It takes way, way more than that to make a mixed species exhibit. They would never risk the snake being injured or eaten.
Philadelphia Zoo Philadelphia Zoo 2021 News
- Thread starter CarLover
- Start date
It takes way, way more than that to make a mixed species exhibit. They would never risk the snake being injured or eaten.
Not always. The beaded lizards and desert tortoise are both ground animals, and they share a large exhibit right next to the anacondas. The sailfin lizards and black tree monitors used to share an exhibit and they are both arboreal. You are right, sometimes it works like that like the Chinese three-striped box turtle and crocodile lizard exhibit in the rotunda of the Reptile House. The turtle usually is in the pool which visitors can see underwater. The lizard is usually hiding on land and occasionally close to the surface of the pool. The lizard is so small in such a large exhibit I rarely see it.
Aardwolf
Well-Known Member
I'm offering this perspective not as a visitor, but as a former reptile keeper who's taken care of many mixed-species exhibits. You can have two terrestrials, or two arboreals, or what have you together, but you need to provide more space than you would if it were either species alone. Even then, the results can be unsatisfactory in many cases. I've seen too many exhibits where people say "it works" just because one animal hasn't eaten the other, when in reality it doesn't "work" - one animal might be intimidated to an extent that it doesn't engage in natural behaviors, or utilize parts of the enclosure that it would if it were on its own. Or, you have a pain of time making sure everyone is eating properly.
re: my post two days ago about this being a news thread and not a speculation thread.
If you are going to share information from a newsletter others don't have access to, please at least clarify when you are giving information that came directly from the zoo and when you are speculating. Ad-libbing your own ideas and throwing them into news posts without identifying them as your own makes it confusing to tell what the zoo actually said.
The news came directly from the zoo that the cobra arrived, but the part saying if it was going on exhibit is a speculation. Please, please don’t be this person. Even though this is a news thread it doesn’t prohibit speculation.
I don't really agree, but ultimately that's up to the mods. All I ask is that from now on you distinguish between what the zoo said and what ideas you pull from your own head, instead of mixing them together and leaving others to puzzle out which is which.
Some updates in McNeil Avian Center
-The male golden-breasted starling passed away over covid, he was very old. Their chick also passed away when the chick was less than a year old. The zoo is down to one golden-breasted starling, a female. Now, the only original African Savanna bird is the cattle egret in Wings of Asia, who is also pretty old.
-There is now only one Guam kingfisher on exhibit, the female. The pair on-exhibit started to fight and they didn’t want them breeding. So, they were separated. The zoo has a bunch of Guam kingfishers off exhibit besides the one male.
-The hammerkops have been changed, the male from the pair who came a few years ago has left and a new male has came. The female from that pair has stayed.
-A metallic starling passed away a few months ago after fighting with one of the birds-of-paradise. The zoo still has several metallic starlings left, all the metallic starlings are pretty old so I wasn’t surprised the one got in a fight, when animals get older they get weak like us. That is unfortunate.
-Cookie Monster the great blue turaco is back on-exhibit.
-Only one Mariana fruit dove left. The female left to another zoo to breed, but at 21 years old her age is not valuable to the AZA population and most likely won’t produce a baby. I’m surprised. The remaining male is also very old, we don’t know his exact hatch date but it was sometime before 1998. I rarely see him. Since covid I’ve only seen him once in the Tropical Rainforest.
Note: this is all news, not speculation. Some of the news I have known for a while.
-The male golden-breasted starling passed away over covid, he was very old. Their chick also passed away when the chick was less than a year old. The zoo is down to one golden-breasted starling, a female. Now, the only original African Savanna bird is the cattle egret in Wings of Asia, who is also pretty old.
-There is now only one Guam kingfisher on exhibit, the female. The pair on-exhibit started to fight and they didn’t want them breeding. So, they were separated. The zoo has a bunch of Guam kingfishers off exhibit besides the one male.
-The hammerkops have been changed, the male from the pair who came a few years ago has left and a new male has came. The female from that pair has stayed.
