Milwaukee County Zoo Milwaukee County Zoo news 2014

Updates from my visit on May 19th, in which I was able to see the entire zoo for the first time in quite a while:

*Happy, the male Nile hippo, was in the outdoor exhibit, while the female, Patti, was indoors. To my surprise, Patti was found in one of the indoor elephant pens.

*The new exhibit in the Australia building (kookaburra and tawny frogmouth) that opened last year only held a single kookaburra this time around.

*No new progress has been made on the black bear exhibit renovations. However, there is now a board with a drawing of what the habitat will eventually look like. In my opinion, it looks like it will definitely be an improvement, but I couldn't help but be disappointed that more trees or any up-close viewing windows won't be added.

*The Small Mammals Building has seen several changes lately. The Goeldi's monkey family and golden-headed lion tamarin have switched exhibits. Also, with the tayras now behind-the-scenes in Big Cat Country (which I heard was only temporary), several animals have moved around. A douroucouli and cotton-top tamarin are living together in one tayra exhibit, and a Goeldi's monkey and golden lion tamarin are living together in the other tayra exhibit. In the night side of the building, we lost our black-footed cat. As a result, the potto breeding pair has moved into the cat's exhibit, a springhaas and single potto (offspring of the breeding pair) share an exhibit, and the bushbabies now occupy an exhibit of their own. Speaking of bushbabies, our breeding pair had a baby one month ago - it's so cute! Finally, with the douroucouli moving over to the day side of the building, its exhibit is now another exhibit for our fennec foxes.

*In the Aquatic and Reptile Center, the tank that normally holds king cobra held about five black tree monitors. The tank next door was getting renovated. If I remember right, I believe that tank normally holds the monitors; if that's the case, I assume the king cobra is just temporarily living off-exhibit.

*For the new otter exhibit that will be a part of the new west entrance opening next year, the species will be North American river otter, meaning that the two living in the Small Mammals Building will be getting a new and improved home. Nothing has been determined yet about what will occupy the exhibit once the otters move out.

*Our jaguar breeding pair, Pat the Cat and Stella, are now back together. The two were seen in the indoor jaguar exhibit, while their two sons, B'alam and Zean, were outdoors.

*The outdoor lion exhibit is now nothing but a large area of dirt. There was no mention about when the renovation will be completed.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: The primates were probably the most active I've seen them in a long time. Maji Maji, one of the two bachelor gorillas, was outdoors patrolling the exhibit and even beat his chest a couple times. Two bonobos were climbing around indoors, and reached all the way to the top of where some foliage was caged off - the highest I've ever seen them climb. The de Brazza's monkey (only the second time I've seen him since he arrived two years ago) was climbing all around his exhibit. Finally, seven Japanese macaques (the most I've seen in a while) were running through the grass, swinging on some of their ropes, and climbed their rocky area for almost the entire time I watched them.
 
I am going to take my first visit to Milwaukee for an open house for the school I'm attending, we will go to the zoo, and most importantly we accidentally bought tickets for a Brewers game vs.... the Reds!
 
I just wwalked out of the zoo and I do have to say that this zoo exceeded my expectations and I was quite pleased despite all the hype about the outdated exhibits. Based off of the zoos I have visited, it did not live up to Columbus, Cincinnati, Indy, St. Louis, and Brookfield, but it did out do Lincoln Park, Louisville, and Cleveland. The Harbor Seal pup was without a doubt the "cutest" zoo baby I've ever seen.
 
Although there is an unorganized one online, I am in the making of writing down a full species list and I will type it out after the Reds game.
 
Good news - about a month ago, I got hired as a Zoo Pride Volunteer for Milwaukee County Zoo, and officially started a few weeks ago. For the last few weeks, I've been assisting with crowds during giraffe feeds, monitoring the feline building, and roving the Zoo. Here are some updates and news:

*As reported on here, there was a snow leopard cub born on June 1st. What makes this birth so special is that this makes the mother, 14-year-old Tomiris, the oldest first-time snow leopard mom in captivity.

*The harbor seal pup born on June 8th is without a doubt one of the cutest Zoo babies I've seen. It hasn't been named yet; the only thing I know about the pup, Milwaukee's first ever, is that it is a male.

*Last December, a Matschie's tree kangaroo joey was born, and is now starting to emerge from the mother's pouch - another very cute Zoo baby. This is the mother's sixth joey - from what I heard, apparently that's a record for tree kangaroo mothers in captivity.

