For all of its faults, the Pachyderm House at Brookfield truly has some iconic architecture with its art deco style, and I do hope that once this building bites the dust, at the very least some of the art deco elements (notably the "Pachyderms" archway) remains should the zoo do right by the public's demands for the return of a certain large, gray mammal...
@pachyderm pro Do you think they'll get more? Or do you think they'll phase out their pygmy hippo program entirely.
Personally, I think they should just remake the Pachyderm house with pretty much the same species that it's held (African Elephant, Black Rhino, Lowland Tapir, and Pygmy OR River Hippos). The Pachyderm House just seems a little outdated.
@LionTamarin there are a number of younger pygmy hippos in the North American population that could be sent over to Brookfield, however it might be beneficial to renovate this habitat prior to getting more animals. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if they phase out the species entirely as Lincoln Park already has pygmy hippo.
I also think renovating or remodeling the house may be the best choice at this point... it's very sad it went from having several large pachyderms to only housing black rhino and lowland tapir now. They could make it an extension of the African savannah and the tapir and other non-African species could be relocated to other regions of the zoo. Also, I highly doubt elephants are coming back to Brookfield or Lincoln Park unfortunately and river hippo is also probably a no for the forseeable future.
