscapes re-creating the grasslands of Africa. Zoo officials also are looking at new rhino habitats.”

"We'd love to bring Nile hippo back in an underwater viewing experience," Adkesson said.”

“The largest of the great apes, gorillas would stay outdoors except during cold snaps. The zoo would look to repurpose the gorilla lair in Tropic World, either for additional small African monkeys or some other species altogether.”
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It's almost surreal hearing actual concrete plans for Brookfield. It's just been so long since anything substantial was added. I had been restricting myself from getting too excited until we heard actual plans, worrying that the zoo might undersell itself and it leading to ultimately underwhelming upgrades. However, the fact that the zoo is aiming to bring back both elephants and hippos is astonishing and tells me the ambition is absolutely there. Were finally seeing progress and that is very exciting.

Now let's just hope they actually do the stuff they're proposing this time around... :p
 
Brookfield Zoo Visit Report, 05/23/22

It's been a while since my last visit to Brookfield. With all of the anticipation in regards to the master plan I figured it would be a good time to head back over. I'll refrain from taking much about all of that in this post (I'll save that for the master plan thread). I stuck mostly to the west side of the zoo only skimming the carnivore grottos on my way out. They really need to do something interest with the east side of the grounds, as it really feels like a cornucopia of gift shops and restaurants instead of interesting animal habitats. While things were expectedly quiet today news-wise, there are some interesting updates to share, particularly in the bird department.

Shakeups in Feathers and Scales:

Feathers and Scales has seen some changes, all positive. Both Andean cock-of-the rock and blue-gray tanager have returned to the rainforest aviary, which makes me optimistic that more species that were taken out in between the buildings covid closure and reopening will eventually be added back. The aviary as a whole was looking much more lively than the last time I saw it. Additionally, Northern mocking bird has been added to the desert aviary. I was surprised to see that there were essentially no real precautions in place regarding the bird flu, as the cock-of-the-rocks were flying all over the house and both curassows were walking through the halls right next to people.

Other Updates:
  • There has also been some movement in the Australia house. The netted exhibit at the end of the daylight room is now a mixed species exhibit featuring two echidnas and two kookaburras. There is now a single kookaburra in their other exhibit in the nocturnal hall and a few echidnas also in their usual residence. As an aside, I saw an active wombat exploring all over its exhibit which was a treat.
  • Blue-bellied roller is now signed in the aviary inside the African Forest building, although I did not see it.
  • The pachyderm house was closed and only the male lowland tapir was on exhibit today, which most certainly means the female has either already given birth to a calve or will within the next few days.
  • The old small tortoise yard by the formal pool has been restored after being out of use for the last two years, now holding hingeback tortoise, radiated tortoise and desert tortoise.
  • The Wildlife Trading Post gift shop is being completely redone.

Side Note: Next time I'm at the zoo with some more time on my hands I'll try and put together an updated species list. It's been some years since the last one and I believe it was something that was requested late last year.
 
pachyderm pro said:
The pachyderm house was closed and only the male lowland tapir was on exhibit today, which most certainly means the female has either already given birth to a calve or will within the next few days.
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Was there a sign saying the building was closed? Or were the doors locked? I went in to see mama-to-be tapir to see if she had given birth yet. She was pacing around and vocalizing. Seemed a bit stressed out to me. I was gonna try to see her again tomorrow.
 
MeiLover said:
Was there a sign saying the building was closed? Or were the doors locked? I went in to see mama-to-be tapir to see if she had given birth yet. She was pacing around and vocalizing. Seemed a bit stressed out to me. I was gonna try to see her again tomorrow.
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It was just a sign saying the building was closed, so I didn't bother to walk up to the doors and check. It's definitely an exciting birth, as Lowland tapirs have become increasingly scarce in the US.
 
Ah. Yes it definitely is. Well I’ll continue to plan on going tomorrow anyways and we’ll see what happens, if anything.
 
No luck with tapirs today, but in Wild Encounter animal news, I found out William the friendly wallaby and Rotunda the African spurred tortoise have been euthanized. Whitney, the wallaby that was hand raised by keepers last year, is now living with the mob in Wild Encounters and is doing well.
 
Mexican wolf pups bred at Brookfield released into the wild:

Mexican Wolf Pups Born at Brookfield Zoo Released Into the Wild as Part of Endangered Species Recovery Program

This spring, 11 captive-bred Mexican wolf pups — including three born at Brookfield in April — were transported to New Mexico and Arizona where they were placed in wild dens to be raised by surrogates.

The three Brookfield pups were part of a litter of five born to 3-year-old Vivilette, a first-time mother, and her mate, 9-year-old Amigo. The other two pups will remain at the zoo with the rest of the wolf pack.

Foster pups born at the zoo in 2016 and 2017 and then placed in wild packs survived to breeding age and have produced multiple litters of their own.
 
Zoo chats have returned as of yesterday.

Baby tapir won’t have access to the outdoors for about a month.
 
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