Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo Lied Jungle

L

Lenny P. Lamb

Active Member
Can anyone tell me what's going on with the lied jungle? They lost their quince monitor, de brassas monkeys, diana monkeys, soft shelled turtles, the iguana down on the island with the white handed gibbons and a few other species. Also it looks like they cut back on the numbers of the animals that are still there; the blood pythons (there were 4, now there are 2), and the fresh water stingrays to name a couple. I get that animals leave zoos for breeding purposes but ALL at the same time? And NO new species or animals to replace them? I mean if we aren't more or less trading animals then we are just an incredible shrinking zoo. One last thing, when will the lied jungles ground floor finally reopen? Please be considerate and respectful in your response, I've had a few rude responders lately and that's NOT cool. I'm just trying to get some answers because I love our zoo and animals. Also what's with only 2 sable antelope and zebras? I know we used to have more. Are we deliberately going down from 34,000 to 30,000 to 18,000 to 17,000 to how much less is it now? The San Diego zoo and saint louis zoo both have 19,000+ animals now. We are NO longer the largest zoo in america in terms of numbers of animals.
 
Where are you getting these numbers from? When was Omaha ever the largest zoo?
 
TinoPup said:
Where are you getting these numbers from? When was Omaha ever the largest zoo?
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From Googling, the St Louis Zoo website says they have 19,000 animals (and specifies that this includes thousands of Leaf-cutter Ants). Not sure about San Diego - the number Google told me was 12,000.

For Omaha this link says 34,000 animals - https://www.3newsnow.com/news/omahas-henry-doorly-zoo-and-aquarium - "Although the Zoo is closed, they’re still caring for 34,000-plus animals, and they need your support now more than ever." Other sites from various years say 30,000 and 17,000 - there doesn't seem to be any correlation between number and year (e.g. both 34,00 and 30,000 are referenced in articles from this year, and 17,000 in 2021, 2019, and several other years from a cursory look). I'm not sure the numbers can be taken literally. In any case this clearly would be including thousands of invertebrates etc. I don't think I can believe at all the claim in the other thread that they have 3000 bats - nothing came up in Google for that number and it sounds extreme.
 
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Lenny P. Lamb said:
Can anyone tell me what's going on with the lied jungle? They lost their quince monitor, de brassas monkeys, diana monkeys, soft shelled turtles, the iguana down on the island with the white handed gibbons and a few other species. Also it looks like they cut back on the numbers of the animals that are still there; the blood pythons (there were 4, now there are 2), and the fresh water stingrays to name a couple. I get that animals leave zoos for breeding purposes but ALL at the same time? And NO new species or animals to replace them? I mean if we aren't more or less trading animals then we are just an incredible shrinking zoo. One last thing, when will the lied jungles ground floor finally reopen? Please be considerate and respectful in your response, I've had a few rude responders lately and that's NOT cool. I'm just trying to get some answers because I love our zoo and animals. Also what's with only 2 sable antelope and zebras? I know we used to have more. Are we deliberately going down from 34,000 to 30,000 to 18,000 to 17,000 to how much less is it now? The San Diego zoo and saint louis zoo both have 19,000+ animals now. We are NO longer the largest zoo in america in terms of numbers of animals.
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I feel like messaging the zoo on social media or emailing them will get you more productive answers.
 
Lenny P. Lamb said:
Can anyone tell me what's going on with the lied jungle? They lost their quince monitor, de brassas monkeys, diana monkeys, soft shelled turtles, the iguana down on the island with the white handed gibbons and a few other species. Also it looks like they cut back on the numbers of the animals that are still there; the blood pythons (there were 4, now there are 2), and the fresh water stingrays to name a couple. I get that animals leave zoos for breeding purposes but ALL at the same time? And NO new species or animals to replace them? I mean if we aren't more or less trading animals then we are just an incredible shrinking zoo. One last thing, when will the lied jungles ground floor finally reopen? Please be considerate and respectful in your response, I've had a few rude responders lately and that's NOT cool. I'm just trying to get some answers because I love our zoo and animals. Also what's with only 2 sable antelope and zebras? I know we used to have more. Are we deliberately going down from 34,000 to 30,000 to 18,000 to 17,000 to how much less is it now? The San Diego zoo and saint louis zoo both have 19,000+ animals now. We are NO longer the largest zoo in america in terms of numbers of animals.
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I haven’t seen any change so far about when they plan to open their ground floor so far, they mention in various articles that their reopening of the canopy floor was based on their risk assessments. They follow guidance from their public health department and perhaps it’s too risky to have so many people confined in close proximities as well as the risk to their animals.

