Disney's Animal Kingdom® Park News from Disney's Animal Kingdom

Neil chace said:
I'm not a fan of Avatar Land, and didn't visit that section of the park on my visit, but I don't know which of these two ideas are worse. At least Avatar loosely fits into the park's overall themes, such as the intrinsic value of nature, something that Moana, and certainly not Zootopia, connect to. They just don't thematically fit the park.
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Seriously? If anything, I think Moana and Zootopia fits perfectly to the park. Moana's whole theme revolving around going in Polynesian islands and Pacific ocean, and Zootopia integrating

You have to remember this is a Disney park at first and zoo a second and they'd definitely fit in both magic of it.
 
Emanuel Theodorus said:
Seriously? If anything, I think Moana and Zootopia fits perfectly to the park. Moana's whole theme revolving around going in Polynesian islands and Pacific ocean, and Zootopia integrating

You have to remember this is a Disney park at first and zoo a second and they'd definitely fit in both magic of it.
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I know this is a Disney Park, and I still stand by that I don't see either of those lands fitting into DAK. Joe Rohde, the imagineer responsible for DAK, has stated in the past how Zootopia most certainly does not fit into the DAK, due to a "no pants" rule, as the park focuses on the natural world- not an artificial world of animals living in a big city. I completely understand the desire to see IPs integrated into the Animal Kingdom, and there are IPs that can fit comfortably into the park, however I can't see how Moana, and certainly Zootopia, fit. Had they decided on, say, a South American themed zone, this zone could've featured a number of IPs as well, such as Indiana Jones, UP, and Encanto. With Encanto being one of the most popular, newest Disney movies at the moment, I honestly expected this to be the way they went with that space. Furthermore, Encanto features animals in it, with a character whose magic power is speaking to animals, and has a number of animals featured in the movie (including jaguars, tapirs, toucans, and tamarins). Any of these IPs and a South American section would fit into the magic of the park and fit in with the themes of the park, but I can't see Moana or Zootopia fitting into the themes of the park, and would expect them to feel rather out-of-place. If you feel differently, that's fine, but I don't see either fitting, let alone fitting "perfectly".
 
I’ve mentioned before that I understood how Moana could work, but not Zootopia. I could *maybe* come up with something from the Isle Royale predator-prey studies and other interesting pairs of hunters and hunted, but like. Then it wouldn’t really be Zootopia, would it? The entire point of that movie is that predators and prey can coexist. Which uh. Closest thing to that would be remora and sharks, maybe. And I think Dreamworks has that one covered.

I hadn’t considered your idea for Encanto before and I actually kind of really like it? Granted, Discovery Isle + The Oasis are already de facto South America sections and I love getting lost in the forest / marsh trails there. But a dedicated section with capybaras and jaguars would be cool.
 
Persephone said:
Granted, Discovery Isle + The Oasis are already de facto South America sections and I love getting lost in the forest / marsh trails there.
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You're not the first person to mention that Oasis/Discovery Island are "de facto South America sections", and honestly, I never really got the impression that it is. South America as a designated section would not need to mean the end of these sections. Most of the species in the area are not South American, such as babirusa, kangaroos, Wallabies, lappet-faced vultures, Lesser Flamingos, lemurs, and much of the waterfowl, and of the South American animals there, most make better sense in the current exhibits than in a theoretical South American zone, such as the galapagos Tortoises and the rest of the waterfowl. Really the only species that could be moved into the South America would be Giant anteaters, Cottontop Tamarins, and possibly the Macaws. The anteaters especially would be rather easy to figure out a replacement for, so really if South America was built it wouldn't affect Oasis/Discovery Islands much, only a few minor changes if Disney opts for moving those few species. And really, given DAK's ideal climate and ability to have tropical foliage outdoors, I honestly think it's a real shame they never took advantage of it by designing an Amazon/South American exhibit. Jaguars and capybaras, like you mentioned, would be two great choices for popular species to feature in a new South America zone, as would a plethora of other unique and interesting species.
 
Some updates from my visits on 12/16 and 12/17/
  • The gar in the Oasis section has moved the exhibit right before the babirusas. They share the exhibit with a pair of Nene.
  • The Rhinoceros Iguana exhibit is empty and the sign has been removed.
  • The Barnacle Geese share their exhibit with Red-breasted Geese and a Yellow-billed Duck
  • There were no fish in the otter exhibit
  • There are no longer Banded Leporinus in the Giant Pangsius pond
  • There is now a Pink-eared Duck in the Birds of the Royal Forest aviary!
 
