Brookfield Zoo Brookfield Zoo News 2024

Hi new to the thread!!! I'm going to be traveling to Brookfield Zoo for the first time and I'm beyond excited!! A bit nervous because I'm trying to accomplish photography stuff lol. What are some things I shouldn't miss while being there ? I have the Brookfield app but it doesn't give times for keepers talks and stuff like that. Also when are the Echidnas, wombats, and Pangolin most active ? I'll be visiting the weekend of July 13th!!
 
Photos-With-Jay said:
Hi new to the thread!!! I'm going to be traveling to Brookfield Zoo for the first time and I'm beyond excited!! A bit nervous because I'm trying to accomplish photography stuff lol. What are some things I shouldn't miss while being there ? I have the Brookfield app but it doesn't give times for keepers talks and stuff like that. Also when are the Echidnas, wombats, and Pangolin most active ? I'll be visiting the weekend of July 13th!!
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The app does actually tell you when the zoo chats are. Just hit the search bar, list view, and then it shows you what the chats are.

Your best bet is seeing the echidnas and wombats when the building first opens. Pangolins are typically fed at 3:30.
 
I’ve had good luck with echidnas around 5:00 in my recent trips. Not so much with the wombats. You probably won’t see the pangolins move outside of feeding. Don’t be too concerned if feeding doesn’t happen at 3:30 on the dot. It isn’t on the schedule so the keepers have some wiggle room on when they do it.

Any ideas when the elephant shrew is most active? Haven’t been able to see them yet.
 
Persephone said:
Any ideas when the elephant shrew is most active? Haven’t been able to see them yet.
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I saw them at both 1:00 and 3:30 on my last visit. I imagine they'll be more visible now that they've become more accustomed to public view.
Photos-With-Jay said:
Also when are the Echidnas, wombats, and Pangolin most active ? I'll be visiting the weekend of July 13th!!
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I usually see the wombat up earlier in the day and almost always see at least some of the echidnas up and about at any given time. Shouldn't have any problems in that regard, although these may be tricky to photograph unless you have a camera that can adapt to nocturnal lightning. Same goes for the pangolin, which can reliably seen active around 3:30 when it's fed.
 
Persephone said:
I’ve had good luck with echidnas around 5:00 in my recent trips. Not so much with the wombats. You probably won’t see the pangolins move outside of feeding. Don’t be too concerned if feeding doesn’t happen at 3:30 on the dot. It isn’t on the schedule so the keepers have some wiggle room on when they do it.

Any ideas when the elephant shrew is most active? Haven’t been able to see them yet.
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I was there in 2020. If you hang in area by indoor Okapi waiting to see the pangolins, the elephant shrews were very active walking about. Course I was in building for over an hour. An there weren't many folks in the building either.
 
Well my nephew and I will be going back to the zoo for the first time in a few years, just in time to actually see the koalas in their glory next month. He's been to another local zoo before (Phillips), but it's time for him to see a real zoo for his first experience.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
What is the long term plan for fishing cats at Brookfield?
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Based on the following:
pachyderm pro said:
Per the Daily Herald, there's long-term plans to display koalas at the renovated Australia House as a permanent addition.

“We do have plans to reinvigorate or re-imagine our Australian area of the zoo in the future, and we are hoping that koalas could potentially be a mainstay for the zoo in the future,” said Mark Wanner, Brookfield’s associate vice president of animal care and conservation.

“It’s an iconic Australian species that we're hoping gets our guests excited about the future of our Australian ideas,” Wanner said.
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The current expectation is that the upcoming Australia House renovation will involve a new Koala habitat and then the lemurs will move back to the Play Zoo and fishing cat return to their former habitat - otherwise, this will happen presumably on the end of the Koala loan period, which is for two years. The current fishing cat habitat was purpose-built for the species a couple decades ago so as long as the animals aren't shipped out I expect their return there.

A new fishing cat exhibit isn't known to be under any kind of consideration, although if the possible tiger/leopard exhibit mentioned by Dr. Mike in a previous Daily Herald article comes to fruition, there might be a chance to be a part of that; but the Fragile Kingdom exhibits don't appear to be going anywhere unless we hear otherwise in July.
 
Thanks for the info on the fishing cat! Was wondering where he wandered off to.

About a week ago, we got a members email stating that the seal pup has been named: Mikey!

I was hesitant to share this news, as I was waiting until they made some sort of formal announcement about it, but they still haven't...yet.
 
Question again, has anyone done any of the behind the scene encounters at Brookfield ? I was thinking of doing the rainforest one with the bird species to potentially get some up close photos of certain birds. What would you all recommend is it worth it ?
 
pinnipedpal93 said:
Thanks for the info on the fishing cat! Was wondering where he wandered off to.

About a week ago, we got a members email stating that the seal pup has been named: Mikey!

I was hesitant to share this news, as I was waiting until they made some sort of formal announcement about it, but they still haven't...yet.
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No problem!

The news about Mikey's name was formally shared on Facebook today.

Photos-With-Jay said:
Question again, has anyone done any of the behind the scene encounters at Brookfield ? I was thinking of doing the rainforest one with the bird species to potentially get some up close photos of certain birds. What would you all recommend is it worth it ?
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I have not done any of the encounters yet at Brookfield. I have tried to gin up friends for interest but it hasn't happened. If you do go, let us know how it is!
 
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