This building is the Trail of Adaptations (originally the 1950's Feline House) and while there aren't many animals there now (sloth, tamandua, fruit bat, meerkat, northern tree shrew, komodo dragon) in 1995 it held these species: jaguar, cougar, serval, Pallas' cat, clouded leopard, fennec fox, meerkat and African civet.
Have they reopened their nocturnal house, or is it gone for good? If it is gone, do you think that they will ever build a new one?
Is the building in this photo the old cat house? Will it be replaced at some point, or do you think it is adequate for the residents that it now houses? Somehow I missed this building on my last trip, but I was moving fast to see as much of the zoo as I could at the end of the day.
Have they reopened their nocturnal house, or is it gone for good? If it is gone, do you think that they will ever build a new one?
Is the building in this photo the old cat house? Will it be replaced at some point, or do you think it is adequate for the residents that it now houses? Somehow I missed this building on my last trip, but I was moving fast to see as much of the zoo as I could at the end of the day.
I'm afraid that the superb nocturnal house (easily one of the very best in North America) has closed for good. It was expensive to heat and operate the 1970's buiding, but half of it remains open as a Reptile House (with only two species of mammal - tree kangaroo and armadillo). The Nocturnal House was one of the highlights of the zoo for my wife and I, and unfortunately at close to the same time the Calgary and Bronx zoos also closed their nocturnal houses as well. I doubt that re-opening it as a night zone is on the horizon at the moment, but I would love to see the space utilized in some shape or form.
The building in this photo is the 1950's Feline House, and even though the zoo seriously considered the idea of demolishing it there seems to have been a decision to keep it as the night-quarters for tigers (as it is used now) for 2014's Asian Tropical Forest and I think that the Trail of Adaptations exhibits will probably remain as they are. For the current inhabitants the exhibits are mainly fine, although nothing spectacular and the meerkat enclosure is atrociously small. It seems as if you missed a few hidden treats on your last visit and so it is time for a renewal of acquaintances with this great zoo. Maybe 2014 when the new exhibits for Asian animals are complete? By then almost the entire zoo will be 35 years old or less, and full of immersion exhibits in practically every corner.
The Rodrigues fruit bat/springhaas exhibit on the right now only contains Indian flying foxes, which are new to the zoo. The Adaptations house animal shuffle continues...
