San Diego Zoo Elephant Odyssey opens May 23

The website actually makes it seem that the bison, horse, and camel concept has been dropped completely. It only lists pronghorn on that side, and mentions something about a sort of pronghorn encounter? Anyone have any idea what that's about?
A specially designed corral lets you see these fleet-footed and hardy survivors and also allows keepers to invite smaller groups in closer for a unique and more personal experience and a chance to talk with the staff. On occasion, the animals might even come out and visit with you along the pathway.
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Aren't pronghorn kind of flighty?

Yeah, the mammoth statues look OK, but the cats are just awful.

@snowleopard - The middle exhibit is built on the roof of the nighthouse and is sort of off-exhibit space for the cats (both?) but it is visible from the bus tour.
 
I noticed in the article photo and also in a video on the zoo website that they cut off the ends of Ranchipur's tusks. Too bad - they were truly magnificent when they reached the ground. (Maybe they'll grow back).
 
Is there a particular reason why the zoo is retaining one African elephant? Is it too old to be reintegrated into the WAP's herd?
 
Why would they integrate Tembo into the African herd when she is perfectly comfortable with her herd mates Devi and Smitty? Wouldn't that be a little cruel to take her away from them. Plus she could carry the EEVH virus and pass it on to the African herd which would be bad. Why does everyone make such a big deal about Tembo living with Asian elephants? The Elephant Odyssey Ambassador wrote a blog about her being with Asians about a month ago. You can find it on the SDZ website.
 
BlackRhino said:
Why would they integrate Tembo into the African herd when she is perfectly comfortable with her herd mates Devi and Smitty? Wouldn't that be a little cruel to take her away from them. Plus she could carry the EEVH virus and pass it on to the African herd which would be bad. Why does everyone make such a big deal about Tembo living with Asian elephants? The Elephant Odyssey Ambassador wrote a blog about her being with Asians about a month ago. You can find it on the SDZ website.
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Who is making a big deal about it?

I only enquired, because I read snowleopard's link and it mentioned the 2 Asians/1 African, which struck me as odd.

I don't know anything about SD's elephants which is why I was asking if she too old to be taken away from her current companions and to be put under the stress of a new introduction. If she was a breeding aged elephant, there would be a case of introducing her to the African herd.

Regarding the herpes, I did ask if their was any reason she was being retained at the zoo.

So, in the hope of gaining a proper response, is the zoo's African Elephant an elderly female?
 
She is 38 years old, and the zoo considers her to be middle-aged according to Tembo's profile on the SDZ website. She has been with Devi and Smitty (the two Asians) for two decades. This trio of girls will be introduced to the four aging Asian elephants coming down from the WAP. This will not be a breeding herd, as all the females are relatively old, the youngest being 31 and the oldest being 54.
 
So is the zoo going to have regular Pronghorns or Peninsular Pronghorns? Also, in the article it mentions that 30 species will be exhibited in the EO, does anybody know all of the species that will be exhibited?
 
The latest ZooNooz, which is devoted to the new exhibit, states 34 species will inhabit the exhibit. Here is a tentative species list, in order of appearance in the exhibit:

Two-toed sloth
Asian elephant
African elephant
Jaguar
Lion
Baird's tapir
Guanaco
Capybara
Secretary bird
North American dung beetle
"Other insects"; from the website "diving beetles and water bugs"
"Rattlesnakes, fence lizards, pond turtles, and chorus frogs"; the site also mentions skinks, but no reference to exact species
Pronghorn
Camel
Horses (Przewalski's?)
California condor

There are eleven species of mammal and two birds, which leaves 21 species of insects and herptiles to fill out the list. Unless they are counting "encounters" with the statues of extinct animals in the total.
 
Do now some asian elephants remain at the WAP ? What are the plans for that species, maybe to create a new breeding gruopu of aisan elephants at the WAP ?

What happend to the massai giraffes of the Zoo, and what are the plans for the old elephant,tapir and lion enclosures ?
 
Ungulate said:
The latest ZooNooz, which is devoted to the new exhibit, states 34 species will inhabit the exhibit. Here is a tentative species list, in order of appearance in the exhibit:

Two-toed sloth
Asian elephant
African elephant
Jaguar
Lion
Baird's tapir
Guanaco
Capybara
Secretary bird
North American dung beetle
"Other insects"; from the website "diving beetles and water bugs"
"Rattlesnakes, fence lizards, pond turtles, and chorus frogs"; the site also mentions skinks, but no reference to exact species
Pronghorn
Camel
Horses (Przewalski's?)
California condor

There are eleven species of mammal and two birds, which leaves 21 species of insects and herptiles to fill out the list. Unless they are counting "encounters" with the statues of extinct animals in the total.
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Mentions of horses have been suspiciously missing from all of the latest information. Even camel info is sparse and seems a little like they will walk an education camel through the area once in a while. I think bison have definitely been dropped from the looks of things.
 
Zebraduiker said:
Do now some asian elephants remain at the WAP ? What are the plans for that species, maybe to create a new breeding gruopu of aisan elephants at the WAP ?

What happend to the massai giraffes of the Zoo, and what are the plans for the old elephant,tapir and lion enclosures ?
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There are no immediate plans for establishing a new group of Asian elephants (at least none they'd dare make public)

The old Elephant Mesa is being converted to an African savannah with giraffes (who already live on Elephant Mesa now), white rhinos, antelope, birds, crocodiles and baboons (or patas).
 
The Asian Elephant exhibit at the WAP is being combined with the African one to create a 6 acre African Elephant habitat. They will need the space as they have a herd of 12 African Elephants with more on the way.

The lions moving to Elephant Odyssey, I believe are lions from the WAP. The lions that inhabit bear canyon (Mweezi and Tango) will remain there as they are too old to move. I am not 100% positive on the lions, but pretty sure.
 
Thanks for the infos, guys. It makes really sense to give the african elephants at WAP more room, but to keep white rhinos at the Zoo, I don't know.

Does anybody knows, if the elephants at Elephant odysee can use the outside exhibit at night also, as they have done it in their old exhibit ?
 
It makes sense to me to house surplus male southern white's at the zoo. A major upside is they can be part of a mixed species exhibit. There isn't room enough to have a breeding group of any species, and why bother when there are three species breeding at the park.
 
I would imagine in Elephant Odyssey the elephants will be given access to the 2.6 acre habitat at night. The barn is open-air, and plus at the Wild Animal Park they were given access to the outdoor exhibit at night.
 
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