Akron Zoo Akron Zoo News 2012

News from the Akron Zoo:

The former gibbon exhibit will become a holding area for some animals we will be acquiring (ie-bald eagles for Grizzly Ridge).

As far as the bear exhibit we will be replacing some of the glass in that exhibit plus others so some mesh will be going up over the glass in preparation for that. When the time comes that exhibit may be down for 1-2 weeks.
 
I have a little more information. The zoo will be adding new glass to most of its exhibits this summer since there has been several glass incidents in the past year. Sloth bears are first. Expect exhibit closures when they are working on a particular exhibit. This project should be finished by summer's end.
 
I am happy to announce the birth of 2 snow leopard cubs on May 14th. They will be on exhibit late July/August. Yea!! :D


 
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Everyone now knows why the snow leopard glass is not being fixed until July. We are in trouble if they are as hyper as their mother. A naming contest will launch sometime in July.
 
Snow Leopard cubs born!

by Akron Zoo on Friday, June 29, 2012 at 9:36am

For the first time in its history snow leopard cubs have been born at the Akron Zoo. Two male cubs were born on May 14, 2012. Both cubs are healthy and thriving and are currently off exhibit, indoors in a cubbing area with their mother. They will remain indoors until they go onto exhibit, most likely at the end of July or early August. Snow leopards are an endangered species and only nine cubs have been born this year that are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Species Survival Plan (SSP) in the United States.

Animal Care Staff at the zoo suspected the female snow leopard, Shanti, was pregnant in March and began monitoring her closely. In the evening of May 13 they started noticing changes in her behavior and began monitoring her via cameras that were set up indoors at her exhibit for the impending birth. The first cub was born at 4 a.m. on May 14 and the second cub was born at 5:51 a.m. Shanti, who is a first time mother, has been very attentive to the cubs and has been caring for them on her own. The cubs currently weigh about 6 lbs.; at birth they weighed around 2 lbs. each. At six weeks old now the cubs’ eyes are open and they are able to walk and are starting to climb.

The father of the cubs, Roscoe, who is also a first time father, will be on exhibit everyday at the zoo until Shanti and the cubs start to go out onto exhibit. As in the wild the father does not participate in the rearing process. He will never have direct contact with the cubs. Roscoe is 9 years old and came to the Akron Zoo in 2004 from the San Antonio Zoo and Aquarium. Shanti is four years old and came to the Akron Zoo from the Binder Park Zoo in 2009.

A naming contest will be announced in mid-July and will conclude before the cubs go onto exhibit.

Snow leopards are an endangered species primarily due to loss of habitat, illegal poaching for their pelts and body parts and killings by local herders when a snow leopard has preyed on their livestock. There are only 155 snow leopards in the SSP in the U.S. and there are believed to be as few as 4,000 left in the wild. Snow leopards cannot roar. Instead of roaring, the snow leopard makes noises like hissing, mewing, chuffing, growling and wailing. Snow Leopards can leap further than any other cat, reaching distances of well over forty feet in a single bound.

Photos at the link below:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/akron-zoo/snow-leopard-cubs-born/10150914636028042
 
Grizzly Ridge will look drastically different than we have anticipated. Exhibits have been removed or relocated. I found construction plans online of Grizzly Ridge on eBlueprint.com. I do not know how long these links on the web address below will work, but I wanted to share this with you.

eBlueprint - Akron Zoo Grizzly Ridge - Site Grading drawings and specs

Here is a direct link to one of the more detailed plans to give you a better idea.

http://www.eblueprint.com/V2/Print/...D=5379001&ProjectID=82396&ProjectVersionID=-1
 
Wow, that is quite a reduction from the original plan. I wonder if it was budget-issues or the site-grade. Plus, am I only seeing a single bear yard? I know Cleveland is holding a pair of grizzlies and Erie is holding a pair of black bears. It would seem as if it is now one pair too many...
 
