Does anybody have any ideas of what the zoo might do to expand their elephant exhibits? There is no more free space for expansion, making the elephant house smaller is not an option, and giving the elephants the guest paths wouldn't help much. Even if there was a plan, it wouldn't be for a long time considering this area was redone in the year 2000.
I was looking at the zoo's master plan map (which the plans haven't been going quite as followed), and the Safari parking lot behind Manatee Springs may one day be turned into an "American Big River Country" exhibit. It also shows that Elephant Reserve would be called "Asia", and the former adjacent okapi exhibit would be part of Sabu's exhibit. The cow yard is the same though.
The latest update said a warthog will have a small stall in the interactive zone. He will also be walked around the zoo. The zoo gave an unfinalized list of the species for the African Plains exhibit. There might be Grant's gazelles, elands, new zebras, white backed and Ruppell's vultures, guineafowl, kudu, and wildebeests. Next to them will be African wild dogs. We will have to wait and see until next spring.
The latest update said a warthog will have a small stall in the interactive zone. He will also be walked around the zoo. The zoo gave an unfinalized list of the species for the African Plains exhibit. There might be Grant's gazelles, elands, new zebras, white backed and Ruppell's vultures, guineafowl, kudu, and wildebeests. Next to them will be African wild dogs. We will have to wait and see until next spring.
With the mixed savanna already constructed, only the wild dog exhibit is left to be built. However, it is blocked from the public. On my second to last day of volunteering I got to work in the construction vicinity. The zoo cut down many more trees and expanded backwards towards Jungle Trails so there's more room for the crocs and hippos. The last thing I noticed was that they added a line of medium sized trees between the wild dog and hippo sites.
