Houston Zoo Houston Zoo News 2024

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Other 2023/2024 News Worth Mentioning:
On June 27th, 2023, the zoo announced they acquired a (0.1) llama named Yzma which is on display in the Children's Zoo area.

12K views · 326 reactions | There’s a new llama in town! Meet Yzma. Some of you may have guessed already, but she’s named after the character in “The Emperor’s New Groove” and is just over 9 months old. Her animal care team is still getting to know her, but she has a goofy/playful side and enjoys following Fiesta around. She’s most active in the morning and at feeding times. You can see her next to Fiesta and the Kunekune pigs in the John P. McGovern Children’s Zoo. | Houston Zoo

On August 9th, the zoo announced they rehabilitated and released a loggerhead sea turtle back into the wild. On December 15th, the zoo announced they rehabilitated and released another loggerhead sea turtle back into the wild.

Houston Zoo
Houston Zoo

On March 6th, 2024, the zoo rehabilitated and released 10 green sea turtles back into the wild.

Houston Zoo

On May 2nd, the zoo announced they rehabilitated and released a Kemp's ridley sea turtle back into the wild the weekend prior. On June 13th, the zoo announced they rehabilitated and released another Kemp's ridley sea turtle the week prior.

Houston Zoo
Houston Zoo

On October 26th, it was announced that the zoo acquired a (1.0) fossa from the Greensboro Science Center in North Carolina.

Greensboro Science Center

On January 9th, 2024, it was announced that the zoo transferred a (1.0) margay (initially received as part of a confiscation) to the Center of Animal Research & Education in Texas.

Center for Animal Research and Education - CARE

King of Komodo Dragons said:
the zoo revealed in their livestream that they had 3.2 Capybaras born, they have quite the capy herd now!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=305811549023100
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On May 8th, the zoo announced that the capybaras were named Bowtie, Gnocchi, Macaroni, Rigatoni, and Ravioli.

Houston Zoo

On May 13th, it was announced that the zoo transferred a (0.1) Baird's tapir to the Milwaukee County Zoo in Wisconsin in early October 2023.

Welcome the Zoo’s New Bongo and Tapir - Milwaukee County Zoo

On June 14th, it was announced that the zoo transferred a (0.1) kinkajou to the San Francisco Zoo in California on May 22nd.

https://sfrecpark.org/DocumentCenter/View/24113/JtZooAg62024

On July 20th, it was announced that the zoo transferred a (1.0) okapi named Sylvester to the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee.

Memphis Zoo
 
Next november I am travelling to Nicaragua. On the return journey, I have an almost full day lay-over in Houston. I am considering visiting the zoo, but will have to fly back to Amsterdam at 5 PM. So this means I could probably get away with visiting the zoo from 9 - 12 and still be at the airport early enough to catch my flight.

Is it realistic to visit the zoo in 3 hours?
What sections would you recommend skipping?

One animal I will defenitely want to see is the whooping crane, because as an European I've never seen one before.
The Pantanal and Galapagos sections seem to be the most interesting zoo design wise.

Any recommendations? How long would each section take me?
 
ralph said:
Next november I am travelling to Nicaragua. On the return journey, I have an almost full day lay-over in Houston. I am considering visiting the zoo, but will have to fly back to Amsterdam at 5 PM. So this means I could probably get away with visiting the zoo from 9 - 12 and still be at the airport early enough to catch my flight.

Is it realistic to visit the zoo in 3 hours?
What sections would you recommend skipping?

One animal I will defenitely want to see is the whooping crane, because as an European I've never seen one before.
The Pantanal and Galapagos sections seem to be the most interesting zoo design wise.

Any recommendations? How long would each section take me?
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Having just visited for the first time earlier this month, I don't think 3 hours is going to be enough to satisfactorily visit the entire zoo, but I think it's more than enough time to hit the highlights (The Pantanal and Galapagos, as you mentioned, but the gorilla/red river hog exhibit in the far back also stood out to me as very impressive). Honestly, unless there's a specific species you're hoping to see, you could probably deprioritize the children's zoo, central primate area, and the assorted paddocks and grottos making up the western third of the zoo (the brown area if you're looking at the map). That's not to imply that there's anything wrong with these areas, and I'd encourage you to check them out as well if the time works out in your favor, it's just that they're a bit more "standard" in the face of the zoo's much more outstanding exhibits.

The whooping cranes were impossible to miss if you're going from the Galapagos to the Pantanal, as you pass through the excellent but small Texas Wetlands section.
 
biggest_dreamer said:
the gorilla/red river hog exhibit in the far back also stood out to me as very impressive.
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I've looked it up and yes it looks fantastic. But it's all the way in the back, so visiting it would require quite some time I'm afraid. Also, that entire section only has 5 species, all of which I see all the time, so I might prioritize something like the Cape vulture (which I've seen just once in my life) Allens swamp monkey (seen just twice) or yellow-backed/blue duiker over them, even if their enclosures are less impressive.

Similarly, there are a few herps I have never seen before, but I'm not sure they'd be worth the extra time it would take to visit the Childrens Zoo/Reptile House.

I think I'd be possible to do Galapagos, Texas Wetslands and Pantanal in about 90 minutes? I would then have the remaining time to do a very quick tour of some of the most interesting/rare species.
 
As a Houston Zoo member the zoo opens at 9am so get there no later than 10am to get a parking spot because the parking in that area fills up fast. There is no specific zoo parking it is shared with people that are not only visiting the zoo but also areas within Hermann Park.

The Birds of the World exhibit opens on August 30, 2024 which will include the Cape Vulture in the Africa aviary.
 
