Looking back on 2023

[DesertRhino150]

Now that there are just 17 days left in 2023, I think now is as good a time as any to make a thread to look back on the year. Here are four questions:

1. What is your personal zoo visit highlight?
2. What is your favourite piece of zoo news of the year?
3. What was your most disappointing zoo news of the year?
4. Is there anything zoo-based in your plans for 2024?

 

[Baringogiraffe12]

Now that there are just 17 days left in 2023, I think now is as good a time as any to make a thread to look back on the year. Here are four questions:

1. What is your personal zoo visit highlight?
2. What is your favourite piece of zoo news of the year?
3. What was your most disappointing zoo news of the year?
4. Is there anything zoo-based in your plans for 2024?

1. Personal zoo visit highlight would be seeing the male Chinese pangolin at Zoo Praha back in February 2023.
2. Favourite piece of zoo news is a relatively recent one with the birth of the harpy eagle at Nurnberg.
3. The closure of the Crocodile Swamp at Paignton Zoo, a very nice tropical house, and some nice species held within.
4. My aim for zoo visits is always between 10-20 different collections each year, plus various trips to collections I am a member of. 2019 included 26 different collections, 2020 was 16 collections, 2021 was my worse year recently at 9 collections, 2022 ended on 15 collections and 2023 is ending on 12/13 collections.

 

[Zoofan15]

What is your personal zoo visit highlight?

Visiting Melbourne Zoo for the first time. It’s Australia’s oldest zoo and has a fascinating history with world class exhibits. Seeing the Snow leopards, Asian elephant calves and Collared peccary were a highlight. For those wondering, the latter are the last of their species in the region and can’t be imported.

What is your favourite piece of zoo news of the year?

The import of Auckland Zoo’s female Bornean orangutan (Daya). It indicates a clear long term commitment to the breeding programme and the next step towards growing a larger colony.

What was your most disappointing zoo news of the year?

Adelaide Zoo’s revised masterplan. Mandrill, Western lowland gorilla and Sri Lankan leopard have been canned; with the gorillas removed from the plans so they can build a savannah exhibit for giraffe, ostrich and nyala.

Is there anything zoo-based in your plans for 2024?

Auckland Zoo and Hamilton Zoo are both hoping to welcome litters of Sumatran tiger cubs in 2024; so all going well, I hope to enjoy watching them grow up.

 

[Austin the Sengi]

Funnily enough, I originally had plans to create a very similar thread later this year. But now that this thread has been created, I suppose that I can always try again this time, next year:

1. Being fortunate enough to visit my new top two favorite zoos for the first time ever; with those two being Zoo Miami and the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium.

2. I couldn’t decide if the recent giant eland births at Zoo Miami or the birth of “Banks” the jaguar cub at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens were my favorite, so I just decided to mention both.

3. There wasn’t a lot of zoo news this year that really impacted me in a negative way. But if I had to choose, then I suppose that the passing of “Lolita/Tokitae” at the Miami Seaquarium was very devastating, yet somehow not unsurprising given her age and living conditions.

4. After my previous plans were dashed to see them at the Smithsonian National Zoo. I hope that a visit to Zoo Atlanta to see their current Giant Pandas will help to make up for the loss.

 

[Brum]

Zoo Visiting Highlight - Probably Folly Farm in general, wasn't expecting such a high quality zoo but I was blown away. First visits to National Marine Aquarium and New Forest WP were also memorable, as was Banham for the IZES meeting.
Species-wise highlights were Striped Weasels, Lear's Macaws, and Black-backed Jackal at Welsh Owl Garden, Paradise Park, and Hamerton respectively.

Favourite Piece Of Zoo News - The sheer shock of two totally unexpected UK collections going into Polar Bears! Seen the ones at Peak, looking forward to visiting Jimmy's next year. Second place is the Small Indian Mongoose moving to London and being promptly put on-show. Now I'm just waiting to hear they're visible and I'll be on my way to London...

Most Disappointing Zoo News - Probably the way Jersey seems to be heading is very sad to see. It's falling far very quickly. Also the job losses and subsequent fallout with their CEO at Zoos East Anglia.

