Toronto Zoo Former Toronto Zoo Animals

AJ the TZ Guy said:
TZFan, did I read that right, the snowy owl and bamboo shark are gone? :c Also, wow, there's a lot of animals in that list that I had no idea the zoo ever had--guess I have a few to move from my wishlist to my list of hopeful future returning species!

Also, I didn't see the lionfish on my visit this month, its home was replaced by a smaller tank full of baby jellyfish. Is the lionfish gone now too?
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So that just reminded me, I remembered somebody had posted a photo of Fin the Brown banded Bamboo Shark recently, and I was surprised since even I hadn't seen him all summer, despite keeping an eye out. I found the post and the photo was dated September 4, 2021, so odds are good he's still there now.

Neat to hear they've repurposed that old lionfish tank for young medusae, I never liked it much with the lionfish in before. I always thought it was too small, even if it was supposed to be a grow-out tank for it. Happy to see it in the bigger tank now, but I think the real question is what happened to the snowflake eel that lived under the rockwork in the tank before? For a while before that tank was boarded up, they had been trying to train the eel to come out for food so that some people might at least get a decent chance at seeing it. It was a pretty small eel, so I'm not sure they would've moved it to the large tank along with the lionfish. I don't think they have very many hiding places for it in there either.

Reminds me, the lionfish I believe is named Pinocchio and the eel Olaf.
 
@Kalvin you are a gem! We can add Bamboo sharks back to the species at the zoo then. Possibly Fin passed and they now have a replacement. Unless someone chats with a keeper my guess is we will never know. Long live Fin or Fin II!!!

What's a medusae? I tried googling it but google keeps telling me about the Greek monster Medusa.

I dont know anything about the eel. Honestly I kinda rush through that part of the pavilion on my way to be with the roos.

Thank you Kalvin for more names!!! If you know anymore please feel free to add them to the names thread and Ill add them to the master list which I try to post at least once a year with updates. You seem to know some names for smaller animals we don't have on the list yet. I already added these ones to my copy so they will be on next years update.
 
Medusae is just the plural of medusa which is basically the adult life stage of the jellyfish or what we would look at and consider a jelly, their younger life stages aren't as recognizable as jellies.
 
The shark wasn't in the tank when I was there, maybe he was just taken out for the day for some reason or another. Good to know he's still there though! And wait, there was an eel in there with the lionfish in its former tank? How did I always miss that?
 
Well now we have proof that Toronto was NEVER the right fit for tree kangaroo Nopoko. She spent years here with Harrington and Collins and hated being on exhibit so much they could never get her comfortable enough to let the very interested boys to breed. Yet she moves to Kansas and is with Colling brother Gru and bam joey. Her little girl is named Poppy.

 
Damn, so that indicates 1 of 2 things from what I can gather.

1. She was never comfortable enough on or off exhibit to initiate breeding

or

2. it's a male issue. I believe Harrington was a successful breeder in the past, by what about Collins?
 
I strongly think its option one. I actually thought she was just an unsocial animal but clearly in the right environment the mood can strike. Plus she is comfortable and out on display with her joey. If we got one we would have been lucky to ever see it she spent so much of her life in holdings here.

Harrington was indeed a successful breeder. He had son Noru with Chrissie at the zoo. While he was getting on in years he was very interested in Nokopo but she would never let him breed. Collins was brought in to change things up plus Harrington developed arthritis so they werent sure he could perform if Nokopo ever got settled. Collins is Noru's son. Noru and his mate Milla were two of the most successful tree kangaroos in North America. They even produced the first ever recorded tree kangaroo twins! So great breeding genetics for Collins. I know never a guarantee but promise. Collins was also very interested and she was rarely comfortable enough for them to be out together so I think his chances to woo her were limited. I really think if Collins had lived he would have hit it off with Puzzle. He was a very friendly roo and she is as well. I bet we would have at least 2 joeys by now. He died just before introductions were to start. Even if it could have held off a month we might have got one joey. Oh what could have been.
 
I'm inclined to think it's option 1 as well. They exhibit left little for safe spots if they wanted to distance themselves from the public. Plus despite temporary signage, people usually entered the pavilion with kids screaming their heads off, so it's not surprising.
 
Well it kinda is surprising. Nokopo was there for years and never adjusted. All of the other roos have done just fine. It was a her thing. Not everyone is the same. We just werent the right fit for her and thankfully for the population she is in a spot that does work for her. Hopefully Puzzle can be as fortunate.
 
It's a real shame she couldn't produce a joey here in Toronto, but it is what it is. Just gotta keep trying and move forward with what we do have.
 
We can look at the bright side I got to see the joeys of the 90's with Emma so Ill take that as a win. Just like its a shame the wombats aren't producing joeys but I did get to see Matliba's grandmother as a joey!
 
Toronto born pygmy hippo, Pogo, has been transferred from Zoo Tampa to Lincoln Park where he will get a new mate. Pogo is the son of the zoo's first male Psi and his second mate Cleopatra. He was also that last successful birth at the zoo until Penny. He has 2 grown daughters and a grown granddaughter (who as an extremely rare twin birth). His genetics are pretty valuable. He is Psi's only offspring still in North America and alive and Cleopatra only has Pogo, and baby brother Ptolemy who is just year old. Hopefully we will hear news in the next year about a successful birth!
 
Sad news from Riverbanks Zoo, Amur tiger Vitali has passed. He resided at the zoo after his grandfather Tonghua passed and left when the pandas came. He was with us roughly a year or two? Something like that. He is also Vasili's uncle and little Mila's great uncle. He passed without cubs which actually might be a good thing for Vasili and Mila's value. One less link in the chain.

Riverbanks Zoo mourning death of resident tiger, Vitali | WCBD News 2
 
Michael/Shomari has done it again and helped the Masai Giraffe population, he sired another boy with mother Adia. Great to see the Toronto Masai Giraffe line continuing on.
 
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