To answer about San Diego, SDZWA has approximately 12,000 animals at the Zoo and another 3,000 to 3,500 animals at the Safari Park. That’s at least 4,000 shy of the 19,000 estimate you brought but no one truly knows unless we have an actual list/catalogue of all animals kept on/off exhibit by the zoo themselves.

It’s been talked about in multiple threads about decrease in species or total number of animals, there are multiple factors to consider. Not to get too in depth, here are some reasons I’ve seen mentioned: lack of institutional space/interest, sustainability of any given specie, needing to update outdated exhibits, politics, etc.
 
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Also is it Largest speaking in land or species numbers? Because if it is Land I believe just Zoos Alone it might be Berlin, Columbus, San Diego or Toronto? Species could possibly be San Diego or Columbus or St. Louis. But these are just rough calculations from Imperial to Metric so they are not spot on. I also am on board with Tinopup and m30t I couldn’t find the same data, So I used the Zoo’s websites

Home page
Toronto Zoo | Home
Columbus Zoo and Aquarium - Home
Home | Saint Louis Zoo
The North Carolina Zoo - Asheboro, NC | North Carolina Zoo
[URL="https://www.zoo-berlin.de/de"]Zoo Berlin[/URL]
 
I posted this on another thread, but just to make sure more see it - I have an opportunity to visit Omaha for the first time soon, and I recently learned that the lower floor of Lied Jungle is closed. What do I miss out on here, and is Omaha still worth visiting, knowing it will be quite some time before I have an opportunity to visit again?
 
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birdsandbats said:
I posted this on another thread, but just to make sure more see it - I have an opportunity to visit Omaha for the first time soon, and I recently learned that the lower floor of Lied Jungle is closed. What do I miss out on here, and is Omaha still worth visiting, knowing it will quite some time before I have an opportunity to visit again?
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Absolutely! :) There are several other exhibit complexes around to enjoy, many of which are either the best of their kind I've seen (Scott Aquarium and Kingdoms of the Night for instance) or contain elements that are among or the best I've seen as well (Asian Highlands' snow leopard and takin habitats for example). When I visited about a year ago, Children's Adventure Trail, Butterfly & Insect Pavilion, and Wild Kingdom Pavilion were the major exhibit complexes still closed off, along with Simmons Aviary being renovated at the time. The first two and the Aviary have reopened since my trip, but it sounds like the great ape areas have been delayed at the moment.

As for Lied Jungle's forest floor, from a video I recall seeing some time ago there's underwater viewing for the Malayan tapir, pygmy hippo, and small-clawed otters; a stingray pool (which can be seen from above too); and some vines - I've seen pictures of tamarins so they probably have access to these still. I think I heard Philippine crocodile can only be seen here too. I'm sure there is more, but this all I can remember.
 
Milwaukee Man said:
Absolutely! :) There are several other exhibit complexes around to enjoy, many of which are either the best of their kind I've seen (Scott Aquarium and Kingdoms of the Night for instance) or contain elements that are among or the best I've seen as well (Asian Highlands' snow leopard and takin habitats for example). When I visited about a year ago, Children's Adventure Trail, Butterfly & Insect Pavilion, and Wild Kingdom Pavilion were the major exhibit complexes still closed off, along with Simmons Aviary being renovated at the time. The first two and the Aviary have reopened since my trip, but it sounds like the great ape areas have been delayed at the moment.

As for Lied Jungle's forest floor, from a video I recall seeing some time ago there's underwater viewing for the Malayan tapir, pygmy hippo, and small-clawed otters; a stingray pool (which can be seen from above too); and some vines - I've seen pictures of tamarins so they probably have access to these still. I think I heard Philippine crocodile can only be seen here too. I'm sure there is more, but this all I can remember.
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This is correct - the crocodile exhibit is the only larger enclosure that must be viewed from the lower level. As @Milwaukee Man mentioned, the free range animals (birds and maybe tamarins) are easier to see from the lower level. There are a few vivaria down there as well. Overall the lower path is more about atmosphere. It does a better job than any of the other big US tropical halls in making it feel like you're actually in a forest, but you don't miss many species if it's closed.
 
