Fresno Chaffee Zoo Fresno Chaffee Zoo News 2021

Adventuredl said:
Construction update:
- With Covid the Kingdom’s of Asia exhibit is delayed until 2022 and they are rushing to complete it by then. It will most likely open in 2 phases with phase 1 being redone orangutan, hornbill, Komodo and Asian forest exhibit featuring Malayan tapir, muntjac, babirusa? and Asian brown tortoises? replacing one horned rhino. This phase should be opening late 2021 with the rest ( tiger, aviary, tomistoma, otter/bear and cafe) opening late 2022.
- African River probably will end up being done by 2024-2025 based on multiple construction projects including:
- Ambassador building (finished)
-zooflex ( new commissary, administrative building)
- valley farm/ petting zoo closure and demo ( for kingdoms of Asia)
- conservation building (breaking ground soon)
- Australian aviary renovation ( open during renovation, mainly prep for species switch out)
- Tropical treasures renovation ( basically same reason as Australian aviary but with spruce up)
- With a new director the zoo is now in the starting process of a master plan. It’s in its very early stages but concepts being tossed around are currently:
- new zoo entrance
- reptile house redo (demolition of the building and rebuild on current space)
- South America
- new petting zoo
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Indian rhinos were featured prominently as an "existing" animal being kept for Kingdoms of Asia, so Malayan tapir/babirusa/muntjac coming in instead would be a pleasant surprise! How do you know about this?
 
BTW, @Adventuredl, I was wondering about a frw design elements of Kingdoms of Asia:
  • Generally, how accurate is the CLR 3D rendering that was released on YouTube compared to the final plan? That is, given how Indian rhinos could actually be replaced with tapirs/muntjac/babirusa/tortoise, among other potential changes.
  • Other than underwater viewing and glass viewing areas for the tigers, what other "must-haves" are there?
  • How will the otter/bear habitat work? In the sense like will there be a sectioned off "otters-only" area? And is underwater viewing considered for the otters as well?
  • It looked like an artificial tree was being added to the orangutan habitat, is glass viewing being added as well?
 
StoppableSan said:
BTW, @Adventuredl, I was wondering about a frw design elements of Kingdoms of Asia:
  • Generally, how accurate is the CLR 3D rendering that was released on YouTube compared to the final plan? That is, given how Indian rhinos could actually be replaced with tapirs/muntjac/babirusa/tortoise, among other potential changes.
  • Other than underwater viewing and glass viewing areas for the tigers, what other "must-haves" are there?
  • How will the otter/bear habitat work? In the sense like will there be a sectioned off "otters-only" area? And is underwater viewing considered for the otters as well?
  • It looked like an artificial tree was being added to the orangutan habitat, is glass viewing being added as well?
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-The design is pretty accurate to the plan. The rhino switch was decided after the plan and virtual walkthrough and with the new director. There is a large focus on animal welfare and spacing, which is a major focus right now with aza, which the zoo has a re-accreditation inspection later this year. The zoo only has one Indian rhino left and the plan is ship him out by winter. If that doesn’t work out, he may be on exhibit until he goes. The exhibit already exists and would receive some modifications, similar to what happened when it was converted from an elephant exhibit. This is the only change in the plan.
-The only other major tiger additions are a demo wall and an above ground visible tunnel connecting the 2 exhibits and holding. It is going to be against the wall of the exhibit though and separated by a secondary barrier, so the public is unable to walk under it. This was chosen because in African adventure they have a similar platform above guest for the lions but you can walk under it. The rockwork on the sides created a design flaw where guests would climb it and could have access to the cats. The lions no longer have access to it during the day and only use it for shifting with zoo security present.
-Information about otter/sloth bear is vague on purpose. They aren’t quite sure if the pairing will work out. The goal is to put them together in the same exhibit but there is a lot of skepticism since it hasn’t been attempted in an American zoo to my knowledge. There are no plans for underwater viewing for otters. Additions in the exhibit include a wobble tree and termite mound for the bears, and a slide for the otters.
- Glass is the #1 feature on the orangutan habitat and will be on both levels. This has been a want for years since there have been issues with guests passing off items to the apes. The tree will hopefully encourage the apes to be more arboreal since the the exhibit is tall but didn’t have much going on at the top.
 
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StoppableSan said:
Also, @Adventuredl, is the African Wetlands habitat still on the docket for the master plan? I'm curious given the new director and junk.
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It should be unless something drastic changes. There is land already dedicated for it. It most likely won’t be completed until 2025-2026 based on the current timetable of construction. Besides smaller projects there is always a gap between major expansions to profit off the revenue increases they bring.
 
Adventuredl said:
1.0 Greater One Horned Rhino “Chutti” has been moved to the Phoenix Zoo. This move is to make way for renovations to the old elephant/rhino exhibit for conversion into a Malayan Tapir/Muntjac/Babirusa mixed exhibit. Log into Facebook
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I honestly thought putting those 2 Indian Rhinos into their old elephant exhibit was too small of a space for them so I think this is the right decision. Cool to know they’re acquiring Malayan Tapirs for their new Kingdoms of Asia exhibit as to my understanding they were just gonna keep the Indian Rhinos
 
Adventuredl said:
1.0 Greater One Horned Rhino “Chutti” has been moved to the Phoenix Zoo. This move is to make way for renovations to the old elephant/rhino exhibit for conversion into a Malayan Tapir/Muntjac/Babirusa mixed exhibit. Log into Facebook
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Fantastic news! Not only does Chutti get more space, but Kingdoms of Asia gets a unique edge species-wise!

Side tangent: I'm a little miffed that this development is yet ANOTHER ruined-temple themed habitat, but I am pleasantly surprised that A, the zoo is collaborating with the local Cambodian community to be as authentic as possible architecture-wise, and B, this isn't a prevalent theme throughout the complex, as it seems that the tapir/babirusa/muntjac habitat, the orangutan habitat, the komodo habitat, the hornbill habitat, the songbird aviary, and one of the tiger habitats will maintain a "pure" forest environment. Granted, that still leaves the sloth bear habitat, the other tiger habitat and the false gharial habitat, but given factor A, I'm not too displeased.
 
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