Como Park Zoo and Conservatory Como Park Zoo News

After being closed since late November due to COVID restrictions, Como Zoo and Conservatory will reopen on 1/11. Reservations will be required to make sure that there are fewer than 150 guests at any time. [Source aside from the Como Zoo website. Map of the one-way path here]

Note, the article also mentions that the MN Zoo will be reopening on 1/14. However, the zoo's webpage did not mention the reopening and I have not found any announcement on the MN Zoo's press room or Facebook page about this.
 
Some updates from yesterday’s visit.

.Como harbor, the new seal/sea lion exhibit, is completed, and will probably open within the next few months.
.Phase one of the aquatics renovation is almost complete, all there is left is to finish up the octopus enclosure, & put the animals in.
.I was also finally able to see some of the rarer bird species in tropical encounters.
 
The outdoor Como Harbor exhibits were occupied but not open for direct viewing when I visited recently. The large amphitheater exhibit had California Sea Lion and the smaller outdoor exhibit had Harbor Seal. The indoor pinniped exhibit had Gray Seal, which is a new species for the zoo. The zoo website mentions the Gray Seal news:
Meet Stanley and Wallace - Como Friends
 
Something a little different... the zoo will be home to a theatrical performance Sept 17-26, at 6:30pm each day. Admission is free but reservations are required.

ANIMATE, is a fictional, eight-scene moving theatrical experience performed on the Como Zoo grounds that repeatedly asks the question: “Does the good of the many supersede the good of the individual?” In an extravaganza that begins with a helicopter landing and ends with a sea lion jumping, audiences travel in small groups throughout the mythical Jackson Kennicott Zoo - to the primate house, the giraffe grotto, the big cat building, polar bears, the tropics, and culminate at the seal and sea lion habitat- to witness the Twin Cities greatest actors explore race and philanthropy through a lens of species preservation and conservation. The host of characters includes primatologists, zoo directors and curators and keepers, elected officials, activists, and more.

Wealthy philanthropist Preston Davis has made a $40 million gift to the Jackson Kennicott Zoo to launch an exhibit that will bring a species back from extinction while attracting thousands of zoo goers and leveraging many millions more for this urban zoo, its city’s schools, its region’s residents, and its area’s businesses. Questionable language from this humanitarian casts doubt on the moral decision to accept the donation, despite its ripple effect of financial benefit and species survival.

Ethical conundrums abound. A decision must be made about an aged giraffe that can go to an unaccredited wildlife preserve, can live out its life at Jackson Kennicott, can be euthanized, or can go to a small accredited zoo whose last giraffe died young. A decision must be made about a pair of gorillas that love one another, but do not breed. Should they happily stay together or should the valuable gene pool contribute to the international species survival plan for these apes? And should millions of public dollars be spent to bring an extinct species from the other side of the planet back from extinction while people are homeless and hungry within blocks of the zoo?

ANIMATE is written by long time Mixed Blood collaborator Ken LaZebnik (author of 2019’s AUTONOMY) after he and Artistic Director Jack Reuler spent a year listening to zoo advocates and detractors. ANIMATE champions zoos as invaluable resources to their regions and the world as bastions of species preservation, conservation, and education.
Click to expand...
 
(1.0?) Blue-Eyed Black Lemur named Murphy was transferred from the Akron Zoo in the Fall, joining the zoo’s resident female pair.
 
Here are some updates from today's visit

. The awful Rainbow Boa & Chilean Rose-Haired Tarantula Terrariums have both been removed and replaced with much more suitable homes for both species.

. The Green Anaconda is off-exhibit due to maintenance.

. Wolf Woods has been split into two separate enclosures for an unknown reason.

. African Cichlids have been removed from the West African Lungfish tank.

. The RibbitZibbit has finally re-opened, with little to no changes from what it looked like two years ago.

. The plans for phase two of the Aquatics Building renovation have changed. instead off tanks for Sharks & Rays, there will be tanks for Seahorses & other unspecified marine life. The Mudskippers have been replaced with a Mangrove Tank.

. there is a new temporary exhibit at the entrance of the Conservatory and across from the RibbitZibbit feturing taxidermy specimens of the North American Wolf species (plus Coyote).
 
Marine mammal shows are resuming in May:

Popular Sparky show to resume at Como Zoo | kare11.com

Beginning May 7, the zoo's team of popular marine mammals will perform two shows daily, one at 11:30 a.m. and the second at 2:30 p.m., at the new $21 million Como Harbor, which opened in June of 2021.

Como had its last Sparky show in 2017: Three years were spent building Como Harbor, and last year performances didn't resume due to the COVID pandemic.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top