4. I've stopped making concrete plans as life keeps getting in the way, but I'm sure next year will bring several new collections and a fair few repeat visits as well.

And now for some personal stats (as of writing, the year's not over yet) - 32 collections visited with one return visit to each of Dudley, Hamerton, and Johnsons, and two return trips to Birmingham. Makes for a total of 37 total visits. Ten collections were new for my life list, and several more hadn't been visited for 25ish years so had mostly changed beyond recognition.

Full list if anyone's interested (You are, zoo nerds love lists! ) -

West Midlands Safari Park
Drayton Manor
Twycross
Linton
Johnson's x2
Hamerton x2
Shaldon
Paignton
Banham
Woolaton Hall
Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park x3
Welsh Owl Garden
Folly Farm
Paradise Park
Newquay
Exmoor
Tropiquaria
Dudley x2
National Marine Aquarium
Buckfastleigh Otters & Butterflies
Sea Life Birmingham
Peak WP
Hoo
Raptor Foundation
New Forest WP
Blackpool
Blackpool Sea Life
Bolton Museum Aquarium
Manchester Museum Vivarium
Welsh Mountain Zoo
Rhyl Seaquarium (4 days before it unexpectedly closed)
Chester

 

[oflory]

Now that there are just 17 days left in 2023, I think now is as good a time as any to make a thread to look back on the year. Here are four questions:

1. What is your personal zoo visit highlight?
2. What is your favourite piece of zoo news of the year?
3. What was your most disappointing zoo news of the year?
4. Is there anything zoo-based in your plans for 2024?

1. What is your personal zoo visit highlight?
Perhaps the California condors at Chapultepec Zoo. A much wanted lifer, and the entire bird section at the zoo was closed when we arrived for no discernible reason, only to open at midday. Phew!

2. What is your favourite piece of zoo news of the year?

Not necessarily a 'zoo' but continuing Sumatran rhino births at Way Kambas have kept me happy

3. What was your most disappointing zoo news of the year?

I don't know if this is confirmed but I think the spotted laughing-thrush at London has died or moved, my favourite bird there. More generally, the impending use of the Reptile House at London for a family/children function room (I am happy to be convinced, if it is good!) and the sad news about declining species from @lintworm 's excellent 'Trends' thread.

4. Is there anything zoo-based in your plans for 2024?
Hopefully a Netherlands trip around Eindhoven, a Tenerife wedding to include Loro Parque (and birding), the Istanbul dolphinarium (and birding on an otherwise non-zoo trip with my Dad), Poznan and Brno/Zlin. Watch this space! Oh, and a San Diego, Los Angeles and Dallas trip!

 

[pachyderm pro]

1.) What is your personal zoo visit highlight?

Getting lucky enough to see the spotted fanaloka at Nashville back in July. He's usually off-exhibit, only occasionally being brought out for brief presentations. After speaking with a few employees one them radioed the fanalokas keeper and she brought him out near the end of the day. The entire visit was a great time, but that was undoubtably the highlight and I am immensely grateful for the ambassador team for letting me see the little guy.

2.) What is your favorite piece of zoo news of the year?

Getting the official announcement of outdoor primate habitats for Tropic World at Brookfield Zoo. This project has been rumored for years and is badly needed, so seeing the final plans and renderings after all this time was amazing.

3.) What was your most disappointing zoo news of the year?

I would say the reveal of Brookfield Zoo's master plan getting delayed to next year was pretty disappointing, but now that's no more than a month or two away so that's really not a huge deal. The real biggest disappointment was probably the closure of the iconic Caribbean Reef rotunda at Shedd Aquarium. I'm sure the replacement will be very nice, but it'll never live up to the brilliance of the old display. I have many fond memories of that tank and it will be missed.

4.) Is there anything zoo-based in your plans for 2024?

At the beginning of next month I'll finally be revisiting the San Diego parks for the first time in six years. Suffice to say, I am absolutely stoked. Equally thrilled about the several new exhibits opening at Brookfield over the next year which I've been eagerly anticipating. Hoping to also revisit Indianapolis to see the new chimpanzee complex and maybe making it out to Tucson, Arizona and visiting the collections there.

