Brookfield Zoo Brookfield Zoo News 2022

MeiLover said:
Jim, the zoo’s 27 year old Alaskan brown bear, was euthanized yesterday due to difficulty walking with arthritis.
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Very sorry to hear this. The bears were the first thing I saw when visiting the zoo for the first time twenty years ago. Brookfield has spoke often of rescuing the two brothers. He'll be missed.
 
JVM said:
Very sorry to hear this. The bears were the first thing I saw when visiting the zoo for the first time twenty years ago. Brookfield has spoke often of rescuing the two brothers. He'll be missed.
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Same here, they were the first I visited for many years. I have 20+ years worth of photos of him too. I knew something wasn’t right when I was there yesterday and their exhibit was closed.
 
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The zoo's full statement from Facebook:

The Chicago Zoological Society (CZS), which manages Brookfield Zoo, is deeply saddened to announce the loss of Jim, a 27-year-old male brown bear. Yesterday, September 13, animal care and veterinary staff made the difficult decision to euthanize the geriatric bear due to his declining health associated with his very advanced age.

Staff had been closely managing his comfort and care, but in recent months, Jim’s mobility had declined significantly due to severe arthritis. Veterinary and animal care staff made careful adjustments to his medications to ensure Jim’s comfort. However, his arthritis had progressed to the point that staff could no longer ensure his comfort and quality of life. Just shy of his 28th birthday, Jim significantly exceeded the median life expectancy for his species.

“As an easy-going gentle giant, Jim was definitely was one of the staff’s favorites,” said Mark Wanner, curator of mammals for CZS. “Jim was very eager to try new food items and seemed to thoroughly enjoy his enrichment. Additionally, he voluntarily participated in his own health care during husbandry training sessions with animal care staff. This has been an incredibly difficult time for those who cared for him and he will be greatly missed.”

For nearly three decades, millions of guests have seen Jim and his brother Axhi, first at the old Bear Grottos, when they arrived at Brookfield Zoo in 1995, and for the past 12 years, at Great Bear Wilderness. Through Jim, zoogoers have had the opportunity to learn about brown bears and conservation efforts being done to protect this iconic North American species. At special zoo chats held during past and present special events, including Teddy Bear Picnic, Bear Awareness Weekend, and Boo! at the Zoo, as well as “Bringing the Zoo to You” Facebook Live chats, Jim, along with his brother, was a favorite among guests. Additionally, Jim was frequently featured in photos and videos enjoying a variety of unique enrichment items, the most recent being ice blocks, sporting the Chicago Bears team’s colors of blue and orange, in celebration of the official start of the football season.

Jim and his brother Axhi arrived at Brookfield Zoo in 1995 when they were just 6 months old. The two orphaned cubs were rescued from Admiralty Island in southeastern Alaska, two weeks after their mother was killed by a hunter near a landfill located on the outskirts of Angoon, a small fishing village. Their rescue was a collaborative effort with CZS, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and residents on the island.

At the time of their rescue, the cubs were named by the Tlingit (pronounced klink-et) Indians of Admiralty, who also aided in the effort to save the bears. Jim’s full name was Kootznoowoo-Jim—Kootznoowoo is the Indian word for Admiralty Island, which means “fortress of the bear.” And Jim, was the name of an animal care staff member, who at the time assisted in the cubs’ rescue and worked in Brookfield Zoo’s Mammal Department.
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On September 14th, the zoo announced that a (0.1) western grey kangaroo named Izzy was born in 2021 and is on exhibit.

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Also, the zoo mentioned they are trying to introduce the white-cheeked gibbons and Asian small-clawed otters back in the same exhibit again. Was the last time not successful?
 
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Smaggledagle said:
On September 14th, the zoo announced that a (0.1) western grey kangaroo named Izzy was born in 2021 and is now on exhibit.
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She has always been on exhibit, ever since she first emerged from the pouch.


Smaggledagle said:
Also, the zoo mentioned they are trying to introduce the white-cheeked gibbons and Asian small-clawed otters back in the same exhibit again. Was the last time not successful?
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I feel like I have always seen them together (except for when the pups were younger and first getting used to the exhibit). Not sure why the zoo mentioned that. That was probably just a random moment that the two species became interested in each other. Neubo has been around Asian small-clawed otters his whole life.
 
Poor Axhi, I hope he is able to cope! It's really unfortunate to say, but I think he might join his brother soon.

Edit: I am saying this because it seems when one of a pair goes the other follows shortly.
 
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MeiLover said:
I feel like I have always seen them together (except for when the pups were younger and first getting used to the exhibit). Not sure why the zoo mentioned that. That was probably just a random moment that the two species became interested in each other. Neubo has been around Asian small-clawed otters his whole life.
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Smaggledagle said:
Also, the zoo mentioned they are trying to introduce the white-cheeked gibbons and Asian small-clawed otters back in the same exhibit again. Was the last time not successful?
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As far as I know, Asian small-clawed otters have been in Tropic World for quite a number of years now and I don't remember anything keeping them apart, but in such a big exhibit I have missed details before.

