Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens Los Angeles Zoo News 2023

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Elena said:
Today there was construction fencing around the Gorilla Grill and the restrooms across from it. I didn't see any sign with any information about the project or how long it might take.
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Today I saw a sign stating that Pink's will be opening at the location of the former Gorilla Grill. The coming soon sign notes that Pink's is "A Hollywood Legend Since 1939", and is a familiar name to locals.

There is now additional construction in that area, as there was plastic covering the front of the roundhouse across from the white-cheeked turaco exhibit (the one that years ago had scarlet ibises and some other birds and animals), however, I couldn't find out any information about what was being done in there. That portion of the pathway is now closed. You can walk from the zebras all the way around that lower loop as far as the African wild dogs and then you have to turn around.
 
Elena said:
Today I saw a sign stating that Pink's will be opening at the location of the former Gorilla Grill. The coming soon sign notes that Pink's is "A Hollywood Legend Since 1939", and is a familiar name to locals.

There is now additional construction in that area, as there was plastic covering the front of the roundhouse across from the white-cheeked turaco exhibit (the one that years ago had scarlet ibises and some other birds and animals), however, I couldn't find out any information about what was being done in there. That portion of the pathway is now closed. You can walk from the zebras all the way around that lower loop as far as the African wild dogs and then you have to turn around.
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Wow a Pink’s stand is coming to the LA Zoo, it’s awesome to see a local and beloved restaurant as part of the zoo.
 
According to the zoos Instagram, the Zoo will be closer this Sunday and Monday due to tropical storm Hillary. Interesting that they’re also planning on closing Monday - the two Sam Diego parks plan on reopening then.
 
Cat-Man said:
According to the zoos Instagram, the Zoo will be closer this Sunday and Monday due to tropical storm Hillary. Interesting that they’re also planning on closing Monday - the two Sam Diego parks plan on reopening then.
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The Zoos are over 100 miles apart. The Park is a bit closer to LA. The storm will hit my home around 4:00pm. I am 35 Miles South of the LA Zoo. The storm will be relatively clear of San Diego come Monday morning, but the LA zoo will be dealing with the tail end of it and then clean up and damage assessment. San Diego is also a private nonprofit, while the LA Zoo is City run, which in LA means; understaffed, underpaid, underfunded, and moves slowly. The staff will probably get it up and running for Tuesday, but only because they are miracle workers. This of course, for all three zoos, is assuming the damage is minimal. All three have steep terrain, so flood damage and mudslides are the biggest issue. In my neighborhood this Winter we had two trees fall due to rain showers. One crushed a woman to death in her car. We don’t handle rain well in So Cal, so this will do more damage and harm than the same storm blowing across Florida.
 
timmychompchomp said:
The Zoos are over 100 miles apart. The Park is a bit closer to LA. The storm will hit my home around 4:00pm. I am 35 Miles South of the LA Zoo. The storm will be relatively clear of San Diego come Monday morning, but the LA zoo will be dealing with the tail end of it and then clean up and damage assessment. San Diego is also a private nonprofit, while the LA Zoo is City run, which in LA means; understaffed, underpaid, underfunded, and moves slowly. The staff will probably get it up and running for Tuesday, but only because they are miracle workers. This of course, for all three zoos, is assuming the damage is minimal. All three have steep terrain, so flood damage and mudslides are the biggest issue. In my neighborhood this Winter we had two trees fall due to rain showers. One crushed a woman to death in her car. We don’t handle rain well in So Cal, so this will do more damage and harm than the same storm blowing across Florida.
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Thanks, the makes sense. Here’s hoping everything goes well.
 
So after a three long year absence since COVID, I will be returning to volunteer at the zoo around October.

I heard there is construction on the Cape Vulture exhibit what is the progress on it?

Also what changes have happened that I should know about when I return?
 
Elena said:
A zoo educator mentioned that James the Masai giraffe moved to the Oregon Zoo during the week. That would mean the 1 year old must be the one moving to the Columbus Zoo as noted in the Zoo Commission minutes from the 4/18/23 meeting.
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Correction: Based on the Columbus Zoo's social media post today, James moved there and not to Oregon:

Columbus Zoo and Aquarium on Instagram: "We were going to tell you a giraffe joke, but it's too long! Anywho...here's a fun fact about giraffes that you might not know: The markings on a giraffe are unique to that animal, just like a human's fingerprints and the stripes on a zebra. : Giraffe (James)"
 
Marshall the Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros arrived this morning from Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo! He's being quarantined in the exhibit area next to the markhor exhibit where a mountain tapir most recently resided. They're still doing work on the other 2 spaces that were most recently used by the hippos. He was visible today, but visitors were kept behind a barrier which was back from the exhibit. In conjunction with his arrival, Tiger Plaza has been renamed Rhino Plaza on their newly designed maps (which are even worse and more useless than the ones they replaced, in my opinion).

A baby Kikuyu colobus monkey was born in late August and is on exhibit.
 
Elena said:
In conjunction with his arrival, Tiger Plaza has been renamed Rhino Plaza on their newly designed maps (which are even worse and more useless than the ones they replaced, in my opinion).
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Is the new version of the map viewable anywhere online? I checked the zoo's website but the map posted there seems different from the one you are talking about.
 
ZooElephantsMan said:
Is the new version of the map viewable anywhere online? I checked the zoo's website but the map posted there seems different from the one you are talking about.
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I didn't see it posted on their website yet when I just looked. I did take a quick cell phone photo of one of the maps at the zoo which was posted at the bridge outside the langur house, worth mentioning because it doesn't match the "you are here" graphic on the map.
 

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The new (awful) map with the new (strange) themes has been uploaded to the website.

it shows the rhinos returning - was this return somewhat unexpected?
 
Cat-Man said:
The new (awful) map with the new (strange) themes has been uploaded to the website.

it shows the rhinos returning - was this return somewhat unexpected?
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It is very nice that there is Indian rhino at the zoo again. It was expected that they would be back, so that is not a surprise, especially with the hippos going away. It did happen sooner maybe than many of us expected.
 
DavidBrown said:
It is very nice that there is Indian rhino at the zoo again. It was expected that they would be back, so that is not a surprise, especially with the hippos going away. It did happen sooner maybe than many of us expected.
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I know the plan was always to have them back at some point, but I’m not sure we expected it to be so soon, did we? Is this the enclosure they were previously kept in?

I’m certain I’ve asked this before and I’ve just forgotten the answer, but what happened to the American Black Bear?
 
Cat-Man said:
I know the plan was always to have them back at some point, but I’m not sure we expected it to be so soon, did we? Is this the enclosure they were previously kept in?

I’m certain I’ve asked this before and I’ve just forgotten the answer, but what happened to the American Black Bear?
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Yes, the rhino is in what has always been the Indian rhino exhibit. The black bear died of old age. Bears are planned to return when the native California zone is built, whenever that is.
 
DavidBrown said:
Yes, the rhino is in what has always been the Indian rhino exhibit. The black bear died of old age. Bears are planned to return when the native California zone is built, whenever that is.
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Thanks for your help, David. I suspected this was the old Rhino enclosure which makes me think this is an unexpected, if welcome, development.
 
Im going to try and visit the zoo Sunday. It will be my first visit since 2019. Please could somebody let me know what species should I look out for?
 
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