Lincoln Park Zoo Visit Report: 04/18/21
My first visit of the year to the zoo and springily there was a lot happening. It was a slighty cloudy day with little humidly and overall pleasant weather. I spent about three hours at the zoo and took some updated pictures as its been a while since the gallery was updated with an influx of pictures from the place. A few notes of interest.
Pepper Family Wildlife Center is Nearing Completion:
The zoos newest upcoming addition is really starting to take shape. Compared to my last visit at the end of last year a ton of progress has been made. The rockwork has been done - including a massive heated rock in the center of the west most yard, the viewing areas have been set up, and the whole event space/coffee shop between the exhibits seems to be almost done. Apparently the center will even have a sunroof where the lions can walk above the visitors. Some of the animals from the previous lion house will indeed be making a return. No specifics yet, as the zoo is assessing how the animals did in their old habitats and sounds like only about three or so species will be coming back, and many will have access to more than just one habitat. I do find it a bit odd that they are keeping the old cages around, but to be fair I'm not really sure what they could do with that space. Still no exact date for opening, but the zoo is still aiming for a late summer/early fall opening.
Indoor Exhibits Reopened:
Several indoor exhibits have been reopened, thankfully. Between Lincoln Park and Brookfield I don't think I ever fully realized just how much of these zoos are indoors. They all had brief queues to get in but it wasn't very long at all. For future reference here is a following list of all of the opened and closed buildings.
Open
-African Journey
-Primate House
-Small Mammal/Reptile House
Closed
-Bird house (may have only been today, as they had a tent and line queue in front of it like the rest of the open buildings).
-Center for African Apes
-Children's Zoo Indoor Building
-Seal Pool Underwater Viewing
Misc Updates:
- There have been a few changes in the rainforest atrium in the small mammal/reptile house. The asian small clatter otters now have access to two exhibits, the one they've always had and the one adjacent to it that used to contain a crocodilian of some kind. The Jamaican iguanas also have access to two exhibits now, the existing one and the former Patagonian cavy exhibit. I assume the zoo no longer has that species in their collection.
- The fish have been removed from the pygmy hippo pool.
- This isn't a new update but it was never posted on the news thread, so for anyone unaware a new training panel for giraffes has been installed in the Savannah yard.
Animal Highlights
- The gorillas were putting on quite the show. One was beating his chest and then was chased by another who was swinging a blanket at him like whip. Very entertaining and was the first time in years I seen the gorillas in the bamboo forest exhibit. Even when they are given access, they almost always prefer to be indoors.
- Both polar bears - Siku and Talini (thats her name right?) - were together today. Between these two and Hudson and Hope at Brookfield, surely at least one of these pairs must have cubs on the horizon. Columbus has been single-handed carrying the US polar bear population as of late so some new blood would be great news.
- A beaver was making a ruckus in its holding area, gnawing on the fence and vocalizing.
- Two Japanese macaques were hugging each other, huddled together. Very cute indeed.
- Both the snowy owls and white storks seemed to be nesting today.
- There was a massive group of wild black-crowned night herons vocalizing above the red wolf exhibit in the children's zoo. I never noticed them before and there were at least a dozen nests scattered around the trees. Really neat.
Overall, a very fun day at the zoo. I am becoming increasingly excited about the fourthcoming lion exhibit and am entering anticipating its completion. Lincoln Park is real gem of a zoo and I am so happy to see it come so far in recent years. I can only hope Brookfield can soon get some love as well, as while their situations are hard to compare, Lincoln Park really makes Brookfield look shabby by comparison.
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