Brookfield Zoo Chicago Visit Report 06/22/2024
Today was a long, tiring, but immensely fun day at the zoo. On top of spending several hours at the zoo during the day, I also attended a concert at the zoo with family in the evening (The Fray) which was terrific. Several exhibits near the surrounding area were left open an additional hour after the zoo closed as a result, which allowed me to see an incredibly active clouded leopard leaping at visitors and splashing in the water; arguably worth the price of the concert by itself. I’m pretty tired as I’m writing this, so I’ll try to keep it brief. A few of these updates have already been photographed and uploaded to the gallery by other members, but have not been reported in the news thread.
Updates:
Another litter of meerkats was born last month. Four individuals just like the litter from February, sexes have not been determined.
A chicken coop is being added to the outdoor area behind the play zoo. According to a docent several species of chicken have already arrived and will be on-exhibit shortly.
The small American kestrel cage outside of the play zoo has been removed.
The toucans and seriemas are back on-exhibit at the play zoo for the season. Additional ferns and perching have been added since they’ve been off-display.
The flamingos now have access to the formal pool during nice weather from about noon to 3:00 PM.
A fence has been put up around the former Nile hippo exhibit similar to the old bear grottos. The exhibit has been empty for over a decade, so I’m not sure why they decided to do this now.
Construction Progress
Tropical Forests: More faux trees and rockwork are being put together in the orangutan and monkey exhibits, including the central support trees to hold the mesh in place. In addition, all of the windows have been installed along both floors of the Gorilla Conservation Center. I was able to peek inside the building and saw a huge faux tree had been placed within the middle of the indoor gorilla exhibit. Looks extremely impressive.
North American Prairie Aviary: A lot of progress has been made over the last month. The mesh has been fully installed as well as the perimeter fence surrounding the structure. Both holding areas also are completed, there’s already substrate in both of them. Various shrubs and trees have been planted around the aviary, so it seems all that’s left is to landscape the aviary interior. There’s already a pallet of large rocks placed inside and the pond for the cranes is clearly outlined. Definitely looks on track to open by the end of next month.
Koalas - Thoughts and Impressions
With this being the first weekend since the opening of the koala exhibit, I was fully expecting some big crowds and a long wait to get in. I saw a video from opening day and the line went all the way back to the ferris wheel with apparently over 1000 people coming just for the member preview. To my surprise however, today there was no line to get in at all. I had to swing through the building a few times to catch them active, but shortly before closing both koalas were up and moving. That in itself was awesome, but what was even cooler is when they both started loudly vocalizing at the same time, echoing through the room. What an amazing thing to experience!
Design-wise there isn't too much to comment on here. Outdoors looks pretty much identical to how it did last month, just a few branches and fake rocks. A layer of substrate and some plants would’ve gone a long way, but I understand keeping it fairly simple since this isn’t a permanent display. What I don’t understand is why it was necessary to add a plexiglass barrier behind the mesh. I assume there’s a reason they don’t want the koalas climbing the mesh, but it’s certainly a bit odd. In addition, I was thinking they would simply split the existing indoor lemur enclosure in two, but instead they kept it as is and added a second enclosure in front of it. This means you can only get up close to the enclosure in the foreground, with the other only viewable in the background. It’s a slightly awkward set-up as a result. Quality of the signage is very high, striking a balance between being simple to understand while still providing good information. Overall as a temporary accommodation for a few years, I think it works perfectly well even if it’s flawed. With that said, I do hope the future enclosure(s) they may have planned for the forthcoming Australia House revamp are a bit more extensive. I also hope when the koalas do move out of the play zoo they will take advantage of the modifications they’ve made and provide the lemurs with an expanded space assuming they do move back here.
One last thing I want to say: I give the zoo immense credit for removing the additional fee for the play zoo earlier this year. They could have very easily kept it another year or two and made extra revenue from all the additional people here to specifically see the koalas, but they made a very altruistic decision which will hopefully cultivate some good will with visitors.
One last thing: pretty crazy that the master plan is just mere weeks away from release. Maybe even days away, but we're already most of the way through June and I imagine they want to keep attention on the koalas for the time being. Regardless, I can't express how eagerly I am anticipating the unveiling. All of the small additions and renovations have been great and have set the zoo up nicely for a bright future, but this is what it's all been building towards. This is the culmination of years of planning and even more years of ZooChat speculation and I for one cannot wait.
