The domestics room has been closed since the pandemic and shows no sign of ever reopening. I hear it's used as a space to to train the animal ambassadors these days.
I think the Play Zoo is in a transformational place right now. The depopulation of Lemur Leap absolutely does not help the worth of the exhibit (although they were often sleeping when I visit) while the former genet space is empty and the toucan/sereima improvements are a summer-only thing for the time being. I also keep wanting to say I miss the armadillo because I missed it on my last two revisits. The albino ball python is my favorite herp in the building though.
As a side note, I've never actually been to the pet area. I was at the building when it opened and I've still never been there.
-If they plan on keeping flamingoes they should really merge the swamp aviaries. I’ve seen almost all those species mixed elsewhere and it would give the flamingoes flying space. Also, did they really keep a giant salamander in the caecilian enclosure? I remember it but have a hard time believing it. Anyway, the caecilians were active. I spent some time watching them. Same for the river otter.
Pachy covered the potential aviary merger and I personally expect it will still happen.
Brookfield keeping the salamander on display was a huge mistake. It was a decent enough size for the juvenile salamanders but the main reaction all around was mostly horror that they would never fit the space as adults. (There's actually a post on reddit about it in ****** Tanks or something.) The good news is one of the salamanders left the zoo completely last year, and hopefully the others will follow elsewhere.
-Tropical World felt smaller than I remembered up until the moment I actually saw how small the animals looked in it. Can confirm all three primates were active in South America. That exhibit feels like it has a lot of wasted space with the water, though, since I don’t think anything uses it. Didn’t see the anteaters. Didn’t see them last time, either. Where do they like to hide?
Asia is at least a really good otter exhibit with a fairly large group. Watched them play for a while. Also a pretty great gibbon exhibit for what it is. That isn’t the worst AZA orang exhibit I’ve seen but it’s a really good thing they’re getting the expansion. Similar thoughts on the gorillas. The other Africa section feels almost too big for just two primate species. Lot of ground space that’s going unused.
The anteater is very hit or miss these days. There's a very large set of stairs that leads to off-show holding and I'm assuming that's where it hangs out much of the time. I have seen them use the water before, although that was mostly for the tapirs that once inhabited the exhibit.
As a kid, I loved seeing the tapir in the water while all the monkeys were in the trees above. I realize it wasn't right to keep the pachyderms inside the building year-round but I do think the building lost some of its spark when they were removed as well. The anteater could fill a similar niche but seems to be a shy animal. Super happy to hear all three monkeys are co-existing in South America now.
Definitely agreed on the Africa section and although we know a new primate will probably be joining in the former gorilla space next year, I really hope they restore a species or two more to the main section. Allen's Swamp Monkey, Mandrill, and multiple kinds of mangabey have previously called the area home. My last visit was two genouns and nothing else.
One of my first ever ideas for a 'master plan', when I was around ten, involved outdoor habitats for the hippos, tapirs, otters and anteater on one side of Tropic World and gorillas, orangutans, monkeys and even bonobo on the other side.
-Habitat Africa was a mixed bag. Pretty much nothing was out in the savannah except the wild dogs. The klipspringer weren’t indoors or outdoors. I’ll probably skip the savannah building in the future. None of the forest animals were outside. Okapi was also off exhibit indoors. The red-flanked duikers are adorable. Got to the pavilion far too late and the pangolin was a no-show. Same for the elephant shrew, even though the keeper put food in at 4:30. Shrew couldn’t be bothered to wake up and eat. The giraffe indoor area made me sad and I left almost immediately.
That sounds disappointing. I've previously expressed about the klipspringer indoor exhibit and have heard they haven't used it in some years, but it sort of undermines the building. Shame you missed the pangolin but best of luck next time! I also missed the elephant shrew last time. Was the problem that the indoor giraffe area too small? I haven't been to the interior of the building in a couple years and I've not had to see the giraffes indoors.
-This was the most active I had ever seen echidnas. One was moving around in the nocturnal house. The two with the kookaburras were walking around, manipulating objects, one lapped up water with their tongue. The birds did not seem to like the activity but didn’t do anything about it. The one wombat I could see was asleep but even a sleeping wombat is still a rare sight. They really aren’t even trying to fill the herp exhibits in the entry, are they? At least the frilled lizard was really cool.
What's the issue with the herp exhibits, are some of them empty right now? Shame if that's the case.
-Didn’t go back to look at the hoofstock exhibits beyond the camel. I was done and the zoo felt really empty. Almost unnervingly so. Fewer than two dozen cars in the north lot when I left at 5:15.
Reasonable decision; you just missed zebras and addax this way.
First visit of the year and you can tell we are in the call before the storm period of development with all of the preliminary construction going on. The former lemur exhibit has been completely vacated with all of the existing features removed and the entire back portion of the nature plaza is fenced off, although actual construction of the prairie aviary has yet to start. Only a few updates to share, but ones that will be of interest to some.
