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Denver still has a pretty cold climate and the winter temperature can dip to below minus 20 degrees Celsius.

Climate in Denver, Colorado

The outdoor complexes look good in the Asian Tropics, but indoor quarters do not seem that exemplary to me considering how long the elephants will be confined to these complexes.

AEC - The Denver Zoo Asian Tropics Exhibit



The Denver Zoo should be applauded for their attempt at LEED silver certification for the Asian Tropics. More Zoo exhibits should set similiar aims.
 
Denver can certainly get cold in the winter, and the rhinos, tapirs and elephants will undoubtedly spend a good chunk of the time locked in their massive barn. It's kind of a misnomer to have something called "Asian Tropics" in the mile-high city, but as long as this $40 million set of exhibits is as good as 2004's "Predator Ridge" then the animals should be alright. Anything is better than the sterile paddocks that are currently all around the zoo.

The Denver Zoo has a lot of potential, and it already has an enormous animal collection. The attendance figures are huge, the money that's been invested over the past decade has been massive, and after "Asian Tropics" there is another big-budget set of exhibits due to be built. An Asian Temperate Forest with siberian tigers, pallas cats, etc will be built and probably will be ready to open by 2012. The zoo is really transforming itself into a top-notch establishment.
 
Some recent births at the zoo have been from rare species:

1- Twins for the golden lion tamarins.
2- Another calf for the eastern bongos. Beautiful and rare subspecies of this antelope, and the 5th calf born to the same mother at the Denver Zoo.
 
I just found out recently that Denver Zoo is one of the largest holders of giant elephant shrews in the zoo world. Since i didn't even knew up to very recently that these animals existed, i find them very intruiging (and rather cool...). Does anyone know where they came from, and how many other zoo's in the USA hold them, they seem like a very nice exhibit animal to me. Online are some video's showing them actively scurryin around their exhibit, they look great...
 
snowleopard said:
Denver can certainly get cold in the winter, and the rhinos, tapirs and elephants will undoubtedly spend a good chunk of the time locked in their massive barn. It's kind of a misnomer to have something called "Asian Tropics" in the mile-high city, but as long as this $40 million set of exhibits is as good as 2004's "Predator Ridge" then the animals should be alright. Anything is better than the sterile paddocks that are currently all around the zoo.

The Denver Zoo has a lot of potential, and it already has an enormous animal collection. The attendance figures are huge, the money that's been invested over the past decade has been massive, and after "Asian Tropics" there is another big-budget set of exhibits due to be built. An Asian Temperate Forest with siberian tigers, pallas cats, etc will be built and probably will be ready to open by 2012. The zoo is really transforming itself into a top-notch establishment.
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Who knows what the future will bring for the Denver Zoo. They recently (last fall) lost their Director of over 35 years. While the new President has been there for awhile,and is a very capable fellow, it is a new day there.
 
@jwer: giant elephant shrews at the Denver Zoo were a highlight for me on my visit there in 2006. I'd heard of them before but had never actually seen one, and you're absolutely right about their level of activity. They never stop moving and make for an excellent animal species to shock the public.

@zooplantman: thanks for the information in regards to a new Director/President at the zoo. With next year's "Asian Tropics" bringing in lots of press, it will be interesting to see if the "Asian Temperate Forest" will now be affected by the change in leadership. I know that the Denver Zoo has super high attendance figures, and so they should have a healthy financial base for years to come.
 
jwer said:
I just found out recently that Denver Zoo is one of the largest holders of giant elephant shrews in the zoo world. Since i didn't even knew up to very recently that these animals existed, i find them very intruiging (and rather cool...). Does anyone know where they came from, and how many other zoo's in the USA hold them, they seem like a very nice exhibit animal to me. Online are some video's showing them actively scurryin around their exhibit, they look great...
Click to expand...

Giant elephant shrews are awesome! The Cincinnati and Philadelphia zoos imported them in 2000. Now they can also be found in Denver; Peoria, IL; Houston; Louisville, KY; Washington, DC; and San Antonio, TX. How many does Denver have now? I knew that they had 1.2 in January 2007.
 
snowleopard said:
New habitat is shipshape for Denver Zoo's polar bears : Updates : The Rocky Mountain News

If there is no money for increasing the size of a polar bear exhibit, then just construct a ship and toss it in for the bears!
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I have long suspected that the problem with polar bear exhibits was not simply insufficient acreage for wandering, but rather a reason to get up at all. If there's no stimulous, I wonder if square footage matters.

The article suggests that this addition is essentially a behavioral enrichment device. IF that is true and IF that keeps the animals active and engaged, then this is actually a great break through in polar bear exhibit design. If if if if...

Or else, as snowleopard kind of suggests, its just a big goldfish-bowl-prop
 
Not only could it create vertical space for the bears, but provide places for keepers to hide food/enrichment items. I know as a zookeeper, it can be hard to continously find new and clever spaces to hide food items. Every zoo needs to continously renovate enclosures of stimulous-needy species to keep them active. For some species, the exhibit becomes worn out and need renovation within 6 months to a year. At a zoo I used to work at, all props in bird/primate enclosures were replaced at least every 2-3 years and the reptile units were always renovated every 6 months.
 
Thats true, most polar bears have nothing to do. They get even little food enrichment, because food is used to shut them in the evening. They manipulate toys more than most animals, but are seriously interested only in activities with food in it.

I hope it will work. I would ask if subordinate bears can use the toy. If not - give several enrichment devices in several places. Many polar bears are stressed by dominant bears.

Of course, ideal polar bear exhibit would let them hunt large animal every few days. To replicate, throw in animal rights activist each week. ;)
 
awesome...because them and the "bunny-hugging" public are the only things (and possible animal health issues) keeping zoos from feeding live food/carcasses. Though some feed carcasses when the zoo is closed.
 
It is intriguing that even though Colorado's Denver Zoo has an extremely cold climate in winters, they still maintain a magnificent primate collection. The book "America's Best Zoos" ranks this zoo as #2 in the nation for primates, as there are 29 different species of monkeys, apes and lemurs in the "Primate Panorama" set of exhibits.

The same book ranks the Denver Zoo in the top ten American zoos in 8 out of the 20 selected categories that they offer. (Best zoos for birds, bears, primates, hoofed animals, etc). This zoo will be ranked even higher once "Asian Tropics" opens.
 
It looks good and the terrain its on adds to its spice (if I remember), will this zoo be part of your travels..?
 
@NZ Jeremy: I visited the Denver Zoo in 2006, but on this summer's road trip I will not be going back there. I would love to visit in a year or two, after the 10-acre, rotating exhibits of "Asian Tropics" opens to the public. It's just that the city of Denver in Colorado is similarly located to the city of Omaha in Nebraska, as both the Denver Zoo and the Henry Doorly Zoo are inland and awkward to visit. Most tourists go up and down the west coast of the U.S. and don't drive across the middle of the country, so I'm not sure when (if ever) I'll be back at the Denver Zoo.
 
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