San Francisco Zoo San Francisco Zoo News 2015

Memo said:
I was at the zoo this past Friday and noticed the main grizzly exhibit was blocked off. I peeked over the rope and saw that one panel of glass was shattered, though intact.
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one of the bears threw a rock at the window and broke it. There was a sideline news item about it yesterday. Apparently the glass is five layers thick to absorb impacts, and only one sheet was broken.
 
Chlidonias said:
one of the bears threw a rock at the window and broke it. There was a sideline news item about it yesterday. Apparently the glass is five layers thick to absorb impacts, and only one sheet was broken.
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Different zoo (Minnesota).

Nationwide bear conspiracy?
 
DavidBrown said:
Several years ago they had stingrays and arapaima swimming around in the pond in the tropic house, but that was at least one or two remodels ago.
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That's a big fish for such a small pond in the tropic house. Was it bigger at one point in time?

I was clearing out some email when I came across this month's newsletter, and the news that the Lion House will be closed to the public as of August 13th.

SFZ Animail said:
Starting Thursday August 13, The Lion House will be closed to the public. Our lions, Jahari, Sukari and Amanzi are part of the African Lion Species Survival Plan (SSP)®, and as with our other SSP® wild cat species, such as Sumatran tigers and fishing cats, they are in an active conservation breeding program. Since active breeding and other signs of pregnancy have been observed by staff, we are taking precautions by closing the Lion House to the public. While the lions will be provided the opportunity to come and go from habitat to the back of house all of our other Sumatran tigers, Amur tigers, Snow leopards and Fishing cats will be visible outside in their exhibits. During the closure, our animal care staff will continue to provide our 2:30 pm keeper talks to our guests outside at one of our Big Cat habitats.
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Good news if true. Jahari's line needs to be preserved.

I, however, was led to believe that both girls were sterile due to a bad batch of birth control. They mentioned the name (I, of course, have forgotten it) and how it affected a large swath of the captive lion population several years ago.

Anybody have the skinny on this story or am I misremembering things?
 
watch the tv series ZOO where domestic animals and wildlife are actively attacting humans due to corrupt corporation adding an unknown ingredient in all its edible products that causes these attacks on humans.
 
Buldeo said:
That's a big fish for such a small pond in the tropic house. Was it bigger at one point in time?
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I haven't been in the tropical house for many years as it has been closed and I haven't been to the main part of the zoo since before the tiger attack. The pond used to be more of a stream running through the main exhibit space. It was quite large and deep.
 
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Buldeo said:
That's a big fish for such a small pond in the tropic house. Was it bigger at one point in time?

I was clearing out some email when I came across this month's newsletter, and the news that the Lion House will be closed to the public as of August 13th.



Good news if true. Jahari's line needs to be preserved.

I, however, was led to believe that both girls were sterile due to a bad batch of birth control. They mentioned the name (I, of course, have forgotten it) and how it affected a large swath of the captive lion population several years ago.

Anybody have the skinny on this story or am I misremembering things?
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They've been off it for several years now, but the zoo assumed for a while that it ended up sterilizing them. Amanzi is 18 so she probably won't have cubs at this point. But if they're going to put Sukari back on it, they're probably going to switch whatever birth control she was on. This is one of the reasons why he zoo doesn't keep its make and female tigers together. So they don't have to bother with birth control
 
I have a question for any regular visitors, or anyone visiting in the near future. With the opening of the new rainforest exhibit it seems that most of the birds that were previously housed around the zoo have moved to the new exhibit. On my visit a year ago I saw all of the parrots, guan, and curl-crested aracari in the row of bird exhibits near the flamingos, and there were ibis and spoonbills in the aviary in Puente al Sur. So my question is, are those exhibits throughout the zoo all empty now, or what has moved in to take the place of these species?
 
Although I haven't been there in a while (in college now), there are still wrinkled hornbills, tragopans, and Himalayan monals exhibited in the "Bird String". Not sure about the "Puente al Sur" aviary. I expect new species to be acquired.
 
Chimpangeek said:
They've been off it for several years now, but the zoo assumed for a while that it ended up sterilizing them. Amanzi is 18 so she probably won't have cubs at this point. But if they're going to put Sukari back on it, they're probably going to switch whatever birth control she was on. This is one of the reasons why he zoo doesn't keep its make and female tigers together. So they don't have to bother with birth control
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I missed this. Thanks for the confirmation. I thought Amanzi was related somehow to Jahari? Wasn't she his dad's(?) mate?

