Indianapolis Zoo Indianapolis Zoo News

[Sheather]

The Tiger Cubs are very exciting. Also, as a clarification to this:


It turns out “like” cockatoos meant “just” cockatoos. A whole lot of cockatoos. From a half dozen or so species. It seems cockatoos have joined macaws and sloths as “tropical species the zoo decided to hoard.” I’m kind of here for it not gonna lie. Probably cleared out every former pet cockatoo in Midwestern bird shelters. A little disappointed they don’t have any other species like emu, wallaby, or swans. Could’ve even moved the cockatiels or lorikeets from the adjacent Flights of Fancy into a new aviary so the old one could be populated by Asian, North American, or South American birds.

Definitely not former pet cockatoos. You would not want to have imprinted former-pet birds in an aviary unless you want people losing parts of their ears, the majority of cockatoos in bird rescues also self-mutilate and have significant behavioral problems, many would have atrophied muscles from wing clipping and could not fly at all. Male cockatoos that are raised as pets often end up extremely aggressive and will kill other cockatoos! These birds were surely raised in an aviary setting among their own kind and not as pets to make their temperament suitable for a walk-through.

 

[birdsandbats]

The Tiger Cubs are very exciting. Also, as a clarification to this:


It turns out “like” cockatoos meant “just” cockatoos. A whole lot of cockatoos. From a half dozen or so species. It seems cockatoos have joined macaws and sloths as “tropical species the zoo decided to hoard.” I’m kind of here for it not gonna lie. Probably cleared out every former pet cockatoo in Midwestern bird shelters. A little disappointed they don’t have any other species like emu, wallaby, or swans. Could’ve even moved the cockatiels or lorikeets from the adjacent Flights of Fancy into a new aviary so the old one could be populated by Asian, North American, or South American birds.

What species?

 

[CMP]

What species?

I was wondering this too, 'half a dozen species' would be beyond the number of commonly kept Cockatoos in the US.

 

[Persephone]

What species?

Yellow-Crested, Goffin’s, Little Corella, Major Mitchell’s, Salmon Crested, Sulphur Crested, Citron Crested

 

[Smaggledagle]

On July 7th, the zoo announced that (1.1) green-winged macaws named Orchard and Vineyard escaped the zoo grounds and were found in a neighborhood near the facility. The zoo has managed to safely recapture and transfer Orchard back while capturing Vineyard is still ongoing.

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[Persephone]

I am very curious if they keep up the free flight shows after this.

 

[Smaggledagle]

On July 9th, the zoo announced that their (0.1) green-winged macaw named Vineyard has been recaptured and transported back to the facility.

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On July 19th, the zoo announced that (0.4) long-tailed macaques named Bea, Mae, Gemma, and Emerald were born and are now on exhibit.

Indianapolis Zoo - New Macaque Babies Introduced | Facebook | By Indianapolis Zoo | We have some new and cute faces over at our macaque exhibit! Say hello to our four baby girls Bea, Mae, Gemma and Emerald or "Emmie" for short. They are...

 

[Smaggledagle]

On June 30th, the zoo announced that (2.1) Amur tigers were born on May 27th. The mother was Zoya and the father was Pavel.

Introducing our Tiger Cub Trio! On May... - Indianapolis Zoo | By Indianapolis Zoo | Introducing our Tiger Cub Trio! On May 27, our 7-year-old Amur tiger Zoya gave birth to triplets. The trio consists of one female cub (the first one...

On July 29th, the zoo announced their names, Roman, Nicholas, and Helina respectively.

Indianapolis Zoo

 

[Persephone]

Visited today. On a time limit so I only saw the birds, tigers, red pandas, macaques, crocodilians, kangaroos, and plains. Side note: it very much feels like everything between forests and plains is just a loose collection of exhibits rather than a cohesive area. I blame the zoo's philosophy of wanting something new every year rather than waiting to do bigger renovations.

The new kangaroo walkthrough is entirely enclosed as an aviary, which I wasn't expecting. It also doesn't take up the full plot of land under construction. The old dog show theater is still behind construction walls and seems to be mostly demolished. There's also an area under construction between the lemurs and the main forest entrance. The zoo has not announced what they're doing with either, but they like to keep their plans close to the vest. Anyway, the cockatoo collection is nice. Not every species is signed. Still wish they'd brought in more types of Australian birds. Even the cockatiels or budgies would've been something, although the latter would deprive the zoo of feed stick revenue. Oh, and one of the kangaroos was fine being petted. That was cool.

A flamingo straightened my hair for six consecutive minutes at the flamingo mingle. Strongly recommend going to that if you can. Great experience. The birds were super curious about the humans.

Construction on the new entrance continues apace. New structures seem to be mostly finished.

Tiger cubs were not yet on exhibit. The baby macaques were.

Walruses were temporarily off exhibit but there didn't seem to be any construction going on. No idea what that's about. Really, really hope they aren't leaving the collection.

