Toronto Zoo Former Toronto Zoo Animals

I remember when I used to visit the zoo, I would see these cages/barriers in the Canadian Domain, near the grizzly bear and moose exhibit. The cages looked similar to the ones surrounding the artic wolves exhibit. I have sometimes wondered if its a gray wolf exhibit inside the cage, which puts me to my questions:

Were gray wolves ever put on display?
What was the purpose of the cages/barriers?
 
I think the exhibit you might be thinking of is the old arctic wolf exhibit, for a while they held the current pack minus the recent pups in the last few years. The exhibit was used to hold the younger breeding one until the old one in Tundra Trek past. It was most recently used for Todd until his great escape.
 
ProjectGames said:
I remember when I used to visit the zoo, I would see these cages/barriers in the Canadian Domain, near the grizzly bear and moose exhibit. The cages looked similar to the ones surrounding the artic wolves exhibit. I have sometimes wondered if its a gray wolf exhibit inside the cage, which puts me to my questions:

Were gray wolves ever put on display?
What was the purpose of the cages/barriers?
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I've seen old photos of grey wolves that used to be at the zoo around the time it opened, they may indeed have been there at one point. They also used to have coyotes on display long ago, so it may have housed them too.
 
The zoo might have had grey wolves. Very possible and likely. They could have been down there til the original Arctic wolf pack arrived. They did have coyotes but not a clue where they were housed. Maybe the lynx exhibit or the raccoon exhibit (remember when the zoo opened big exhibits werent the norm.
 
I can agree with that, but I just don't really understand why the zoo won't tear down the old exhibit. Maybe it will just stay there for some future purposes. But in my opinion, I think they should bring the grey wolves back, because I'd love to see the grey wolves back in the zoo!
 
They wont reuse the exhibit because they are closing down the domain. No point in bringing back grey wolves even if they werent since the zoo already has arctic wolves.
 
Still, I think the abandoned exhibit is the old arctic wolf exhibit. I've seen maps in the past before, and the wolf exhibit is right next to the wood bison exhibit. I don't know if the wood bison has ever moved before, but I'm sure the arctic wolves were put in the old exhibit before.
 
Oh that exhibit is 100% the old arctic wolf exhibit. I dont know if anyone else lived in there prior to the wolves. Since then I know male lynx Ryan chilled in there while his mates were rearing kittens. And then they put red fox Todd in before his great escape. It has spent plenty of time empty since the move of the current pack up to Tundra Trek too.
 
Shomari/Michael the Masai giraffe is a grandfather again. His daughter Sunshine gave birth to a female calf at the Phoenix Zoo on February 7.
 
Elena said:
Shomari/Michael the Masai giraffe is a grandfather again. His daughter Sunshine gave birth to a female calf at the Phoenix Zoo on February 7.
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Amazing for the population, just really astounding as well that Shomari/Michael seems to still be number 1 in the SSP even though he's been so prolific and has had grand calves now.
 
Akula said:
Amazing for the population, just really astounding as well that Shomari/Michael seems to still be number 1 in the SSP even though he's been so prolific and has had grand calves now.
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Definitely! I visited him yesterday in Santa Barbara and he was already checking to see if the mother of his most recent calf (born on January 19) was ready to breed again.
 
Elena said:
Definitely! I visited him yesterday in Santa Barbara and he was already checking to see if the mother of his most recent calf (born on January 19) was ready to breed again.
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Wow! Michael is quite the male then... Great to know that he has a harem of 2 females as well. In Toronto it's Just Kiko and Mstari even though the enclosure has the space to hold at least 3 breeding females and a bull plus calves. The Barn in Toronto is pretty big Too, its not as nice or as new as the Santa Barbara one though. As well the Santa Barbara Zoo has a beautiful Enclosure as I think the body of water it backs onto is the Pacific ocean, so we know Michael will enjoy his view always.
 
Akula said:
Wow! Michael is quite the male then... Great to know that he has a harem of 2 females as well. In Toronto it's Just Kiko and Mstari even though the enclosure has the space to hold at least 3 breeding females and a bull plus calves. The Barn in Toronto is pretty big Too, its not as nice or as new as the Santa Barbara one though. As well the Santa Barbara Zoo has a beautiful Enclosure as I think the body of water it backs onto is the Pacific ocean, so we know Michael will enjoy his view always.
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Yes, Michael has a view of the Pacific Ocean and the beach from his enclosure plus some curious neighbors as the African lion enclosure is next to the giraffe exhibit and the lions seem to enjoy watching them. The zoo train, when it's running, also passes by the giraffe exhibit. Michael's next offspring is due to arrive in July.
 
This is Jahe, a 4 year old former orangutan at the Metro Zoo.
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Anyone here miss the old days?
 

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Jomo, a former Western Lowland gorilla at the Toronto Zoo, died at the Cincinnati Zoo. He was 30 and was a father to 4. He was also the son of longtime Toronto residents Charles and the late Josephine.

RIP Jomo 1991-2022
 
Aww it looked like he was such a great gorilla legend reading the tribute. The Toronto Zoo would probably be crushed learning about his death. He would certainly be remembered for both the Cincinnati and the Toronto community.

I was just scrolling through the twitter when I learned about this. RIP Jomo, this was an unexpected turn, but at the same time, not really surprising news as he was battling through a condition.
 
I've found a great source of photo archives that can help you to find some past Toronto Zoo images and former animals.
Digital Archive : Toronto Public Library
Once you've entered the link, you can search for many different items. So if you're interested in finding a former animal, just type in the animal's name and it could possibly show you the result. Thanks to this source, I was able to find past gorillas and orangutans. Sadly I wasn't able to find Kartiko the orangutan, but this source is helpful for finding images in the past.
 
@ProjectGames, it is a great resource. It's been shared on here several times in the past but always good to repost it every now and then so newer members can take that stroll down memory lane.
 
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