Buffalo Zoo Buffalo Zoo 2014

I hope they end up putting some soft material down in the moat in case this happens again. I always worried about this since the cubs like to climb on the ledge.
 
I do hope Jothi recovers as I have a personal attachment to her when I used to visit regularly. However, I'm still a bit curious what will happen if she dies. I would think it be in their best interest to send Surapa (other elephant) to another zoo. I don't think they would get an exception to have her until she dies since she's only in her 30s.
 
Giraffes seem to get new recommendations every winter. What you read could have changed or it could have been an accident.
 
There are no news releases about this, just observations and conversations my friends have had at the zoo:

* Tiberius, a juvenile male lion from the Seneca Park Zoo, is now on exhibit. He will eventually be paired with the sister pair Lelie and Lusaka.

* Ever since Luna, the female polar bear, has been moved back to her inside holding area, she has been calling out to Kali, the male polar bear, and itching to get outside. She still needs time to fully recover. It has been said that Kali is getting too big for his holding area (he's in the cat house) so the two may be moved into the holding areas of the new exhibit soon. This would mean they would not be visible to the public until the exhibit opened in the fall.

* A new female snow leopard named Ace is in quarantine and will be in the rotating exhibit right next to the current snow leopard exhibit.
 
blospz said:
There are no news releases about this, just observations and conversations my friends have had at the zoo:

* Tiberius, a juvenile male lion from the Seneca Park Zoo, is now on exhibit. He will eventually be paired with the sister pair Lelie and Lusaka.

* Ever since Luna, the female polar bear, has been moved back to her inside holding area, she has been calling out to Kali, the male polar bear, and itching to get outside. She still needs time to fully recover. It has been said that Kali is getting too big for his holding area (he's in the cat house) so the two may be moved into the holding areas of the new exhibit soon. This would mean they would not be visible to the public until the exhibit opened in the fall.

* A new female snow leopard named Ace is in quarantine and will be in the rotating exhibit right next to the current snow leopard exhibit.
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More info on Tiberius the lion.

The Buffalo News
 
If anyone has visited the zoo before, here is more of a size perspective of the Arctic Edge exhibit when it opens. Right now, there is only a small pathway that leads visitors to the elephants outdoor exhibit (this is coming from the new entrance). To access the zoo from the new entrance, you have to go through the river otter exhibit pathway. To the right of that is blocked off with construction. The Arctic Edge exhibit will go as far back as the old entrance and the land area by rhinos that house the domesticated animals is now part of the new exhibit. I still think they could have made the exhibit bigger if that tore down the cages that house the birds and lynx.

Luna the polar bear will be off exhibit for at least another couple of months. Someone told an acquittance of mine that the break needs 6 full months to full heal. Resulting from that and Luna's return to the big cat house, Kali, the male polar bear, may chose not to be on exhibit. I was unfortunate not to have seen him during my quick visit yesterday.

The mandrills are no longer at the Vanishing Animals section. The older female passed away and the male was shipped to the Dallas Zoo. Speaking of moves, the juvenile female ocelot is going to be moved to an Arizona zoo soon (if not already).
 
@blospz: thanks for all of the updates on Buffalo Zoo. Any word on whether the facility will phase out elephants? At this point Buffalo must be a strong contender for not only the continent's worst gorilla exhibit (and just about the only one left that is all indoors) but also the worst elephant enclosure. The new Arctic complex seems as if it could be spectacular and with Saint Louis and Henry Vilas also opening polar bear exhibits in 2015 it will be intriguing to compare them all.
 
I have not heard anything about their elephants, but I think it would be wise if they phased them out. The two are already separated due to conflicting personalities. Perhaps a short move to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo (one of the females there used to live in Buffalo). How the new Arctic exhibit looks, its almost like the elephant exhibit will get the shaft. Right now there is a narrow path and sign saying "elephants". It doesn't have the most appealing look to venture down.

As for gorillas, I think they do plan to eventually add an outdoor exhibit for them. I'm not sure when though and what order it is on the future master plan. Despite being all in door, it feels like they changed the lighting in the exhibit and the two juveniles are very playful.

I hope to post photos of the Arctic exhibit construction soon. It's still kind of hard to figure out where the back and front of the exhibits are located. I can only pick up where underwater viewing windows will be placed. I'll also post a photo of the layout of the exhibit. Right now, it just looks like two exhibits for the polar bears. So I'm a bit curious if they scraped out exhibits for other animals completely. However, I believe bald eagles were supposed to go in the area, they will still be near by in the horribly outdated cages.
 
@snowleopard, how do you rank Brookfield's all indoor gorilla exhibit? To me even though it's open aired, I don't like the circular pathway all around the exhibit. I feel it gives no privacy for the gorillas. Plus the indoor pit they placed a lone bachelor gorilla really irked me.
 
blospz said:
@snowleopard, how do you rank Brookfield's all indoor gorilla exhibit? To me even though it's open aired, I don't like the circular pathway all around the exhibit. I feel it gives no privacy for the gorillas. Plus the indoor pit they placed a lone bachelor gorilla really irked me.
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Franklin Park, Brookfield and Buffalo are the last 3 North American zoos with gorillas in all-indoor environments. Franklin Park clearly has the best of the remaining trio; while Brookfield's gorilla exhibit has visitors looking down upon the apes as it is basically a mock-rock pit. Buffalo's exhibit is also very poor.

On a side note, Orangutans can be found in all-indoor exhibits in these 7 North American zoos: Brookfield (both gorillas and orangs are in Tropic World), Racine, Toronto, Cleveland, Birmingham, Fort Wayne and Pittsburgh. Interestingly enough I cannot think of any all-indoor chimpanzee or bonobo exhibits.
 
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