Alaska is a huge location and pretty large area - nay a full Federal State - on the map, so it does nothing to signal or acknowledge what subspecies of caribou we are dealing with here! I hope someone else can confirm this ... at some point?!
Milwaukee County Zoo Milwaukee County Zoo News 2025
- Thread starter Black Footed Beast
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From what I've seen a number of zoos have woodland caribou
Wisp O' Mist
Well-Known Member
Her being a Reindeer isn’t out of the question, either. Reindeer are raised commercially in Alaska, both on farms and via semi-nomadic herding. The semi-nomadic herds are rather notorious for getting away from their herders and subsequently joining up with the native Caribou.
That is a pre-existing possibility, ... yet if the zoo specifically claims it is a caribou ... I am not focussing on the domesticated nor "reindeer" brand.
Domestic Reindeer are commonly referred to as Caribou in the US. That's probably what she is.
The animal in question is, indeed, a domestic reindeer sourced from a commercial reindeer farm. The male is also a domestic reindeer sourced from a private facility in New York. As @birdsandbats has stated, a lot of facilities lean into the Rangifer tarandus are called "caribou" in North America and "reindeer" in Eurasia in their signage and education, even when the vast majority house domestic reindeer. Northwest Trek in Washington is one of, if not the only, facility in the Lower 48 to still house genuine, wild caribou (R. t. caribou).
They were supposed to release it last year from what they shared in county meetings, however it never appeared and when asked they shared they don’t have anything to shared.
The zoo announced on instagram that the aviary is going to be closed for the foreseeable future, with no re-opening date. This is to prevent transmission of bird flu.
On the one hand it’s a shame because the aviary is one of the best parts of the zoo, especially in winter when you want to hit the “indoor trail” of aviary to primates to ARC to small mammals. On the other hand obviously it’s good to protect the birds from disease.
On the one hand it’s a shame because the aviary is one of the best parts of the zoo, especially in winter when you want to hit the “indoor trail” of aviary to primates to ARC to small mammals. On the other hand obviously it’s good to protect the birds from disease.
The zoo has a new Giant Pacific Octopus named Flurry
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brown bear 555
Well-Known Member
In Addition to A new giant octopus, the ARC has also put their 2 Frilled Dragons and a blue-tongued skink on exhibit for public view, where they are located I do not know but I believe the former Black Tree Monitor exhibit would be it since the last time I was there the exhibit was under renovation and construction looked like it was being renovated into an outback exhibit, OR it could be in the cylindrical take that was formerly used for moon jellyfish and briefly for cuttlefish where previous visits have made it look like the tank was being renovated for a terrestrial animals
Milwaukee County Zoo has giant Pacific octopus and three new lizards
Milwaukee County Zoo has giant Pacific octopus and three new lizards
MKEbonoboluv
Active Member
The name of the new octopus is FLURRY and is a quite active early in am and afternoon
MKEbonoboluv
Active Member
As a volunteer my book says Rangifer tarandus for Bean
MKEbonoboluv
Active Member
The new entrance is needed to relieve the congestion on free days when there is so much traffic you can wait over an hour to get into the zoo. Add to the road to the Zoo Bluemound Rd in 2026 will be a construction zone as they redo the road so it will be a nightmare. The one good point for zoo pass holders with parking they can park in the west lot which is open from May to October which helps to solve congestion. Change is slow when you work with a county government, when the county needs more $ up goes the parking fees.
MKEbonoboluv
Active Member
Bean came from Animal Adventure Park and is 5
MKEbonoboluv
Active Member
I work as a volunteer in this building each month and not sure how you define the worse but clearly it is the oldest building dating to the 60s with no renovations since then. If in fact a new rainforest exhibit is being planned we are the last to hear anything, it would be nice to see an exhibit that would replace both this building and the Aquatic Reptile Center with more updated guts to maintain the habitats. Our keepers have done so much with so little for so long. I often hear guests complain that the county losses money on the zoo and that is just not true, the zoo makes money for the county and they need to be more supportive.
The exhibits are small and in my opinion the part of the zoo that needs an upgrade/replacement the most
I hear you and feel for the zoo keeper and some managerial staff too! The zoo needs more substantive municipal as well as county support and investment (it will recoup itself 300% ... as it would make the zoo more animal and visitor friendly and attractive.
This could be easily resolved if the Municipality and Counties rallied more substantially with funding base for the zoo in terms of leeway to renovate and/or upgrade parts that are too old to maintain in their present state as well as create a more forward looking view and visitor attraction of the zoo.
I am confident that the new director and the team around him are more in tune with reality and actually have a state of the art vision for the MKZ long term! I am sure that some of the MKZ regulars like @MKE Zoo guy and others will surely agree with me.
MKEbonoboluv
Active Member
I agree they are small especially the Straw Fruit bats where there is not room for flight . The Sloths are a nocturnal animal so they should be on that side of the building but there is no space for them. I also thought the same fo our prehensile tail porcupines but apparently they are fine as they have a baby every year it seems.
As to the lemurs I would like to see them in a larger area but if the other small primates where in larger areas I am not sure they would be as visible to the visitors. We have the GLT in the primate building and often they are not visible but habitats should always put the animals first and some of the older buildings are of an age where the visitor came first. I have seen the enclosures at other Wi zoos and they are larger for the lemurs but then have more animals. I like zoos like the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha where they have multiple species in a large area representing a specific ecosystem and if that is what they envision for our next "rainforest habitat where" the small primate, bats, Siamangs and Orange can get out of their sterile habitats I am all for it.
You're correct, this is s exactly how it is usually defined here. A lot of exhibit discourse becomes about older exhibits being dated and total size. There is discussion of other factors but those two usually lead.
Definitely appreciate the added insight. A lot of this lines up with Director Morris' comments a few months ago that I quoted on the previous page - the bats, possible changes to the ARC as well, etc.
Big kudos to the keepers, I've had multiple really positive experiences with keepers and staff at Milwaukee.
I wish I were more surprised by this - what a shame!
How many GLT are in that habitat? Has it been considered turning it into a mixed species habitat with the Cotton tops or Goeldis? A lot of the best callitrichid exhibits I'd seen were mixed, which ensured that even if some animals were hiding there was some activity to be seen.
The big question from what I can tell is whether the rainforest habitat will be a renovation of the primate building or small mammal building.