North Carolina Zoo North Carolina Zoo News 2024

Breckenridge said:
The celebration of C’Sar’s 50th birthday finally happened today after being pushed back due to weather. C’Sar got an assortment of presents including hay, browse, fruit, and ice treats. There was also a big panel of photos telling his life story as well as a big card guests could sign.
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For anyone who doesn’t know, C’sar is the zoo’s older male elephant.
 
The Zoo’s Fall 2024 issue of Alive has some more information about the zoo’s future.

The first phase of the zoo’s expansion is almost here as Asia nears its opening date in 2026. Phases 2 and 3 are slated to follow in the next five or more years. This includes new expansions for Australia and South America as well as building a brand new aviary at a different location, which the state has already allocated over $60 million for.

There’s also more info on Asia and Australia in particular.

There are currently two species from Asia at the zoo:

-Komodo Dragon (on habitat in Desert)
-White-cheeked Gibbon (behind the scenes)

The tigers planned were also revealed to be the Malayan subspecies.

For Australia, it talked about some “for (almost) certain” animals planned, including.

-Koala
-Flying Fox
-Red or Gray Kangaroo

And other potential animals being considered include:

-Tree Kangaroo
-Echidna
-New Guinea Singing Dog
-Death Adder

No mention of cassowary or crocodile monitor like in previous plans.
 
Breckenridge said:
The Zoo’s Fall 2024 issue of Alive has some more information about the zoo’s future.

The first phase of the zoo’s expansion is almost here as Asia nears its opening date in 2026. Phases 2 and 3 are slated to follow in the next five or more years. This includes new expansions for Australia and South America as well as building a brand new aviary at a different location, which the state has already allocated over $60 million for.

There’s also more info on Asia and Australia in particular.

There are currently two species from Asia at the zoo:

-Komodo Dragon (on habitat in Desert)
-White-cheeked Gibbon (behind the scenes)

The tigers planned were also revealed to be the Malayan subspecies.

For Australia, it talked about some “for (almost) certain” animals planned, including.

-Koala
-Flying Fox
-Red or Gray Kangaroo

And other potential animals being considered include:

-Tree Kangaroo
-Echidna
-New Guinea Singing Dog
-Death Adder

No mention of cassowary or crocodile monitor like in previous plans.
Click to expand...
Glad to hear the species list for Australia is expanding! Really hoping the Echidna and New Guinea Singing Dogs make the cut! I'm not too upset about Cassowaries potentially being cut from the plans since Greensboro has them. Overall, it's a big relief to see that the Australia region will be much bigger than originally planned!
 
OkapiFan said:
Glad to hear the species list for Australia is expanding! Really hoping the Echidna and New Guinea Singing Dogs make the cut! I'm not too upset about Cassowaries potentially being cut from the plans since Greensboro has them. Overall, it's a big relief to see that the Australia region will be much bigger than originally planned!
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Yeah, It’s great to see Australia potentially being much bigger than previously shown, but nothing is set in stone and things can change multiple times before the final version is implemented.
 
Kangaroos are a dime a dozen and almost never fun to watch imo, but if NC is able to give them the same level of exhibitry and amount of space that the rest of the zoo boasts then I'm incredibly excited. But the tree kangaroo, echidna, and NGSD are all huge potential gets and I would be over the moon about any of them, let alone all of them. Singing dogs are almost nonexistent within AZA zoos, right?
 
I have visited the NC Zoo this past weekend, which also had some excellent weather to boot. Some notes from my visit.
  • Asia is coming along nicely. New pavement is being installed in front of the entrance, and the mesh exhibits, which I believe will be used for either primates or cats, can clearly be seen, especially from Prairie Outpost.
  • Speaking of which, it seems like infrastructure and furnishings have been installed for a new tram stop at Prairie Outpost; a shade structure and metal fencing for queue lines have been installed. This new tram stop will serve the new Asia complex.
  • A keeper advised me that they zoo now has 2 ostriches (I believe both are female) behind-the-scenes at Forest's Edge. The zoo is currently working on getting them acclimated with both the habitat and the Giraffes and Zebras. However, they are currently not being let out onto the habitat with said animals and during public viewing hours; only after-hours once the other animals are shifted off-exhibit. The keeper did not provide a time table for when they will be visible to vistors, so don't expect to see them anytime soon.
  • At the Cypress Swamp, the Sandhills display remains unused and unoccupied, as do the Indigo Snake terrarium and the 3 "Cypress Knee" terrariums in the covered pavilion. I am not sure what is going on here; this is another area of the zoo where it seems like there is less and less on display with each subsequent visit. I wonder if the zoo is preparing to overhaul this area as Streamside also saw habitats get gradually emptied out before it was overhauled.
  • A Zoofari guide advised me, when I inquired, that the zoo has no intention of reopening the Antelope trail, at least in the foreseeable future. This is the trail that starts near the Baboon exhibit and runs north along the western side of the main Watani Grasslands enclosure. This includes the covered observation deck that extends out slightly into the exhibit (you can easily see it from the Zoofari tour just after entering the enclosure). Also, I recall them telling me that said deck would need to be inspected and possibly have work done on it before they can allow visitors onto it anyway.
  • I didn't see this get mentioned anywhere in the previous news threads, but if you have visited the zoo since COVID-19, you may have noticed a large wall of rocks erected around the pond in the Watani Grasslands exhibit. Per a Zoofari guide, this rock wall was installed in 2020 after an unusually-intense bloom of blue-green algae occurred in the pond. As this presented a health risk to the exhibit's inhabitants, the zoo constructed the rock wall to keep the animals out. Thankfully, no animals have gotten sick as a result of the algae bloom. Prior to this, the animals did have access to that pond (the barrier fencing is still visible). I know this is kind of old news, but just wanted to throw that out there in case anyone was unaware.
  • Didn't see the Baja Blue Rock Lizard for the third time in a row now. But I did finally get to see their Komodo Dragon. As well as their Von der Decken's Hornbill chicks.
  • The signage for the American Black Bear is in dire need of replacement. It's so faded people have started writing on it so it could be read. I think it's the only signage in the North America region that hasn't been replaced yet (echoing @Breckenridge).
  • The Honeybee exhibit was closed; signage stated it was closed for the season, which is odd as I usually see them at this time of year.
 
