Lincoln Park Zoo Lincoln Park Zoo News 2024

Emperor tamarins are a favorite species of mine, look forward to seeing if they end up in the former golden lion tamarin space at Small Mammal-Reptile House or the former lemur enclosure at Primate House.
 
Made a short visit today, and managed to see everything but the farm and Small Mammal-Reptile House in barely over two hours. I know it's standard to say the zoo can be done in two hours here but I've never been as productive on a short visit before.

There are a few changes to mention:
  • The Allen's Swamp monkeys have taken the former crowned lemur exhibit and are no longer mixed with the eastern black and white colobus. Credit to @Neil chace who first mentioned this to me after his visit.
  • Two-toed sloth are no longer signed or held in Helen Brach Primate House and the mixed with Pied tamarin has been discontinued.
  • Guam rail is no longer signed in McCormick Bird House. I was able to talk to a keeper who explained the animal is elderly, blind and now kept behind the scenes.
  • The amphitheater section of the Kovler Sea Lion Pool, which is often empty and roped off, was blocked with a large 'pardon our dust' sign, suggesting some improvements or alterations are being made. Viewing of the seal pool from the path was unaffected.
The former two changes seem very reasonable to me as I know from previous visits that the mixes were only part-time and sometimes caused issues during feeding time. I have not seen the rail on any recent visit and feared the animal had passed. The sea lion pool change really threw me for a loop though!

In addition, this was my first visit during the zoo's 'Fall Fest' event and while it was all clearly kid-oriented, it looked like a lot of fun for any families who might visit. There's a small ferris wheel near the Camel-Zebra Area, a bouncy house and mini ferris wheel sort of item by the shops, the main Gift Shop had a variety of cute pumpkins for sale outdoors, and near Helen Brach Primate House there were a lot of scarecrows and jack o' lanterns. I saw a lot of families and small crowds present today - the perfect mix

Some additional observations, none are real news:
  • This is the first time in years I happened to see one of the chimpanzees outdoors. This was near closing time and a single individual went outside, seemed to take one or two branches in his mouth, and then brought one inside with him. I wondered if this was nest-building behavior but he also looked like he might have been eating. I suspect it was Cashew who has been noting for enjoying building extravagant nests.
  • I had excellent luck with Patsy aardvark again, and was able to watch her feeding. Guests were in a sizable crowd watching and there were a lot of interesting comments, especially about her surprisingly long tongue. She went to her off-display area as soon as she lost interest in eating. That's two out of four visits this year compared to missing her almost a dozen times previous.
  • The North American black bears were out and one of them seemed to be enjoying apple slices in a tire. I'd almost forgotten the exhibit existed and this is my best experience with them so far. I forget how much I love bears.
  • I have never before seen all three of the zoo's eastern black rhinoceroes (Lulu, Utenzi and Kapuki) out at the same time. I actually didn't realize we still had three specimens. I do enjoy rhinos but it was especially fun to see several at once!
  • The polar bear was briefly sighted in the part of Walter Family Arctic Tundra that is only visible through foliage across from the Animal Hospital. A surprising number of guests picked up on this; the animal otherwise wasn't visible on my visit.
  • The pygmy hippo was active and enchanting so many guests that I didn't have a chance to get too close. The hippo went around probably a dozen times in the water, passing the glass, as if just to delight children.
  • The Golden orb spider, Pied tamarin, red wolf, and one of the two western lowland gorilla troops were all signed as temporarily off-display. I believe the latter is a regular occurrence late in the day, not sure if the others are regular.
  • I saw some other signage that seemed new but couldn't put it past myself that I'd overlooked before. Many of these seemed to look like life-size outlines of animals with a variety of educational facts printed on - there was one by the seals that had the names of the four current animals, one by the entrance to Center for African Apes shaped like a gorilla, and one by the polar bears. I know a similar sign has been by the lions for a while.
I was worried I'd arrived too late to enjoy the zoo properly, and it's tempting to joke that I didn't if I missed the Small Mammal-Reptile House that is often a highlight for me, but it was a lovely visit overall and well worth it.
 
JVM said:
there was one by the seals that had the names of the four current animals, one by the entrance to Center for African Apes shaped like a gorilla
Click to expand...

These two signs were put up a couple months ago. I think the polar bear one has been around for a couple years.

Regarding the sloths, the one in the Primate House was the offspring of the one at the Small Mammal-Reptile House. He now resides at Brookfield Zoo.
 
3 Pieces of November / Early December 2024 News Worth Mentioning:

On November 7th, the zoo announced that 2 Jambu fruit doves hatched in May and October respectively (first successful raising of the species by Lincoln Park). The zoo also announced that another Chilean flamingo hatched which is on exhibit.

Three New Bird Arrivals, Raised by Staff | Lincoln Park Zoo

On November 22nd, it was reported that during that morning a fire broke out at an outdoor propane storage area near Cafe Brauer. 2 people were injured (no animals were hurt) and a man who was believed to started the fire was arrested in early December.

Firefighter injured responding to blaze near Lincoln Park Zoo
Man facing arson charges for fire that injured 2 outside Lincoln Park Zoo's Cafe Brauer: CPD

On December 3rd, it was mentioned that the zoo transferred (0.2) Diana monkeys to the ZSL London Zoo in the United Kingdom*.

* Information given by @Pertinax and @Regent in the ZSL London Zoo News 2024 thread (Page 55 Post #1082 & Page 57 Post #1121 respectively).

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On December 13th, the zoo announced they released 31 Great Plains mudbugs back into the wild as part of a headstart program.

1.7K views · 49 reactions | Come with us to release some Great Plains mud bugs as part of a partnership between the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, Lincoln Park Zoo,... | By Lincoln Park Zoo | Facebook

On December 12th, the zoo announced that 5 black tree monitors hatched between October 31st and November 2nd.

Lincoln Park Zoo
Black Tree Monitors | Lincoln Park Zoo
 
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