-A metallic starling passed away a few months ago after fighting with one of the birds-of-paradise. The zoo still has several metallic starlings left, all the metallic starlings are pretty old so I wasn’t surprised the one got in a fight, when animals get older they get weak like us. That is unfortunate.
-Cookie Monster the great blue turaco is back on-exhibit.
-Only one Mariana fruit dove left. The female left to another zoo to breed, but at 21 years old her age is not valuable to the AZA population and most likely won’t produce a baby. I’m surprised. The remaining male is also very old, we don’t know his exact hatch date but it was sometime before 1998. I rarely see him. Since covid I’ve only seen him once in the Tropical Rainforest.
Note: this is all news, not speculation. Some of the news I have known for a while.
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drill
Well-Known Member
Are there still Sora?
Yes. Also forgot to mention that the sunbittern chick from 1-2 years ago is now in Wings of Asia because she didn’t need her parents anymore.
Reptiles and Amphibians House Species List Updated(as of November 2021)
Fire salamander
One-toed amphiuma
Emperor spotted newt
Brown newt
Fire-bellied toad
Eastern copperhead
Northern water snake
Timber rattlesnake
Eastern massasauga
Flat-tailed spider tortoise
Standing’s day gecko
Madagascar tree boa
Madagascar ground boa
West African gaboon viper
Cottonmouth
Solomon Island tree boa
Green tree python
Magnificent tree frog(Splendid tree frog, ranoidea splendida they are the same species)
Golfodulcean poison frog
Green-and-black poison dart frog
Crested gecko(eyelash gecko, c.ciliatus)
King cobra
Mertens’ water monitor
Cuvier’s dwarf caiman
Florida common snapping turtle
Mata mata
Weber’s sailfin lizard
Chinese crocodile lizard
Black tree monitor
Western diamondback rattlesnake
Prehensile-tailed skink
Banded rock rattlesnake
Pancake tortoise
Mali uromastyx
Panamint rattlesnake
Sidewinder
Green anaconda
Reticulated python
West African dwarf crocodile
West African crocodile(also known as desert or sacred crocodile)
Aldabra giant tortoise
Santa Cruz Island tortoise
Desert tortoise
Mexican beaded lizard(1.0 on exhibit)
Rio Fuerte beaded lizard(1.0 on exhibit)
Hosmer’s skink
Eastern shingleback
This list is made because many species have come and gone since covid, and to specify the species/subspecies for some of them which the zoo sometimes dosen’t do(ex. Mexican beaded lizard and Rio Fuerte beaded lizard)
Fire salamander
One-toed amphiuma
Emperor spotted newt
Brown newt
Fire-bellied toad
Eastern copperhead
Northern water snake
Timber rattlesnake
Eastern massasauga
Flat-tailed spider tortoise
Standing’s day gecko
Madagascar tree boa
Madagascar ground boa
West African gaboon viper
Cottonmouth
Solomon Island tree boa
Green tree python
Magnificent tree frog(Splendid tree frog, ranoidea splendida they are the same species)
Golfodulcean poison frog
Green-and-black poison dart frog
Crested gecko(eyelash gecko, c.ciliatus)
King cobra
Mertens’ water monitor
Cuvier’s dwarf caiman
Florida common snapping turtle
Mata mata
Weber’s sailfin lizard
Chinese crocodile lizard
Black tree monitor
Western diamondback rattlesnake
Prehensile-tailed skink
Banded rock rattlesnake
Pancake tortoise
Mali uromastyx
Panamint rattlesnake
Sidewinder
Green anaconda
Reticulated python
West African dwarf crocodile
West African crocodile(also known as desert or sacred crocodile)
Aldabra giant tortoise
Santa Cruz Island tortoise
Desert tortoise
Mexican beaded lizard(1.0 on exhibit)
Rio Fuerte beaded lizard(1.0 on exhibit)
Hosmer’s skink
Eastern shingleback
This list is made because many species have come and gone since covid, and to specify the species/subspecies for some of them which the zoo sometimes dosen’t do(ex. Mexican beaded lizard and Rio Fuerte beaded lizard)
One correction: the cottonmouths at the zoo are a subspecies of cottonmouth called Florida cottonmouth(a.p.Cotani.) I edited it on the original as well. The zoo has four of them, an older male on-exhibit and three females off-exhibit. Unlike most snakes, males are larger than females.
