As much as I respect maned wolves, I wish they would replace them with either painted dogs or spotted hyenas, since it would go better with the African theme of cheetah conservation center/station. They could relocate the maned wolves to the old smoky grottos, or possibly move them into the old anteater(Current Patagonian Mara exhibit)
@Dhole dude Cheetah conservation station isn't Africa themed, though; most of the animals just happen to be from there. Maned wolves are rather similar to cheetahs in body construction, behavior, etc. Cheetahs and maned wolves are also the two main carnivore species being studied/bred at SCBI, and staff often work with both species. It would make no sense to have keepers go clear to the other side of the zoo.
Thanks @TinoPup I never new cheetah conservation center/station wasn’t African themed. Speaking of that I think national zoo needs a core African attraction by now. I know they want to make a new giraffe exhibit, but they keep forgetting to ask(I think) but that’s just my opinion.
Nah the CCS is definitely meant to be the zoos African area. From what I can find, with the exception of the maned wolves, wallabies, kangaroos and emus, every species that has been exhibited at the CCS has been African. I don't believe the zoo would remove the maned wolves, however I do wonder if it'd be possible for the zoo to rotate the cheetahs and another species between the two yards, since currently the zoo only has 3 cheetahs (granted I don't think they all live together).
The zoo doesn't "forget" to ask for money for a new giraffe exhibit, they just have other priorities and don't currently have a place to put it. I believe the plan is to convert parking lot A, the bus lot and the CCS into an African Savanna exhibit. However in order to use the lots for exhibit space the parking garage needs to be built, and the Smithsonian scrapped that a couple years ago.
Back in April a writer for the Washington Post wrote a piece about what happened to the zoos giraffes, and in it the zoos director said this:
“Our scientists are currently studying behaviors and movements of giraffes in East Africa because their populations are mysteriously on a fast decline,” Steve Monfort, head of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, said in an email. “I’d like nothing better than to tell that conservation story with giraffes at the National Zoo! We have a vision to renovate our Savannah area but it’s a ways off in our master planning.”
So cheetah conservation center/station IS an African exhibit, but just features maned wolf’s as well. I manly want the Maned wolfs to go to another part of the zoo for thematic purposes. If the maned wolfs move to a renovated smoky grotto, it would make more thematic sense and finally have something in the smoky grottos.
