Philadelphia Zoo Philadephia Zoo News 2018

Does anyone have a current species list? I would be especially interested in the birds and herps.
Thanks!
 
Here is an article about the waterslide for the giant otters in the Water is Life exhibit complex:

Polin create a waterslide for otters at Philadelphia Zoo | blooloop
This behavior-induced design is downright ugly. This teaches absolutely nothing about the ecology of giant otters that live in a disappearing yet ecologically important landscape (The Pantanal), except *ooh, look at the cute little otter going down the slide ooh*. I know it is beneficial for the animals in terms of husbandry, and they do seem to enjoy it OK. But it's just downright ugly! If they were on a budget (which it seems like they are) I wouldn't mind as much. With that said, they could have sacrificed some elements (like the water sculptures) and focused on creating a realistic log that functions as a slide. Maybe they could also plant native wetland plants that share similarities to those in the Pantanal. At least Houston will get it right in a few year's time.
 
The fossa moved to the rare animal conservation center/treetop trail. The fossa can be seen in the treetop trail, but he does not have a viewable exhibit in the building. The female red panda is currently in his former exhibit in Water is Life.

Darn! I was planning on going tomorrow specifically to try and get photos of him.
 
Well you still can. He seems to be the one in the treetop trails recently. It's just going to be mesh in the photo.

Photos of the trails are really hard to take because of how bright the sky is... there's also plenty of hiding spots where the animals can stay out of view. He's also not out most days. Their goal is to have him out every thursday-saturday, but he's terrified of the turkeys so they need to work on that before he can be up there again. He's very shy and wasn't doing well with visitors being so close to him in the regular exhibit, which is why he was moved to off exhibit/360 trail.
 
Photos of the trails are really hard to take because of how bright the sky is... there's also plenty of hiding spots where the animals can stay out of view. He's also not out most days. Their goal is to have him out every thursday-saturday, but he's terrified of the turkeys so they need to work on that before he can be up there again. He's very shy and wasn't doing well with visitors being so close to him in the regular exhibit, which is why he was moved to off exhibit/360 trail.
Did they say when they would start work on the Southern End of the Zoo? (Aside from the new restaurant).
 
Did they say when they would start work on the Southern End of the Zoo? (Aside from the new restaurant).

The plan seemed to always be finish the restaurant then do phased work on the South end. I imagine design work is still ongoing considering the size of the site and fundraising is likely currently in the behind the scenes phase as the estimated budget was 100 million dollars. Once the restaurant is completed next year, I imagine we will recieve more details and maybe a capital campaign announcement.

The giraffe exhibit was the core thing they wanted from this massive project and always seemed like a first phase, as the restaurant was designed to have views of the most likely spot for the giraffe habitat (although we can expect plenty of rotational elements from the proposal).
 
Did they say when they would start work on the Southern End of the Zoo? (Aside from the new restaurant).

I didn't have a chance to ask, I actually asked about the fossa at the end of the tortoise presentation :) They have definitely started on the restaurant finally though, they were using construction vehicles to clear some stuff and there's big signs up about the design. I really, really want them to get to the cheetahs ASAP.
 
Tortoise presentation??? Elaborate please!

Please any news on the adult Galapagos tortoise? Has the new male for the breeding group of 2 adult females arrived yet?
 
Tortoise presentation??? Elaborate please!

Please any news on the adult Galapagos tortoise? Has the new male for the breeding group of 2 adult females arrived yet?

I only caught the very end, after the few people listening were walking away, so I'm not sure if it was the standard presentation they do daily or an impromptu one done while the keeper was in the yard. He was in the big yard, not the smaller adjacent one that they normally do them in.

I can't confirm either way, but there were 3 labelled Galapagos in one of the old bird areas next to the flamingos. All 3 were smaller than the ones in the main exhibit so I had assumed they were separated because of size, but based on your question, I'd think they were the new male with the 2 females. I happened to take a quick photo of it since it was new, I've attached it.
 

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Those I meant are the large adults that have been at Philly well over 60 odd years (the 2 females) who will form a breeding trio with a new male (they are all nigrita - Santa Cruz).

The ones I guess you mean now are 8 year olds that were born at Brownsville Zoo - (microphyes -.
 
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