Brookfield Zoo Brookfield Zoo Former Species

pachyderm pro said:
The excerpt about the "Galapagos Scene" section reads the following. "Along the north wall of the building, there is a group of Desert island forms from the Galapagos: The Galapagos Penguin, the Indefatigable Island Tortoise, Hood Island Tortoise and Land and Sea Iguana."

There is a photo that shows the penguins and various tortoise species in the same exhibit which was an open topped beach set-up. The iguanas aren't pictured but the appear to be referenced to be sharing the same space. It's entirely possible this was either never the case of later changed based on the accounts from @carlos55.
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I would love to see the photo if you're able to upload! It's interesting that in a somewhat dated thread, I can only find the following about Galapagos Penguins in captivity:

ungulate nerd said:
In the past besides the New York Aquarium, Galapagos penguins were are also held at the Point Defiance Zoo, San Diego Zoo, and SeaWorld San Diego

San Diego Zoo also held Galapagos sea lions from 1957 to 1961
And
San Diego Zoo also held Galapagos fur seal from 1932 to 1935
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I did manage to come up with a few photos from inside the old Reptile House here from 2005. Mostly close ups of smaller terrariums and enclosures, with a two shots of the larger open-air enclosures.

Since @carlos55 brought it up, any old photos from inside of the Small Mammal House? I only remember the large bat enclosure in the center. Not much else.
 
I recall the single marine iguana was a female in a small exhibit with rocks and a pond. Not really Good at all.
The small Mammal house was all nocturnal except for a diurnal gallery. Yes the central exhibit held bats. Some enclosures were very small. The species held were quite amazing, i remember tarsiers, grison and leopard cat, among others. Outside there were some cages for northern animals like Canada lynx and marten.
 
Joseph G said:
I would love to see the photo if you're able to upload! It's interesting that in a somewhat dated thread, I can only find the following about Galapagos Penguins in captivity:



I did manage to come up with a few photos from inside the old Reptile House here from 2005. Mostly close ups of smaller terrariums and enclosures, with a two shots of the larger open-air enclosures.

Since @carlos55 brought it up, any old photos from inside of the Small Mammal House? I only remember the large bat enclosure in the center. Not much else.
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Here is the picture. The zoo was only four years old at the time this photo was taken. Pretty remarkable!
Galapagos Exhibit in the old Reptile House (1938)

Galapagos Exhibit in the old Reptile House (1938)

Thanks for the Reptile House images. Super interesting stuff. It looks like in its final years the Galapagos exhibit housed just the tortoises and a caiman (very unusual mix) assuming that is the same exhibit.

If there are any other pictures anyone would like to see, let me know and I can upload them to the gallery.
 
If the photo was from 1938 then the animals may indeed have all been mixed. The Marine Iguanas I was talking about arrived at the zoo in 1964, so a different situation entirely.
 
Alright, got even more stuff to share. These guidebooks are a treasure trove of information.

Aquatic Bird House:
Andean Goose
Blue Fairy Penguin
Blue Gallinules
Derbian Screamer
Double-crested Cormorant
Franklin's Gull
Herring Gull
Laughing Gull
Least Sandpiper
Long-winged Plover
Ringed Penguin
Sarus Crane
Seriema
Silver Gull
Tinamous
Wattle Guan
Western Gull
Wooly-necked Stork

Australia House:
Black-faced Gray Kangaroo
Pary's Wallaby
Red-necked Wallaby

Cat Grottos:
Cheetah
Spotted Hyena
Striped Hyena

Hoofstock Yards:
Barbirussa
Black-backed Duiker
Guanaco
Patagonian Cavy
Sable
Sitatunga
Water Chevrotain

Perching Bird House (Hornbill Supercut):
Great Indian Hornbill
Hemprich Hornbill
Long-crested Hornbill
Pied Hornbill
Rhinoceros Hornbill
Weathered Hornbill

Pinniped Pools:
Steller's Sea Lion

Primate House:
Japanese Macaque
Hanuman Langur
Wooly Monkey

Reptile House (Crocodilian Supercut):
American Crocodile
Babilla
Black Caiman
Chinese Alligator
Mugger Crocodile
Nile Crocodile
Saltwater Crocodile

Small Mammal House:
American Beaver
Flying Phalanger
Giant otter
Golden Cat
Gray Fox
Jungle Cat
Matschie's Tree Kangaroo (these were only ever exhibited here, not in the Australia House)
Owl-faced Monkey
Potto
Quoll (species unspecified)
 
I remember that for a short while when I was a very small child seeing a kiwi in the perching bird house. I don't think I am getting this confused with another zoo from my childhood because I remember those weird round viewing windows and this exhibit in particular being dark with the viewing portal being mostly obscured to give the animal more privacy. I am sure it didn't last long as I believe kiwi are notoriously fickle creatures and demand a certain amount of quiet and lack of disturbance to really thrive and that building has always been anything but that. I don't know when it was, though. It had to have been sometimes in the 1980s.
 
