I've now posted a full species list from my June 3rd visit to this thread: Brookfield Zoo Species List (June 2022) [Brookfield Zoo]
Brookfield Zoo Brookfield Zoo News 2022
- Thread starter pachyderm pro
- Start date
Pictures from last night's storm damage:
PHOTOS: Brookfield Zoo Grounds See ‘Significant Damage’ From Severe Storms – NBC Chicago
PHOTOS: Brookfield Zoo Grounds See ‘Significant Damage’ From Severe Storms – NBC Chicago
Corangurilla
Well-Known Member
“No animals were hurt”, tell that to poor Thylacoleo! He got bodied by a tree!
A Short-beaked Echidna puggle has hatched - the first in the zoo’s history: Log into Facebook | Facebook
Absolutely wonderful news! Brookfield has been trying to breed echidna for years now with no success, so this is really exciting to hear.
it doesn’t appear that this has been reported yet, but the Pachyderm House was open again Sunday, and the Zoo has a new pygmy hippo.
The free-roaming peafowl and guinefowl have returned, as have all of the other outdoor birds.
Does this include the Cape Barren Geese?
Yes it does. Saw them yesterday.
This is great news, outdoor exhibits for larger mammals like primates are always preferred. However, the South American portion of Tropic World is going to feel even more empty with the monkeys outside.
Lincoln Park and Brookfield are both removing their avian flu restrictions - I better be able to get into Henry Vilas' aviary soon.
New hippo, well that didn’t take long.
Quite excited to pay them a visit the next time I return.
This is lovely news, I'm so happy to hear. It's nice to see one of my favorite animals that left the zoo come back!
Brookfield Zoo Visit Report, 07/04/22
Paid a fourth of July visit to the zoo today. Plenty of new landscaping and utility construction going on throughout the zoo. Roosevelt Fountain is being completely replanted and the zoo finally decided to make that downward slope towards the North Entrance tunnel look nice. Had a great time today besides one very frustrating change in Tropic World, which I will get to in a moment.
Pachyderm House Updates:
First of all, the tapir calf was adorable. He was running throughout the indoor stalls and was great fun to watch. It's also wonderful to see a pygmy hippo back and equally nice to hear about a major ABC species returning rather than leaving for a change. Does anyone have any information about this individual? I find it odd the zoo has yet to properly announce their arrival. It's also worth noting that the pygmy hippo exhibit has been renovated while it was vacant. Grass has been added and the rockwork surrounding the pool is more defined. I was a little disappointed they didn't use the old nile hippo exhibit for the new pygmy hippo, but I realize that would require a whole lot of unnecessary work. I"ll attach a photo comparison below to better show the enhancements.
2020:
2022 (Today):
Tropic World Frustrations:
This was my first time going through Tropic World in what feels like forever and my goodness has this building fallen from grace. This was once one of the most exciting zoo buildings in the world and it is truly a shell of its former self. I get this has been discussed at length here, but just when I think things can't get worse for this building, they do.
The golden-lion tamarins, Goeldi's marmosets, and Geoffrey's marmosets are all gone. They are no longer signed and the overhead ropes that connected the islands have been removed. This means that two of the islands are now empty and the remaining one only holds a single sloth. They were perhaps my favorite part of the building, and having them removed is a total gut punch. They added a lot of vibrance to the area and were guest favorites, so I am positively baffled at their removal. Tropic World Asia is still under maintenance, although I'm unsure what exactly is being done here. Seeing the exhibit filled with construction platforms was a very fascinating sight however. It's also worth noting the gorilla viewing is fully open once again in its entirety. I'm not sure why they reopened it if they knew it improved the gorillas welfare by having it partially closed off, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on this one.
I sincerely hope that interior enhancements will be part of the upcoming renovation, because things just keep getting worse here. I do wonder how the zoo will handle this building once the outdoor primate exhibits are complete, as that would hypothetically leave a large chunk of space out of use for half the year. At least there are several groups of orangutans which will rotate between the indoor and outdoor exhibits keeping both filled at all times, and there is talk of having a smaller African primate fill the gorilla exhibit in the summer (mandrills are my wish here). If nothing changes however, South America will essentially be a giant dead-zone in the summer months.
The Highlight of the Day:
For the first time in several years, I saw the pangolin awake and active. I followed the advice of others and arrived at the exhibit at 3 PM on the dot, and long behold there he was walking around on the exhibit floor. Leaving the African Forest house is usually associated with a wave of disappointment, but not today. For the next 40 minutes I observed him constantly moving all over the exhibit, trying in vain to get a few good pictures. I had to have taken over 200 photos in total and maybe 1% of those turned out to be acceptable. Just as I was about to leave, a keeper came over to feed him while in his nesting box which was excellent. Take note rarity hunters, the 3 PM time window is prime time for pangolins.