Forgot Gila monster on the list.
Beaded lizards: many people make this a confusion and people think the beaded lizards are all Mexican beaded lizards(h.horridum.) The Mexican beaded lizard is the most commonly known beaded lizard and Mexican and Rio Fuerte beaded lizards and the Gila monster are the two venomous lizards primarily found in Mexico and Guatemala. There are 4 species of beaded lizard(not subspecies.)
-Mexican beaded lizard(h.horridum), a bunch of large spots on the body, found through Mexico with the broadest range
-Rio Fuerte beaded lizard(h.exasperatum), dark in color, with less, smaller spots spread throughout, Western Mexico
-Chiapan beaded lizard(h.alvarezi), solid brown in color, little to no spots, Northern Mexico and Northwestern Guatamela. The ranges of these three species overlap.
-Guatamelan beaded lizard(h.charlesbogerti), dark in color, less spots than the Mexican more spread throughout the body, only found in Northeast Guatamela, with fewer than 200 in the wild. Unlike the other three species, this species’ range does not overlap.
Both the beaded lizards on-exhibit are older and usually rest in their favorite spots, but occasionally you can see one, or both, the beaded lizards moving around. People often only see one, the Mexican beaded lizard who likes to hang out under the log close to the glass. Look in the back- the Rio Fuerte is usually camouflaged up on a small hill in the back with dirt in a inground hole, making him hard to see, unless with people who visit the zoo often! In his younger years, the Rio Fuerte beaded lizard was usually the most active who always seemed to be exploring. I remember in the early 2010’s he was always the one moving. Both lizards are in their mid-20s, they can live to around 30. There was another Mexican beaded lizard up until a few years ago who was in his early 40s. You were able to tell them apart, this one was stockier, slightly smaller with more larger spots. They were the same species, just like individuals who can look different. There are also two female beaded lizards off-exhibit, not sure which species but they must be either Mexican or Rio Fuerte because the zoo only keeps those two. Zoo Atlanta has Guatemalan beaded lizards which are the most endangered. Angus the male green anaconda is breaking up that record. He will be 43 in a few days on Thanksgiving, and anacondas have the same lifespan in captivity with much shorter in the wild-10 years. I’m visiting the zoo tomorrow just in time close enough to his milestone birthday. Any visit he can be noticeably gone just like what happened with the timber rattlesnake, and I was prepared for that a while ago because he’s also old but his age was not as extremely old as Angus. The anacondas are my favorite animals in the Reptile House, and the keepers often don’t know their age- I remember seeing their ages from the old zoo website so I am aware. Amanda, his female companion and the one who had two surgeries last year, has an estimated age of 30 since she was wild caught. However, we don’t know her age but she is pretty old. I like the elderly animals because it’s quite impressive living up to an age and still doing well. The Philly Zoo is very old itself so it has so many old animals. Many animals have been there for quite a long time.
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I visited the zoo today and noticed some changes.
-Both timber rattlesnakes are indeed still alive and on-exhibit. The black one is missing it’s rattle, no wonder why last time I saw the tiny rattle. He must have shedded it. He was partially in and out of the log(not curled up), and when I checked back later in the day he still has not moved at all, but the yellow one was outside the log in the morning and then was curled up inside it later. I am not sure why the black one was temporarily off exhibit.
-The ecletus parrot pair has moved to the old Rodrigues fruit bat exhibit as soon as you enter RACC, and that exhibit is meshed.
-I saw the new red river hogs, and a good way to identify them from Charlotte is their lighter coat coloring.
-Medusa, the sunbittern is now in McNeil Avian Center in one of the Island Bird exhibits. That name is so misleading as many of the birds are not from islands. Her parents were still in the usual exhibit in the Coffee Shade Grove.
