Yes and they removed a decent cheetah exhibit and created a new one that is actually worse.
Houston Zoo News 2011
- Thread starter Jordan-Jaguar97
- Start date
Yes and they removed a decent cheetah exhibit and created a new one that is actually worse.
I was there last weekend, the large exhibit next to the African Forest entrance now houses a pair of giant anteaters and two maned wolves, one of which is the male born back at the beginning of the year (the female was moved to a different zoo).
Along the row of small cats, the two smaller exhibits next to the leopards have been combined into one large exhibit which currently houses an ocelot. According to the keeper I spoke to, the zoo currently has a male and female fossa which are on rotation in the same exhibit, in part due to the fact that the pair was recently bred and the female is caring for three pups. He said the pups were currently small enough to fit through the exhibit mesh and so wouldn't be coming out until they grew more.
The zoo website has a special section (link below) explaining how their big cats were used as the models for the big cat article in the December 2011 National Geographic. They were photographed with professional studio lighting and a black background. Four of the photos are shown on the link, including their "leopard." As some ZooChatters know from previous photo posts, it is actually a leopard-jaguar crossbreed that the zoo took in from a closed sanctuary (which I presume to be the Wild Animal Orphanage that was in San Antonio). I am sure National Geographic knows none of this, but I wonder what will happen if they find out their leopard model is not actually a pure leopard. Maybe I am making too much of this, but it seems like a major blunder to publish in the worlds mostly widely read and respected natural history magazine. The photo (if it is the same one on the web link) shows mainly the head, so most people would not notice, but at the bottom of the photo, just below the cats neck, you can clearly see a mutliple rosette pattern more typical of a jaguar than a leopard.
Houston Zoo Featured in National Geographic Magazine | The Official Houston Zoo Blog
Houston Zoo Featured in National Geographic Magazine | The Official Houston Zoo Blog
The primate department has invited zoo visitors to help choose a new species to be housed in an empty exhibit in Wortham World of Primates. I'm not 100% sure having not visited that area recently but I believe it's the exhibit that used to house the golden lion tamarins. Anyone have any suggestions?
First Ever Zoo “Crowd Curated” Exhibit! | The Official Houston Zoo Blog
First Ever Zoo “Crowd Curated” Exhibit! | The Official Houston Zoo Blog
JBZvolunteer
Well-Known Member
I think it would be cool if they made it a golden headed lion tamarin and tamaunda or pudu mix. It would be cool if they could do all three
JBZvolunteer
Well-Known Member
They have now announced the finalist animals for the crowd curated exhibits and 2 of my three animals have made it in. Go team Golden Headed Lion Tamarin/Pudu!
Got the newest edition of the Zoo's magazine in the mail. It's mostly a summary of what has happened in the last 6 months. They are:
-Renovated tiger viewing platform
-baby greater kudu born (Aug 23)
-baby red-tailed guenon born (Aug 24)
-2 female white-faced saki monkeys brought in for breeding with solo male
-2 male provost squirrels born, first since Natural Encounters opened
-Toby, male Red Panda, has gone to Cincinnati, replaced by breeding pair Take and Keti
Finally, there is a story on the new elephant yard. Here is where the news is. I had suspected the elephant expansion was not complete and the article confirms it.
"Future plans for this area include expanding the bull yard and building a new bull barn."
With the bull yard renovated, including the barn, this would be a complete overhaul of the elephant yard over the art few years with no original buildings remaining. As a long time resident of Houston, I remember when the previous yard for the cows was built, but the bull yard has always been there in its current form for all of the 27 years I have been around. With 2012 slated to be mostly a fundraising year, I hope we see either the next part of the elephant yard or the next phase (of 3) of African Forest in 2013!
-Renovated tiger viewing platform
-baby greater kudu born (Aug 23)
-baby red-tailed guenon born (Aug 24)
-2 female white-faced saki monkeys brought in for breeding with solo male
-2 male provost squirrels born, first since Natural Encounters opened
-Toby, male Red Panda, has gone to Cincinnati, replaced by breeding pair Take and Keti
Finally, there is a story on the new elephant yard. Here is where the news is. I had suspected the elephant expansion was not complete and the article confirms it.
"Future plans for this area include expanding the bull yard and building a new bull barn."
With the bull yard renovated, including the barn, this would be a complete overhaul of the elephant yard over the art few years with no original buildings remaining. As a long time resident of Houston, I remember when the previous yard for the cows was built, but the bull yard has always been there in its current form for all of the 27 years I have been around. With 2012 slated to be mostly a fundraising year, I hope we see either the next part of the elephant yard or the next phase (of 3) of African Forest in 2013!