The zoo recently shared a video of gibbon-otter interaction in the habitat that has been picked up by some news sources, such as ABC and CNN, the latter video including a talk with the Curator of Primates although the questions answered are more for someone with casual interest and wouldn't be to the interest of a zoochatter. The commentary on the video does mention 'introducing them'.

Glad to see otters and primates can get along after all, despite some past tragedies.
 
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MeiLover said:
The dolphinarium will be undergoing renovations, and will be closed indefinitely starting October 17th. The zoo will be sharing more info about the renovations in the near future.
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Are the dolphins staying during renovations?
 
Planning a trip tomorrow. I can try to ask a docent about the dolphin situation. Also hoping to attend the pangolin feeding and see the baby tapir and echidna! My buddy also wants to see the bats.

It appears Tropic World South America is also closed according to the website -- a little disappointing as I had hoped to stop there, but I know it has been empty a lot since the pandemic.

EDIT: Super unimportant, but just noticed the Species Survival Plain page at BZ's website refers to dik-dik, crowned crane and gerenuk as being held at 'Antelope House'. seems to be the result of the Habitat Africa! The Savannah complex being minimized instead to the Kopje, which the antelope paddocks are not a part of.
 
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No major news from my visit today; I was unfortunately not able to ask about the dolphin situation, though there were shows today and I did see the animals briefly.

In fairly minor news, the Play Zoo and Wild Encounters were both open to the public without admission today. This is my third free visit to the former since the pandemic and I have really found a new appreciation for the building. The latter was fine, at least the red panda was out. Pachyderm House' interior was also open again and had the chance to meet Banana and watch her enjoy the indoor pool to the fullest; also saw all three Lowland tapirs including the growing baby. The rhinoceros were all outside, as were the tortoises and capybara.

Tropic World: South America being 'closed' is simply the animals being moved off-exhibit as has happened before; there was a lot of scaffolding in the exhibit. The orangutans seemed more active than usual in Asia, and in Africa, I was able to spot the red-tailed monkeys today as well as the Angolan colobus and of course the gorillas. I am wondering if the zoo still holds any mangabey? I noticed imagery showing the black-crested mangabey but did not see species signage and I'd swear I've never seen them; thought it was a new species only to see they'd been held there only a few years ago and historically.

Focused a lot of the day on reaching Habitat Africa the Forest by 3:30PM because I thought the pangolin feeding would be fun for my friend, but we spent around an hour there and had evidently been too late for the feeding, which is now closer to 3PM. A keeper suggested to us it is usually done as the last keeper task in the exhibit, though this was a pretty informal statement. The red-flanked duikers were active though and a joy to see. This is also the first time I noticed an Okapi enclosure visible from the path near Salt Creek Trail, which is a path I have usually skipped.

Also active today were the sloth bears and clouded leopard, both of which I spent quite a while by, and much of the reptile and birds building. The fishing cat continues to elude me! Saw the baby addax, baby tapir, but the puggle was not visible to display on two separate visits to Australia House; a keeper told me it prefers to stay in its home space. I took some personal interest in hoofstock this visit - the nyala, dik-dik, gerenuk, addax, duikers, reindeer and more - than usual, thanks to zoochat conversation. Knowing some of these species are rare I tried a bit more to savor them. Ditto for the dwarf mongoose.

I took some notes on closed exhibits today - the 'Small Antelope House' sign visible on the former Aardvark House right by the dik-dik enclosure feels quite apt, the Beer Garden blocks any good view towards the Ridge/former Dall Sheep holding, pointed out the former vampire bat area to the friend who was with me, and noticed a closed-off section in the nocturnal part of Australia House. I wonder who used to live there.

To end my boring and unnecessary notes, I enjoyed Ice Age Giants a lot. While it did not feel as 'organized' as the dinosaur exhibits, I felt like it did a better job of educating guests about the animals featured and included some animals that felt slightly obscure to me... and to be honest, seeing an animatronic Thylacine made me smile like a child. What a lovely surprise. It may not fit the theme, but it's a Thylacine!

It was a fantastic visit and really reminded me how much I loved Brookfield when lately I have been focusing a lot on the negative.
 
I just received another member email about the upcoming dolphinarium closure. Still no word on what exactly is happening, but the exhibit will be closed until early summer 2023.
 
pachyderm pro said:
A white-bellied pangolin pup was born very recently. This is the first ever second generation pangolin birth to occur in captivity.
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This is excellent news! Things were not looking too good with the pangolins, so I'm glad they managed to successfully breed them! I hope all goes well with the rearing process, and with luck, the small population might be able to grow.
 
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