Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens Los Angeles Zoo News 2025

I went to the zoo yesterday and I finally saw the Wild Dog walking, normally they are sleeping in the way back
- I asked a keeper about the Red Panda she said in a couple of years
- they have plans to do some work on the giraffe yard
(fingers crossed for return of Lions,bears and hippos)
Marshal the rhino was being active
 
Elena said:
The great ape baby boom continues in LA. Western Lowland Gorillas N'djia and Kelly welcomed a baby on November 22. The baby can be seen on exhibit with his or her parents, older sister Angela and unrelated adult female Rapunzel.
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A lot of great ape births in LA lately, an Orangutan, a Gorilla, and 3 chimpanzee babies in the span of a few months is insane!
 
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Samueltiger said:
is the baby a boy or girl?
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We haven't been able to determine if the new baby gorilla is a boy or a girl yet. N'djia (mom) is keeping the baby very close to the chest, and unlike Kalim (the orangutan mom) isn't big on showing off her little one to her keepers. Hopefully, we'll know something soon.
 
Yesterday I visited the L.A. Zoo and have a few updates from the Wild World exhibit and Children's Zoo.

Wild World (on view through January 11, 2026)
  • The western fox snake is temporarily off-exhibit.
  • All of the other seven species are on view with the Saharan Uromastyx and red tegu being highlights as I didn't see them before.
Children's Zoo
  • Radar, the fennec fox, passed away last week per a conversation I had with a zookeeper. This is very sad news as the little fox was one of my favorite animals at the zoo.
  • The southern three-banded armadillo, which shares a habitat with the white-faced saki, was active. The armadillo is unsigned and yesterday was the first time I was able to see it.
  • Four axolotls are in the nursery window (three black and one pink). None were in the cave, but the exhibit is still lit up.
  • There is a male southern tamandua in the nursery, but I'm not sure if it's the one that was born in August 2023 as the animal transaction reports had previously indicated that all the tamanduas were transferred out in 2024.
  • The goat contact yard at Muriel's Ranch has been reopened with limited hours. There is new signage with stroller parking and a zookeeper said that the open times are dependent on volunteer availability. Previously, the zoo had closed the contact yard citing the advanced age of the goats. The handwashing station was also removed last year and there is now only a jug of hand sanitizer available at the entrance.
Animals Aglow
  • This year's entrance display looks like a giant Christmas wedding cake with animals on top. Although it's eye-catching, the entrance plaza displays in prior years looked better in my opinion.
  • There is a very strange light sculpture in the Children's Zoo near the caves that resembles a huge plant monster Transformer with a purple jack-o-lantern beside it.
  • Overall, the displays look more Christmassy and less generic winter themed compared to previous years.
 
Yesterday on Black Friday I made another visit to the L.A. Zoo to see some of the areas I missed earlier this week. I hadn't been into the aviary since last December and there are noticeably fewer birds. Also, the pathway leading to the upper aviary is completely blocked off.

Here is a species list for the lower aviary:
  • scarlet ibis (3)
  • sacred ibis (2)
  • African spoonbill (1)
  • chestnut teal (2)
The aquarium at the Rainforest of the Americas only has red-bellied piranhas and striped leporinus. There are no stingrays and the caiman lizard was missing.

In the South America section, there is a green tarp over what used to be the black-handed spider monkey's enclosure in the roundhouse with the crested capuchins. The monkey was previously moved to the former white-faced saki enclosure in the roundhouse with the king vulture.

The blue-billed curassows were in adjacent enclosures in the ocelot roundhouse. I'm not sure if they are kept separate or have access to both areas. When the zoo had the former curassow pair, they were always together in the same enclosure. However, the male passed away and the female was sent to the Smithsonian Zoo last year. This new pair was brought in from separate facilities and may not be as compatible.

When I left, tremendous crowds were lining up for the Animals Aglow nighttime event. This is undoubtedly a huge source of revenue for the zoo.
 
Lori Patton said:
There is a male southern tamandua in the nursery, but I'm not sure if it's the one that was born in August 2023 as the animal transaction reports had previously indicated that all the tamanduas were transferred out in 2024.
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We still have the original male and female Southern Tamanduas with us. I saw them both yesterday. The male that was born to them in 2023 is the one that was transferred to another facility on a breeding recommendation.
 
Can we please not? This is for Los Angeles Zoo news, not hopes or speculative species lists. I'm just tired of clicking on the Los Angeles Zoo news posts hoping for actual updates, but no — it's just someone asking if there's any zoo news, sharing whatever speculative species list they have for the zoo, or saying they hope the zoo adds X species. It's really getting annoying. But they keep doing it do matter what. I just wish they would stop doing it. Honestly, it would be better if just made a thread on Speculative Zoo Design and Planning instead.
 
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