Cheetah Conservation Station Renovation

[StoppableSan]

I'm not entirely sure where this thread's proper home would be, but here goes. The main reason I'm making a separate topic from the Smithsonian National Zoo News thread is because I don't want to fall into the trap of speculating in a news thread. The short of it is, National Zoo will renovate the Cheetah Conservation Station area, which is where the zoo's African collection predominantly resides. I'm personally curious what a "better diversity in birds and hoofstock" would entail; I'd imagine stuff like secretary birds and helmeted guineafowl would make sense along with the requisite ostrich, vultures and ground hornbill. I'm also curious about what hoofstock could be added alongside the existing collection - if I remember correctly, the site is big enough for larger species like addax, scimitar-horned oryx, sitatunga and Grevy's zebra - but would it be out of the question to expect stuff like bongo or even okapi? Maybe some more gazelle species or bringing back scimitar-horned oryx...

Ramble over, I'm hoping whatever they do, it's gonna be good. (And idiot-proofed in a more clever way, that mesh barrier in front of the cheetahs is pretty clunky.)

 

[Andrew_NZP]

I'm personally curious what a "better diversity in birds and hoofstock" would entail;

Okay I feel like I should mention that this comment came from one keeper I talked to and I don't really know if they meant that in the sense that that's the plan for the area, or if that's what they were personally hoping for. Like another keeper during a different chat was asked if any of the individual animals would be returning and they seemed to not really know what was happening in terms of animals being brought back/acquired. The first keeper did however mention during their talk that their had been discussions (so not just their personal wish) about the zoo switching to housing female Grevy's zebra instead of males so they could house multiple.