Some updates from my visit this week during my Disney trip:
- The rhino iguana is still there, it’s just been colder recently so he is kept off exhibit for the winter until temperatures warm up. That’s what I was told, don’t worry he’s perfectly fine.
- The ring-tailed lemurs are rotating with the collared brown lemurs while introductions are being made. As there were some confusion before there are still two collared brown lemurs at the park. They are two very, very old males. Thierry, the older one is 35 and the oldest of his species in the world! Despite his age, he’s still in very good health. You can tell him from his gray face. The younger one, Antonine, is 30. Most lemurs live around 20 years old, so they have far exceeded their lifespan. The collared brown lemurs are often hard to find since they prefer high in the trees. In all my visits I’ve only ever seen them a couple of times. Maybe people have heard rumors that one died since they are very old, but they’re both still there.
- Anala the Sumatran tiger has left, and there is now a new male tiger at the park.
- The prehensile-tailed skink and black tree monitor exhibits in JungleTrek are empty, since it has been colder recently. The prehensile-tailed skink in Rafiki’s Planet Watch is back on exhibit.
- The front exhibit at the Oasis is undergoing construction. Two of the African spoonbills are temporarily in the African Aviary in the gorilla trail. The rest, including two more African spoonbills and a bunch of roseate spoonbills, are off exhibit.
- The gopher tortoise exhibit in Rafiki’s Planet Watch is covered up by a red curtain. I lifted it up and peeked in and there was nothing so I’m not sure what’s going on.
- As of December 28, 2022, I have an updated list on how many of the elderly goats of sheep are left. There are 3 goats and 4 sheep left. When I last went in June there were 5 sheep, but one of them, Blanche, died in August of natural causes. We’ve been pretty lucky with the goats with having three for over a year, but we’ve been pretty unlucky with the sheep, with having 9 in December 2021 and losing 5 in the last year. The park also recently got a few young male lambs, which are very entergetic. I was told they climbed on the platforms the goats climb on but that’s honsetly shocking. I’ve never heard of a sheep liking to climb. Sheep always prefer ground level while goats like to climb.
Tubbs(M) Alpine Pygmy Goat(age 15)
Bueller(M) Alpine Pygmy Goat(age 14)
Kit(F) Alpine Pygmy Goat(age 15)
Fern(F) Florida Native Sheep(age 14)
Sophia(F) Katahdin Sheep(age 11)
Rose(F) Katahdin Sheep(age 11)
Swan(F) Southdown Babydoll Sheep(age 11)
 
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Milwaukee Man said:
I don’t think we’ve heard any births yet from this group.

Also, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t AZA switch back to phasing lion-tailed macaques out now?
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That could be. Sad to see that species go. I remember the first time I saw those when I was nine years old in the Minnesota Zoo.
 
SwampDonkey said:
I wish they wouldn't they are such a neat animal. Sometimes the AZA just doesn't make sense and limits what animals we get to keep in AZA zoos heavy handedly.
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The AZA doesn't "limit" what animals AZA Zoos get to keep. The AZA may make recommendations on what species they manage, but countless zoos have, and continue to, manage species not recommended by the AZA. While the AZA is phasing out lion-tailed macaques, that doesn't mean a zoo can't choose to manage the species themselves. Oftentimes, however, the reason the AZA phases out a species is that not enough zoos are managing it for the population to have any chance of being successful, a decision they don't take lightly. Personally, I don't think it's justifiable to blame the AZA for the number of species being phased out of collections, but the zoos themselves and whatever their philosophies of collection planning are.
 
SwampDonkey said:
I wish they wouldn't they are such a neat animal. Sometimes the AZA just doesn't make sense and limits what animals we get to keep in AZA zoos heavy handedly.
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The decision to phase out lion-tailed macaques was not made by AZA; there is no employee at AZA who decides what species are or are not managed as SSPs. It was a reflection of the fact that many zoos no longer wanted to work with this species due to the fear of herpes. The TAGs decision to drop the species is a reflection of the reality that there wasn't enough interest in AZA member institutions to keep this population going. The fact that there are robust populations in European and Asian facilities also made this dwindling population less important from a conservation perspective.
 
SwampDonkey said:
I wish they wouldn't they are such a neat animal. Sometimes the AZA just doesn't make sense and limits what animals we get to keep in AZA zoos heavy handedly.
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Lion-tailed Macaques went back to phase-out for a couple of reasons. The population is increasingly elderly, with basically no breeding in years despite a few animals being imported from Europe to try and improve things. Disease concerns (particularly herpes) has diminished interest in the species as well. A few collections have held onto them such as DAK and SDZ, but with no breeding success even with new blood imported Lion-tails have ended up as a dead-end species.
Also the AZA isn't that heavy-handed, they have no actual power on forcing animals in and out. They can only make suggestions via the TAG recommendations and monitoring certain established/special interest species via SSPs.
 
Thanks for the information everyone, I wasn't aware of the specific issues to LTM. Although I disagree as to how heavy handed the AZA is, broadly.

While it may be a soft hand, it is heavily placed at times. The choices different zoos have taken seems to bear this out, as has conversations I have had with people both currently in and formerly in the AZA. The AZA does a LOT right, but the top down nature of the organization can be an issue in regards to collection planning and master plan development.
 
SwampDonkey said:
Thanks for the information everyone, I wasn't aware of the specific issues to LTM. Although I disagree as to how heavy handed the AZA is, broadly.

While it may be a soft hand, it is heavily placed at times. The choices different zoos have taken seems to bear this out, as has conversations I have had with people both currently in and formerly in the AZA. The AZA does a LOT right, but the top down nature of the organization can be an issue in regards to collection planning and master plan development.
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What would you propose as an alternative to how the AZA manages programs though? Sure, I can pinpoint some specific areas I could see some slight improvements, and no organization is perfect, but the worst thing to happen would be a return to a laissez-faire style of population management where sustainable populations aren't a focus. If populations aren't sustainable, there will come a time where there aren't animals for us to have. I'd argue more of the issue is with the zoo management not the AZA management for having misplaced priorities in collection planning, and I wish more Zoos would look at how common species are nationwide to choose species most in need of additional holders, such as going with a different callicthrid species that's AZA managed instead of the Golden Lion or Cottontop Tamarins so many zoos have, or going with a different Spheniscus species instead of African Penguins. Those are decisions that the zoos make, however, not the AZA. If anything, I'd argue the TAGs need more power to enforce which of similar species zoos can keep- in an effort to more evenly distribute holding space amongst species with similar requirements. But I certainly wouldn't say the AZA takes too much of a top-down approach.
 
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