I'm almost glad they don't have more cubs, because the zoo doesn't have the room to adequately house/display/whatever the ones they have now. I'd be working on turning that hillock the bongo occupy into something more lion friendly.


fkalltheway said:
I have a question for any regular visitors, or anyone visiting in the near future. With the opening of the new rainforest exhibit it seems that most of the birds that were previously housed around the zoo have moved to the new exhibit. On my visit a year ago I saw all of the parrots, guan, and curl-crested aracari in the row of bird exhibits near the flamingos, and there were ibis and spoonbills in the aviary in Puente al Sur. So my question is, are those exhibits throughout the zoo all empty now, or what has moved in to take the place of these species?
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I am generally displeased with the direction the zoo is taking (you could argue a lack of direction as well) so I let my membership expire, but I haven't been there in a couple of months. That said, I'm 99% certain that the Puente al Sur aviary is now empty since its inhabitants used to live in the rainforest building. Ditto for a lot of the species in the "Bird String" opposite the pan troglodytes.

The only one I'm certain is still there is the Great Hornbill; that corner unit seems to be his home for life. I expect new species to be acquired as well, but who knows when.

I haven't seen the aviary reno yet, so I might go this weekend. I can answer your question for certain then.
 
Buldeo said:
I missed this. Thanks for the confirmation. I thought Amanzi was related somehow to Jahari? Wasn't she his dad's(?) mate?

I'm almost glad they don't have more cubs, because the zoo doesn't have the room to adequately house/display/whatever the ones they have now. I'd be working on turning that hillock the bongo occupy into something more lion friendly.




I am generally displeased with the direction the zoo is taking (you could argue a lack of direction as well) so I let my membership expire, but I haven't been there in a couple of months. That said, I'm 99% certain that the Puente al Sur aviary is now empty since its inhabitants used to live in the rainforest building. Ditto for a lot of the species in the "Bird String" opposite the pan troglodytes.

The only one I'm certain is still there is the Great Hornbill; that corner unit seems to be his home for life. I expect new species to be acquired as well, but who knows when.

I haven't seen the aviary reno yet, so I might go this weekend. I can answer your question for certain then.
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THe Puente Aviary is still home to a pair of Southern Pudu as well as several macaws that havent been moved yet to the Rainforest exhibit. It would be nice if they brought back Andean Condors and used it for them. Or maybe Harpey Eagles instead.

Amanzi and Jahari aren't related. Amanzi, Jaharis dad Tunya and Jaharis Mother Kita were all unrelated.
They have more room now, given that Martha the Siberian Tiger passed away this week.
 
Chimpangeek said:
It appears the Zoo now has plans to acquire Orangutans, Sifakas and Wolves in the coming year. Look at the bottom of this pdf document.

http://www.sfzoo.org/pdf/financialstatement/SFZ-AnnualReport2014.pdf
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Orangutans?! They haven't fixed their chimp exhibit yet have they?

How can they manage to build an orangutan exhibit when their existing ape exhibits are so outdated?! That is why the orangutans went away in the first place.

The wolf exhibit idea is interesting. Does anyone know what happened to their old wolf exhibit that was back behind the bird house?
 
Chimpangeek said:
It appears the Zoo now has plans to acquire Orangutans, Sifakas and Wolves in the coming year. Look at the bottom of this pdf document.

http://www.sfzoo.org/pdf/financialstatement/SFZ-AnnualReport2014.pdf
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Very interesting. The document says it plans to turn the aging bear grotto into a vibrant, wonderful exhibit with the Grey Wolf being the first inhabitant this summer and one would assume Orangutan and Sifaka will follow eventually. My question is, isn't the bear grotto currently occupied? I've never been to the zoo and so I don't keep up a whole lot with it. I know they've had bears in the grotto before other than the obvious...the name...but from a blog about the zoo that I follow. Are there currently bears in the grotto? If so, will they move them to more lush (ie:grassy) exhibit or are they older and are "expected" to die off in the short time there is before the exhibit is expected to have its first inhabitant?
 
DavidBrown said:
Orangutans?! They haven't fixed their chimp exhibit yet have they?

How can they manage to build an orangutan exhibit when their existing ape exhibits are so outdated?! That is why the orangutans went away in the first place.
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As noted in my previous post ([URL="https://www.zoochat.com/community/posts/869808[/URL]), the zoo plans to build an expansion to the current chimpanzee exhibit via connecting the pachyderm building ("phase 1"), before demolishing the current exhibits and constructing a new enclosure ("phase 2"). I think the zoo is phasing out the chimpanzees in preference of orangutans; so orangutans will be brought in, and once the elderly chimpanzees pass (or are moved to another zoo), the orangutans will get the whole exhibit.
 
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