Bib Fortuna
Well-Known Member
Any more detailed informations about a planned, but now stopped Nocturnal Aninmal House in"Africa Rocks"?
San Diego Zoo New "Africa Rocks" complex at San Diego Zoo
- Thread starter DavidBrown
- Start date
I have not heard of a nocturnal house so I do not think it will be part of the development. I was there a few days ago and tried to get information about the African leopard exhibit from the Asian leopard keeper. Apparently everything is still up in the air, including exact details of exhibit design (at least as far as keeper knew) and what subspecies of leopard will be exhibited. All of the recent cat exhibits - puma, snow leopard, Amur leopard - have basically the same design and I expect this one to follow the pattern. This is just a guess on my part. (Editorial - I am somewhat disappointed that the new exhibits do not appear to be any larger than the old exhibits).
The only thing of the sort is a planned nocturnal building for aye ayes. I don't see why they'd cancel it, considering their aye ayes are in rather poor conditions now, with minimal visibility.
Spent the day at the SD Safari Park and happened across the two San Diego Zoo lions on their first full day in the Safari Park's enclosure — most I could find out was that they were shipped over a week ago while their space was getting renovated.
One volunteer mentioned they were being moved to a new spot in the zoo when they went back, but didn't know where. Maybe they're finally getting a bigger home?
One volunteer mentioned they were being moved to a new spot in the zoo when they went back, but didn't know where. Maybe they're finally getting a bigger home?
Several exciting factors to this...Obviously a new home for lions is fabulous,but what will go in their old exhibit? It'd likely have to adhere to EO's prehistoric American theming,but I suppose it's equally possible they could simply allow the jaguars to utilize both exhibits.
I highly doubt that. A lot of stuff has already been cut from African Rocks due to funding, why would they decide to build a new exhibit now? There isn't really space on the plan unless they decided to replace a planned species with lions.
Originally Posted by Oddernod View Post
"One volunteer mentioned they were being moved to a new spot in the zoo when they went back, but didn't know where. Maybe they're finally getting a bigger home?"
I don't what that volunteer was talking about. I wish they would just say "I don't know." instead of making things up. The lion and jaguar exhibit is getting a small renovation, something to do with the poles. Then they are moving back to their old exhibit at the zoo. I am not sure M'bari and Etosha are going to be happy about it, though. For now, I hope they are enjoying their vacation.
"One volunteer mentioned they were being moved to a new spot in the zoo when they went back, but didn't know where. Maybe they're finally getting a bigger home?"
I don't what that volunteer was talking about. I wish they would just say "I don't know." instead of making things up. The lion and jaguar exhibit is getting a small renovation, something to do with the poles. Then they are moving back to their old exhibit at the zoo. I am not sure M'bari and Etosha are going to be happy about it, though. For now, I hope they are enjoying their vacation.
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It does seem unlikely to happen,since nobody has heard anything about it although new lion exhibits have been mentioned on and off since Africa Rocks was first revealed. If I had to hazard a guess,though,I could easily see African Leopards being replaced with the lions due to lack of availability.
Interesting proposition. I mean no offense, but I will take the view that lions cannot "easily" replace leopards (though in many ways it would be a good move IMO). Lions need a large, semi-flat area (which the steep canyon has little of). Leopards use a smaller closed-top exhibit that can be built tall on just about any terrain. I do not think it would be an easy last minute switch.
It would not be easy,but judging from what I've heard it'd be easier than acquiring African Leopards. I do have to wonder what the headline species of this exhibit is meant to be. All the currently revealed species,though nice,don't exactly scream headline,even African leopards don't seem particularly exciting for a zoo that already has 2 new leopard exhibits. I wonder if this will be an area without any one major species,which would be a nice rare move in the zoo world.
I think the major focus of this exhibit is the African penguins.
A keep told me the Amur leopards are going to go into Africa Rocks. They are receiving a female from Europe and will move Amur breeding to Africa Rocks and keep Snow leopards in the new Leopard trail exhibit.
They new leopard exhibits didn't have enough space to breed 1.2 snow leopards and 1.1 Amur leopards.
Also nocturnal house, zebra, patas, vervet, and hornbill exhibits were cut due to budget.
They new leopard exhibits didn't have enough space to breed 1.2 snow leopards and 1.1 Amur leopards.
Also nocturnal house, zebra, patas, vervet, and hornbill exhibits were cut due to budget.
It's not that I distrust you,but I hope to god that's not correct. That would make this exhibit so incredibly underwhelming....That leaves what exactly left in this exhibit? Ratels,penguins,dwarf crocodiles,baboons and small bird species,since the lemurs were presumably cut with the nocturnal house,since they aren't mentioned on the website? Yikes. Disappointment of the century,or should I say centennial. That being said,presuming this is all true,zebras and vervet monkeys are still present on the official website for Africa Rocks. Shouldn't they rectify that?
Disappointing but expected. Also the SDZ news thread said 0.2 Amur leopards, did something change or something go wrong on their way here? Also, since after having quite a bit of opportunity, it's clear that 1.0 snow leopard Ramil is not interested in breeding, so if they shifted some things around and sent an animal or two away, they could fit all the Amur and snows into the new leopard exhibit, leaving the space in AR open for an African. However, they probably don't care too much about being geographically correct, so it'll just be a minor annoyance for me every time I think about it. I suppose we'll have to live with it.
Those cuts will leave the exhibit path feeling pretty empty. Interestingly, they hold almost all of those species already. Any ideas for what will become of the aye ayes in their outdoor exhibit? South African vervets are held behind the scenes and both species are breeding. I'm not sure if the zoo has patas yet. They've got about 30 hornbill species between zoo and park, they could take their pick.
@Shellheart, if the lemurs have been cut (which I doubt) then that is even more disheartening. However, Madagascar makes up about a third of the plans and the zoo has a few species for it (if their website can be trusted, 3 species of lemur as well as fossa) already.
Although the plans are becoming less and less extravagant, the sections that the exhibit is divided into are still interesting. Few zoos in America have such an extensive Ethiopian area, and the Madagascar exhibit (if it has not been totally scrapped) has potential to be better than other recent Madagascar exhibits.
The zoo's website still mentions several lemur species being added,but again,assuming that Otter Lord's source is correct,the zoo's website also mentions the zebras and patas monkeys,and shows a clear image of an African Leopard,which we now "know" aren't being included,so who knows how accurate either the site is or how accurate Otter Lord is...Unfortunately this exhibit is,within all likelihood,going to have to be a "wait and see" deal. We can speculate all we want and pull all sorts of sources who seem to say anything in the wide world of sports when it comes to new exhibits,but the only foolproof plan is to see for ourselves.
(No disrespect to Otter Lord or any of the others who posted insider info of course,but since this exhibit has begun,and in plenty of past exhibits,people have posted all sorts of crazy info from inside sources which later turned out to be inaccurate,so it's better safe than sorry)
The AZA is committed to amur leopard breeding (a much needed program). Almost every other AZA zoo that has leopards has amur even if they are in an african area. The general public would never be able to tell the difference between subspecies and would not care. Most people would not even know the difference between a leopard and a cheetah, which to me look nothing alike. Since the inception of this project I have suspected the exhibit will be african themed with amur cats.