-In KidZooU, the Gouldian finches are in the old butterfly exhibit, and their old exhibit is not a rotational exhibit which today had a box turtle.
-In KidZooU, Breezy, one of the big white Saanen goats is temporarily inside. At 9 and a half years old, last week he was feeling under the weather and developed some natural age progression, just like Petey Pete the meerkat earlier this fall. He is inside with Mason, a Nigerian dwarf goat that has been in there awhile. Mason was outside a day or two last week but his skin got some abrasions when he was being pet so he’s inside until his coat 100 percent grows back.
-Both timber rattlesnakes are indeed still alive and on-exhibit. The black one is missing it’s rattle, no wonder why last time I saw the tiny rattle. He must have shedded it. He was partially in and out of the log(not curled up), and when I checked back later in the day he still has not moved at all, but the yellow one was outside the log in the morning and then was curled up inside it later. I am not sure why the black one was temporarily off exhibit.
-The ecletus parrot pair has moved to the old Rodrigues fruit bat exhibit as soon as you enter RACC, and that exhibit is meshed.
-I saw the new red river hogs, and a good way to identify them from Charlotte is their lighter coat coloring.
-Medusa, the sunbittern is now in McNeil Avian Center in one of the Island Bird exhibits. That name is so misleading as many of the birds are not from islands. Her parents were still in the usual exhibit in the Coffee Shade Grove.
-In KidZooU, the Gouldian finches are in the old butterfly exhibit, and their old exhibit is not a rotational exhibit which today had a box turtle.
-In KidZooU, Breezy, one of the big white Saanen goats is temporarily inside. At 9 and a half years old, last week he was feeling under the weather and developed some natural age progression, just like Petey Pete the meerkat earlier this fall. He is inside with Mason, a Nigerian dwarf goat that has been in there awhile. Mason was outside a day or two last week but his skin got some abrasions when he was being pet so he’s inside until his coat 100 percent grows back.
Does anyone know what happened to the butterflies? I don’t actually know…
I noticed some more observations on my visit yesterday, I’m posting this separately because these are more minor changes/observations.
-The two mongoose lemur troops are time sharing the exhibit space. Nobody told me, but I saw two mongoose lemurs in the main exhibit that should have been the elderly pair. Last time early in the morning I saw a few but before that I didn’t see any for several visits, should be due to the new baby.
-Several exhibits under construction, which were the splendid tree frog, Titi monkey and ring-tailed lemur island. The titi monkey and frog exhibits have no more branches, so keepers should be giving them new branches. The lemur island has been under construction for awhile but all the branches have been torn down. They are hoping to redesign it by next spring. The swans were still in the pond in the moat.
-I only saw one out of four giant otters but in Habitat 2 the door was open so the other one should have been inside. All the giant otters are around 10-11 years old which is getting older but they are still quite active.
-The maned wolf was very active for an animal her age and her typical nature, which I rarely see.
-Several animals sharing exhibits in Big Cat Falls. Some which I rarely see out. One tiger was in the lion exhibit and one in the back part of the trail. The sign said Dimitri and Wiz, so one was Dimitri and one was Wiz. Someone told me the one in the exhibit was Dimitri, and the two brothers got separated, which is not correct because a zoo worker on Facebook proved they were still together last week. They spend some time together and some time apart. The tiger exhibit held Kira the Amur leopard, and I didn’t see anything in the bamboo forest. The Jaguar habitat held another Amur leopard. It’s usually Nelkan’s habitat and there was no sign, because Nelkan is on a loan. By looking at it, it was definitely Emma and there is no way it was Nelkan even though the signs proved wrong. They need to be changed every day. Emma had a sign on the bamboo forest but nobody was seen in there. There is an easy way to tell the leopards apart:
-Nelkan is the largest of the three, being a male.
-Kira is smaller and slender, unlike Emma. She is usually very active.
-Emma is the oldest of the three at 19 years old, and she looks very different from Kira. Her fur is much more fluffy, which is a characteristic of Amurs. She is much stockier and the look on her face is different-kinda gives you a scary look. There is also an area on her back that seems matted because when they get older they are unable to groom themselves.
