Greater Vancouver Zoo Greater Vancouver Zoo News

I reached out to a few contacts I have in North American zoos to see if I could get some solid numbers on enclosure sizing and if that would play any part in the death of Zephyr and badly wounding of Raiden. One person was kind enough to send me the AZA large canid manual. Here are the basic requirements for a multi generational enclosure: Main enclosure - 930 m2 (10,000 ft2) or larger - Plus a secondary enclosure of 465 m2 (5,000 ft2 ) 3 holding/shift pens of 19 m2 (200 ft2 ) each.

Most people added that for best results wolves require 1/2 acre (21,780 ft2)per animal. So the size of the enclosure may have something to do with out neurotic wolves. There is always to option to split the pack to see if this helps with all the aggression.
 
Cheetah said:
The grizzly bear family was moved into their new habitat yesterday and were let out for the first time today. They were running around like maniacs for the first hour from about 9-10.
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It was so refreshing to see them exploring a new, significantly large/more dynamic space :')
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I'm not sure what the future holds for the grizzly's "baby pen" now but given its size of around 1600m2, as opposed to the puma's currently enclosure of around 600m2, personally I'd love to see it redesigned for them. Give the vegetation time to regrow, have the pond filled in to some degree (to allow for more actual ground space) and some more dynamic features added (climbing trees, hides, etc.)

But enough being fanciful ;) Some actual updates included new signs up at the puma's current enclosure, the train tunnel being removed and, most exciting of all, it sounds/looks like both Zoe the capybara and some of the wallabies are expecting!
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Enough time has passed, I reckon a round of updates is in order.

Unfortunately, several animals seem to have passed away this spring.
  • Zoe, the zoo's female capybara, passed away due to birth complications (though her as-of-yet unnamed baby is still growing strong!).
  • Mercury, a male white-tailed deer, has been removed from their website and is presumed deceased.
  • Gemma, the zoo's Bactrian camel, is presumed deceased as the species' page has been entirely removed from the website.
  • Several red-necked wallabies are missing from the website as well, including males Miro, his brother Irwin, and Rubix.
As for births:
  • Both Fidget and her sister Jade (red-necked wallabies) currently have joeys!
  • Tekarra (bighorn sheep) gave birth to a single lamb on Mother's Day! Making her mum Olive a grandma and growing the main herd to 9 members.
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Construction continues around the zoo as well, including the demolition of the old Radical Raptors aviaries and show stage. I do wonder what the space will be used for now.
 
More new arrivals! Bighorn sheep Olive and Popcorn have both given birth to lambs recently, and there seems to be a new pig in the Vietnamese pot-bellied enclosure. They’re noticeably larger than Daisy, and seem a bit different in the face so perhaps a new species/breed. Caught them sunbathing today :')

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Unfortunately though, it seems long-time resident Meredith (bald eagle) has passed away, as her name has been removed from the species page (and considering she was in her 30s, which would put her in the upper end of her species' life expectancy.)
 
We still have 7 wolves, Hugo (male, 9y), Raiden (male, 5y), Tempest (female, 4y), Zillah (female, 4y), Zuni (female, 4y), Jericho (male, 3y), and Vega (female, 3y).

A couple of other notes. Raiden has now healed up and is back with the pack. Also the wolf area has been reopened to the public.
 
Cheetah said:
We still have 7 wolves, Hugo (male, 9y), Raiden (male, 5y), Tempest (female, 4y), Zillah (female, 4y), Zuni (female, 4y), Jericho (male, 3y), and Vega (female, 3y).

A couple of other notes. Raiden has now healed up and is back with the pack. Also the wolf area has been reopened to the public.
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Personally very happy with the way the pack was split up, though maybe I'm biased since Vega is my favourite member. From my understanding of their personalities, the GVZoo kept all the more relaxed individuals. Good luck to Assiniboine! ;)

Another mini roundup of updates:
  • Ruby, the matriarch of the red-necked wallaby family, seems to have passed away, as her name has been removed from the website.
  • The sika deer herd is also down by one doe.
  • Bighorn rams Indigo, Hemi & Dodge, and ewes Feta, Kona & Maize are all gone from the website. I imagine they must have finally been sent to another facility as well.
  • This years bighorn lambs finally have names! Fay, Kernel & Pimento.
  • As does the baby capybara, who has been named Clover.
 
Looks like the zoo's hoofstock has grown by five! The paddock where the "bachelor bighorns" were now holds 3 scimitar-horned oryx (one male and two females from what I can tell visually).

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And the second zebra yard has two common elands, a little harder to tell the sex of these but it looks like two females.