The new plan actually will cost over $8 million whereas the previous one was projected to cost over $7 million. The hill probably is one of the main reasons changes have been made. I also thought the original plan was a little congested in certain areas. I also wondered how certain species would really feel about living next to each other. An example is the wolves/coyotes and the aviary. It might have been a little stressful on the birds. I have been comparing this new plan with one from around the end of last year. There are some good changes. There is no longer a long wooden deck pathway which I thought was not needed. I always thought that the original wolf and the former coyote exhibits were weird shaped and small. The new wolf exhibit is larger. The original eagle exhibit was kind of small compared to the tripled or quadrupled size new one. There was also no real path to get vehicles into the public area in the old version. This is why the second bear exhibit had to be shrunk and converted to a bear exhibit. The first bear exhibit was also expanded. It is now between 9,000 to 10,000 square feet. I suppose the bears could rotate. I do not know. I am trying to find out. The aviary is one of the biggest changes. It sure will stand out in that position. Overall, the only area that was not changed much is the otter exhibit. The only major change is that they will not have to live with the wolves in the same building anymore. Several of the interactivities have also had their locations moved around.
 
I can now confirm the zoo will not be getting black bears. The zoo did not yet know where Laurel and Libby, who are currently at Erie, will eventually end up.

Metal mesh has been added in front of the glass of the jaguar, African lion, sloth bear, and Sumatran tiger exhibits to assist when they all get replacement glass along with the snow leopard exhibit.

The zoo now has a second pair of white storks. They are currently living in the former gibbon exhibit. I am currently trying to find out if they will move into the white stork exhibit eventually or vice versa.

Freedom the barking deer is no longer alone. She had bee living in an exhibit that was split because the other deer was her father Englebert. He has been missing recently and I am wondering if her could have died of old age. The exhibit is now no longer split and there is a new male barking deer living with Freedom.

The three female wild turkeys that were living in the present aviary have moved back to Wild Prairie with the male and female that are there. It looks like there is some work happening with the deck in the aviary. I am wondering if it could reopen sometime in the future to hold birds for the new one. With some improvements, I do not see why they could not have two aviaries with different themes at the zoo. They could at least use the older one until they can replace it.

One last note: The zoo told me that Grizzly Ridge construction will begin in late July. They also did confirm grizzly bears, red wolves, bald eagles, and river otters. These species, plus the new aviary and the new waterfowl pond will be the main exhibits.
 
The zoo's new second pair of white storks, that are currently living in the former gibbon exhibit, are living there while they are in quarantine. They will join the others when quarantine is done. The current plan for this exhibit is to use it as a quarantine and temporary holding area, but with access to allow guests to view the species in the exhibit. I believe later this year it is planned for the zoo's new bald eagles to live here until their new exhibit opens in Grizzly Ridge.
 
I noticed today that the zoo is making changes in the aviary. There is work being done on the deck in the aviary. The main posts of the deck seem to be in the process of being replacing at least part of the deck. I could be that there will be two aviaries at the zoo after Grizzly Ridge's opening.
 
I have confirmed that the zoo is working on the aviary and they hope to have it reopened by the end of the summer. It has been closed for over a year.
 
Bella the jaguar made our short visit to the zoo today quite interesting. She had just caught herself a groundhog shortly before we got to her exhibit. Thank God it was dead by the time I saw it, it made it alot easier for me! The keepers were obviously trying to get her to go inside so she wouldn't eat it. She wasn't having it! She carried it all over her enclosure and played with it. Sometimes she even batted at it, as to say"wake up". She licked it, put it in her little pond as if to clean it. She brought it by the windows to show us "look at my new friend". It was a rather comical 1/2 hr. We went to see the rest of the zoo and about 30-40 min later, went back to see what she was up to. She had "broken into it" at the neck. The sprinkler turned on in the next door capybara yard and caught Bella off guard. She dropped the groundhog and hid behind her little "nook" that they always sit upon. Sprinkler goes off and she rescues her groundhog to safer, higher rocks. :) Jaguar afraid of water??? hummm. At this time it was 4:55 and the zoo was closing. I wonder when she will finally go inside, and if she does, will she still have her new toy with her?
I mentioned to the keeper about the sprinkler, and she said she would have to try that. Obviously, we could not stay after to see if it worked. I think this would be the perfect night for a ZooSnooze!

