Houston Zoo Houston Zoo News 2021

I still find it odd they're theming it as "Galapagos" when very few of the animals in this exhibit are actually from that island chain. An Islands or Coasts theme, sure, but why the Galapagos specifically?
Lee Ehmke, the Houston Zoo's current director, has a knack for wanting to highlight underrepresented regions of the world. He did so back when he was at Minnesota Zoo with Russia's Grizzly Coast, then came to Houston swinging with Texas Wetlands and South America's Pantanal. Given the California sea lions' similarity to the Galapagos sea lion, and rather than doing the ever-tired Pier 39/California Coast theme, he decided to go with a more unique Galapagos theme instead.
 
Lee Ehmke, the Houston Zoo's current director, has a knack for wanting to highlight underrepresented regions of the world. He did so back when he was at Minnesota Zoo with Russia's Grizzly Coast, then came to Houston swinging with Texas Wetlands and South America's Pantanal. Given the California sea lions' similarity to the Galapagos sea lion, and rather than doing the ever-tired Pier 39/California Coast theme, he decided to go with a more unique Galapagos theme instead.

I just want to see some south american pinnipeds :( It's frustrating that places in europe have them but none in the USA.
 
A Committee of Vultures Arrive at the Zoo, The Houston Zoo

Houston Zoo posted about their committee of vultures: Ruppell’s Griffon Vulture, Hooded Vultures, and Cape Vultures. It’s the first time they’ve kept these species according to their blog post.
I swear they had hooded vultures back when there was the small vulture aviary in front of the elephant exhibit; between Elephants, the former alligator “pit”, and the now former Jaguar exhibit.

This would have been 30-20 years ago. Anyone know what kinds of vultures were kept in that small cage? Maybe it was just King Vultures?
 
I swear they had hooded vultures back when there was the small vulture aviary in front of the elephant exhibit; between Elephants, the former alligator “pit”, and the now former Jaguar exhibit.

This would have been 30-20 years ago. Anyone know what kinds of vultures were kept in that small cage? Maybe it was just King Vultures?

Cinereous Vulture
 
I still find it odd they're theming it as "Galapagos" when very few of the animals in this exhibit are actually from that island chain. An Islands or Coasts theme, sure, but why the Galapagos specifically?
Plus the Houston Zoo already has plenty of animals that live on islands, such as the Kagu, St Vincent Amazon, Guam Kingfisher, Nene and various reptiles.
 
I honestly don’t think its that big a problem. The main focus of the exhibit is the conservation work the zoo and others do there, as well as the uniqueness of the islands. It was never going to be like Madagascar at the Bronx Zoo which had more species to choose from, due to a lack of native species kept outside the islands. At the same point the zoo will be able to relocate several species (tortoises, iguanas, and sea lions) to much better habitats and at the same time talk about the evolution of the islands wildlife. The aquatic displays will more likely have species that can found in the Galapagos though (while also solving the issue of the zoo needing to replace its aquarium in some way). So I can imagine the zoo will address in the signage that many of the species are stand in’s yet are fairly similar to species found on the islands.

Other island species will be focused upon in future phases of the master plan. World of Primates will become an exhibit on “Asian Islands”, Natural encounters will become a Madagascar exhibit, and the new hybrid reptile/bird house will likely include the key species mentioned above. I understand why many of here are not fans of the species lineup but from the zoos perspective it has multiple upsides and very little downside.

Edit: Also they found a way to shove in penguins. A small exhibit for them relatively but considering how popular they are with public, this was really the only way they could justify them in under there current master plan/collection plan.
 
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When the border allows it Houston will be welcoming female pygmy hippo, Penelope, from Toronto. It will be pretty beneficial for Houston as her parents are both imports and she is their only offspring. A fair number of babies to come I bet. This was announced by Toronto on their Facebook Live today. Could still be awhile.
 
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