Brookfield Zoo Brookfield Zoo Former Species

[JVM]

This post brought back tons of memories about my many trips to BZ growing up. I wanted to add some additional information about Arctic Mountain. I was always intrigued by it, but there's very little out there about it (information- and photo-wise). It was Kodiak Island years ago and then it was renamed Arctic Island at some point. Aside from the Dall Sheep on the main portion of the exhibit, there was also a small bear cage (yes, it was a cage) that was built into the backside of the exhibit. I don't recall what type of bear was housed in it, but I'll check my old photos in case I have snapped a pic on a field trip. There was also a reindeer paddock on the backside that was about 5' below ground level and had a few concrete structures in it that looked like big, rough tables that seemed to serve as protection from the sun (I think they were supposed to look like rockwork and they looked similar to the ones that were found on Ibex Mountain).

I'm working on a BZ history project and one thing that was bothering me was how scant few references there are to Arctic Island outside of maps, hardly even references in the history books about the zoo. Thank you so much for the information; it sounds like a really interesting complex - do you know when it was removed?

Also is there any chance you know when the Small Mammal House closed to the public? That's a major date I can't pin down for the life of me. I have sources indicating it was open as late as 1991 but then basically nothing until the Hamill Family Play Zoo opened.

Would love to see any of your retro photographs. I imagine we have a few buried somewhere here but I don't think there'd be much of zoochat interest.

Thank you so much for all of your knowledge.

You are correct. It was a smaller exhibit inside of the Aquatic Birds House and located on the south side of the large open area (to the left if you were looking at the large free-flight area and opposite side of where the penguin exhibit was). It was a short walkthrough exhibit and I do recall the round windows, too.

This is the first time I've been able to actually visualize what the old Aquatic Bird House was like, thank you again. Really wish I'd checked it out as a kid.

 

[Joseph G]

Also is there any chance you know when the Small Mammal House closed to the public? That's a major date I can't pin down for the life of me. I have sources indicating it was open as late as 1991 but then basically nothing until the Hamill Family Play Zoo opened.

The Small Mammal House was open through the late 90’s. My family became members in 1997 and I distinctly remember it being a part of every trip.

 

[JVM]

Brookfield Zoo once held big brown bats in The Swamp, a fact I've been trying to verify for a while, but they were actually mentioned in this review by geomorph which reminded me there also used to be double-crested cormorant. I distinctly remembered for a long time that one of my childhood zoo maps listed bats as present in Australia House, the Living Coast and the Swamp.

 

[CMP]

Brookfield Zoo once held big brown bats in The Swamp, a fact I've been trying to verify for a while, but they were actually mentioned in this review by geomorph which reminded me there also used to be double-crested cormorant. I distinctly remembered for a long time that one of my childhood zoo maps listed bats as present in Australia House, the Living Coast and the Swamp.

The same review also mentioned wood rat as being in The Swamp, another interesting mammal I wish was still at Brookfield.

 

[JVM]

Not a serious update but I did want to ask if anyone knows at what time antelope, Malayan sun bears or Nile crocodile were held at Baboon Island? I am working through my historical documents and I can determine at what time Dall Sheep were present and when meerkat were present, and a previous poster addressed the hyrax and monitor lizards, but not the other species. I know the crocodile were only held for a single summer.