On other news, they are setting up a small (about 20 gallons or so) terrarium of Day Geckos) in the Lemur house.

Bonnie - Team Tapir
 
It is nice to see they are adding something to the Madagascar Building. The zoo has been doing a lot of little projects this summer since the opening of Journey to the Reef such as the old gibbon exhibit being turned into a quarantine yard exhibit, prepping the aviary to be reopened, putting chickens in the other part of the chicken exhibit, and adding new sheep to Farmland. They still have to complete the process of replacing the glass in the cat and bear exhibits. All of these little projects will get the rest of the zoo ready for Grizzly Ridge's opening next year.
 
I was at the zoo today and made the following observations:

It is wonderful to see Grizzly Ridge construction finally commencing. Site grading is currently taking place plus the removal of some trees and the rest of the former monkey moat exhibit.

All of the deck supports in the aviary in Tiger Valley have been replaced. Look for a late summer reopening.

The two new white stocks are still in the former gibbon exhibit for their quarantine.

The koi are missing from Tiger Valley. The sign is gone as well. I have wondered if they are in the process of moving them elsewhere in the zoo. I will try and find out.

The day gecko exhibit looks nice. The first thing I thought of when I saw it was the exhibits at the former SeaWorld of Ohio/Six Flags Worlds of Adventure aquarium that were out in the middle of the room. It will be a nice addition to the Madagascar Building.

The snow leopard exhibit is closed for glass replacement and other work to make the exhibit baby proof. The large left window of the tahr exhibit has wood in front of it because of the work being done on the neighboring exhibit.

They have added lookdowns in with the false pilchards to the schooling fishes exhibit. They were added to make the pilchards start schooling around the small race course step-up exhibit. The exhibit is long with curved ends. One of the ends is in the back area where the pilchards liked to hide because they seemed rather shy. Now the pilchards are out in the exhibit and the lookdowns are the shy ones. Hopefully as they get used to people they will adventure out into the exhibit more.

The Komodo Kingdom Cafe will add Caribou Coffee in the near future.

Other notes:

I witnessed eel feeding time for the first time. I witnessed Cora the octopus eat two crabs on a previous visit.

Cora the octopus has to be the most active octopus I have ever seen. I think it is because she has so much room to swim around in compared to other octopus exhibits. See likes being by the glass. She will fully extend her body out to show how big she is to those watching. Today was the first time I have ever seen an octopus swim as they would in the wild in captivity. She was stretched out long and thin like they swim when they move at high speeds.

I am trying to find out answers on a couple of things I noticed today and I will post when I get answers.
 
Hasenstab posts updated Grizzly Ridge plans

Hasenstab Architects has posted a revised plan for Grizzly Ridge. The updated plan is below and at the link bottom of the page. The description from Hasenstab's website is below.

______________________________________________________

The Mike & Mary Stark Grizzly Ridge
Akron Zoological Park

As project lead, working with zoological design consultant WDM Architects from Wichita, Kansas, Hasenstab Architects is designing the Akron Zoo’s most ambitious project to date, The Mike and Mary Stark Grizzly Ridge.

Slated to be complete in 2013, the project entails exhibit space for grizzly bears, wolves, coyotes, otters, eagles, and native birds. The attractions are arrayed along a winding path that traverses a dramatic grade change, allowing multiple views of the animals from varied heights. Featured are underwater viewing areas for grizzlies and otters, an aviary with a rope bridge and treehouse, a mid-1850’s themed bear building with a covered porch, and a tube slide through the otter water feature. Interactive thematic elements reinforce the Zoo’s message of conservation and the connection of the featured animals to historic Ohio.

The project features a green roof, bio-retention basin, and many other sustainable features that further the Zoo’s mission of conservation of not only wildlife, but of all natural resources.

Location: Akron, Ohio
Size: 3.5 acres
Estimated Complete: May 2013
Construction Cost: $7.7 million

SITE-RENDERING_REV_web.jpg


Hasenstab Architects, Inc. | The Mike & Mary Stark Grizzly Ridge - Hasenstab Architects, Inc.

http://hasenstabinc.com/assets/SITE-RENDERING_REV_web.jpg
 
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