Philadelphia Zoo Philadelphia Zoo News 2023

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Neil chace said:
I think the big difference between small mammals and many other groups is that, because of the short lifespan, phase outs happen at a much quicker rate than with longer lived animals. Asiatic black bears were phased out in 2008, and yet there are still a few individuals left because they are such long-lived animals. Non-SSP gibbon species are similarly a very long-term phase-out due to long lifespans. In the future, if cetaceans are eventually phased out of zoos that'd be an even longer process! To compare, if most rodents or rodent-like small mammals were phased out, the process would take a decade, if that.
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This is a very well-written post, and I understand that fully, this is not something I am unaware of. I am not criticizing the AZA for phasing out species or even specific species, that was not the intent of my original post. I feel very misunderstood based on these responses.
 
Kudu21 said:
You are correct that those taxa have seemed to escaped with little to no ill-effect from their small founder bases (the same could be said for many bird populations); however, there are many more species that are struggling because of it — Soemmerring’s and Cuvier’s gazelles, gerenuk, giant eland, okapi, Malayan sambar, amongst others are all populations that have seen increased infant mortality and disease/medical condition rates due to inbreeding depression from their small founder bases. That is ultimately the reason Cuvier’s gazelles were phased out.
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How many Cuvier's gazelle founders were there? Were there slightly higher numbers of founders for these other populations you've listed?

JVM said:
I feel very misunderstood based on these responses.
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Were you just saying that the decline in the number of small mammal houses is to blame for the loss of most rodent species?
 
Great Argus said:
Many of the phase out species were/are on their way out anyway - when a species can't be kept going without relying on imports, that isn't worth it. Sun Bear is a good example of this. Despite trying for years success in breeding them was near zero and they are aging out. Space is the other prime issue, and when there's too many contenders for a specific slot, someone has to get cut. This has been the case for Gaur, which has a smaller population than Banteng.
They're not being 'malicious' about it at all, the AZA is trying to keep stable, genetically viable populations going for the long term. If the founder population is small or poor genetically, they're almost always going to be first on the phase-out block. Especially true for hoofstock, because once we lose a species, regulations are such we're not likely to ever get them back. Even when a species is numerous genetics can still get in the way - Masai Giraffe is having increasing issues with inbreeding depression due to a small founder base. A species can be rare and in need on conservation help, but if your founder population is tiny or struggling, it's not always going to work out.
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I totally understand that. It's annoying that zoos can't get exemptions for these restrictions (within reason ofc) but I understand that a viable population needs to be genetically robust to be healthy.
 
CarLover said:
Spiders Alive! opens today where the Small Mammal House used to be. There are seventeen species of arachnids including orb-weaver spiders, tarantulas, and scorpions. I hope this is a permanent exhibit but I don't think it will be.
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I just learned, this exhibit is temporary and should stay for two years. The species here include

-Southern Black Widow (Latrodectus mactans)
-Brazilian Red-and-white Tarantula (Nhandu chromatus)
-Giant Vinegaroon (Mastigoproctus giganteus)
-Goliath Birdeater (Theraphosa blondi)
-Desert Hairy Scorpion (Hadrurus arizonensis)
-Giant Crab Spider (Heteropoda venatoria)
-Southern House Spider (Kukulcania hibernalis)
-Regal Jumping Spider (Phidippus regius)
-Mexican Red-kneed Tarantula (Bradypelma smithi)
-Wolf Spider (Hogna antelucana)
-Fishing spider (Dolomedes sp.)
-Whip Spider (Damon variegatus)
-Banded Garden Spider (Argiope trifasciata)
-Mediterranean Recluse (Loxosceles rufescens)
-Gooty Sapphire Ornamental Tarantula (Poecilotheria metallica)
-Yellow-backed Ornamental Tarantula (Poecilotheria smithi)
-Golden Silk Spider (Trichonephila clavipes)
 
CarLover said:
I just learned, this exhibit is temporary and should stay for two years. The species here include