And another visit in the books. Even though I give the zoo a hard time a lot (deservingly so, however) I still love the place and I'm more optimistic about the future now more than ever, even with the callitrichid exodus. We could be as few as six to eight months away from a proper master plan reveal which is so incredibly exciting to think about. There was a brief discussion on a recent species list done by @ChunkyMunky pengopus regarding the zoos collection. While the ABC collection has tanked hard in recent years, the non-ABC collection has improved more than I give it credit for. The zoo has brought in a ton of neat rarities within these last few years. The pangolins are the most notable obviously, but Chinese giant salamander, Texas blind salamander, Kemp's Ridley sea turtle, small-spotted genet, etc, all are fantastic additions as well. I'm not sure how new this one is, but I noticed a Papuan olive python was added to Reptiles and Birds a few months back which is super impressive looking and I'm guessing is pretty uncommon.
Brookfield's a great zoo, but it has potentially to be within the top ten or even top five in the country with enough TLC and money put into it.
Paid a fourth of July visit to the zoo today. Plenty of new landscaping and utility construction going on throughout the zoo. Roosevelt Fountain is being completely replanted and the zoo finally decided to make that downward slope towards the North Entrance tunnel look nice. Had a great time today besides one very frustrating change in Tropic World, which I will get to in a moment.
Pachyderm House Updates:
First of all, the tapir calf was adorable. He was running throughout the indoor stalls and was great fun to watch. It's also wonderful to see a pygmy hippo back and equally nice to hear about a major ABC species returning rather than leaving for a change. Does anyone have any information about this individual? I find it odd the zoo has yet to properly announce their arrival. It's also worth noting that the pygmy hippo exhibit has been renovated while it was vacant. Grass has been added and the rockwork surrounding the pool is more defined. I was a little disappointed they didn't use the old nile hippo exhibit for the new pygmy hippo, but I realize that would require a whole lot of unnecessary work. I"ll attach a photo comparison below to better show the enhancements.
2020:
2022 (Today):
Tropic World Frustrations:
This was my first time going through Tropic World in what feels like forever and my goodness has this building fallen from grace. This was once one of the most exciting zoo buildings in the world and it is truly a shell of its former self. I get this has been discussed at length here, but just when I think things can't get worse for this building, they do.
The golden-lion tamarins, Goeldi's marmosets, and Geoffrey's marmosets are all gone. They are no longer signed and the overhead ropes that connected the islands have been removed. This means that two of the islands are now empty and the remaining one only holds a single sloth. They were perhaps my favorite part of the building, and having them removed is a total gut punch. They added a lot of vibrance to the area and were guest favorites, so I am positively baffled at their removal. Tropic World Asia is still under maintenance, although I'm unsure what exactly is being done here. Seeing the exhibit filled with construction platforms was a very fascinating sight however. It's also worth noting the gorilla viewing is fully open once again in its entirety. I'm not sure why they reopened it if they knew it improved the gorillas welfare by having it partially closed off, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on this one.
I sincerely hope that interior enhancements will be part of the upcoming renovation, because things just keep getting worse here. I do wonder how the zoo will handle this building once the outdoor primate exhibits are complete, as that would hypothetically leave a large chunk of space out of use for half the year. At least there are several groups of orangutans which will rotate between the indoor and outdoor exhibits keeping both filled at all times, and there is talk of having a smaller African primate fill the gorilla exhibit in the summer (mandrills are my wish here). If nothing changes however, South America will essentially be a giant dead-zone in the summer months.
The Highlight of the Day:
For the first time in several years, I saw the pangolin awake and active. I followed the advice of others and arrived at the exhibit at 3 PM on the dot, and long behold there he was walking around on the exhibit floor. Leaving the African Forest house is usually associated with a wave of disappointment, but not today. For the next 40 minutes I observed him constantly moving all over the exhibit, trying in vain to get a few good pictures. I had to have taken over 200 photos in total and maybe 1% of those turned out to be acceptable. Just as I was about to leave, a keeper came over to feed him while in his nesting box which was excellent. Take note rarity hunters, the 3 PM time window is prime time for pangolins.
And another visit in the books. Even though I give the zoo a hard time a lot (deservingly so, however) I still love the place and I'm more optimistic about the future now more than ever, even with the callitrichid exodus. We could be as few as six to eight months away from a proper master plan reveal which is so incredibly exciting to think about. There was a brief discussion on a recent species list done by @ChunkyMunky pengopus regarding the zoos collection. While the ABC collection has tanked hard in recent years, the non-ABC collection has improved more than I give it credit for. The zoo has brought in a ton of neat rarities within these last few years. The pangolins are the most notable obviously, but Chinese giant salamander, Texas blind salamander, Kemp's Ridley sea turtle, small-spotted genet, etc, all are fantastic additions as well. I'm not sure how new this one is, but I noticed a Papuan olive python was added to Reptiles and Birds a few months back which is super impressive looking and I'm guessing is pretty uncommon.
Brookfield's a great zoo, but it has potentially to be within the top ten or even top five in the country with enough TLC and money put into it.
Are any parts of the zoo closed for bird flu?
Everything is completely open and all of the birds are on exhibit, including the free-roamers.
There doesn’t seem to have been a Pygmy hippo by that name at another AZA facility, so this individual probably came from Rum Creek. They have roughly 80 hippos and the zoo also received their tapirs from that facility a few years back.
Correct that the hippo’s name is Banana and she is female. I was told she came from ZooTampa.