Philadelphia Zoo Philadelphia Zoo News 2025

Sarus Crane said:
The flamingo walk through exhibit sounds great, especially with the new Greaters instead of just the Americans but how will they prevent crossbreeding between them?
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The zoo spokeswoman informed us they acquired 14 greater flamingo.
BTW: The information board is - as yet - just for the American flamingo....

I tried to count the Carribean/American flamigoes through the video ..., just that is a bit of a challenge! I initially thought it was just 6-8, but then below the wooden barrier another group appeared like just out of nowhere half under the barrier behind the zoo keeper.

I just a while later found another of the local newspapers talking more extensively about the new exhibits and ... lo and behold they actually mentioned what bird numbers are in there: So, along with the greater flamingo flock are 10 Carribean/American flamingoes, 2 Mongolian swan goose and 1 emperor goose.

SOURCE: https://www.phillyvoice.com/philly-zoo-african-greater-flamingos-upgraded-
exhibit/


I also do wonder how the zoo envisages to prevent any hybridisation. Allthough looking into the exhibit the Carribean/American flamingos seem less inclined to mingle and walk amongst the greaters as the greater flock accepts some Carribeans/Americans in...
 
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Antimony96 said:
Was my main question too. I might ask next time I visit (may as well next week)
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From my visit this morning:

1. The flamingo aviary is, indeed, open. I spoke with the zookeeper inside and he said that interbreeding doesn't produce fertile eggs, which I'm honestly not entirely sure I believe given the genetic closeness of the two species, but I did notice that the two species tended to prefer their own. In addition to the swan geese and emperor goose there are a couple of what I believe are black-bellied whistling ducks.

2. There are now two tammar wallabies in the mixed paddock with the red kangaroos and emu, a male and a female. Per signage and construction this is set to be converted into a walkabout.

3. The exhibit next to the cheetahs which once held maned wolves and briefly held southern ground hornbills now holds a pair of unsigned Abyssinian ground hornbills.

4. The Cabot's tragopans in McNeil had at least one chick recently.
 
Antimony96 said:
1. The flamingo aviary is, indeed, open. I spoke with the zookeeper inside and he said that interbreeding doesn't produce fertile eggs, which I'm honestly not entirely sure I believe given the genetic closeness of the two species,
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Greaters and Caribbeans interbreed very easily. European zoos have quite a lot of them on show. Last year, Munchen zoo tested their flamingo flock and found out it keeps 37 hybrid birds of these both species. Article
 
Jana said:
Greaters and Caribbeans interbreed very easily. European zoos have quite a lot of them on show. Last year, Munchen zoo tested their flamingo flock and found out it keeps 37 hybrid birds of these both species. Article
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Along with 55 greater and ... 2 Americans. This proving it is not a great feast maintaining individuals of both species together in one aviary...

Mind You: Like this is also unnatural as ... would never occur in the wilds.
 
I actually asked about the flamingo hybridization thing when I visited earlier this month, not having seen this discussion. The attendant clearly didn’t understand what I was asking though because they just responded with “oh, they’re getting along fine, so there’s no worries”. Didn’t care to push it further than that.
 
A couple of updates from my visit today:
- The Abyssinian Ground Hornbills are now signed.
- The Aye-aye exhibit was closed off.
- The Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman exhibit was under renovations.
- There's now two Hamerkops and a Hadada Ibis unsigned in the flamingo aviary.
- Most excitingly, I saw three new born Pied Tamarins. Zoo staff were attempting to count them when I walked by, so I'd guess they were born very recently.
 
Short-Giraffe said:
A couple of updates from my visit today:
- The Abyssinian Ground Hornbills are now signed.
- The Aye-aye exhibit was closed off.
- The Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman exhibit was under renovations.
- There's now two Hamerkops and a Hadada Ibis unsigned in the flamingo aviary.
- Most excitingly, I saw three new born Pied Tamarins. Zoo staff were attempting to count them when I walked by, so I'd guess they were born very recently.
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I went on Wednesday 9/10 and can corroborate all of these except the pied tamarins. There's also signage for Damaraland mole rats in a second enclosure next to the naked mole rats in RACC, though I didn't see any of them, and I also don't know how new they are.
 