 

[Fallax]

1. Seeing the baby Coquerel's Sifaka at Chester Zoo. It felt very special to see such a rare baby and I had to wait quite a bit to see it as well.
2. There's been so much this year I've forgotten but I'll go with Wilhelma getting quokkas, certainly a new exciting species for Europe.
3. Rhyl Seaquarium closing, mostly for personal reasons.
4. Not really many plans, I haven't had the money to afford travelling this year so my zoo trips have been very limited. My main goal is to visit at least one zoo that isn't in my home area and see some new species! After this year I'll take anything. Particularly looking forward to the new snow leopard development at Chester however.

 

[PossumRoach]

• What is your personal zoo visit highlight?

• What is your favourite piece of zoo news of the year?

• What was your most disappointing zoo news of the year?

• Is there anything zoo-based in your plans for 2024?

1. Well, I didn’t really have a big visit highlight since for most of the time I stayed at Turkey. Overall I visited some (dubious) collections that have never been visited by anyone else and I am glad to contribute these collections to the gallery.
2. Knowing that three European zoos (one of them being a major collection) adding common brushtail possums to their collection did put a smile on my face. Dvur Kralowe importing aardwolves and two English zoos obtaining polar bears is also great.
3. One of the aardwolves in Czechia dying is quite unfortunate. I can’t really think of anything else that makes me really sad. The three EAZA zoo members in Turkey not doing anything (be it by choice or not) is quite sad to see
4. I don’t want to set myself to high expectations but I am currently in abroad in a land where I can discover new zoos. However since my priority is studying I might not be able to see as much places as I want.

 

[kiang]

Personal zoo visiting highlight;

Seeing the giant pandas for the last time at Edinburgh Zoo.

Favourite piece(s) of zoo news;

Import and subsequent births of Tasmanian devils at Copenhagen.
Birth of pangolin at Prague.
Birth of male balabac chevrotain at wroclaw.
Harpy eagle hatching at Nuremberg.
Continued gaur breeding at Zlin.
Brown hyena import at Hamerton.
Quoll breeding at Linton.
Quokka import at Stuttgart.
Sifaka Birth at Chester.

Disappointing zoo news;

Death of Europe's last klipspringer & dama gazelle.
Harewood closing.
Death of Margrit, bonobo at Frankfurt.
Death of UK's only musk deer at Edinburgh.

 

[Nile Hippo Expert]

Now that there are just 17 days left in 2023, I think now is as good a time as any to make a thread to look back on the year. Here are four questions:

1. What is your personal zoo visit highlight?
2. What is your favourite piece of zoo news of the year?
3. What was your most disappointing zoo news of the year?
4. Is there anything zoo-based in your plans for 2024?

1. Watching elephants trumpeting at each other at Honolulu Zoo.
2. Hearing that not one, but two Sumatran Rhinoceros calves were born not that far apart.
3. Hearing that the San Diego Zoo's last Asian Elephant passed away only 6 weeks shy of keeping them for one hundred years straight with no breaks in between.
4. I plan to visit Disney's Animal Kingdom, Lowry Park Zoo, and Busch Gardens Tampa in mid-to-late-March 2024.

 

[NMM]

Now that there are just 17 days left in 2023, I think now is as good a time as any to make a thread to look back on the year. Here are four questions:

1. What is your personal zoo visit highlight?
2. What is your favourite piece of zoo news of the year?
3. What was your most disappointing zoo news of the year?
4. Is there anything zoo-based in your plans for 2024?

1 Seeing Polar Bears at Peak Wildlife Park.
2 The nearest zoo to me, Beale Wildlife Park, acquiring Arctic Foxes. A great new addition to the collection.
3 Nothing I can think of. None of my local zoos have gone out of any significant species this year.
4 Nothing beyond more visits to my local zoos.

 

[CMP]

What is your personal zoo visit highlight?
Visiting both CAS and MBA. I really enjoyed them both, I thought they had the perfect balance of species and exhibitry; excellent in both regards!