*On June 23rd, I was lucky enough to be assigned to the feline building that morning. Why? Because that was the day the outdoor lion exhibit finally re-opened after renovation. Unfortunately, there is very little improvement that was made. The only noticeable change I noticed is the addition of a few logs that will be good for scratching and other forms of enrichment.

*Sadly, the baby orangutan Kecil didn't get accepted by our female MJ. He has been sent to Brookfield Zoo, where his new surrogate mother, Maggie, is shown more interest. Here's an article with more details: Update on Orangutan Infant, Kecil | Milwaukee County Zoo

Photos will be coming soon!
 
Updates from this week, all of which are regarding felines:

*The feline building had a surprise waiting for me on Monday (July 7th); while roving, I strolled passed the former indoor cheetah exhibit and saw........a female caracal! :D Her name is Camila, and it was her very first day out on exhibit. However, she was incredibly shy - other than a few steps into the exhibit, she mostly hung out by the door to the behind-the-scenes space. Camila is Milwaukee's first caracal in 10 years; caracals lived in the feline building until it closed down for the redesign, and the small cats didn't return due to the focus on the large cat species. Unfortunately, the next two days I was at the Zoo, she was nowhere to be seen.

*On July 8th, Sanura the lioness and our two female tigers, Tula and Nuri, celebrated their birthday. Sanura turned 11, and the tigers turned 5.

*The world's fastest land mammal has sped back into town! :D Two 9-year-old female cheetahs, named Imara and Kiera, made their debut on Wednesday (July 9th). Because I was working at Kohl's Wild Theater (a show arena that opened in the Family Farm complex in 2011) that morning, I didn't get a chance to see them until the afternoon. At first, only Imara was to be seen; apparently Kiera decided to jump down into the moat between the cheetah and impala exhibits. When I returned to the exhibit a couple hours later, Kiera had come back up from the moat (thanks to a ramp).

*After talking to a keeper regarding the caracal and cheetahs, I was told that the caracal will only be on exhibit indoors (in the former indoor cheetah exhibit), and the cheetahs will only be on display outdoors. No rotations will take place.
 
I was so excited when I heard that a caracal had arrived (I too am a member of Zoo Pride at the MCZ) but when I was there on July 9, I did see the cheetahs, but not the caracal. Thank you for the extra information on her! I was told by Scott (the man who does the I-Pads with the orangs. I think his name is Scott) that the caracal was hissing at everyone because she is indeed very shy and is still getting used to her new home. Glad you got to see her though!
 
Updates from the last couple weeks:

*Camila the caracal is now fully on exhibit; but of all the times I've seen her, she is always hanging out inside one of the two boxes in the enclosure.

*Kiera and Imara the cheetahs have settled into their new home very nicely. They usually love to relax in one of the corners of their exhibit and only a few times came up to the viewing windows, unlike our previous cheetah pair (brothers Damara and Nama), who would almost always hang out near the glass.

*The harbor seal pup is temporarily off-display because he is in the process of weaning from his mother.

*After not seeing it last week, I was able to see the tree kangaroo joey this week once again. The joey is now starting to explore its surroundings outside of mom's pouch. As mentioned before, it is just about the cutest animal baby I've seen in a while.

*Snow Lilly the polar bear is temporarily off-exhibit due to construction. The only work I saw being done however, which was on 7/21, was the door to the behind-the-scenes area getting repainted.

*At the former warthog exhibit, signage for the new species is now up, and renovations look close to being done. As stated before, this is an animal brand-new to Milwaukee. The brand-new species is..........the red river hog! :D (I know, they're starting to become very common in U.S. Zoos, but still they are a lot fun to watch) With the exhibit, a mud hole, another log to sleep in, and a shade structure made of logs along the back fence were added. All the exhibit seems to need is more grass to be planted.
 
Is the caracal's name Camila or Callie, because I've heard both from Zoo Pride members. (I also have not seen her out of her box) Great news to hear about the red river hogs exhibit and tree kangaroo joey!
 
Wild wolverine said:
Is the caracal's name Camila or Callie, because I've heard both from Zoo Pride members. (I also have not seen her out of her box) Great news to hear about the red river hogs exhibit and tree kangaroo joey!
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I've never heard Callie - only Camila. I should hopefully get some photos up in the gallery of the joey and red river hog process soon too.
 
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