Milwaukee County Zoo Milwaukee County Zoo news 2016

Kifaru Bwana said:
Do you know what they have planned for both Malayan tapir and Southern black rhino for the immediate future?
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I don't think there is anything really planned. There is a chance that we get a new male rhino to replace the one that died in spring? But I'm really not sure if anything will happen.
 
I returned home for a few days, and had the opportunity to walk around the whole Zoo over the course of two days. Here's some updates:

*Pat the Cat and Stella the jaguars are back together - probably for breeding once again. Their son Francisco currently is alone.

*I noticed a couple of large trees have been removed from the left-side of the African Waterhole (zebra, kudu, etc.) enclosure.

*The back portion of the South American yard is fenced off. I was told by an employee that planting will be taking place. Speaking of South America, the signage for the rheas is now absent, so it's safe to say that rheas are no longer a part of Milwaukee's collection.

*As reported on here, there has been a shift in pachyderm exhibits. The original grassy and narrow Malayan tapir exhibit is now empty, Maggie the Malayan tapir is now calling the smaller black rhino exhibit home, and Mimi the black rhino has been moved to the larger black rhino exhibit full-time. For the tapir, apart from the lack of shade, it's a big improvement in terms of space and variety of terrain. She was happily cooling off in her pool on one of the days I saw her.

*Rather than being tucked away in the rock crevices, Kayin the octopus was swimming around her tank, and even stuck to the glass for a little bit. Also, the king cobra was stretched out almost full length, allowing an opportunity to see just how long those venomous snakes can get - both were pretty neat to see!

*After seeing the current exhibits in person, and having seen a photo of the plans on here, here are my thoughts on the upcoming primate renovations. Good - allowing the colobus and mandrills access to the great outdoors on display; updates to the current indoor colobus exhibit; mandrills will have more space indoors (hopefully a more natural renovation takes place as well). Bad - no new outdoor exhibits will be constructed; no adjustments to the current outdoor exhibit were mentioned to occur (hope that changes); and the siamangs moving to the current mandrill area is a step down in opinion. Not only is the outdoor (which despite being off-display, can still be seen through windows when looking to the left of the current mandrill exhibit) enclosure a bit smaller from what I can tell, but the indoor area is way too small height-wise and normal space-wise for the largest gibbon species.

*Tommy and Rayma the orangutans are now exhibited together. I didn't see much interaction between the two but they seemed to be doing all right together.

*The cotton top tamarins continue to do well in their newly renovated exhibit.

*We have a new male colobus monkey on exhibit with the two veteran females. His name is Elvis, and he can be identified by his shorter tail.

*Small Mammals: Fezzik the sloth continues to adjust well to his new home; the golden lion tamarin baby is growing up fast; the lights were out in one of the three fennec fox exhibits. As I could see the shape of a fox resting on a rock, my assumption was that this is in order to give some privacy for breeding.

*There is a female elk calf now on display. She was born on June 22nd, and the proud parents are dad Comanche and mom Charisa.

*New chicks in the Aviary: a sunbittern that hatched on July 1st, and three crested wood partridges on June 1st.

*No new construction that I could see has taken place on the second entrance area.

*Nothing is in quarantine at this time according to the board in the Animal Health Center.
 
Milwaukee Man said:
*We have a new male colobus monkey on exhibit with the two veteran females. His name is Elvis, and he can be identified by his shorter tail.
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Thanks for the updates Milwaukee Man! Did the new male replace the old one, or are they all exhibited together/rotated?
 
