Are they native plants? If not I am very disappointed with Brookfield Zoo.
Brookfield Zoo Brookfield Zoo News 2019
- Thread starter JVM
- Start date
The article I posted recently states that there are over 10,000 perennial plants and 670 deciduous, evergreen, and flowering trees and shrubs. So it appears that almost all the plants in this area are native.
That doesn't mean they are native.
As you probably know, insects are declining in the world right now. The main reason for this is because gardens are planting exotic plants that pollinators and other insects cannot use (many native insects rely on only one or two species of native plants). If gardens are planted with native plants instead of imported ones, the can host healthy, native insect (and other animal) communities no matter how much concrete or people there are. The difference is incredible. I can only hope the CZS have done this.
A twin spotted octopus has been placed in the old seahorse tank. Upside down jellyfish have been given a new exhibit next to the moon jellyfish.
In Desert's Edge, an ocelot and white-nosed coati are moving to the rock hyrax and caracal exhibits. A small-spotted genet is moving to the bushbaby exhibit. And orange-tailed chuckwallas are moving to one of the former black-footed cat exhibits. Also happening in Desert's Edge in the near future, an enhanced lighting system that will benefit both the animals and zoo visitors. It will help make the walkways easier to see, and will simulate the 24 hour light cycle, including light conditions from sunrise to sunset.
That's really cool, I'm glad to see all those species coming to the collection. Do you know what happened to the hyraxes, caracals, bushbabies, and Black-footed Cats?
Hyraxes, caracals, and bushbabies have moved to other zoos. Brookfield still has Karoo, the adult female black-footed cat.
A surprising change. While it’s great new species are being brought in - coati were a species I’ve wanted at the zoo for a while now - it’s bizarre they are effectively ruining the exhibits original concept of an African desert by bringing in two South American species and a North American species. At this point why not just make the whole building a South American exhibit and disperse the leftover species around Habitat Africa. I'm not a fan of how they are mixing species from different continents, though I suppose a new theme of "Deserts of the World" can work as well. Any word of if the exhibits are going to be enhanced to better fit these species? And are you aware of when this is all happening?
In fairness, Desert's Edge is a fairly ambiguous name, regular visitors wouldn't assume it's an African-only exhibit.
I have not been to the zoo in a month and am not sure of how the exhibits currently look. I chatted with a keeper friend who works in the building about it and she said the ocelot has already arrived but is not on display yet. Genet and chuckwallas are supposedly making their debuts soon. Coatis haven't arrived to the zoo yet.
I agree with this sentiment; I will personally miss the African theme. I always felt the chunk of the Fragile Desert/Desert Edge exhibit that contained Caracal, Rock Hyrax, and Bat-eared or Fennec Fox was the most effectively immersive of all of Brookfield's indoor exhibits, especially with the open viewing, though I do recognize the open viewing limited the space available to the inhabitants. Hopefully the exhibit renovations make for nice homes for the new species.
When The Fragile Desert first opened, it was themed with deserts in general, the African theme is somewhat newer.
Personally I found the Fragile Forest to easily be the most immersive indoor exhibit at Brookfield, then the Swamp and then Desert's Edge. Fragile Forest and Deserts's Edge were probably my two favorite indoor exhibits also.
According to the zoos members only magazine, it seems as if the new species in the deserts edge may already be on exhibit. There is just one female coati. I’ll try to get to the zoo next weekend to take some pictures.
I'm interested in this deserts of the world idea, don't think I've seen Ocelot at any zoo yet so my next visit could be neat, but I am a little sad to lose Hyrax and Caracal, I can still go to Milwaukee to see Bushbabies, but it'll be sad when the Black Footed Cat goes
Henry Vilas Zoo is a relatively close zoo that has hyrax. I wonder if they could've possibly sent them there?
I forgot they have Hyrax, I have visited there a few times. Hoping Caracal will return to my area at some point
They're sort of playing fast and loose with the desert concept here, aren't they? Ocelots and white-nosed coati tend to be forest dwelling mammals. Not really desert natives. Am I correct? The genet and the chuckwallas make sense for a deserts of the world theme, but those other two species are confusing to me. I guess I would be mostly upset to see the desert aspect of this exhibit be ruined by shoehorning in two species that don't really belong in a desert setting. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see these species on display somewhere in the zoo, but maybe this isn't the best location for it.
Ocelots and coatis do tend to be more forest species, but they can be found in deserts as well (especially the Sonoran Desert).