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Honestly, if you stop and admire everything it’ll take you maybe 1 and a half to 2 hours to go through the whole zoo. Give Galápagos Islands, Texas Wetlands, Birds of the World, Pantanal, Elephants and the African Forest the most priority. As for the other exhibits, the Natural Encounters at the beginning is very skippable unless you want to see a specific species in there (Asian small clawed otter, white faced Saki, sloth, electric eel, prehensile tailed porcupine meerkat) as it’s very much designed for kids and has a rather miscellaneous species list. The reptile house has an excellent collection of herps, but it’s nothing special in terms of exhibitry. If you’re not a reptile person it’s an easy skip. The entire left side of the zoo beyond the elephants is just a boring line of square hoofstock habitats, nothing special again unless you want to see those species. The entire middle area of the zoo labeled “Cats, hoofed animals, and more” is quite confusing to navigate and will require backtracking to see everything. The main events there are the lions, tigers, and black bears with addition species being Komodo dragon, Ankole cattle, cheetah, African painted dogs. The world of primates might as well be a ghost town honestly. All of the small monkeys are gone, replaced with birds, leaving African monkeys, and Asian apes. It’s a mostly outdated exhibit, I wouldn’t recommend visiting it unless the gibbons and siamang are vocalizing. Lastly the children’s zoo, is a little unique, but still not something I’d prioritize. Species here include North American river otters, bobcat, banded mongoose, burrowing owl, leopard tortoise, goats, llamas, and zebu.

If I were you I’d start with the elephants nice and early possibly even as your first exhibit and work your way around the whole zoo clockwise. This way you finish with Galapagos during a time with no keeper talks in the exhibit so you can experience it without much of a crowd.

Additionally, the best time to catch the blue duikers is right at opening. They tend to hide more and eventually retreat to their backstage area the more crowded the zoo gets. The Allen’s Swamp Monkeys rotate with the Red Tailed Monkeys and De Brazza’s Monkeys, so you’re not guaranteed to see them. Hopefully they’re out on your day. I also never have any trouble seeing the Yellow Backed Duikers, if they’re not with the okapi, they’ll be with the bongos.
 
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Thanks, this is very useful.

Is there already a species list for Birds of the World? That section might be interesting for me to visit as well.

Primates of the Worlds itself doesn't look that interesting, but Allens swamp monkey and Coquerels sifaka are real rarities in Europe, so I might want to take the opportunity to see them again.

Natural encounters doesn't really have an interesting line-up. I might check out the building itself, in and out in 10 minutes.

The ''Cats, hoofed animals, and more'' section looks pretty skippable to me, although I do love duikers.

I just checked how large the zoos is; 55 acres. Exactly as much as Zoo Augsburg, a zoo I visited in 4,5 hours last april. This was with a slow and easy pace.

Perhaps I will be able to visit the majority of Zoo Houston if I can resist the urge to stop to take photographs of everything I see.
 
There is a species list… for staff and volunteers only I’m afraid. I will post it once birds of the world opens for member preview. What I can promise you is that each aviary will have minimum 13 species. And as someone who has seen the exhibit already, it is a beautiful and excellently designed area that blows the old bird gardens out of the water.

I really do believe you’ll be able to visit just about everything in two hours give or take. And if you skip some areas you personally don’t want to see you can absolutely stop and admire as you wish.

The sifakas are always out a little after opening. I always see them from around 10 AM onwards. You won’t miss them.
 
LadyA91 said:
I saw the “building the future” section on the Houston zoo website there restoring the pillars near the natural encounter and reptile house area.

Building the Future, The Houston Zoo
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This is very interesting! They had it for as long as I can remember when I was a little kid and after all those years it's finally gonna get improvements. Sure, I will miss the old design but I'm interested to knowing how it will look like when it's done.
 
 
TheImmigrant1 said:
The zoo has posted a set of pictures on Instagram basically confirming that the August 30th opening date is set in stone and also gives a preview of a new species on the fourth slide. Houston Zoo on Instagram: "The countdown is on! We’re ONE month away from our newest exhibit opening, Birds of the World, on August 30! Tickets are available for you to reserve online to see three spacious aviaries highlighting birds from the African Savanna, North American Woodlands, and South American Wetlands. Learn more via link in bio."
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I had to go and check on Google street view on the bird garden near the old flamingo habitat and we used to have African Spoonbills in the large aviary where the Pantanal wetlands aviary sits today. That aviary also used to have bald ibis, Indian Peafowl, African pygmy goose and a few other waterfowl.

Regardless I am looking forward to seeing the Africa aviary.
 
TheImmigrant1 said:
My mistake, I was not aware of that. Seems like they’re keeping the brand new birds a secret still. Hopefully they start revealing them as the countdown continues.
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It's crazy how many of those birds that we used to have a good chance of not coming back at least that's what it seems like with the quality over quantity approach. Who knows they may even do a second bird area.
 
LadyA91 said:
It's crazy how many of those birds that we used to have a good chance of not coming back at least that's what it seems like with the quality over quantity approach. Who knows they may even do a second bird area.
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Goodbye grey crowned cranes, saddle billed stork, marabou stork, and cassowary :(
 
LadyA91 said:
It's crazy how many of those birds that we used to have a good chance of not coming back at least that's what it seems like with the quality over quantity approach. Who knows they may even do a second bird area.
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the bird row used to have species like Maleo, Kagu, and Blue-Winged Kookaburra...while I hope we can get an australian of asian aviary someday, for now its safe to assume those species are never coming back.
 
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