Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens Los Angeles Zoo News 2015

Happened to have the day off and decided to spend it at the zoo, walking up there were news crews from all the local stations. Sounds like a gardener was landscaping the gorilla enclosure before opening and slipped and fell in a moat on the west side of the gorilla habitat. I couldn't get anyone to clarify if it was on the bachelor or troop side, but several people said it was a 20 foot fall — and the employee broke his leg and possibly a couple fingers trying to brace himself.

From what I could tell from the news, it happened near the divide between the two sides near the glass walls at the end of the trail. My money is on the family troop side as it looked like from the news helicopter they carried him all the way out across the top to the normally closed gate doors.
 
A couple other news and notes from the recent trip:

I saw an ocelot at the LA Zoo for the first time. Don't know how I missed him or her before.

The new snow leopards are a lot more comfortable and playful than the last time I was there.

The roundhouse near the Francois Langurs is finally open and its completely dedicated to Golden-Cheeked Gibbons — lots of room for 6-7 of them to swing around in.

There's a nice new half-height fence to keep you from leaning against the railing and trampling the vegetation in front of the jaguars installation at the end of Rainforest of the Americas. It matches a similar stained wood fence that cuts off most of the eyelines to that big sanctuary behind the jaguars that's technically not open to the public.

The Pihrana tank at the front of Rainforest of the Americas is still closed, this time it was police-taped and completely drained dry.

The glass wall that was shattered in the chimp exhibit is still shattered and shuttered with compression boards — I still haven't heard exactly what happened here but its been in that state for a LONG time now.

A very active baby koala.
An extremely tiny baby howler monkey.
A Francois Langur baby with an impressive red mohawk.

Maybe I missed this in the past, but the male lion's left eye is completely dark — anyone know if this is a recent injury or has he always been this way? I went back through some old photos but I only have him from his right side.

Zebras are back.

The African Wild Dog's habitat has been severely landscaped — where as before I could rarely spot him to get a good look, there's almost no where left for him to hide now.
 
Oddernod said:
A couple other news and notes from the recent trip:

I saw an ocelot at the LA Zoo for the first time. Don't know how I missed him or her before.


There's a nice new half-height fence to keep you from leaning against the railing and trampling the vegetation in front of the jaguars installation at the end of Rainforest of the Americas. It matches a similar stained wood fence that cuts off most of the eyelines to that big sanctuary behind the jaguars that's technically not open to the public.

The Pihrana tank at the front of Rainforest of the Americas is still closed, this time it was police-taped and completely drained dry.
Click to expand...

Interesting news indeed,but I have a few questions. First,where in the zoo is the ocelot located? I believe that's a new arrival?
2nd,what species is in the large aviary behind the jaguars,and what do you mean the sanctuary "technically" isn't open to the public?
Lastly,what happened with the glass on the tank? I see it every time and can't help but wonder just what the heck happened.
 
Ocelot is in one of the roundhouses, I forgot which one, but it only had half of it — and it was tucked way up in theleft hand corner, hiding from everyone.

The sanctuary behind the Rainforest of Americas that used to be up the hill and pretty far off from eyeshot before the new path got carved in — I believe there are a bunch of condors or vultures back there, some sort of large and loud bird. And there's a bunch of them, but there's no path or signage to see them. When the jaguars were first let into their new enclosure, they were very interested in them. :)

I haven't heard a good answer on the glass yet myself.
 
And I guess I say technically as I walked up the hill to the aviary while construction was going on for RotA. Eventually someone walked up and asked me to leave since the animals there weren't supposed to ever be on-exhibit.
 
Shellheart said:
Interesting news indeed,but I have a few questions. First,where in the zoo is the ocelot located? I believe that's a new arrival?

2nd,what species is in the large aviary behind the jaguars,and what do you mean the sanctuary "technically" isn't open to the public?
Click to expand...

The ocelots have been at the zoo since at least the 1990s. Their exhibit is the former mountain lion exhibit in the children's zoo.

There were Cape vultures in the large cage behind the jaguars. It was accessible to the public before ROTA was built, but has been effectively off exhibit since construction started on the rain forest complex. I think that was originally a California condor exhibit for Topa Topa before the condor captive breeding program started in the 1980s.
 
Thanks David! I can't remember exactly where I saw the ocelot this time around but I don't think it was in the Children's Zoo area this time. Maybe I'm confusing it with another area but I'll check in the next time I stop by.

Thanks for the clarity on the cape vultures — I really wish you could get closer to check them out. It's a pretty large area, it seems even bigger than the vulture enclosure up at Santa Barbara. I'd love to get some shots of them stretching out and soaring.

