Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo Discussion thread 2023

@hyena142, dont say such hateful works like we will get more watusi! No. Just no. I hated it when we got the watusi. I have hated the watusi ever since. I wanted addax, gemsbok or gerenuk. I believe Dolf has more ambition when it comes to replacing animals. Parc Safari has addax, scimitar oryx, and waterbuck who are breeding. Its where we will also likely get more wildebeest and eland. We will probably just get more males. I would guess Toronto has asked for more wildebeest already since its probably not good for Chuck to be all alone.

And the moose exhibit isnt the worst exhibit in the zoo. I think we can all agree the gorilla dayroom is the worst exhibit in the zoo. Concrete prison cell that it is.
 
I swear the boardwalk from Africa to America was still closed just the other day. Why do you say "unfortunately no" @Akula ? because with this closed it is a major inconveniance as only way to bypass it is using Zoomobile and then you must travel clockwise only; Indo-Malay - Africa - Canada (optional) - America / Tundra - Eurasia / Australasia

This was the first day I saw Indo-Malay pavilion opened (previously only a small section from tigers to snake boa was open, rest of pavilion was closed)

Also (despite what the website says for off display) the tentacle snake was out today

Disapointed the Orangutan outdoor play area is still not finished
 
kav2001c said:
I swear the boardwalk from Africa to America was still closed just the other day. Why do you say "unfortunately no" @Akula ? because with this closed it is a major inconveniance as only way to bypass it is using Zoomobile and then you must travel clockwise only; Indo-Malay - Africa - Canada (optional) - America / Tundra - Eurasia / Australasia

This was the first day I saw Indo-Malay pavilion opened (previously only a small section from tigers to snake boa was open, rest of pavilion was closed)

Also (despite what the website says for off display) the tentacle snake was out today

Disapointed the Orangutan outdoor play area is still not finished
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My bad i mean unfortunately yes...But to be clear it was closed as of May 5th (The day I went).
 
Is there any chance of the zoo acquiring any new species? Like more primate species or okapi??
 
@Flixox101 Don't hold your breath for okapi, it's a species that just isn't in the cards for us, at least not any time soon. The US okapi population is small and because of the border no one wants to send an okapi or two over to Canada and then have it end in a battle to get the calves back over again for further breeding. With such a small NA population for an endangered species with a critical breeding program it's understandable the AZA wants to keep the small group they have close to each other to make things easy.

As for primates there's a chance that once the olive baboons are phased out we'll acquire Hamadryases or geladas but that's way off, I dunno how many olives we still have but it's enough that I think their phase out is more than 5 years away. They're also currently renovating the old and empty pygmy marmoset exhibit in the Americas primate wing but we don't know if that'll turn into something or just be used as a flux exhibit for breeding and whatnot.

A few years ago the TZ released an Animal Plan that announced plans to start a markhor breeding program as well as potentially acquire koalas, but that plan was written ages ago (pre-COVID, I think) and we haven't heard anything about either of those species since, including in last year's new Master Plan, although that doesn't really say much as the Master Plan didn't really focus on animal acquisitions and phase outs. There were also plans for walruses and caracals but those both went bust (at least the walrus plan did, the caracal still might happen but I have my doubts). There was also talk of emus returning last year but avian flu seems to have put a damper on that. I think right now the zoo is focusing more on improving the current experience rather than adding big new species, they're finally doing stuff that should've been done years ago like the outdoor orang exhibit, repairing the Australasia aviary, and by the look of it bringing the Canadian Domain species up to the mainland.
 
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@Flixox101, @hyena142 is quite right. There is probably no point in ever hoping for okapi unless there is an explosion in the population and they choose to send us surplus males. I doubt we would ever get a breeding pair. The border with hoofstock is always a problem so Toronto tries to keep species with a larger population and ones that other Canadian zoos have so some can be swapped more easily.

With the baboons I think we have 9-12 still left. I cant say for certain because a couple are definitely on the older side. I think we also still have some that are in that 10 year old age range. We could still be dealing with them for another decade or more. Just look at the Barbary Apes. We haven't had them on display for a decade and the last one just died even though the two we kept when the others all shipped out were elderly at the time. I just wish we could find someone in Canada to pawn the baboons off on so we could do something different with that exhibit.

