Franklin Park Zoo Franklin Park Zoo News 2015

A young, 1.0 African Crested Porcupine has joined the girls at Serengeti Crossing.

When was it added? I was there this past weekend and there were only two in the exhibit that I could see, however the door to the indoor area that they have was closed and I heard scraping noises inside. Could that have been the new animal or was it just the keeper working in there?
 
It was probably a keeper, and the porcupine was probably in quarantine at the zoo hospital near the flight cage.
 
Not sure. He is much smaller than the girls. May have an extended "howdy" period to get used to them and grow some more so he doesn't get picked on. It took Wilbur, Charlotte and Bitsy the RRH to get accustomed to their fine Bongo friends. Now they couldn't care less and do their hog thang. Surprised you missed the Tapir. Dad is usually inside the TF while mum and daughter are in the yard parallel to Hyena boys. Have you seen the Kiwi? One hides a lot that's why the cctv is set up in the hide. The other is a spaz and hand-reared. One of the most active "chickens" I have ever seen.
 
Not sure. He is much smaller than the girls. May have an extended "howdy" period to get used to them and grow some more so he doesn't get picked on. It took Wilbur, Charlotte and Bitsy the RRH to get accustomed to their fine Bongo friends. Now they couldn't care less and do their hog thang. Surprised you missed the Tapir. Dad is usually inside the TF while mum and daughter are in the yard parallel to Hyena boys. Have you seen the Kiwi? One hides a lot that's why the cctv is set up in the hide. The other is a spaz and hand-reared. One of the most active "chickens" I have ever seen.

I've seen the Kiwi. Not well obviously, given how dark it is in the exhibit, but it has walked past me. Alas my last visit was mainly focused on the Gorilla's.

Speaking of primates, am I the only Potto fan here? I had never heard of the species before I entered the TF for the first time, but now I rather like the species.

Also, what happened to the other Saddle Billed Stork? Does anyone know?
 
Speaking of primates, am I the only Potto fan here? I had never heard of the species before I entered the TF for the first time, but now I rather like the species.

I would love to see a potto. That is a special animal that Franklin Park Zoo has. I think it may be the only zoo that still has them in the U.S., and I trust that someone will tell me if I'm wrong.
 
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I would love to see a potto. That is a special animal that Franklin Park Zoo has. I think it may be the only zoo that still has them in the U.S., and I trust that someone will tell me if I'm wrong.

FPZ, Cincy, Milwaukee, Cleveland and Omaha have Potto.
 
I've seen the Kiwi. Not well obviously, given how dark it is in the exhibit, but it has walked past me. Alas my last visit was mainly focused on the Gorilla's.

Speaking of primates, am I the only Potto fan here? I had never heard of the species before I entered the TF for the first time, but now I rather like the species.

Also, what happened to the other Saddle Billed Stork? Does anyone know?

Kambiri is my favorite to watch. She climbs up the tree or rocks and throws whatever she has at the boys. She bopped Okie with half a watermelon. He was not pleased. Ha ha.

Potto are fun. There are two pairs? One on and the other off-show. People usually pass by them or miss them completely due to Slither Inn.

The female was in her mid thirties. She may have passed? The male is young. Believe he is nine or ten.
 
I love watching Kambiri and Kimani play together, it is so fun to watch. They chase each other around the roots of the trees.
 
I know this message is out of place with FPZ being such a small zoo, but I am going on saturday so if anyone has anything they want me to ask, let me know.
 
I went to the zoo today. I went around the whole zoo twice. Here is a recount of everything that happened. It mostly just includes lots of small news so if thats not your thing then you should read it:

ROUND 1:

I was the first person there. I got there at around 10ish.

The warthogs and crested porcupines were not out.

Childrens Zoo is closed, and natures neighborhoods is officially "under construction" but there are no construction vehicles anywhere to be seen, or any progress made at all.

I immediately rushed to the tigers and Dinari and Kamaia to see them while they are active before they nap in the afternoon. They roared a little bit, so that means they are starting to get more comfortable. Theres also a plaque that honors christopher who died.

The RRH aren't out but the bongos are.

Gulliver is standing (He has a leg problem so he is almost always sitting).

There is a bulldozer in between Camel and Bongo on the side of the road opposite of camel. The bulldozer was right next to a big branch. I don't know why.

I then went to the TF. I passed two zookeepers talking next to the mandrill exhibit about how they wish the capybara had a better personality, since the one at the zoo is really scared about other people/animals and doesn't like keepers to be in with it. The keepers were fantasizing about having a family of capybaras in the future.

Surprisingly, all the TF animals were very active. Cleo the pygmy hippo was on exhibit, and she usually is always sleeping but today she wasn't. I watched her for 15 minutes and then she fell asleep. This was the first time that I had ever seen her awake. She was eating a lot. I also saw the capybara being active and eating too. the other animals were normal. I saw Kiki and baby gorilla Aziza and they were right up at the main viewing window interacting with a lot of toddlers. Kiki also sometimes put down Aziza and let her crawl a little bit. The volunteer who was watching with us said that was the first time she had ever seen Kiki put Aziza down. There was also a sign at the old hornbill exhibit that said it is being prepared for sloths to come in and replace them. The exhibit is full of ladders. The hornbills are now at birds world.

After I left the TF, I went to bird's world and nothing too interesting was happening there. I usually don't go to birds world at all, and have only been in there twice ever. It is really different than how I remember it, so it either had a big renovation in the past 7 years or I have a bad memory. I remember the exhibits being more like square box spaces in a museum that has all the taxidermed animals with glass fronts and painted backdrops. (but instead of having taxidermed animals there were living birds.)

Outback was normal

When I was at giraffe savannah, Jana and a zebra were the only ones out. I know it was Jana because she was shorter and when I called her name she looked at me. Beau might still be sick/recovering. I think they should change the zebra herd so they don't have all these males with conflicting statuses, because it would allow them to have more zebras outside at a time than what they can do currently.

Beau the giraffe undergoes ultrasound

ROUND 2:

The warthogs are now out but the crested porcupines aren't.

All the big cats are sleeping.

RRH and bongos are both out.

All the TF animals are sleeping or not really moving too much besides the gorillas, who are stretching.

In conclusion, always go to the zoo in the morning. The only animals who were equally active or more active in the afternoon were the warthogs and Jana.
 
Thank you for answering my question about why I only saw one Grevy's.

It was a brat by the way, the one I saw abruptly put its ears back and bit one of the Giraffes on the shoulder. I now know that the Giraffe must have thick skin, as it did not react in the slightest.

As a student of psychology and also human anatomy it was really a treat for me to see how Aziza is developing. She is so much further ahead in her development than a human infant would be at this age, that said I know that she won't be developing a lot of the things that a human infant will ultimately develop (e.g. speech.)
 
Yes but I think speech is different because great apes just lack the organs to make noises the way we do. Its not like whether or not they develop the ability to harness those organs (that they lack) like how I assume we do.
 
New Natures Neighborhoods article:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/busines...it-disorder/OmnTfORKFBBBsX1ICXewgN/story.html

Changes to note:

1. The budget has changed from 6.6 million to 7 million. Either that or the writer rounded the numbers up

2. LOTS of animals were nixed from the original list and we are down to:

red pandas, prairie dogs, turtles, waterfowl, and muntjac

3. I don't know if the map image the article used is correct, but if it is I will be content, since it shows lots of stuff on there that I thought was nixed.
 
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Boston’s public cycling system is adding a "Hubway Station" near the zoo (as well as 14 other places around Boston).
 
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