Bronx Zoo Bronx Zoo News 2019

IIRC there were issues with the behind the scenes portion of the building, such as unsuitable housing and a failing shute system to move animal around. I could be wrong on that, though. It still doesn't explain why the basement is operational, though.

There is no longer a pool in Tundra's old yard.

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
IIRC there were issues with the behind the scenes portion of the building, such as unsuitable housing and a failing shute system to move animal around. I could be wrong on that, though. It still doesn't explain why the basement is operational, though.

There is no longer a pool in Tundra's old yard.

~Thylo
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I respect any info you provide, Thylo, so I'm sure this was said if you say so. But this seems way too minor to close an entire building, particularly when they would have had expenses providing new accommodations for all the displaced animals. If it were a budget problem, why not announce it as they did with WOD? I really love this building. For it not to be used for anything even by admin staff or education--and clearly be less safe than the basement--makes me fear there is something big wrong, although not necessarily structural, or animals and staff couldn't be using the basement. I worry that it could be lead or asbestos, some problem they wouldn't want to divulge lest they open up a Pandora's box of litigation from those who visited prior to the closure. I only started thinking about this when a Zoo episode featured a breeding attempt and keepers explained the Monkey House was not open to the public, but they they still housed animals in the basement. Keepers were shown walking down the exterior stairs to the basement...

Tundra's pool--gutted. Tundra's gone for good, and now it seems polar bears are too. I've avoided that path ever since he died....
 
AmbikaFan said:
I respect any info you provide, Thylo, so I'm sure this was said if you say so. But this seems way too minor to close an entire building, particularly when they would have had expenses providing new accommodations for all the displaced animals. If it were a budget problem, why not announce it as they did with WOD? I really love this building. For it not to be used for anything even by admin staff or education--and clearly be less safe than the basement--makes me fear there is something big wrong, although not necessarily structural, or animals and staff couldn't be using the basement. I worry that it could be lead or asbestos, some problem they wouldn't want to divulge lest they open up a Pandora's box of litigation from those who visited prior to the closure. I only started thinking about this when a Zoo episode featured a breeding attempt and keepers explained the Monkey House was not open to the public, but they they still housed animals in the basement. Keepers were shown walking down the exterior stairs to the basement...

Tundra's pool--gutted. Tundra's gone for good, and now it seems polar bears are too. I've avoided that path ever since he died....
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You could be right and it could be a more major issue, I just shared what I remembered reading. The Monkey House closed a few years after the budget cuts, but the closure was due to them not having the funds to make the necessary renovations. I certainly hope asbestos and/or lead are not the issue, as it'd likely affect all of the older buildings at the zoo... I'd imagine if the Astor Court structures were affected, however, this would have probably come up when Madagascar! was being built.

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
The zoo keeps Coquerel's Sifaka, Red Ruffed Lemur, Ring-Tailed Lemur, Collared Lemur, Crowned Lemur, and Grey Mouse Lemur.. I'd say that's more than the usual sorts, especially since the latter is only kept by three collections in the US.
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While I relent that this particular mix might be uncommon to rare across the country, I find it be pretty common at the zoo's I've visited. Denver and SF have most, if not all, of those plus aye-ayes. Though, SF stupidly sent theirs away. The Grey Mouse Lemur is a nice get, but for me, the crocs are the real stand out.

Now if they had, say, a golden-crowned sifaka* that would be something to crow about.


*- One of the reasons why I need to go back to Madagascar. The road to Daraina was wiped out thanks to the cyclone.

AmbikaFan said:
It's funny you should mention this. On Member's Night, I was handed a CGF pennant as I entered the exhibit. A pennant! How charming! Complete with a channel to put a stick through to enable waving and cheering. It's been so long since I've even thought of a pennant, let alone seen one, that it filled me with nostalgia. I have no idea if folks in this age of electronics still find pennants entertaining, and I assume they were made for visiting school groups, but I can't help but find it, albeit odd, something that makes me smile. Rah, Rah, Sis Boom Bah! Goooooo, Gorillas!

View attachment 408392
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That is really cool! The only thing I received was an oddly printed zebra shirt! I would have liked to get one of those.

AmbikaFan said:
Thylo, I think your defense of dholes for Tundra's old exhibit has won me over.
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I need to go back and read Thylo's defense of dholes, but after having a glance at the old exhibit I am not convinced it's a large enough space for rather active canines.
 
Buldeo said:
I need to go back and read Thylo's defense of dholes, but after having a glance at the old exhibit I am not convinced it's a large enough space for rather active canines.
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I'm not entirely sure which post of mine they're referring to as I believed I talked about Dholes a bit, but from memory I was more arguing for why Dholes are a good addition to the zoo as a whole. Personally I've always wanted them in the repeat tiger enclosure on the monorail.

