The new Madagascar exhibit is a 1.5 million dollar (USD) project, that is the first major step in the zoo's 13 million dollar master plan. It's also the largest capital improvement in the zoo's 115 year history.
Thanks @Fignewton for all the photos that you've uploaded onto ZooChat. This looks like a tremendous exhibit for a smaller zoo, and I love the view from the pavilion. It appears that there are many different viewing angles into the new lemur enclosure.
@snowleopard I agree, it was definitely much better than I was expecting. The quality of this exhibit makes me have high hopes for what's to come. This exhibit definitely beats all of the lemur exhibits at the Philadelphia Zoo, and they have five!
I’m very pleased with the outcome of this exhibit. It is by no means the greatest, but it’s is definitely stellar for such a small zoo like brandywine, it’s terrific. The interesting mix, the rock work, the interesting mix, and the bonus of indoor viewing & crowned lemurs makes this a great exhibit in my eyes(especially for a place like brandywine). I can’t wait to see this exhibit grow and mature, with longer grass and maybe more climbing structures
@Dhole dude I couldn't agree more. I think it will really look nice one the plants grow more. The trees are still quite small and the grasses haven't grown much, but eventually I think it will look much better. I'm impatiently waiting for 2022 to see how they're South American Swamp habitat turns out! It's going to have a really interesting mix of species, as well as flamingo feeding. From what I've heard, there will be around 6-10 species in the one exhibit!
That’s a lot more species than I expected! I hope they can also incorporate the servals & sandhill cranes into the master plan as well. I wonder if the scarlet ibises and the macaws can also be moved into the South American wetlands.
@Dhole dude I'm not sure about the Serval, but the Sandhill Cranes have a chance. There's an unlabeled habitat space next to the future Canada Lynx exhibit and that might be where the cranes go. I think the Scarlet Ibises may go there, or with the Capybara, since they're with them now, but the South American Swamp would make more sense, since that's already going to be netted. And the macaws were a temporary exhibit for the summer, but they're probably still going to get some, along with Sun Parakeets for the exhibit.
@Fignewton I was thinking the same thing about The sandhill cranes. Is their serval elderly? I always thought that the macaws where permanent, since they have become the face of their website. Also a bit off topic, but what is in the exhibit in between the burrowing owl & former sandhill crane exhibit that used to contain American kestrels?
@Dhole dude I'm not really sure about the age of their Serval, but I know that they're had it for at least around 10 years, so that's half of their captive lifespan, but they could have had it longer than that. They did used to have Blue-and-yellow Macaws before the construction of the Madagascar exhibit, so that's probably why. That's where the Burrowing Owls live. They live to the left of the eagle/raven exhibit on the map, if that's which one you're talking about.
Edit: I just looked at the map and the barrier between the former kestrel exhibit and former crane exhibit was taken down and it was all for the crane before it moved.
