It's a new year and first full year with the new zoo director in charge, I am excited to see what this year will bring.
I took my first trip to the zoo in some time, and I was surprised at some of the things. I was able to go through the primates building. It was honestly kinda depressing. The primates weren't active, many of the exhibits had experience a decline of animals since it was last open to the public, pre covid. I kinda just was sad to see that so many of these animals really didn't have natural substrate, or mates.
As I ventured over to the ARC, the jellyfish/cuttlefish exhibit is empty, instead they have filled it with single use plastic. I believe that they are trying to make a statement about use of plastic and how it ends up in the oceans/lakes/rivers, however there was no sign at all explaining what is happening in the exhibit.
Also the former Suriname toad exhibit is now a brackish/mango grove exhibit.
Lastly, the milk frog exhibit is no more.
The small mammals building is pretty much the same as it was before. The back half of the daylight primates is either roped off or the exhibits are empty.
Something that I noticed while walking around the larger outdoor exhibits was that there has been a renewed effort to plant trees but then also to protect them from the animals. Many of the exhibits such as the caribou, and elk had new trees planted.
The former rhino yard now has a new structure being built within it. It appears to be a shelter of some sort, not sure if it's for the South American tortoise or not.
Other then that not much was going on at the zoo. I am excited to see what is coming this year, with the knowledge that the new zoo director would like to acquire more animals that can be out longer in Wisconsin's seasons, the potential start to the last phase of adventure Africa, the updates to the elephants pool, will something replace the former polar bear exhibit, and will we finally get a male bongo to start a breeding program at the zoo. This year its looking to be an interesting one for sure, hopefully a lot of positive things are coming and
I took my first trip to the zoo in some time, and I was surprised at some of the things. I was able to go through the primates building. It was honestly kinda depressing. The primates weren't active, many of the exhibits had experience a decline of animals since it was last open to the public, pre covid. I kinda just was sad to see that so many of these animals really didn't have natural substrate, or mates.
As I ventured over to the ARC, the jellyfish/cuttlefish exhibit is empty, instead they have filled it with single use plastic. I believe that they are trying to make a statement about use of plastic and how it ends up in the oceans/lakes/rivers, however there was no sign at all explaining what is happening in the exhibit.
The small mammals building is pretty much the same as it was before. The back half of the daylight primates is either roped off or the exhibits are empty.
Something that I noticed while walking around the larger outdoor exhibits was that there has been a renewed effort to plant trees but then also to protect them from the animals. Many of the exhibits such as the caribou, and elk had new trees planted.
Other then that not much was going on at the zoo. I am excited to see what is coming this year, with the knowledge that the new zoo director would like to acquire more animals that can be out longer in Wisconsin's seasons, the potential start to the last phase of adventure Africa, the updates to the elephants pool, will something replace the former polar bear exhibit, and will we finally get a male bongo to start a breeding program at the zoo. This year its looking to be an interesting one for sure, hopefully a lot of positive things are coming and