This list is dead useful as while I know many species have changed over the years I am awful at recalling the exact dates!

If it is of any help here....

The building historically known as Aquatic Bird House was renovated around the 80s/90s as 'Be a Bird' which had a famous interactive exhibit involving bird wings. As a child I did not know it had any animals and skipped it, but I have since heard on multiple occasions that this is where the Kiwi were located while at the zoo. This building became Feathers and Scales in the mid-2000s after Reptile House was closed. It is possible that the Kiwi were kept in Perching Bird House before that time.

Major Mitchell's Cockatoo was held in the Perching Bird House for many years as that is where Cookie was held at least by his later years. Though he was taken off display he was still housed there in the keeper's office until his passing.

Small Mammal House became the Hamill Family Children's Zoo, which opened around my first visit to Brookfield, so I never saw it in person.. but as a child, we found a tape at the library that included Lincoln Park Zoo and Brookfield Zoo footage from the early 90s and it included a glimpse at Small Mammal House. I was deeply frustrated because at the time I had no idea it became the Hamil Family exhibit and assumed it was somehow not included on the maps. If I ever locate this tape again I could try to get some photographs of the Small Mammal House section, but they would be low quality as it was an old VHS.

Thank you immensely for the recovery of the Reptile House photos. I had started to wonder, so long ago, if I had embellished some of my memory, but the photos of the Caiman/Tortoise habitat match my memory almost exactly!

Finally, take this with a grain of salt but a zoo employee once told me there had been Bonobo off-exhibit at Tropic World. I have become unsure to trust this story as it has never been corroborated elsewhere.They also mentioned King cobra remaining present in Reptile House for some period after its closure to guests because of a breeding situation.
 
JVM said:
Finally, take this with a grain of salt but a zoo employee once told me there had been Bonobo off-exhibit at Tropic World. I have become unsure to trust this story as it has never been corroborated elsewhere.They also mentioned King cobra remaining present in Reptile House for some period after its closure to guests because of a breeding situation.
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This has been a rumor for quite a few years now - interesting to hear a confirmation from a zoo employee - but the last of these animals being listed in the studybook does make this seem unlikely.
 
The building historically known as Aquatic Bird House was renovated around the 80s/90s as 'Be a Bird' which had a famous interactive exhibit involving bird wings. As a child I did not know it had any animals and skipped it, but I have since heard on multiple occasions that this is where the Kiwi were located while at the zoo. This building became Feathers and Scales in the mid-2000s after Reptile House was closed. It is possible that the Kiwi were kept in Perching Bird House before that time.

If I remember correctly, yes, the kiwi was originally displayed in the Be a Bird exhibit, but was moved to the current Reptiles & Birds (formerly Perching Birds) exhibit at some point. I could have the timeline incorrect, but I remember seeing them at one point in both. There was a side exhibit in the Feathers and Scales building on the left side of the building that had a display of the Dodo Bird and I believe that was where the kiwi was also displayed. I can't remember if it was relocated before or after that display to the Reptiles & Birds building, but they had a display in there that had the window primarily blacked out with small viewing portals. Not really a great display of the species as it was hard to see into the portals due to railings that were formerly in place that kept visitors from getting too close to the windows.
 
@birdsandbats Last of which animal being in the studbook in what capacity?

@Amphibiman Good to know. I would really hope someone could elaborate on the timeline for this for us. I did not visit Perching Bird House often in my early zoo trips. I really hope the kiwi return someday as I'm disappointed to have missed them back then.
 
JVM said:
@birdsandbats Last of which animal being in the studbook in what capacity?

@Amphibiman Good to know. I would really hope someone could elaborate on the timeline for this for us. I did not visit Perching Bird House often in my early zoo trips. I really hope the kiwi return someday as I'm disappointed to have missed them back then.
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Last was a typo for last. That should read: "but the last of these animals being listed in the studybook does make this seem unlikely."
 
I recently acquired a Brookfield Zoo guidebook from 1980 which may help in identifying dates for some of these species. I think it is probably close to the one @pachyderm pro described in December but there are some differences. I will try to look soon for more species not otherwise listed here!

I would also like to mention, not very excitingly, that Brookfield Zoo held a skunk-raccoon exhibit in the old Children's Zoo.
 
I miss BZ having giant pandas. I always had the mindset that since they were the first zoo to have them, that they should continue to house the species throughout the zoo’s history. But I know how difficult it is to obtain them these days.
 
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