I visited the zoo two days ago and had a great visit. While many of the criticisms of the zoo (too few new exhibits and too much rockwork) are very accurate and it is a far from perfect or modern zoo, I actually liked it better than I expected. In particular I thought the indoor rooms for the big cats and great apes (excluding orangs) were solid and much better than I anticipated. Some of the habitats (snow leopard, moose, macaques, elk, reindeer, wolf, red panda, hoofstock, black bear, spider monkey, etc) were decent while others (elephants, polar bears, orangutan, meerkat, new world monkeys, hippos) were easily among the worst of their kind I've seen in person. The collection was amazing and the wooded property was beautiful. While not my favorite zoo by any means, I feel some zoochatters are a bit too quick to dismiss all of this zoo as complete crap and think it has more potential than meets the eye. I'm really hopeful the otter/elephant exhibits will improve this zoo's quality.
 
GraysonDP said:
I visited the zoo two days ago and had a great visit. While many of the criticisms of the zoo (too few new exhibits and too much rockwork) are very accurate and it is a far from perfect or modern zoo, I actually liked it better than I expected. In particular I thought the indoor rooms for the big cats and great apes (excluding orangs) were solid and much better than I anticipated. Some of the habitats (snow leopard, moose, macaques, elk, reindeer, wolf, red panda, hoofstock, black bear, spider monkey, etc) were decent while others (elephants, polar bears, orangutan, meerkat, new world monkeys, hippos) were easily among the worst of their kind I've seen in person. The collection was amazing and the wooded property was beautiful. While not my favorite zoo by any means, I feel some zoochatters are a bit too quick to dismiss all of this zoo as complete crap and think it has more potential than meets the eye. I'm really hopeful the otter/elephant exhibits will improve this zoo's quality.
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Glad you had a great time at my home zoo! Too bad we didn't bump into each other - I was likely there on the same day as you!

I do agree that Milwaukee does get a bit of a bum rap on here (and no I'm not just saying that because it's my home zoo! :p) at times. The grounds are quite beautiful especially in the fall, the visitor amenities are solid, the animal collection is well-rounded, and the staff and animal healthcare is very good - especially training wise. Though I do agree the one significant element missing is the overall exhibit quality (it's only average at best in my opinion), and there's the over-abundance of rockwork.

I've always thought Milwaukee had two fantastic areas (Aviary and Macaque Island), three horrible complexes (Primates of the World, Small Mammals, and Pachyderms), and the rest in the middle (from the decent Reptile/Aquatic Center, to the hit-or-miss North America). With the new otter and elephant habitats on the rise, I'm hopeful the Zoo's future.

Once again glad you enjoyed it, and hope you return to see the upcoming additions! :D
 
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I wonder what areas will be knocked down for these additions. What animals will be included in Alaska's Cold Coast?
 
OH MY GOD IM SOOO HAPPY. I AM GLAD THEY ARE FINNALY upgrading the pachyderm exhibits. I think the new Alaska exhibit I think will have new polar bear and seal exhibits and maybe wolverines, walrus, and artic foxes
 
I ponder if "Alaska's Cold Coast" could be a solution for the Moose and Wolf exhibits, but more likely I suspect it will be a new Polar Bear exhibit, as many zoos seem to be inviesting in those.

I'm disappointed new exhibits for giraffes orangutans and bonobos aren't included
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The Giraffe exhibit was renovated around ten to fifteen years ago so I think Milwaukee is unlikely to see it worth an update any time soon given how rarely they recieve funding. The Primate House could really use some changes but I don't think they would do orangutans or bonobos only.
 
Even though I think the orangs need a need a new exhibit. the polar bear needs it more. I think the giraffe building is fine and up to date. I am sooooooooo glad the pachyderms are getting a upgrade. There exhibits are probably the worst in the zoo. Next I hope they either upgrade the primates are small mammal building. I feel Milwaukee has been really slow on expanding so I'm glad they are doing this. Also did that otter exhibit and new entrance open yet?
 
JVM said:
I ponder if "Alaska's Cold Coast" could be a solution for the Moose and Wolf exhibits, but more likely I suspect it will be a new Polar Bear exhibit, as many zoos seem to be inviesting in those.
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Given the price tag for the Alaska exhibit, lack of new Polar Bear cubs, I doubt it is for Polar Bears.
 
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