Zoo Knoxville Knoxville Zoo

On December 29th, it was announced that the zoo transferred (2.0) African wild dogs named Dante and Vincent to the Lincoln Park Zoo in Illinois.

Lincoln Park Zoo

Smaggledagle said:
On November 27th, the zoo announced that their CEO Lisa New will move to the Dallas Zoo in Texas as she takes up the CEO position there in January 2024.

Zoo Knoxville - Dallas Zoo names Lisa New as CEO following...
‘Full circle’: Dallas Zoo names Zoo Knoxville’s Lisa New next CEO
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On January 10th, 2024, the zoo announced that they appointed Drew Rowan as their interim president & CEO on January 1st.

Zoo Knoxville
 
Nile Hippo Expert said:
This is only like the millionth time that a zoo phases out elephants then replaces their exhibit with a new rhino exhibit.
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Jambo said:
Makes a lot of sense as they are an easy replacement that require little modification to the elephant exhibits.
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And in this particular case, the zoo already has white rhinos living directly across from the elephants in a smaller enclosure. Perhaps this will allow them to renovate that enclosure for a new African species!
 
Hello, long-time lurker, first-time poster here!

Sad news about Tonka. I live a few hours away from Knoxville in northwest Georgia, but I've never made it up there. I used to see billboards advertising Tonka along the highway, and just never had a chance to stop and see him. Hopefully the poor old guy gets to live out the rest of his days comfortably.
 
JAG said:
Hello, long-time lurker, first-time poster here!

Sad news about Tonka. I live a few hours away from Knoxville in northwest Georgia, but I've never made it up there. I used to see billboards advertising Tonka along the highway, and just never had a chance to stop and see him. Hopefully the poor old guy gets to live out the rest of his days comfortably.
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Would the lure of the zoo not tempt you to visit like? A few hours away does not sound like much in the American perspective over distance.

On bull Tonka: I am glad he gets to stay now at the facility and not be moved. The whole thing reads like he has major health issues and transfer would be the killing straw. As far as his genetics are concerned: Been told he is not viable as a breeder (and that some time ago he was tested for semen collection ... which turned out negative, I think I read that on the North American African elephant fora.).

BTW: He is not the only elder pachyderm at Knoxville as both their white rhino cow now left is also an elderly individual at 56 years of age ...now. I assume expansion or renovation of both the elephant and rhino complex will only follow when both have passed away.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Would the lure of the zoo not tempt you to visit like? A few hours away does not sound like much in the American perspective over distance.
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Depending on how many hours specifically, "a few hours" can mean a full-day (or multiple day) commitment. A 3 hour drive means 6 hours on the road - not an insignificant amount of time if you're trying to make the most of a zoo trip, especially if it winds up getting compounded by other factors like heavy traffic. Knoxville is also "a few hours" from me, 4 hours away, and I finally got around to making a day trip out of it about 6 months ago and for as much as I loved the zoo, it was a rough day with so much driving. One of the biggest reasons it took me as long as it did to make the trip was finding the time to go that worked for both my wife and I. So I understand fully and firsthand why "a few hours" can be way more difficult than it sounds off hand.

Plus that user potentially has other good zoos (ie, Atlanta or Chattanooga, although anecdotally I do prefer Knoxville over either of those) closer by, further making it difficult to justify a lengthier trip.
 
biggest_dreamer is right on the money. It would be something like seven hours of driving round trip. Still, as a zoo nerd I would totally have made it happen years ago if not for the fact that I hate driving, haha. And American mass transit is essentially non-existent. There is no train or anything I can just casually take to Knoxville. I'm in this situation where I have lots of world-class zoos that are theoretically close by, but a world out of reach in practice. The only ones I've managed to reach by begging rides from family are Zoo Atlanta, the Georgia Aquarium, and Tennessee Aquarium. Eh, it is what it is.

On-topic, I didn't realize rhinos lived that long. 56! Impressive.
 
JAG said:
biggest_dreamer is right on the money. It would be something like seven hours of driving round trip. Still, as a zoo nerd I would totally have made it happen years ago if not for the fact that I hate driving, haha. And American mass transit is essentially non-existent. There is no train or anything I can just casually take to Knoxville. I'm in this situation where I have lots of world-class zoos that are theoretically close by, but a world out of reach in practice. The only ones I've managed to reach by begging rides from family are Zoo Atlanta, the Georgia Aquarium, and Tennessee Aquarium. Eh, it is what it is.

On-topic, I didn't realize rhinos lived that long. 56! Impressive.
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Thanks for your response and understandable (as is what @biggest_dreamer chipped in too). I was merely thinking that to the average American the perspective of a few hours would be less of a hindrance of what people on my Continent or even my home country seem to perceive (not me ... though, I do get anywhere ... and mostly without car and on public transport ..., well conditions and options may be better than Stateside...) as the maximum travel distance or journey time.


On topic of the Knoxville rhino history of the place: The Knoxville has a long tradition with holding white rhino and specifically their breeding from a long time back. Their 2 breeding females Dolly and already deceased Polly (passed away in December 2022 at 54 YoA) both produced 10 calves each ... with their erstwhile breeding bull Mondo (he died sometime in 2016 at 43 YoA).

A good part of the current AZA SSP White Rhino comes down to genetic contributions these F0 wild caught individual rhinos made to the next generations.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Thanks for your response and understandable (as is what @biggest_dreamer chipped in too). I was merely thinking that to the average American the perspective of a few hours would be less of a hindrance of what people on my Continent or even my home country seem to perceive


On topic of the Knoxville rhino history of the place: The Knoxville has a long tradition with holding white rhino and specifically their breeding from a long time back. Their 2 breeding females Dolly and already deceased Polly (passed away in December 2022 at 54 YoA) both produced 10 calves each ... with their erstwhile breeding bull Mondo (he died sometime in 2016 at 43 YoA).

A good part of the current AZA SSP White Rhino comes down to genetic contributions these F0 wild caught individual rhinos made to the next generations.
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Yeah, you're definitely right that a three or four hour drive is short compared to what's possible in America. When I was a kid, my family regularly made trips to Cleveland, Ohio (where we're originally from) to visit relatives. That's a nine hour drive best case scenario, and usually more like twelve when stops, traffic, weather, and such get in the way. And still a short distance on the national scale! But for a day trip to the zoo? Seven or eight hours of driving is a lot by any country's standards.

I know Knoxville has been famous for their white rhino breeding program for decades. I remember writing something about it for a school paper back in 2001. It was always a reason I wanted to visit the Knoxville Zoo, as white rhinos are one of my favorite animals and I had never seen one until Zoo Atlanta brought in Mumbles a few years ago. I did get a good look at him on my last visit in 2022, which definitely helped make that a fun and memorable trip.
 
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