I think the renovated marmoset exhibit will probably be just extra space for the tamarins, sloth and sakis. I doubt we are getting another primate species when the zoo has been savage about phasing out primates in the last 15-20 years. I wouldnt be all that shocked if they chose to phase out the gibbons and send Hoot off to another home.

The Animal Plan did come out just prior to covid (about a month or so sadly enough). Walruses are indeed a dead dream. Wish we were never told about it so I wouldnt be sad. That wasnt entirely covids fault.

The koalas are likely a pipe dream now. When the plan came out Australia was dealing with the effects of the massive wildfires of late 2019. The Aussies would have been thrilled to send us koalas to free up space in their rescue groups who were overwhelmed with fire victims. Its been 3 years now and they have found homes for everyone who couldnt be returned to the wild. They aren't gonna be as motivated. Thank you Covid. But then again Dolf managed to swing a deal to get walruses when no one ever dreamed it was possible so maybe he can still do it. Something is coming to go into the Australiasian outdoor aviary though based on shots of the space I dont think its koalas.

My guess is the caracal isnt coming. That female we were to get needed to be placed so her parents could breed again. She probably was placed elsewhere during covid. That recommendation was from early 2019 I think so 4 years later its just so unlikely.

Not only was there talk of emus but also spotted whistling ducks. The aviary might be for the emus. There is a tall shed in there that they could use. Not sure what happened to the ducks.

Other than whats going in the outdoor aviary in Australasia and maybe whats replacing the tree kangaroos I dont think there are any plans for new species at the moment. The bigger focus for the zoo this year is likely swapping around animals to either create new breeding pairs or free up space for breeding. Next year is the 50th so they should be doing everything they can to have as many big ticket babies born next spring as possible. Its also the year they might be more inclined to bring in a few new species, provided there is space available.
 
It'd be nice if we could get an updated animal plan in the near future, god knows that after COVID and with the updated Master Plan things have changed and I'd like to see what's still happening
 
It's totally possible zoo will do another one down the line. Probably not until the current one is at least 5 years old.
 
Thanks for all that info @hyena142 and @TZFan!

I wonder if we would ever get takin to replace the tahr (that's the species being phased out in Eurasia right?). Maybe wishful thinking!
 
There has been talk about takin in the past but I dont think its any kind of priority which is interesting because Edmonton is always looking to place grown calves. Markhor might be hard to get since I dont think Calgary is breeding their herd... I think they are old animals. We have an empty exhibit now that the chamois are gone so maybe we will get takin or markhor to replace them. Just have to wait and see.
 
I found a little article on how the zoo is protecting the animals from the smoke from the wildfires raging all over the province.

CityNews
 
Went to the zoo today. Here’s are some quick things I noticed.

As we’ve seen in other posts, the towers for the Orangutans look great. The ones in front of the Indo-Malaya and the Malayan Woods are up and connected with the roping.

Since the netting has been put up for all the indoor aviaries, the doors have been removed, allowing for better flow and less congested spots in the pavilion.

Male Giraffe Kiko was separated in the second yard from the other 3 Giraffes. So, mother Mstari is with her daughter Amani and son Matumaini. The gate between the two yards was closed.

I noticed a ton of construction in the Ostrich exhibit. They put up large fencing and have a bobcat machine in the exhibit.

I noticed only 1 remaining Watusi on exhibit. Are we down to just 1?

The Savanna-Americas Boardwalk is a nice improvement from the steep hill we once had to contend with. Very well done.

Can’t say for sure, but the old Pygmy Marmoset exhibit might have been turned into a keeper prep area for the primate wing. Still need confirmation from a keeper on that. I saw a keeper enter there, and you can hear running water when they turn on the tap. The space is not visible to the public as they’ve placed a graphic covering over the windows.

They’ve taken the teepees down in the Tundra area. The space is partially gated off with equipment on the ground. I honestly hope they are planning an animal exhibit of some kind there. I’d be neat to combine this space with the empty Snow Owl exhibit.