I think the zoo should have filled in the moat in order to give any new animals increased space as the enclosure isn't exactly huge. Dholes aren't exactly large canids, though, and from what's been reported thus far it sounds like the zoo is only getting a few surplus animals. I'm going to wait to see what the habitat looks like once animals have been added before I pass ny judgements.

I think we need to remember that none of this has really been confirmed by the zoo either, so everything here is just speculation.

~Thylo
 
AmbikaFan said:
I respect any info you provide, Thylo, so I'm sure this was said if you say so. But this seems way too minor to close an entire building, particularly when they would have had expenses providing new accommodations for all the displaced animals. If it were a budget problem, why not announce it as they did with WOD? I really love this building. For it not to be used for anything even by admin staff or education--and clearly be less safe than the basement--makes me fear there is something big wrong, although not necessarily structural, or animals and staff couldn't be using the basement. I worry that it could be lead or asbestos, some problem they wouldn't want to divulge lest they open up a Pandora's box of litigation from those who visited prior to the closure. I only started thinking about this when a Zoo episode featured a breeding attempt and keepers explained the Monkey House was not open to the public, but they they still housed animals in the basement. Keepers were shown walking down the exterior stairs to the basement...

Tundra's pool--gutted. Tundra's gone for good, and now it seems polar bears are too. I've avoided that path ever since he died....
Click to expand...

From what I recall one of the reasons for the Monkey House closing was for fire safety and crowd issues. The house was always very crowded and not easy to escape in the event of an incident. I am not sure if this was due to a desire to renovate the house and realizing the expense at the time would be too much to rectify the noted issues; but if the house was unsafe for animals it would be shocking to hear since they kept many of the monkeys in the house (off show) for several years after closure. Up until the last two years the capuchins could be seen behind the Monkey House in warmer weather too.

As for the pygmy hippos; I always thought the white rhinos were planned to join the African Plains and that side of Zoo Center would be renovated for the pygmy hippos. I can't see how they'd renovate the old Monkey House for just pygmy hippos, unless it was a single all indoor enclosure.
 
ThylacineAlive said:
I'm not entirely sure which post of mine they're referring to as I believed I talked about Dholes a bit, but from memory I was more arguing for why Dholes are a good addition to the zoo as a whole. Personally I've always wanted them in the repeat tiger enclosure on the monorail.

I think the zoo should have filled in the moat in order to give any new animals increased space as the enclosure isn't exactly huge. Dholes aren't exactly large canids, though, and from what's been reported thus far it sounds like the zoo is only getting a few surplus animals. I'm going to wait to see what the habitat looks like once animals have been added before I pass ny judgements.

I think we need to remember that none of this has really been confirmed by the zoo either, so everything here is just speculation.

~Thylo
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I think dholes in Tundra's old exhibit is a certainty since there is now a picture on the Bronx Zoo forum of a sign saying "Dholes coming soon". I do agree that the exhibit is well landscaped, but a missed opportunity in filling in the large moat to really access more space. I do wish they would have (in addition to filling in the moat) netted the enclosure over for the Amur Leopard. I agree that dholes could have gone in the tiger exhibit in Wild Asia (even rotating with the tiger) so the zoo could obtain a large pack.

I do hope we hear soon of some new exhibit at the zoo; I keep hearing something is planned for the World of Darkness but see no construction yet.
 
bigfoot410 said:
From what I recall one of the reasons for the Monkey House closing was for fire safety and crowd issues. The house was always very crowded and not easy to escape in the event of an incident. I am not sure if this was due to a desire to renovate the house and realizing the expense at the time would be too much to rectify the noted issues; but if the house was unsafe for animals it would be shocking to hear since they kept many of the monkeys in the house (off show) for several years after closure. Up until the last two years the capuchins could be seen behind the Monkey House in warmer weather too.

As for the pygmy hippos; I always thought the white rhinos were planned to join the African Plains and that side of Zoo Center would be renovated for the pygmy hippos. I can't see how they'd renovate the old Monkey House for just pygmy hippos, unless it was a single all indoor enclosure.
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How was the flow in that house any worse than how Madagascar! currently is? If anything, it was better since there weren't any closed doors between the two entrances. Also, are the capuchins no longer there?

The plan I read was that Pygmy Hippos and small primates would be apart of the exhibit. I think rhinos moving to African Plains and Pygmy Hippos in the ZooCenter would be great.

bigfoot410 said:
I think dholes in Tundra's old exhibit is a certainty since there is now a picture on the Bronx Zoo forum of a sign saying "Dholes coming soon". I do agree that the exhibit is well landscaped, but a missed opportunity in filling in the large moat to really access more space. I do wish they would have (in addition to filling in the moat) netted the enclosure over for the Amur Leopard. I agree that dholes could have gone in the tiger exhibit in Wild Asia (even rotating with the tiger) so the zoo could obtain a large pack.