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Very positive to see the zoo increasing their herds of hoofstock, since in recent years it's felt like the more exotic ones have been dwindling. Will be exciting to learn more about these new individuals in the coming months!
 
The zoo has obtained 5 female Blue Wildebeest and they have been placed into the large paddock that contains the Common Eland and Ostrich. There is a video on Instagram showing the release of the animals into their spacious enclosure.

Instagram
 
snowleopard said:
The zoo has obtained 5 female Blue Wildebeest and they have been placed into the large paddock that contains the Common Eland and Ostrich. There is a video on Instagram showing the release of the animals into their spacious enclosure.

Instagram
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Slight correction, the herd has been placed in the former camel yard, which is behind the curreny Addax enclosure. It's a pity, given that's one of the hardest enclosures to actually observe : P

Also of note, the zoo's sole male Rocky Mountain goat, Sprout, seems to have passed away, as his name has been removed from the website.
 
Smaggledagle said:
On May 4th, 2024, the zoo announced they bred and released ~6,500 Oregon spotted frog tadpoles into the wilds.

Greater Vancouver Zoo

On August 4th, the zoo announced they moved their (1.3) red river hogs into the exhibit between the red foxes and Persian oranger.

Greater Vancouver Zoo
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So nice to see both parties get more access to the outdoors now :') The hogs seem to have had a right hoot digging around in their new habitat, as they're on grass now rather than sand.

The alpaca herd has also grown by one, as Penelope gave birth on Tuesday!
 
snowleopard said:
Probably the zoo's most famous resident has died at the age of 18. The Greater Vancouver Zoo has always claimed that they had the world's only albino black bear in captivity, and I'm curious as to whether that declaration was actually valid. Anyway, Albus is now deceased:

WHAT'S NEW | GREATER VANCOUVER ZOO

Also, even though they are not listed on the map, the zoo in 2008 added a pair of muskox to the collection:

08/22 ~ GET CHILLED - Official Opening of the Arctic Section | GREATER VANCOUVER ZOO

There are now about 30 different species of hoofstock at the park:

ZOO MAP | GREATER VANCOUVER ZOO
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Hi yes Albus was very real I am the one who originally drove the bus through the North American wilds exhibit, if you ever road with me you would have learned alot about him, as well as my other animal friends. In the exhibit there was Yogi biggest blackbear, mama bear she had two cubs bam bam and boo boo, vancouver island red wolves, there was another bear can't think of his name at the moment, but he was the movie star, he was the only one that was trained and overly friendly lol, Have some great stories about all of them. After I exited that enclosure, it was double gated, had to stop in-between and wait for it to close before proceeding through next enclosure. Where the prong horn antelope. Waldo and Ms Waldo, Wapiti,Stud Muffin who was absolutely beautiful with a rack that hunters rarely see, definitely a boone and crocket, Bison, and Rocky the mule deer, I used to have to manually open the last gate, so I would give a passenger my radio, ask them to sit in the driver's seat of the 56 passenger bus and ask them to watch out for whatever animal was heading my way, there were only a few close calls, and it was usually Rocky during rutting season, I had to climb that fence several times. a day in late September early October.
 
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Kellie said:
Hi yes Albus was very real I am the one who originally drove the bus through the North American wilds exhibit, if you ever road with me you would have learned alot about him, as well as my other animal friends. In the exhibit there was Yogi biggest blackbear, mama bear she had two cubs bam bam and boo boo, vancouver island red wolves, there was another bear can't think of his name at the moment, but he was the movie star, he was the only one that was trained and overly friendly lol, Have some great stories about all of them. After I exited that enclosure, it was double gated, had to stop in-between and wait for it to close before proceeding through next enclosure. Where the prong horn antelope. Waldo and Ms Waldo, Wapiti,Stud Muffin who was absolutely beautiful with a rack that hunters rarely see, definitely a boone and crocket, Bison, and Rocky the mule deer, I used to have to manually open the last gate, so I would give a passenger my radio, ask them to sit in the driver's seat of the 56 passenger bus and ask them to watch out for whatever animal was heading my way, there were only a few close calls, and it was usually Rocky during rutting season, I had to climb that fence several times. a day in late September early October.
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Thank you for sharing! We'd all love to hear any and all other memories (and photos!) you're willing to share :) It really is a pity the bus tour was retired.

A couple zoo updates for those interested:
  • Of most note is the arrival of what looks like a pair of Watusi cattle! A returning breed to the zoo's menagerie, if memory serves.
  • The oryx herd is now one, with the new trio having been fully integrated with the resident females.
  • The new female eland have been introduced to the resident trio, who are all together now in the corner paddock between the sika deer and zebra.
  • The page for helmeted guinea fowl has been removed from the zoo's website, as it seems Pondu has passed away.
 
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