Australasia has had a serious face left. The aviary has been completely reorganized, along with significant progress being made on the outdoor aviary space. I think these improvements will come a long way when they are all complete.

If anyone has any questions, ask away. I ventured everywhere except the Domain, Eurasia and the Discovery Zone.
 
Thanks for the update Cypher! I've been struggling to find a day that works to go so I've been relying on stuff like this to keep me up to date lol

So the pavilions aren't in flu mode anymore then? Awesome, that's great news we won't have to deal with traffic nightmares in Indo anymore, especially with the new exhibit opening hopefully later this month. Interesting they've taken out the doors but without the birds I guess they don't need 'em right now.

Kiko's been solo ever since Matu was born, I'm really hoping that the wheels start turning on his (and potentially Matu's) transfers soon

I wonder if they've figured out a way to avian flu-proof the ostrich exhibit and are working on that

I'll miss the old hill but I'm looking forward to checking out the new boardwalk

Disappointing that the marmoset exhibit isn't being used for a new species but that's kinda what we expected considering how small it is

I'd guess that they're just doing maintenance on the teepee area and not building a new exhibit but you never know, I'd be very happy if that was the case, Tundra needs help
 
hyena142 said:
So the pavilions aren't in flu mode anymore then? Awesome, that's great news we won't have to deal with traffic nightmares in Indo anymore, especially with the new exhibit opening hopefully later this month. Interesting they've taken out the doors but without the birds I guess they don't need 'em right now.

I'd guess that they're just doing maintenance on the teepee area and not building a new exhibit but you never know, I'd be very happy if that was the case, Tundra needs help
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Yes, the Pavilions are all open up with the new netting installed in the once open aviaries. This does definitely clear the pathways to get to the Outdoor Orangutan exhibit once it opens up.

You may be right about the maintenance with the Teepees. I've just never seen them taken down since they've been up. But you are right, Tundra needs help. Especially when you consider the amount of people that visit this space compared to the rest of the zoo. It's the second most visited area amongst members only behind the Savanna, and third most visited amongst non-members, behind the Savanna and African Rainforest.

TheGerenuk said:
There's at least two watusi left per Dolf's social media posts.
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I just saw that, so question answered thanks to Dolf.
 
The zoo would have a very easy solution for the ostriches being on display if they wanted to do it. Just move them to the giraffe barn. They could be on display in the indoor space, nice and safe. Im sure we have the pen space to keep the ostriches separated from the giraffes, especially since the plan is to have a bull, 2 cows and 2-4 calves. They could keep the ostriches in there for now.
 
Giraffe calf, Matu, will be periodically off display in the next little bit because he got a nasty gash on his nose. He cut it up trying to peek around a door apparently. The team is keeping his wound clean and providing him with top notch care but that is requiring them to bring him in from time to time to do that. It must be somewhat nasty for the zoo to announce a cut on an animal on their Facebook page to warn guests ahead of time that he is hurt but is being cared for.
 
I might be visiting this summer. Are there any uncommon species kept in Toronto or any stand-out attractions at the zoo?
 
Rarest animal Toronto has in terms of North America is our white headed vulture Lloyd. He is one of only 2 in North America. We also have Southern hairy nosed wombats which are also less common. Lion tailed macaques are getting rarer to find and we have at least 2. We do have 2 moose but they are currently off display so will they be out by the time you come? Maybe. You missed out on some recent phase outs which were rarer species. Unfortunately our Vancouver Island marmots are all in the breeding centre off display. I have seen one but I got lucky that one was in the health center undergoing an exam while I was visiting.

Babywise this summer is rather light. We have a 1 year old orang infant Wali, 1 year old giraffe calf Matu, Bactrian camel Carrie, and probably some tur. You will miss the fall arrival of a white rhino calf.

All of the zoos aviaries have been altered to handle the threat of avian flu. This has meant some changes in layouts. Nothing super noteworthy.

A new Amur tiger habitat should be ready for the tigers this summer. It's just a new enclosure expanding existing space. But still nice to get more.

The big ticket for all of us though this year is our brand new outdoor orang habitat which opens June 30. Before now our orangs have never been outside.
 
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