I do hope we hear soon of some new exhibit at the zoo; I keep hearing something is planned for the World of Darkness but see no construction yet.
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Well looks at that! I wouldn't have complained about the Leopard, yeah. As for WoD, I've heard plans for that as well as other projects but I don't know what's supposed to be first. Probably the African Plains addition.

~Thylo
 
Buldeo said:
.

Madagascar was a great exhibit -- having Malagasy crocs is a coup -- but I wish they had a different or more variety than the standard maki and ruffed lemurs. It does a great job exhibiting/showing the variety of landscapes across the island rather than simply telling you. San Francisco's, for example, is guilty of this despite my enjoyment of the variety of species on display and the amount of space they have both vertically and horizontally.

.
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Aren’t they just Nile Crocodiles? I wasn’t aware of Madagascar having a distinct species.
 
Cat-Man said:
Aren’t they just Nile Crocodiles? I wasn’t aware of Madagascar having a distinct species.
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The crocodiles on Madagascar are genetically distinct but not necessarily a distinct species. Bronx's animals are the South African variety, however.

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
How was the flow in that house any worse than how Madagascar! currently is? If anything, it was better since there weren't any closed doors between the two entrances. Also, are the capuchins no longer there?

The plan I read was that Pygmy Hippos and small primates would be apart of the exhibit. I think rhinos moving to African Plains and Pygmy Hippos in the ZooCenter would be great.



Well looks at that! I wouldn't have complained about the Leopard, yeah. As for WoD, I've heard plans for that as well as other projects but I don't know what's supposed to be first. Probably the African Plains addition.

~Thylo
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When the Monkey House closed there was a New York Times article about the closure and they gave several reasons for it closing (not being up to modern zoo standards, ADA accessibility due to stairs on one side, needing major renovations that would be too costly at the time, being too crowded so fear of fire safety {maybe fire systems needed work?}). There were only two entrances/exits out of the Monkey House so it could be an issue of size or a need to modernize equipment inside. Last year when I was at the zoo you could not go behind the Monkey House to see the capuchins so they could still be their but completely off show, which would be a shame.

Other then hearing bits and pieces (you may have more concrete information) the African Safari was supposed to be the next major exhibit. But that was around 2010 and a lot could have changed. The rhinos were going to featured as well as giraffe feedings and a focus on some smaller animals of the savanna (they mentioned creating an educational dung beetle exhibit!). I know they are planning a Latin American area (not sure if that will be in the old Rare Mammal Range or somewhere else) and the World of Insects/Invertebrates which I am assuming will be either in the old Monkey House or World of Darkness. I wish they would reopen the World of Darkness (with some renovations) as a nocturnal house, but I guess that won't come to pass.

However; they are bringing back Zoo Lights for the winter (so they are certainly hosting more and more special events for the $$). I will check that out since I loved going when they had the holiday lights when I was a kid.
 
I'm pretty sure they have recently built a giraffe feeding station though I do not know if it is open yet. I'm pretty sure they said they wanted to reopen WoD but I could be wrong. I do believe the Latin American exhibit is supposed to go where Rare Animal Range is. Another small mammal house or an invertebrate exhibit would sound great to me. As mentioned before I'd personally love to see a Papua exhibit ala Madagascar!.

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
I'm not entirely sure which post of mine they're referring to as I believed I talked about Dholes a bit, but from memory I was more arguing for why Dholes are a good addition to the zoo as a whole. Personally I've always wanted them in the repeat tiger enclosure on the monorail.

I think the zoo should have filled in the moat in order to give any new animals increased space as the enclosure isn't exactly huge. Dholes aren't exactly large canids, though, and from what's been reported thus far it sounds like the zoo is only getting a few surplus animals. I'm going to wait to see what the habitat looks like once animals have been added before I pass ny judgements.

I think we need to remember that none of this has really been confirmed by the zoo either, so everything here is just speculation.

~Thylo
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There is only one tiger exhibit in Wild Asia.

Agree dhole exhibit would be better if expanded into the moat, but $$ that just aren’t there right now.
 
reduakari said:
There is only one tiger exhibit in Wild Asia.

Agree dhole exhibit would be better if expanded into the moat, but $$ that just aren’t there right now.
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I know, by repeat I meant the enclosures already in Tiger Mountain. And yeah, I figured finances would be the issue :( I still fully support the zoo going into this species, though.

~Thylo
 
There is no mention of it on the website, so I imagine the people feeding them are doing the Wild Discovery Tour ($130), which stops at the giraffes or rhinos for a feeding.
 
There was in the early 1980’s a large South American wildlife exhibit where Congo Gorilla Forest is now. Everything from the Bison to the Polar Bear was “North America”...with the waterfowl (where they currently are), Roosevelt Elk (where Pere David’s Deer are), and Timber Wolves at Tiger Mountain. Thanks for all the Bronx Zoo updates, I haven’t visited in many many years, but I still list it as my “home zoo”.

Dholes will be a great addition.
 
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