-The aye-ayes have gone back to their original spots, I saw Tolkien back on the right but nobody on the left. I saw the rat moving around, but not the bush babies or lorises. That one switch about a month ago should have just been sharing exhibits which happened with the big cats which is good enrichment.
-The two mongoose lemur troops are time sharing the exhibit space. Nobody told me, but I saw two mongoose lemurs in the main exhibit that should have been the elderly pair. Last time early in the morning I saw a few but before that I didn’t see any for several visits, should be due to the new baby.
-Several exhibits under construction, which were the splendid tree frog, Titi monkey and ring-tailed lemur island. The titi monkey and frog exhibits have no more branches, so keepers should be giving them new branches. The lemur island has been under construction for awhile but all the branches have been torn down. They are hoping to redesign it by next spring. The swans were still in the pond in the moat.
-I only saw one out of four giant otters but in Habitat 2 the door was open so the other one should have been inside. All the giant otters are around 10-11 years old which is getting older but they are still quite active.
-The maned wolf was very active for an animal her age and her typical nature, which I rarely see.
-Several animals sharing exhibits in Big Cat Falls. Some which I rarely see out. One tiger was in the lion exhibit and one in the back part of the trail. The sign said Dimitri and Wiz, so one was Dimitri and one was Wiz. Someone told me the one in the exhibit was Dimitri, and the two brothers got separated, which is not correct because a zoo worker on Facebook proved they were still together last week. They spend some time together and some time apart. The tiger exhibit held Kira the Amur leopard, and I didn’t see anything in the bamboo forest. The Jaguar habitat held another Amur leopard. It’s usually Nelkan’s habitat and there was no sign, because Nelkan is on a loan. By looking at it, it was definitely Emma and there is no way it was Nelkan even though the signs proved wrong. They need to be changed every day. Emma had a sign on the bamboo forest but nobody was seen in there. There is an easy way to tell the leopards apart:
-Nelkan is the largest of the three, being a male.
-Kira is smaller and slender, unlike Emma. She is usually very active.
-Emma is the oldest of the three at 19 years old, and she looks very different from Kira. Her fur is much more fluffy, which is a characteristic of Amurs. She is much stockier and the look on her face is different-kinda gives you a scary look. There is also an area on her back that seems matted because when they get older they are unable to groom themselves.
-The aye-ayes have gone back to their original spots, I saw Tolkien back on the right but nobody on the left. I saw the rat moving around, but not the bush babies or lorises. That one switch about a month ago should have just been sharing exhibits which happened with the big cats which is good enrichment.
Hi all, I'm going to visit Philly Zoo for the first time next week. I have a few questions:
1) Is the Small Mammal House open or closed right now? One of my main target species is Common Vampire Bat, so I really hope they're open, lest I have to negotiate with them.
2) Are there any outdoor animals that might not be exhibited due to lower temperatures?
3) Is the Travancore Tortoise still there, and if so, is it actually that species?
4) Has anyone successfully negotiated access to see offshow animals, particularly at the reptile house?
Thanks!
1) Is the Small Mammal House open or closed right now? One of my main target species is Common Vampire Bat, so I really hope they're open, lest I have to negotiate with them.
2) Are there any outdoor animals that might not be exhibited due to lower temperatures?
3) Is the Travancore Tortoise still there, and if so, is it actually that species?
4) Has anyone successfully negotiated access to see offshow animals, particularly at the reptile house?
Thanks!
Elephantlover
Member
When I have gone hippos wont be out and the giraffes and rhino could be out though usually they are not. Also sometimes the otters are not out but I don’t know if I’ve been lucky or not but they usually are out when I’m there
How about the gazelle, sloth bears, and birdcage rows?
Elephantlover
Member
Gazelle is usually out same thing with the red river hogs and storks that share the exhibit. The birds in bird valley are out and sloth bears and Andean bear are usually out. Also the cheetahs and maned wolf is usually out