In any event looks like the New Summer 2023 Thing will be by the lemurs or in the old dog show stadium. An expansion of forests is likely in any case. Is this finally the chimp exhibit? The dog show might be a bit small for a chimp complex, but it would be right next to the orangs. Excited in any case.

Oh, and the lions are still separated by sex after the unfortunate incident last year. The breakout area really isn't big enough and I hope they send the male elsewhere. When their guinea baboons die off they can build a new, bigger lion enclosure taking up their habitat and maybe part of Tembo Camp.

 

[ANyhuis]

There's also an area under construction between the lemurs and the main forest entrance. The zoo has not announced what they're doing with either, but they like to keep their plans close to the vest.

Construction on the new entrance continues apace. New structures seem to be mostly finished.

Walruses were temporarily off exhibit but there didn't seem to be any construction going on. No idea what that's about. Really, really hope they aren't leaving the collection.

Persephone,
Do we know each other? (Yes, if we have common relatives in Josh & Becky.)
I was also at the Zoo on Saturday, and my party, including small children, all got to pet that kangaroo! What a special experience!

My guess for that construction area near the lemurs: I'm thinking that after the apparent success of Kangaroo Crossing, they are building a walk-through lemur yard. What do you think? But this is just a guess, I have no insider information. I'm also very curious about that new entrance experience building out in the parking lot. I'd love to see a great entry building similar to what they have in Omaha. I also join you, Persephone, in really, really hoping the walruses are back soon! The Zoo won't be the same without the walruses.

 

[birdsandbats]

Persephone,
Do we know each other? (Yes, if we have common relatives in Josh & Becky.)
I was also at the Zoo on Saturday, and my party, including small children, all got to pet that kangaroo! What a special experience!

My guess for that construction area near the lemurs: I'm thinking that after the apparent success of Kangaroo Crossing, they are building a walk-through lemur yard. What do you think? But this is just a guess, I have no insider information. I'm also very curious about that new entrance experience building out in the parking lot. I'd love to see a great entry building similar to what they have in Omaha. I also join you, Persephone, in really, really hoping the walruses are back soon! The Zoo won't be the same without the walruses.

I highly doubt they would build a walk-through lemur yard, considering the potentially sue-happy local citizens and the fact that there are only two on the continent and only one in the US.

 

[Corangurilla]

I highly doubt they would build a walk-through lemur yard, considering the potentially sue-happy local citizens and the fact that there are only two on the continent and only one in the US.

I thought San Diego Safari Park closed their lemur walkthrough and put gibbons in there instead? Unless you mean a different walkthrough?

 

[pachyderm pro]

I thought San Diego Safari Park closed their lemur walkthrough and put gibbons in there instead? Unless you mean a different walkthrough?

Omaha and Tanganyika Wildlife Park both have lemur walkthroughs.

 

[birdsandbats]

Omaha and Tanganyika Wildlife Park both have lemur walkthroughs.

The one at Tanganyika is news to me, I only knew of the one at Omaha as well as an additional one in Canada (isn't there one at Calgary or something?).

 

[Persephone]

Persephone,
Do we know each other? (Yes, if we have common relatives in Josh & Becky.)
I was also at the Zoo on Saturday, and my party, including small children, all got to pet that kangaroo! What a special experience!

My guess for that construction area near the lemurs: I'm thinking that after the apparent success of Kangaroo Crossing, they are building a walk-through lemur yard. What do you think? But this is just a guess, I have no insider information. I'm also very curious about that new entrance experience building out in the parking lot. I'd love to see a great entry building similar to what they have in Omaha. I also join you, Persephone, in really, really hoping the walruses are back soon! The Zoo won't be the same without the walruses.

I’m afraid we don’t know each other.

 

[Smaggledagle]

On August 4th, the zoo announced that a (1.0) greater kudu was born the week prior.

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[Aelita]

Just wondering if anyone has any further information on the walrus construction? Additionally are Indianapolis still doing their little walrus walks or no?

 

[Persephone]

There wasn’t any construction last I checked. The animals were just off exhibit with a sign announcing it. Pool wasn’t drained.

With Indy you basically don’t entirely know what they’re going to open until they actually do it. No big fundraising campaign announcements, just a blog post in the fall and a few press releases in the spring before the exhibit opens in the summer. There have been no statements about the walruses being off exhibit, the construction in the arena, or the construction by the lemurs. I wouldn’t expect one until October, either.

 

[Mai Thai]

After a recent visit to the zoo here is some updated information about the zoos kudu herd:

The female calf born on September 3rd last year has been named Binti. Before Zuberi left Bakari the old bull was moved to an unspecified location. These leaves the Greater Kudu herd at 2.4 individuals. The males are Zuberi and the unnamed male born earlier this month while the females are Taraja, Jojo, Binti, and Caliente.

 

[Persephone]

Oh, a question that's bothered me for some time: does anyone know why the zebra are separated from the rest of the hoofstock? They're plains zebras so they should mix well, but for some reason they're almost always separated out on the other side of the bridge.