I would say the next time you get a new rare and large species for Lied Jungle will be when they redo the Lied Jungle, or part of it. It wouldn’t shock me if some of the monkeys went behind the scenes for COVID, same with the bottom floor so keep an eye on covid levels for your answer.
 
birdsandbats said:
I posted this on another thread, but just to make sure more see it - I have an opportunity to visit Omaha for the first time soon, and I recently learned that the lower floor of Lied Jungle is closed. What do I miss out on here, and is Omaha still worth visiting, knowing it will be quite some time before I have an opportunity to visit again?
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Definitely go! The lower floor is fairly small compared to the upper one, and is largely based around walking through heavily planted areas with small paths, like you're in a real jungle. As said above, it's mostly closer viewing for things you can also see from above - tapir, otters, arapaima, etc. There's some smaller exhibits built into the mock rock, like what's done in the dome. Those species on my visit (Oct 2018) were Pallas's long-tongued bat, green crested basilisk/ smooth-sided toad/ collared tree lizard, yellow backed dart frog, panamanian golden frog, green & black dart frog/ hourglass frog, yellow anaconda, plumed basilisk/ smokey jungle frog, central american tiger rat snake, asian black-spine toad/ bornean eared frog/ solomon island eyelash frog, and philippine crocodile. For their species, the exhibits are fairly large and heavily planted, giving me a lot of trouble finding anything at all (I'm usually 95%+ at finding herps, I don't like to move on until I've found them).
 
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m30t said:
Generally speaking, when one makes as claim (as you have about an alleged decline in animal numbers), the onus is on the one making the claim to provide factual sources that back it up.
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Just go in the jungle and objectively observe the missing animals. I might add if you know and care to answer, when are they replacing the bairds tapirs
 
TinoPup said:
I have, and no, I haven't gotten the same data, as explained above by others. Where online should I be looking?
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Simple look up an old report of our zoos animals, it will say 34,000, next look up a current report, it will say 17,000. I'm done arguing with the few of you who say prove it. If seeing 1 tiger. 2 ostriches 2 sable antelope, and 2 zebra in a world class 160 acre zoo doesn't do it for you then find someone else to debate with. This should be a forum where people can discuss differing opinions, NOT a club where everyone feels the same and doesn't want to talk about how to make our zoo better, which is what I was trying to do.
 
Lenny P. Lamb said:
Simple look up an old report of our zoos animals, it will say 34,000, next look up a current report, it will say 17,000. I'm done arguing with the few of you who say prove it. If seeing 1 tiger. 2 ostriches 2 sable antelope, and 2 zebra in a world class 160 acre zoo doesn't do it for you then find someone else to debate with. This should be a forum where people can discuss differing opinions, NOT a club where everyone feels the same and doesn't want to talk about how to make our zoo better, which is what I was trying to do.
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I mean you’re right when saying that this shouldn’t be an echo chamber but anyone who has spent any significant period of time on this forum can tell you it is FAR from an echo chamber and some of our biggest contributors hold vastly different opinions on a variety of subjects. Unfortunately it may seem like we are ganging up on you but most of us are confused to the points you are trying to make as well as to where you are getting your information from and are simply asking for a link as most of us do not have the time to research it ourselves. Discussions are a two way street and both sides need to provide proof towards the points they are making. Especially when an argument is largely contested by the community such as these numbers you keep repeating. And they need to be good sources such as directly from the zoo as other sites can misrepresent numbers.
 
TinoPup said:
Definitely go! The lower floor is fairly small compared to the upper one, and is largely based around walking through heavily planted areas with small paths, like you're in a real jungle. As said above, it's mostly closer viewing for things you can also see from above - tapir, otters, arapaima, etc. There's some smaller exhibits built into the mock rock, like what's done in the dome. Those species on my visit (Oct 2018) were Pallas's long-tongued bat, green crested basilisk/ smooth-sided toad/ collared tree lizard, yellow backed dart frog, panamanian golden frog, green & black dart frog/ hourglass frog, yellow anaconda, plumed basilisk/ smokey jungle frog, central american tiger rat snake, asian black-spine toad/ bornean eared frog/ solomon island eyelash frog, and philippine crocodile. For their species, the exhibits are fairly large and heavily planted, giving me a lot of trouble finding anything at all (I'm usually 95%+ at finding herps, I don't like to move on until I've found them).
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The bat and croc misses is disappointing, but it sounds like I’m not missing much else.
 
Echobeast said:
I mean you’re right when saying that this shouldn’t be an echo chamber but anyone who has spent any significant period of time on this forum can tell you it is FAR from an echo chamber and some of our biggest contributors hold vastly different opinions on a variety of subjects. Unfortunately it may seem like we are ganging up on you but most of us are confused to the points you are trying to make as well as to where you are getting your information from and are simply asking for a link as most of us do not have the time to research it ourselves. Discussions are a two way street and both sides need to provide proof towards the points they are making. Especially when an argument is largely contested by the community such as these numbers you keep repeating. And they need to be good sources such as directly from the zoo as other sites can misrepresent numbers.
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Good points. And yes many of you ARE hanging up on me. My sources are simy googling zoos websites for the most part. Anyway as I said this is not what I intended so I'm signing off.
 
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