I visited the Philly Zoo this past Saturday (9/20/2025). First time in 2 years! Here’s a bunch of the most notable updates I noticed while they’re fresh in memory. As well as some general commentary and questions.

Unsure if this was mentioned before but the monkey exhibit at the entrance now has the troop of Francois Langurs (with a youngster!).

Rare Animal Conservation Center:

I did see and take pictures of the new baby Pied Tamarins! Two on the mothers back!

Couldn’t see the new damaraland mole rats. Anyone know where they were sourced? Until now the only zoo I’ve ever been to and know of that had this species was the Bronx Zoo.

Reptile & Amphibian House:

The dwarf caiman exhibit is still empty/under repair.

I don’t recall them having eastern garter snakes in August 2023.

Did see the baby Galapagos Tortoises! As well as a few more outside in the nearby ambassador yard!

KidZooU:

Ferrets and Rats were no shows.

The aquatic tank that used to have giant water bugs and diving beetles has been emptied and converted to a tank for their domino cockroaches.

The area where the hermit crabs are was closed off for some sort of class (WPZ something??).

Unsure if this was mentioned before, but the exhibit that use to have Budgies, then gouldain finches, now has additional giant elephant shrews.

PECO Primate Reserve:

I’m sure this was mentioned before, but the ring-tailed lemur exhibit is now a FREE walkthrough exhibit! I now mostly just want to rave about this as I’ve never had this experience before! It was fantastic! I don’t know any other AZA zoo in the US that actually allows this kind of thing. It’s so special to me after learning that this kind of exhibit is quite common in Europe (shout-out to The Zoo Experience for enlightening me on that). Hopefully it continues to go well and inspire other zoos to attempt exhibits like this one day!

The aye-ayes were still closed off.

Big Cat Falls:

Didn’t see their snow leopards. Do they still have pumas?

McNeil Avian Center:

The African exhibits is basically now down to just taveta golden weaver birds. They’re great, but it’s disappointing to see this section become less diverse over the years.

Personal comments: Not to sound too harsh, but I do feel the avian center has lost a bit of luster from when it first opened. I miss the Rhino Hornbills, but I get the space was a bit too small/narrow. Again the African section is no longer diverse and now has that ugly netting. And even the educational signage has become slightly lackluster. The exhibitry and species list is still great. Just feel it got a little lazy/not as interesting in certain aspects over the years.

Flamingo Cove:

The 2 hamerkops and hadada ibis are indeed living with the flamingos.

The original exhibit for the caracaras, raven, and turkey vultures (and once held Waldrapps) is now completely gone. Now there’s just inconspicuous landscaping and more concrete/asphalt walking space. It’s like it was never there! All these birds (including the hooded vultures) are now in the former baboon/spider monkey exhibit.

There’s new wooden fencing along the perimeters of the cheetah and Abyssinian ground hornbill exhibits.

The barn owl exhibit has an additional layer of mesh covering the existing cage Barrier. Very inconvenient for photos!

Seems like they’ve converting this one space in the water is life area as an additional space for the giant otters.

Work on the upcoming wallaby walkabout is slowly underway. The new double door entrance has been constructed, but not much else yet. I did see one of the new Tammar wallabies! I also want to take a moment to say that I’m very excited for this new exhibit! I feel that kangaroo walkabouts get a little hate from zoo nerds and I will never understand that. For one thing, We in New Jersey, and maybe even the entire Northeast United States, have been DEPRIVED of a kangaroo walkabout ever since Prospect Park Zoo got rid of their kangaroos and wallabies several years ago.

That’s all I got! Overall, a great day a Philly Zoo!
 
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