-Southern Black Widow (Latrodectus mactans)
-Brazilian Red-and-white Tarantula (Nhandu chromatus)
-Giant Vinegaroon (Mastigoproctus giganteus)
-Goliath Birdeater (Theraphosa blondi)
-Desert Hairy Scorpion (Hadrurus arizonensis)
-Giant Crab Spider (Heteropoda venatoria)
-Southern House Spider (Kukulcania hibernalis)
-Regal Jumping Spider (Phidippus regius)
-Mexican Red-kneed Tarantula (Bradypelma smithi)
-Wolf Spider (Hogna antelucana)
-Fishing spider (Dolomedes sp.)
-Whip Spider (Damon variegatus)
-Banded Garden Spider (Argiope trifasciata)
-Mediterranean Recluse (Loxosceles rufescens)
-Gooty Sapphire Ornamental Tarantula (Poecilotheria metallica)
-Yellow-backed Ornamental Tarantula (Poecilotheria smithi)
-Golden Silk Spider (Trichonephila clavipes)
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Sounds like they got some animals from the Insectarium closing.
 
 
Updates from my visit this past Saturday:
  • I got to visit the Spiders Alive exhibit (pics to come soon), and suffice it to say they did an amazing job using the bones of the Small Mammal House and updating it to be an engaging display for arachnids! I legitimately hope when the two years are up, the zoo doubles down and converts it into an Invertebrate House. I could see the former indoor meerkat space being used for dung beetles and the former sloth/agouti space for either leafcutter ants or coconut crabs.
  • The zoo's new vampire bat exhibit opened! They did take the space in Water Is Life where they had dwarf mongoose (apparently it also had an anaconda back when Carnivore Kingdom first opened?). A couple pointers about the exhibit - they decided to actually make it a diurnal space since staff found that when the bats were temporarily housed in their vet hospital, they were fairly active under conventional day/night light cycles rather than reversed light, which improved their overall circadian rhythm and general welfare. That said, the exhibit is still pretty dark, so the bats are pretty comfortable by the looks of things. Besides, having the bats in a legitimate "cave" setting and reusing an older exhibit is a legitimately well-done move, and while I did initially have difficulty seeing the bats, I was able to find a good chunk of their colony in one corner of the exhibit.
  • The zoo is quite far along in replacing their venomous snakes, as I saw a prehensile tailed skink in the former Gaboon viper exhibit, an Eastern box turtle in the former cottonmouth/timber rattlesnake exhibit, agamas (forget the subspecies) in the former sidewinder exhibit, just the gila monster in the diamondback rattlesnake/ etc. Past that, are Kimberly rock monitors a new species for the zoo? Genuinely curious.
  • I FINALLY saw the orangutans in their outdoor exhibit! Alongside the sifakas using the 360 trails surrounding the space. I did notice that they modified the barriers by adding these green anti-climbable metal sheets on top of the concrete walls, removing the mesh barrier on the visitors' side of things as well.
 
