Columbus Zoo and Aquarium Columbus Zoo News - 2014
- Thread starter Milwaukee Man
- Start date
The zoo has put up a video of one its Grant's zebra yearlings receiving a wellness check:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_bWFTqN5o0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_bWFTqN5o0
The very impressive number of herd animals are highlighted in this informative article:
Columbus Zoo?s Heart of Africa exhibit opens on Thursday | The Columbus Dispatch
Columbus Zoo?s Heart of Africa exhibit opens on Thursday | The Columbus Dispatch
No rhinos or hippos? 
TeamTapir223
Well-Known Member
No rhinos or hippos?
Rhinos and Hippos were once rumored to be part of later phases of this Savannah exhibit however that seems very unlikely at this point as the zoo returns to the drawing board after its recent failed levy.By the way Hippos almost always get shaft in American zoos.
Team Tapir223
I'm sure this exhibit will be great, but the omission of certain species that were listed as early candidates is a bummer. Hopefully Cincinnati can come through with their plan for a hippo exhibit to finish out Africa.
They still are going to have them but they pushed them back another year (2016) to save more money to build a better exhibit.
Betty White will help Jack Hanna open Heart of Africa on Thursday morning. I won tickets to the sneak preview event tomorrow afternoon. I plan on posting some pictures live during the event (if it's not raining too hard) on my Facebook page if you want to follow along and of course I’ll post some pictures and a review here after I get back. So exciting, after all these years, the region is finally opening!
Heart of Africa exceeded my expectations! A couple of random thoughts: The lion exhibit is a highlight of the region while the weakest component is the first camel yard. The cheetah runs are going to be in the watering hole exhibit. I did not see aardvark, warthogs, or flamingos, which makes me believe they will all rotate in and out of the watering hole, can anyone confirm? I've never seen such friendly giraffes before. I was also impressed by all the small enhancements to North America on the walk back to Africa.
Zooplantman
Well-Known Member
Confirmed
The exhibit's big innovation is the Watering Hole. You never know what animals will be there.
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Zooplantman
Well-Known Member
Confirmed
The exhibit's big innovation is the Watering Hole. You never know what animals will be there.
Watering Hole is a nice touch rotating animals in and out beside the giraffe feeding habitat. Also happy the cheetah can have access with their canine friends. Nice job, Zooplantman, if you were involved with the horticulture. If so, what kind of grass was used on the ha-ha in Lion?
Zooplantman
Well-Known Member
There were five different seed mixes used on the site to suit the variety of conditions and needs.
The swales' mix consists of Canadian Wild Rye and Kentucky-31 along with a cover crop of hybrid triticale and annual rye (all endophyte-free). The Buffalo grass is too small and young to be seen as of yet.
TeamTapir223
Well-Known Member
First off it was a true honor to see zoo legends Jack Hannah and Betty White in person today Secondly we were astonished by Heart of Africa ! Its absolutely incredible.It truly gives the feel of being on a real safari on the plains of Africa.Like Amnesiac said we agree that Lion exhibit is the highlight of the entire area its Hagenbeck style done to perfection.Another thing that is impressive is the number of animals.The Vervet Monkey base camp invasion was very cool too and very well done as well.Cheetah Run was cancelled today and no animals were allowed into the waterhole area due to torrential rains overight which saturated the area.At the moment 3 of the zoos 7 cheetahs are trained for runs and its the zoos goal to get all 7 trained to run.Actually Columbus has 8 cheetahs but one was just born so he is currently just a ball of fuzz who isn't worried about cheetah runs 
.The event center is still under construction and should open later this year.A meerkat exhibit is expected to be added by 2015.
Many Zoo staff we spoke to today believe the zoo will walk away from the downtown satellite zoo concept and feel it was a major factor in the failure of the levy.The mayor of Columbus and other city and state politicians have had a lot of influence in the zoo getting involved in the downtown project.Additional African Savannah phases (Rhinos,hippos,elephants and gorillas ) are possible as well as rumored South American and Madagascan areas.Columbus is also exploring the possibility of exhibiting Giant Pandas.This all hinges on the zoo eventually getting a new levy passed by 2015 when the current levy expires.
The Zoos female Red Panda is pregnant.
The long term plan for the old lion exhibit is for it to be renovated into a snow leopard exhibit however in the meantime it could house Amur Tigers because with 7 tigers its hard to give them all adequate time on exhibit.
Team Tapir223
Secondly we were astonished by Heart of Africa ! Its absolutely incredible.It truly gives the feel of being on a real safari on the plains of Africa.Like Amnesiac said we agree that Lion exhibit is the highlight of the entire area its Hagenbeck style done to perfection.Another thing that is impressive is the number of animals.The Vervet Monkey base camp invasion was very cool too and very well done as well.Cheetah Run was cancelled today and no animals were allowed into the waterhole area due to torrential rains overight which saturated the area.At the moment 3 of the zoos 7 cheetahs are trained for runs and its the zoos goal to get all 7 trained to run.Actually Columbus has 8 cheetahs but one was just born so he is currently just a ball of fuzz who isn't worried about cheetah runs .The event center is still under construction and should open later this year.A meerkat exhibit is expected to be added by 2015.Many Zoo staff we spoke to today believe the zoo will walk away from the downtown satellite zoo concept and feel it was a major factor in the failure of the levy.The mayor of Columbus and other city and state politicians have had a lot of influence in the zoo getting involved in the downtown project.Additional African Savannah phases (Rhinos,hippos,elephants and gorillas ) are possible as well as rumored South American and Madagascan areas.Columbus is also exploring the possibility of exhibiting Giant Pandas.This all hinges on the zoo eventually getting a new levy passed by 2015 when the current levy expires.
The Zoos female Red Panda is pregnant.
The long term plan for the old lion exhibit is for it to be renovated into a snow leopard exhibit however in the meantime it could house Amur Tigers because with 7 tigers its hard to give them all adequate time on exhibit.
Team Tapir223
Thank you. It should hold up nicely under paw and hoove and provide nice grazing for the animals.
My Thursday visit
I just stopped by the zoo on Thursday, as always I was very pleased with my visit. The Heart of Africa was amazing but I am curious about what it will become in the winter. During a trip to the wilds I remember them saying that the giraffes went inside after the temp drops below 50 at night. Also I didn't know if anyone knew what improvements were being made to the rhino exhibit. It just said that it would be done in the spring.
I just stopped by the zoo on Thursday, as always I was very pleased with my visit. The Heart of Africa was amazing but I am curious about what it will become in the winter. During a trip to the wilds I remember them saying that the giraffes went inside after the temp drops below 50 at night. Also I didn't know if anyone knew what improvements were being made to the rhino exhibit. It just said that it would be done in the spring.
Malayan Tiger
Well-Known Member
I heard that Snow leopards would be added to the old lion exhibit, and Indian rhinos would go into the Black Rhino exhibit after they were moved to Heart of Africa.
Interesting! I suppose the Indian rhino will come up from The Wilds - Cumberland?