Astrotom3000 said:
I have visited the NC Zoo this past weekend, which also had some excellent weather to boot. Some notes from my visit.
  • Asia is coming along nicely. New pavement is being installed in front of the entrance, and the mesh exhibits, which I believe will be used for either primates or cats, can clearly be seen, especially from Prairie Outpost.
  • Speaking of which, it seems like infrastructure and furnishings have been installed for a new tram stop at Prairie Outpost; a shade structure and metal fencing for queue lines have been installed. This new tram stop will serve the new Asia complex.
  • A keeper advised me that they zoo now has 2 ostriches (I believe both are female) behind-the-scenes at Forest's Edge. The zoo is currently working on getting them acclimated with both the habitat and the Giraffes and Zebras. However, they are currently not being let out onto the habitat with said animals and during public viewing hours; only after-hours once the other animals are shifted off-exhibit. The keeper did not provide a time table for when they will be visible to vistors, so don't expect to see them anytime soon.
  • At the Cypress Swamp, the Sandhills display remains unused and unoccupied, as do the Indigo Snake terrarium and the 3 "Cypress Knee" terrariums in the covered pavilion. I am not sure what is going on here; this is another area of the zoo where it seems like there is less and less on display with each subsequent visit. I wonder if the zoo is preparing to overhaul this area as Streamside also saw habitats get gradually emptied out before it was overhauled.
  • A Zoofari guide advised me, when I inquired, that the zoo has no intention of reopening the Antelope trail, at least in the foreseeable future. This is the trail that starts near the Baboon exhibit and runs north along the western side of the main Watani Grasslands enclosure. This includes the covered observation deck that extends out slightly into the exhibit (you can easily see it from the Zoofari tour just after entering the enclosure). Also, I recall them telling me that said deck would need to be inspected and possibly have work done on it before they can allow visitors onto it anyway.
  • I didn't see this get mentioned anywhere in the previous news threads, but if you have visited the zoo since COVID-19, you may have noticed a large wall of rocks erected around the pond in the Watani Grasslands exhibit. Per a Zoofari guide, this rock wall was installed in 2020 after an unusually-intense bloom of blue-green algae occurred in the pond. As this presented a health risk to the exhibit's inhabitants, the zoo constructed the rock wall to keep the animals out. Thankfully, no animals have gotten sick as a result of the algae bloom. Prior to this, the animals did have access to that pond (the barrier fencing is still visible). I know this is kind of old news, but just wanted to throw that out there in case anyone was unaware.
  • Didn't see the Baja Blue Rock Lizard for the third time in a row now. But I did finally get to see their Komodo Dragon. As well as their Von der Decken's Hornbill chicks.
  • The signage for the American Black Bear is in dire need of replacement. It's so faded people have started writing on it so it could be read. I think it's the only signage in the North America region that hasn't been replaced yet (echoing @Breckenridge).
  • The Honeybee exhibit was closed; signage stated it was closed for the season, which is odd as I usually see them at this time of year.
Click to expand...
The mesh exhibits you saw, from my understanding of the site plan and the update video posted in February, are indeed for primates and cats! As you can see in the image below, the king posts that are completely covered by treework are for the gibbons and the open-topped mesh enclosure's the second tiger exhibit. The far left space is for the vultures, and in between gibbons, tigers and Visayan warty pigs is the hornbill space.
Screenshot_20240910_000707_Samsung Notes.jpg
 

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