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StoppableSan said:
Updates from my visit this past Saturday:
  • I got to visit the Spiders Alive exhibit (pics to come soon), and suffice it to say they did an amazing job using the bones of the Small Mammal House and updating it to be an engaging display for arachnids! I legitimately hope when the two years are up, the zoo doubles down and converts it into an Invertebrate House. I could see the former indoor meerkat space being used for dung beetles and the former sloth/agouti space for either leafcutter ants or coconut crabs.
  • The zoo's new vampire bat exhibit opened! They did take the space in Water Is Life where they had dwarf mongoose (apparently it also had an anaconda back when Carnivore Kingdom first opened?). A couple pointers about the exhibit - they decided to actually make it a diurnal space since staff found that when the bats were temporarily housed in their vet hospital, they were fairly active under conventional day/night light cycles rather than reversed light, which improved their overall circadian rhythm and general welfare. Having the bats in a legitimate "cave" setting and reusing an older exhibit is a legitimately well-done move, and while I did initially have difficulty seeing the bats, I was able to find a good chunk of their colony in one corner of the exhibit.
  • The zoo is quite far along in replacing their venomous snakes, as I saw a prehensile tailed skink in the former Gaboon viper exhibit, an Eastern box turtle in the former cottonmouth/timber rattlesnake exhibit, agamas (forget the subspecies) in the former sidewinder exhibit, just the gila monster in the diamondback rattlesnake/ etc. Past that, are Kimberly rock monitors a new species for the zoo? Genuinely curious.
  • I FINALLY saw the orangutans in their outdoor exhibit! Alongside the sifakas using the 360 trails surrounding the space. I did notice that they modified the barriers by adding these green anti-climbable metal sheets on top of the concrete walls, removing the mesh barrier on the visitors' side of things as well.
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Just a few things to add:
-There is a sign at Meerkat Maze that meerkats will be brought back to the zoo next year, so they aren’t getting rid of meerkats forever.
-There was never an anaconda in the current vampire bat exhibit, as far as I know. The anacondas are on exhibit in the reptile house. There is one colony of vampire bats who like to hang out in the right back corner. The other two colonies like to hang in the front two corners which is hidden from guest view.
- I talked to a reptile keeper recently and he said the zoo hopes to get the venomous snakes back next year. Of course due to the zoo’s goal of cost-cutting as it has been for over a decade, a good majority of species that have replaced them are from this area and not endangered which I wish the zoo could have done something better. There are two northern pine snakes in the cottonmouth exhibit and two eastern box turtles in the timber rattlesnake/copperhead exhibit. The Kimberley rock monitor is a fairly new species but it has been there a few months.
 
Kevin2342 said:
Just a few things to add:
-There is a sign at Meerkat Maze that meerkats will be brought back to the zoo next year, so they aren’t getting rid of meerkats forever.
-There was never an anaconda in the current vampire bat exhibit, as far as I know. The anacondas are on exhibit in the reptile house. There is one colony of vampire bats who like to hang out in the right back corner. The other two colonies like to hang in the front two corners which is hidden from guest view.
- I talked to a reptile keeper recently and he said the zoo hopes to get the venomous snakes back next year. Of course due to the zoo’s goal of cost-cutting as it has been for over a decade, a good majority of species that have replaced them are from this area and not endangered which I wish the zoo could have done something better. There are two northern pine snakes in the cottonmouth exhibit and two eastern box turtles in the timber rattlesnake/copperhead exhibit. The Kimberley rock monitor is a fairly new species but it has been there a few months.
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According to the Small Mammal/Primates curator at the zoo, back when Carnivore Kingdom first opened in the 1990s it had an anaconda.
 
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StoppableSan said:
According to the Small Mammal/Primates curator at the zoo, back when Carnivore Kingdom first opened in the 1980s it had an anaconda.
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Oh I thought you meant Water is Life, not Carnivore Kingdom, people do sometimes get those two confused. I wasn’t even alive in the 1980s so i didn’t know. Was it a green anaconda?
 
Never knew they kept Anaconda in Carnivore Kingdom. I remember a water monitor when I first went and dwarf caiman later on (the exhibit would work for all of them). Carnivore Kingdom was my favorite exhibit at any zoo for a long time
 
Were both elephant shrews sired by the same father Niffler, but have different mothers? Or are they a set of twins from the same mother and father?
 
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Now that we know they’re brothers. I am now curious to know who might be the mother of these two. Based on experience, it could very well just be Drita. Although, I also think that it might be Harriet, since she is the only female sengi that I know of that is around Drita’s age (despite being a year older than her). But I could very well be wrong on all of this, so do correct me if I end up doing so.
 
To keep things short, I figured out that Gonzo and Snuffleupagus did in fact come from different parents and are not twins from the same mother; and I also recommend to check out the sengi population thread to read more of my latest discoveries.
 
Austin the Sengi said:
To keep things short, I figured out that Gonzo and Snuffleupagus did in fact come from different parents and are not twins from the same mother; and I also recommend to check out the sengi population thread to read more of my latest discoveries.
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Thanks for the update! Frustrating that they initially worded it as if they were siblings, then; maybe the social media person didn't know better (as is often the case).
 
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