I've got a weird question for you, as you have a lot more familiarity with the zoo than I do. What the heck is this sign for Adventure Land? I saw it in a graveyard way off behind the peninsular pronghorns.

What was Adventure Land?
 

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Oddernod said:
Thanks David! I can't remember exactly where I saw the ocelot this time around but I don't think it was in the Children's Zoo area this time. Maybe I'm confusing it with another area but I'll check in the next time I stop by.

Thanks for the clarity on the cape vultures — I really wish you could get closer to check them out. It's a pretty large area, it seems even bigger than the vulture enclosure up at Santa Barbara. I'd love to get some shots of them stretching out and soaring.

I've got a weird question for you, as you have a lot more familiarity with the zoo than I do. What the heck is this sign for Adventure Land? I saw it in a graveyard way off behind the peninsular pronghorns.

What was Adventure Land?
Click to expand...

I think "Adventure Island" was the name of part of (or the entire) Childrens's Zoo when it was renovated in the late 1980s. It included the infamous Betty White "Pepper's Ghost" gimmick in the cave exhibit area.
 
Wow, $8.3M goes pretty quick I guess — sounds like a lot of Adventure Land is still standing, if not used a lot less than it was intended for when it was built. It still saddens me to see that giant sea lion tank go unused. To be honest, I hardly ever see anyone in that entire area when I take my usual trip to see which direction the sloth is facing that day.

Thanks everyone, mystery solved!
 
Oddernod said:
Wow, $8.3M goes pretty quick I guess — sounds like a lot of Adventure Land is still standing, if not used a lot less than it was intended for when it was built. It still saddens me to see that giant sea lion tank go unused. To be honest, I hardly ever see anyone in that entire area when I take my usual trip to see which direction the sloth is facing that day.

Thanks everyone, mystery solved!
Click to expand...

Much of Adventure Island is still standing, but the children's zoo was renovated about a decade or so ago to re-theme the area. The current farm animal contact area was moved from the barn looking structure in the back of the area which is now closed to the public. The nursery area, cave, prairie dogs, ocelot, desert tortoise, thick billed parrot, and magpie enclosures are all as they were.

I saw the area in 1989 when it was new. The cave had animals in it (vampire bats, barn owl, ringtail, and striped skunk are what I remember). At least two of those enclosures had special effects that made it look like holograms of Betty White and Gary Shandling were appearing in the enclosures (using the Pepper's Ghost effect that red uakari mentioned). There was a mountain lion where the ocelot is now. There were sea lions where brown pelicans recently were. Other than that it seems like it is mostly intact now from what I remember from 1989. Perhaps others can fill in details if I missed something.
 
DavidBrown said:
Much of Adventure Island is still standing, but the children's zoo was renovated about a decade or so ago to re-theme the area. The current farm animal contact area was moved from the barn looking structure in the back of the area which is now closed to the public. The nursery area, cave, prairie dogs, ocelot, desert tortoise, thick billed parrot, and magpie enclosures are all as they were.

I saw the area in 1989 when it was new. The cave had animals in it (vampire bats, barn owl, ringtail, and striped skunk are what I remember). At least two of those enclosures had special effects that made it look like holograms of Betty White and Gary Shandling were appearing in the enclosures (using the Pepper's Ghost effect that red uakari mentioned). There was a mountain lion where the ocelot is now. There were sea lions where brown pelicans recently were. Other than that it seems like it is mostly intact now from what I remember from 1989. Perhaps others can fill in details if I missed something.
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This is an article I found about Adventure Island.

It was made before it opened.

Aging Children's Zoo Gives Way to Southwest Display for All Ages - latimes
 
Ocelot is in the roundhouse near the Mountain Tapir, right by the Cafe Pico where they serve Street Tacos™. I think that's a move from the last time I remember seeing it?

The new tiny baby langur (and his mohawk) is adorable, and when no one's around, those glass walls are a great viewing station.
 
Ocelot was in that roundhouse on December 20th, if that helps. I sadly didn't see the baby langur.
 
dcpandafan said:
This is an article I found about Adventure Island.

It was made before it opened.

Aging Children's Zoo Gives Way to Southwest Display for All Ages - latimes
Click to expand...

Interesting to see what the area used to be. A revitalization of the area after more vital parts of the zoo (namely,the lion exhibit) are done would be fantastic. Every time I go into the caves many of the exhibits are either totally darkened with signs or lit up and (as far as I could tell) empty and signless. It was odd.
 
 
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