I feel like this is kind of unfair. The animals being used are at least sort of from the area around the Galapagos, it's more of using a moon bear as a stand in for a panda thing. I'm just glad we get at least some Galapagos representation that isn't a single yard of tortoises.
I see where you come from, you seem to be basing your analogy on geographic grounds, where I was trying to base mine on taxonomic grounds - mistakenly believing that, given they are the two most evolutionary basal of the eight bear species living today, they are most closely related. In fact, giant pandas, mistakenly of myself, are diverged evolutionarily from any of the seven other species - the spectacled bears are more closely related to the other six than they are to pandas!
Oh, it definitely is legal reasons, the Houston Zoo has mentioned the species are "strictly protected" in almost every video about this new expansion, so no Blue Footed Booby or Flightless Cormorant for us. Houston also loves to advertise it as "The first of its kind! The only Zoo to have a Galapagos exhibit in the world!" so, I feel like the publicity that brings is a huge reason why they stuck with the Galapagos name instead of just labeling it as a much-needed renovation to their subpar sea lion and Galapagos tortoise enclosures and a replacement for their aquarium. The Galapagos Islands just so happened to be a perfect name to group these upgrades together while also adding in fan-favorite penguins who weren't even part of the original plans. Thankfully, Houston is making sure that the exhibit will focus on bringing attention and awareness to Galapagos conservation while using other related species as ambassadors, so as much as my geographic accuracy loving heart may dislike it, I think we can give Houston a pass with their awareness > accuracy approach.
That's a great point, I completely forgot about Madagascar. It would go hand in hand with the upgrades to the main plaza, Galapagos, and the Bird Gardens focusing on the zoo's entrance. Not only would that clear up the Ringtail, Crowned, and Sifaka lemurs of WWP but also the Fossa of the Carnivore area. To answer your question though, the Meerkats would fit right in at the children's zoo. Maybe taking the place of the Banded Mongooses but I think them taking over the very overlooked Kit Fox enclosure is much more likely. As for the other Natural Encounters species, I feel like the only one's who'd stay on exhibit would be the Asian Small Clawed Otters and Brazilian Porcupines possibly being moved to the now empty WWP lemur enclosures. The rest of them would stay behind the scenes or be sent to other zoos all together. The zoo has made it clear that they're going for quality over quantity with their master plan so several species will be lost, and I feel most of the residents of Carruth's Natural Encounters are expendable in that regard.
Not super sure on that one honestly since Galapagos isn't gonna have any empty enclosures available for a frigate bird to inhabit and I doubt they'd just throw it in with the penguins. They'd most likely remain behind the scenes or be a part of their upcoming Birds of the World expansion, but definitely not in the Galapagos Islands.
Literally could not have said it better myself, thank you. I try not to give Houston too much praise as I'd obviously have a lot of bias toward my home zoo, but I am so happy to see other zoochatters doing so. I also feel like the spectacled bear and giant panda comparison from before was unfair because the general public knows what a giant panda is. Meanwhile to the same people a penguin is just a penguin, a sea lion is just a sea lion, an iguana is just an iguana. Most people don't even know the difference between Asian and African elephants let alone know that Galapagos species even exist. Unaccuracies like these may bother us zoo nerds but even if Houston by miracle got Galapagos species, it wouldn't make any difference to the average zoo guest. So having similar ambassador species that are part of SSPs is the best-case scenario imo.
I 100% understand that sentiment, I also was hoping we'd at least get some more Galapagos endemic species than Tortoises and Sally Lightfoots. Something tells me Houston DID at point intend to have Galapagos Iguanas in the exhibit as many early concept art labels them as just "Iguanas" and at one point they even shared habitat with the Tortoises, but obviously this never came to fruition. Maybe one day an injured Galapagos sea lion will be deemed unreleaseable and sent to Houston, or the Caribbean iguanas will be replaced with Galapagos land iguanas like you mentioned. One can dream.
Any reputable zoo wouldn't touch those with a 20 foot pole.
It seems that on top of the Galapagos Tortoises, Blue Iguanas, and Sea Lions transitioning to their new enclosures, hence why they're off exhibit, the Chilean flamingos have also been moved to the former Babirusa habitat in the Wortham World of Primates. I doubt this has anything to do with bird flu since the Babirusa enclosure is open topped, so this might mean construction for the new Birds of the World Garden will be or already has started.
I'm surprised that they don't have any Galapagos Sharks planned for it, considering that a few aquariums in the US have them, and while not excusive to the islands they are named after them. Scalloped Hammerheads and Blacktip Sharks are not common from what I know, but it is strange that they don't have Whitetip Reef Sharks there a dime a dozen and fit better thematically, I can understand the blacktip reef sharks serving as a stand in for blacktip sharks, but no one would confuse a scalloped hammerhead with a bonnethead.
