Phoenix Zoo Phoenix Zoo News 2023

Corangurilla said:
Beaker was featured on the zoo's social media for a "Behavioral Enrichment March Madness" bracket, so it looks like he's doing fine!
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Great! Also if I may ask, does the zoo still have southern tamandua and southern three-banded armadillo?
 
This is a walkthrough of Phoenix that's also highlighting the current state of the Predator Passage exhibit. And I got thoughts.

Stuff I personally admire out of the way first:
  • I really like the contemporary African-inspired patterns on the walls, and the shade structures are a fun design as well.
  • The color scheme of the shade sails is fun too, and the watchtower is a fun way of providing an unrestricted view of the lions without mesh or glass glare in one's line of sight.
  • The rockwork is pretty decent - that said, Kalahari or Namib geological influences would work *wonders* for an exhibit like this.

Now for stuff that comes across to me personally as flaws:
  • I get that moats are difficult to clean, and keeper input is absolutely valuable when it comes to exhibit design - but the way the mesh fences are laid out, the habitats just feel a bit restrictive, and the mesh is very in-your-face.
  • As for the watchtower (as genuinely cool as that idea is), it's not the most easily accessible thing for those in wheelchairs - in the sense that while the ADA understandably mandates that ramps maintain an accessible incline, that means that guests with wheelchairs have to go all the way down the main path spine/circuit, go up the ramp to get a view of the lions before going all the way down. And this is a *long* ramp too given the ADA's (again, understandable) stipulation. With that said, was an elevator too cost-prohibitive?
  • ALL THIS to seemingly avoid the usage of moats. To me, moats are an accessible method for people to view an animal easily with little obstruction (as long as it's not a U-moat and more of a ha-ha that the animals can easily get in and out of, kind of like Pittsburgh or North Carolina's lion moat). Mesh and glass (by itself, not when it's acompanying said moat) seems just... too cliché and reeks of value-engineering.
  • Speaking of, the contemporary African-inspired patterns and the multicolored shade sails are actually a good way of compensating for the fact that these are otherwise simple brick structures in the middle of nowhere. Papago Park has these beautiful buttes that you could use as inspiration for the landscape/hiding the holding buildings, and you just go with an obvious bit of vernacular architecture?
  • (Also, really, Amur Leopard SSP? Phoenix wanted to incorporate leopards, so they have to get a species that would pant like nobody's business in the desert heat. At least Living Desert's design has cooled rocks, constant access to the indoors (I'm sure Phoenix'd absolutely provide this for their leopards as well) and a generally shade-oriented design... this is just a playground structure under some mesh and shade sails. Whoopee.)
    • EDIT: I misjudged - there is rockwork within the exhibit as well accompanying the climbing frame for the leopard.
Overall, this will undoubtedly be an improvement welfarewise for all the animals in this new precinct, and I hope that this exhibit is successful in helping the zoo achieve its conservation goals.

(From 17:55)
 
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I didn't notice until I had scrolled ahead on my own that @StoppableSan put above the video to start at 17:55 time mark. The lion exhibit appears to be no better, and in my opinion worse, than what they had before. It's not terrible, it's just not an improvement (though this may change if foliage can grow in).
 
Arizona Docent said:
The lion exhibit appears to be no better, and in my opinion worse, than what they had before. It's not terrible, it's just not an improvement (though this may change if foliage can grow in).
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Yeah, that about describes it perfectly. Hopefully the plants will fill out, but the design of it looks more arid than the old one, but that could simply be my perception based on what it looks like now.

One can't really say the exhibit complex is immersive, but it looks nice. I don't see how it would crack any top 10 lists for new exhibit areas, but it is fine.
 
StoppableSan said:
Mesh and glass (by itself, not when it's acompanying said moat) seems just... too cliché and reeks of value-engineering.
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It is value engineering. ZooTampa did the same thing last year in the renovation of and adding of additional Florida Panther and black bear habitats.
 
I actually plan on going to this zoo next week for the first time once I fly to Arizona. Here's to hoping for a blast and see what this place has to offer compared to the usual Illinois zoos.
 
Tapir Master said:
I actually plan on going to this zoo next week for the first time once I fly to Arizona. Here's to hoping for a blast and see what this place has to offer compared to the usual Illinois zoos.
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Ooo, it will be warm, that's for sure. Get there as early as you can, and don't skip the kids area (children's trail), there are some unusual animals and also the Australian animals are back there.
 
Other September/October 2023 News:

On September 5th, the zoo announced they bred and released (0.0.12) narrow-headed garter snakes into the wild.

Narrow-headed Gartersnake Ultrasound | She’s having how many?! Check out this egg-cellent video of an adult female narrow-headed gartersnake’s ultrasssssssssound, which shows the eggs inside... | By Phoenix Zoo | Facebook

On September 7th, the zoo announced that their (0.1) black howler monkey named Olivia passed away at age 26 due to age-related issues.

Phoenix Zoo - It is with extremely heavy hearts that we...

On September 8th, the zoo announced that (0.0.2) toco toucans named Guinness and Half-pint hatched on July 1st and July 3rd respectively, and are now on exhibit.

Phoenix Zoo - Meet the Zoo's resident toco toucans and...

On October 2nd, it was announced that the zoo will acquire (0.2) African lions named Kamara and Zuri from the Pueblo Zoo in Colorado next week.

Pueblo Zoo - Our little girls are all grown up and ready...
 
Member previews for Predator Passage will take place on November 20 and 21. As noted above, it's opening to the public on November 22.

They have identified additional individual animals that will be part of the new exhibit:

  • Amur leopard Jasper (born February 10, 2020) from Greenville Zoo
  • Mother and daughter spotted hyenas Tamu (born 2002) and Taziki (born 2008) from Busch Gardens Tampa
  • Red river hogs Olive and Pugsley from Kansas City Zoo
  • 3 meerkat brothers (from different litters) from Capron Park Zoo

Predator Passage - Phoenix Zoo
 
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