Dallas Zoo Dallas Zoo News 2009

Just found out the date for the opening of Ghosts from the Bayou. April 18. The White alligators are in already and are being housed in the crocodile barn. There will be 3 white and 2 normal. 2 of the white will be in a smaller space since they are juveniles. It is the same area that housed our Chinese Alligator. Eventually when they are big enough they should be moved to the big tank with the others. At least that's what the zoo director told me last week, things could change though.
 
With the 3 black rhinos one Niki is very old, and nearing the end of his life. Some though were thrown around to retire him to a ranch, but now they don't know if he would survive the transfer. His two sons, Indy and Moyo, are not currently breeders. The SSP has recommended the Dallas Zoo as a holding facility for hard to place rhinos. So they are display only. They will not be moving to the new Savannah as was originally planned, rather a much larger elephant habitat was opted for. I have heard some rumors that one of the Wilds of Africa habitats might be converted into an area for White Rhinos, but that won't happen until after the Savannah is done.
 
Here's an article about the new Savannah exhibit.

Dallas Zoo's African Savanna to be home to lions, others | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Breaking News for Dallas-Fort Worth | Dallas Morning News

I must say - they are really egotistic about their exhibit. It sounds like a great exhibit (as long as they can pull it off) but to say it will be on par with San Diego Zoo or they will become a leader in elephant management is just a little to arrogant to say. Considering they have a "rough" history with elephants, having a world class exhibit doesn't make you a leader in management. I'm not questioning their husbandry techniques but it seems like they don't have a lot of experience with large herds or males.
 
The most amazing thing about the article is that it says there could be up to 10 giraffes and 40 impala at the zoo. Those are huge numbers!:)
 
 
I know but I don't consider the zoo an excellent elephant manager. I think the best US zoos that manage elephants successfully are SDWAP, DAK, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and St. Louis.
 
I was a bit shocked at the article myself about the 30-40 impala. It makes sense though since we just acquired some and are up to 1.10.

I don't think the zoo has ever kept male elephants and if they have it would have only been juveniles. I have done a lot of archiving of old daily reports and there was never a mention of male elephants. Fascinating job though going back through those reports.
 
My records indicate that the only male Dallas ever had was a juvenile Male Asian that was there for under a year. And if I'm correct you have never had a herd of the same species larger than two individuals. Jumping from a group of two to five or six will a stressful change in management. What is the target group size and I'm assuming you will acquire a male and begin breeding?

This might be the wrong zoo but didn't someone say another female is coming in in under a month?
 
ColumbusZoo001 said:
I know but I don't consider the zoo an excellent elephant manager. I think the best US zoos that manage elephants successfully are SDWAP, DAK, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and St. Louis.
Click to expand...

I wasn't referring to the zoo (although I believe the quote from the original article was), I was referring to the WAP. Before the Swazi elephants, they had more than their fair share of problems. It just goes to show how well, given the proper facilities and management techniques, a zoo can improve and become successful with elephants. (it doesn't hurt to be able to import a young herd of wild-born elephants either ;) )
 
I agree. We are being limited in our thinking that an institution is only its history.
An organization can plan for change (they may neglect to, but it is often done by companies.)
In fact, their history can make them much more open to seeing their weaknesses than if they thought they knew it all.
A zoo can bring in experts to add training to staff. They can hire experienced people from other zoos.
Dallas has done both.
They are gearing up for this challenge they have set themselves.

It would be foolish, with only the experience of the present tiny yard, for a zoo to take on an exhibit and a herd this size without preparation.
 
I think that the targer size is 1.3 or 1.4. Dallas has only ever had a maximum of 2 elephants. There is just no room for anymore. If you think todays exhibit is depressing, try imagining it half that size. That was the original design. The elephants had half that yard and rhinos (black I think) had the other half. It really depresses me to think how crowded the large mammal building was (2 elephnats, 2 rhinos, 6 giraffes, 2 pygmy hippos, and 2 river hippos).

I still keep hearing that a new elephant will be here soon, but I haven't heard an exact date. The new quarantine barn is nearly done. It is larger than what Jenny currently has!
 
I honestly don't know if that has even been finalized yet. Its kind of a weird construction project, it is still being designed while construction is going on. If I find out any details, I will post them.
 
From the preliminary plans of the new barn I've seen, 6 isn't out of the question as it will have 6 stalls. So we very well might have 6 elephants on our hands.
 
No, I was saying that's a very low maximum capacity. Most of the elephant renovations will be able to house 6 - 10 elephants, with 10 or 12 being the maximum.
 
Yes from what I can ascertain. It would be wise for them to acquire their 1.3 elephants and keep it around that number. If the maximum capacity is six then if breeding occurred they would be at capacity very quickly when they had babies.
 
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