What is your favorite piece of zoo news of the year?
Hearing about the Australia developments at Brookfield was probably the most welcome suprise this year. The Australia house is already one of my favorites, and one of the best of its kind in the country, so adding more species and enclosures will take it to the next level. When all is said and done, Brookfield may very well have a top 3 Australian collection outside of said continent.

What was your most disappointing zoo news of the year?
As @pachyderm pro mentioned, the closing of the central Caribbean reef at Shedd was quite sad to hear, it was always a highlight of each visit.
The continued decline of River's Edge at the St. Louis Zoo wasn't too great to read about either.

Is there anything zoo-based in your plans for 2024?
I have some big ambitions, but those haven't gone too far for me in the past...
Realistically, I'll try to get to most of the Illinois zoos and maybe other top midwestern zoos, like Detroit, Toledo, Columbus, and others I haven't been to yet. I'm excited to see the new developments Brookfield and Indianapolis have.

 

[Prochilodus246]

What is your personal zoo visit highlight?
I personally thoroughly enjoyed my first visit to London Zoo. The weather was pleasant, saw 59 new species, enjoyed walking through a zoo steeped in history and got lovely photographic opportunities.

What is your favourite piece of zoo news of the year?
The arrival of Brown hyena at Hamerton, quokka at Wilhelma & Brazilian merganser at Prague

What was your most disappointing zoo news of the year?
I personally cannot think of anything that has upset me this year in the zoo world but the closing of Rhyl Seaquarium surprised me.

Is there anything zoo-based in your plans for 2024?
I have first visits booked for the following collections in two trips:
Newquay Zoo, Blue Reef Aquarium & Paradise Park for Spring 2024
Berlin Zoo & Berlin Tierpark for Summer 2024

I will make my annual Chester visit and maybe pencil in some other collections like SeaLife Birmingham for a first visit and I desperately need to re-visit Manchester Museum, Bolton Museum & Hamerton too. I am also certain to make a couple of visits to Reaseheath College Zoo as well over the course of next year.

 

[Lafone]

I’ve had a lovely zoo year lots of fun visits and exciting stuff.

1.What is your personal zoo visit highlight

I’ve had some fantastic trips to places I haven’t been to before and lots of exciting animals to see but I am going Shoebill at Exmoor. A real wow moment among a year of excellent moments.

2. What is your favourite piece of zoo news of the year?

Some great stuff this year, two red pandas cubs and otter pups at Whipsnade, lynx kittens and then arctic foxes arriving at Beale, multiple cotton top youngsters at CWP, the young red howler at YWP, young red bellied tamarins at Hamerton. Tiger cubs at Banham and Shepreths Scottish wildcat kittens. The expansion of Polar Bear holders was another big highlight (and indeed visiting the red squirrels at Peak on a visit intended to be about the bears). And new brown bears at Whipsnade too. And a brown hyena at Hamerton! And the roadrunners. And Hamerton completing their great new bear viewing platform.

Edited : also to add the new CWP lion house being completed such a smart new addition.

Excellent all round. I’ve had some amazing photo times this year. And of course and nearly the winner, two fantastic crane chicks (red crowned and saurus) to enjoy.

But overall I’d have to go with Whipsnade getting its own pride of lions again with Waka and Winta the females now joined by Malik. I enjoyed the holidaying lions but I’d followed the old pride for many years and I was so very sorry when Neo and then Max and Kia were the last to go. The prospect of many years of lion fun again was a highlight for me. Watching the two females chasing the ostriches today reminded me how lucky I am to spend time at my hobby.

3. What was your most disappointing zoo news of the year

I was disappointed Banham and Africa Alive made some of its dedicated team redundant particularly so close to Xmas (and that the CEO then also left) a very sad set of circumstances for such lovely zoos that usually bring such a lot of enjoyment.

4. Is there anything zoo-based in your plans for 2024?

Scottish Zoos - am aiming to see Highland wildlife park in particular. Otherwise planning to spend my time out with the camera at zoos and looking at our native species where I can find rhem!

 

[JVM]

What is your personal zoo visit highlight?