Today was a long, tiring, but immensely fun day at the zoo. On top of spending several hours at the zoo during the day, I also attended a concert at the zoo with family in the evening (The Fray) which was terrific. Several exhibits near the surrounding area were left open an additional hour after the zoo closed as a result, which allowed me to see an incredibly active clouded leopard leaping at visitors and splashing in the water; arguably worth the price of the concert by itself. I’m pretty tired as I’m writing this, so I’ll try to keep it brief. A few of these updates have already been photographed and uploaded to the gallery by other members, but have not been reported in the news thread.
Updates:
Another litter of meerkats was born last month. Four individuals just like the litter from February, sexes have not been determined.
A chicken coop is being added to the outdoor area behind the play zoo. According to a docent several species of chicken have already arrived and will be on-exhibit shortly.
The small American kestrel cage outside of the play zoo has been removed.
The toucans and seriemas are back on-exhibit at the play zoo for the season. Additional ferns and perching have been added since they’ve been off-display.
The flamingos now have access to the formal pool during nice weather from about noon to 3:00 PM.
A fence has been put up around the former Nile hippo exhibit similar to the old bear grottos. The exhibit has been empty for over a decade, so I’m not sure why they decided to do this now.
Construction Progress
Tropical Forests: More faux trees and rockwork are being put together in the orangutan and monkey exhibits, including the central support trees to hold the mesh in place. In addition, all of the windows have been installed along both floors of the Gorilla Conservation Center. I was able to peek inside the building and saw a huge faux tree had been placed within the middle of the indoor gorilla exhibit. Looks extremely impressive.
North American Prairie Aviary: A lot of progress has been made over the last month. The mesh has been fully installed as well as the perimeter fence surrounding the structure. Both holding areas also are completed, there’s already substrate in both of them. Various shrubs and trees have been planted around the aviary, so it seems all that’s left is to landscape the aviary interior. There’s already a pallet of large rocks placed inside and the pond for the cranes is clearly outlined. Definitely looks on track to open by the end of next month.
Koalas - Thoughts and Impressions
With this being the first weekend since the opening of the koala exhibit, I was fully expecting some big crowds and a long wait to get in. I saw a video from opening day and the line went all the way back to the ferris wheel with apparently over 1000 people coming just for the member preview. To my surprise however, today there was no line to get in at all. I had to swing through the building a few times to catch them active, but shortly before closing both koalas were up and moving. That in itself was awesome, but what was even cooler is when they both started loudly vocalizing at the same time, echoing through the room. What an amazing thing to experience!
Design-wise there isn't too much to comment on here. Outdoors looks pretty much identical to how it did last month, just a few branches and fake rocks. A layer of substrate and some plants would’ve gone a long way, but I understand keeping it fairly simple since this isn’t a permanent display. What I don’t understand is why it was necessary to add a plexiglass barrier behind the mesh. I assume there’s a reason they don’t want the koalas climbing the mesh, but it’s certainly a bit odd. In addition, I was thinking they would simply split the existing indoor lemur enclosure in two, but instead they kept it as is and added a second enclosure in front of it. This means you can only get up close to the enclosure in the foreground, with the other only viewable in the background. It’s a slightly awkward set-up as a result. Quality of the signage is very high, striking a balance between being simple to understand while still providing good information. Overall as a temporary accommodation for a few years, I think it works perfectly well even if it’s flawed. With that said, I do hope the future enclosure(s) they may have planned for the forthcoming Australia House revamp are a bit more extensive. I also hope when the koalas do move out of the play zoo they will take advantage of the modifications they’ve made and provide the lemurs with an expanded space assuming they do move back here.
One last thing I want to say: I give the zoo immense credit for removing the additional fee for the play zoo earlier this year. They could have very easily kept it another year or two and made extra revenue from all the additional people here to specifically see the koalas, but they made a very altruistic decision which will hopefully cultivate some good will with visitors.
One last thing: pretty crazy that the master plan is just mere weeks away from release. Maybe even days away, but we're already most of the way through June and I imagine they want to keep attention on the koalas for the time being. Regardless, I can't express how eagerly I am anticipating the unveiling. All of the small additions and renovations have been great and have set the zoo up nicely for a bright future, but this is what it's all been building towards. This is the culmination of years of planning and even more years of ZooChat speculation and I for one cannot wait.
I was speculating it would be yesterday since it was the exact 90th anniversary of the zoo's opening, but that did not come to pass. An announcement should be coming any day now.