Well, the weather outside was not very frightful, so I had a visit yesterday that was delightful. Here are some updates (apologies if some of these are repeats or not as significant, but some of these were quite a treat, especially as I haven't been since June):
*There were only three otters present on display that I could tell. Anyone by chance hear anything about the fourth one?
*Small Mammals: Rather than staying on the top plateau of the mixed habitat, the male agouti was on the ground floor for a brief little bit - it was nice to see that section get utilized a bit more for once. Additionally, Quinn, the new female prehensile-tailed porcupine, seems to have added some life into what was becoming a pretty empty and tired section of the Zoo. She was climbing all over the branches of her primary enclosure, and would occasionally pop into the other two exhibits next-door. She seems to get a kick out of chasing the two armadillos around!
*The male giraffe born in July, Desmond, was cute to see. He and older half-sister Maya were hanging out together for most of the time I saw the giraffes.
*Adventure Africa: I passed through the section twice on my visit, both which yielded different positive results. With Impala Plains, I saw the two new male zebras in the morning, and the female ostrich pair was out in the afternoon - both species of which were the first time I've seen them on display in the new complex. Whereas the large birds were a bit more skittish, especially if a vehicle would pass nearby, the zebras were fairly content with wandering around and grazing. With the elephants, during the first round, Brittany and Ruth were hanging out in the main room of the barn, with Belle in a separate section towards the back (nice to get my first glimpse of the new pachyderm by the way
). Round two was more exciting, with the barn being closed while Belle and Ruth were getting introduced to one another. From what I could see through the windows, although they were separated by bars and a center aisle, they were reaching their trunks towards one another. As for Brittany during this time, she was taking in the chilly yet sunny day in the main habitat (see my "Highlight of the Day" section for that).
*ARC: The red-bellied piranhas look great in their new home, which is part of the African Lakes section of the building - an improvement over their previous tank (currently blocked off), which was quite small and had little detail. There are also a couple new snake additions to the building. One is a red-tailed ratsnake that has joined the green tree pythons, the other is a red-tailed boa residing with the green anaconda.
*With our discussion on Milwaukee's lion situation, I can confirm that while talking to someone I learned that the girls, Savannah and Amali, do indeed dislike Themba, and thus will not be introduced to each other.
*The following are in quarantine: red-tailed ratsnake, red-tailed boa, and American avocet.
*Construction: I'll admit, I'm having a hard time figuring out where the back wall of the hippo exhibit is going to be. From what I could tell, there is a large narrow hole with red framing where I imagine the pool and underwater window will be, followed by a narrow stretch of land; it would be far too small for the river horses if this were the entire exhibit space. However, there is also a dirt-filled area that used to be the bongo yard that looks like it was surrounded by the new rock work. I'm hoping that this section will also be hippo area, as while it might still be a bit tight, at least it could be an improvement in terms of land space. Can anyone confirm? On a side note, the deck that's in between the gazelle and former bongo yards is still standing; I imagine this won't last long though.
HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: As briefly mentioned before, I finally got to see at least one elephant enjoying the primary outdoor yard. While Belle and Ruth were meeting each other inside, Brittany had a little peace and quiet outside. She was just about all over the place, from one of the enrichment walls, to going along the edge of the watering hole. The best view came from one of the window slits by the watering hole entry. Although she was on the other side of the entry munching on some hay, it was a thrill to see her that close with just a bit of glass separating us.
I'll hopefully get some photos up soon.
. There was indeed one single ring-tailed lemur on display, hopefully another one or two join her in the future.