This is actually really tough for me right now, as it's been a really big zoo year for me. I feel very lucky my dad was able to accompany me to Saint Louis and I think he had a really good time even if he doesn't wear his interest in animals on his face. It was a lovely institution and I had a great time there. It's really hard to focus on any one aspect of the trip by itself. That said definitely the real experience highlight was having the chance to feed a hippopotamus at Milwaukee with some close friends. That's a memory for the books and a tough one to beat for any zoo. I'll throw in that I finally visited both Chicago zoos in the same day as well for my birthday so that was fun!

What is your favourite piece of zoo news of the year?

All of the news regarding Brookfield. I was growing borderline ashamed of my home institution amid many years of stagnation and unaddressed problems and wasn't shy that I currently view Lincoln Park as superior in comparison. Seeing the construction of Tropical Forests in person last week drove me crazy; some of my earliest posts on this website a decade ago were about the future construction of outdoor primate habitats and it feels crazy to think it's finally coming to fruition. This combined with some kind of Australia expansion, the new bird exhibits, and Dr. Mike's fairly open ambitions for the zoo's future... it feels like the zoo has such a bright future ahead right now, with room to grow in a way few zoos still can, and I can't wait to find out more and see the results.

My runner-up is the news that Milwaukee is looking to a new small mammal building. Nobody saw that coming compared to the previous master plan and it's a unique project in the overall zoo landscape,

What was your most disappointing zoo news of the year?

I feel like the honest answer is Zoey's transfer out from Brookfield - an active black-footed cat was one of the highlights of recent visits so I'd miss her. That feels like a dumb answer as a lot else has happened, including the arrival of sand cat which is a cool addition to fill the same niche, but at the time it really bothered me! I was also really upset about the time and date at which National's pandas were moved, although I did come to understand it completely with time, the fact it took place right as I was about to schedule a trip for that very weekend made something that had nothing to do with me feel a little weirdly personal.

However, I'm going with the closure of Caribbean Reef as well. This was poorly-handled in my opinion. This was the kind of iconic exhibit that deserved a farewell party, a "see it before it's gone" situation, and it was scrapped very quickly and without fanfare. It was clear that it wasn't going to last forever with the previously announced changes, but it went abruptly and that wasn't the right way to go about it.

Is there anything zoo-based in your plans for 2024?

Several. In fact, I'm a little overwhelmed in a positive way. I am in various stages of planning for a UK trip that will hopefully include at least three major facilities as well as trips to Atlanta and Washington DC, all including zoos among other stops, but I'm also hoping to make shorter trips to Indianapolis, Peoria, Bloomington, possibly Madison or Fort Wayne. I'd also like to revisit Saint Louis once or twice. Toledo was briefly discussed as well. With some luck I might double my lifetime total. I'm also hoping to meet some pleasant company in some of these places. I doubt everything will work out but I'm really hopeful. I'm in a place right now where I can arrange the time to travel easily with work, which is a luxury I won't have as close by when I eventually switch jobs, so I'm eager to cram a lot in the next year.

 

[PantheraLeoMelanochaita]

1. What is your personal zoo visit highlight?

Getting to visit the Bronx Zoo for the first time! It was my graduation gift. Experiencing the Bronx Zoo with my loved ones was one of the most special zoo experiences I've ever had. Such an amazing zoo. Getting to see bobcats, a lifelong favorite of mine, for the first time at Buttonwood Park Zoo was also great.

What is your favourite piece of zoo news of the year?

The multitude of births and improvements for big cats; Fort Worth Zoo's Predators of Asia and Africa, The Living Desert's announced new lion exhibit, Lincoln Park Zoo's lion births, and San Diego's Amur leopard and Sumatran tiger births were particular highlights.

What was your most disappointing zoo news of the year?

Definitely Tokitae's death. Over the past couple of years, orcas have become one of my favorite species; they're extraordinary animals by every measure, from intelligence to social dynamics to phenotypic diversity. During some difficult personal times for me this year, having a new (to me) species to research and explore provided a sense of meaning. I still wish people focused more on how amazing they are in the wild rather than fixating on captive orca issues, but I admittedly became engrossed in the orca captivity debate, researching it from its very beginnings to the Blackfish era to now. I oscillated from pro to anti to pro to anti as I learned more. I was always so moved by Tokitae's story and how the Lummi people felt connected to her, and even if I had my doubts about the feasibility of a sea sanctuary, I still wanted her out of that pathetic fishbowl. Learning that the animal I had been following and rooting for for months on end had died just as plans to improve her life were taking shape broke my heart. She was such a patient and spirited animal, and she deserved better.

Is there anything zoo-based in your plans for 2024?

I hope so! I don't have any plans set in stone as of yet, but I will hopefully get to visit more AZA facilities that I haven't been to yet. I also mighttttttttttttttt go to the AZA annual conference or do an internship, but I have no idea if I'll be able to yet.

 

[Dr. Wolverine]

Now that there are just 17 days left in 2023, I think now is a good time to make a thread to look back on the year. Here are four questions:

1. What is your personal zoo visit highlight?
2. What is your favorite piece of zoo news of the year?
3. What was your most disappointing zoo news of the year?
4. Is there anything zoo-based in your plans for 2024?

1. There are a couple, so I will list just a few.

- Saitama Children's Zoo
- Night Safari
- Singapore Zoo
- Bird Paradise
- River Wonders

I've been dying to go to all these facilities, and I finally did! Many rare species and wonderful enclosures in those zoos.

2. My favorite zoo news was when the baby Japanese Serow in Inokashira Park Zoo was named "Coco". She was so cute and was the highlight of every visit!

3. Sadly, there are many. I will list out the ones that hurt me the most.
- The last Tasmanian devil in Japan died at Tama Zoo.
- The last Ribbon Seal in captivity died at Aquamarine Fukushima.
- Inokashira Park Zoo's 31 out of 40 Japanese Squirrels died because of poor judgement by the zookeepers, who filled their enclosures with pesticide. This zoo has one of the best squirrel enclosures I've ever seen, and this was really disappointing.

4. No, I don't have any zoo plans for 2024 yet. I'll go with the flow

 

[Kalaw]

1. Personal Zoo Visit Highlight? Visiting Zoo Zurich for the first time, which I can now confidently say is the greatest zoo that I have ever visited. It perfected everything that you would expect from a zoo, but also brought some new, previously unheard of ideas to the table, and perfected them as well. It was so ridiculously good.

2. Favourite Zoo News of the Year? London Zoo receiving Small Indian Mongooses from Chester. I haven't seen them yet, and have been warned which they are very shy and elusive, but with how much growth of my local zoo's mammal collection has slowed lately, the arrival of a species that no other zoo in Europe has is very exciting. It is enhanced by the fact that carnivores are my favourite mammalian order, and how exasperated I was to get to Chester, hoping to see them, and only to realise that they were being kept entirely off-display.

3. Most Disappointing Zoo News of the Year? Crocodile Swamp at Paignton Zoo closing down. Outside of specialist zoos, I am not sure if there is a crocodile house in Europe that comes close to this one in terms of scale, ambition and the quality of its enclosures, and it topped it all off with an excellent botanical department. Whipsnade replacing the sea lion house with a picnic area and London replacing the old reptile house with a family play area also saddened me, but in both instances, those zoos have very exciting new exhibits and species coming up which more than make up for this, whereas Paignton seems to be going entirely downhill, unfortunately.

4. Plans for Next Year? A trip to Germany and Czechia which would allow us to visit Prague Zoo is definitely the most exciting plan for next year. Depending on how much time we have, I may or may not also be able to visit Dresden Zoo on that same trip, but Prague is obviously the priority. At some point, I also plan on making a first time visit to Hamerton Zoo. Over the summer, we are now limited to travelling within the UK, seeing as we now own a dog, but this would hopefully still allow for at least one brand new British zoo. Peak WP, Yorkshire WP, Blackpool and Knowsley are all being considered.

 

[KiwiBirb]

1. Saint Louis Zoo and it’s not even close
2. Learning that the Bronx Zoo obtained a 2nd pair of Ring-Tailed Vontsiras
3. It’s close between the Bergen County Zoo losing accreditation and the news that came in today that the Prospect Park Zoo won’t reopen until August
4. I plan on visiting Ireland for the first time which will include visits to the Belfast and Dublin Zoos