Review of the new native species section of Ramat Gan:
On the 11th of April I was visiting Ramat Gan mostly to see the new renovations of what used to be the predator section and now it's turning into an area old and current native fauna of Israel.
First of all there's a new swamp birds aviary that is 99% finished and according to a keeper I talked to, they're currently waiting for new birds to arrive in the next month or so. The aviary also has a window to the new Syrian brown bear exhibit which is what I will talk about now, the new Syrian brown bear exhibit is what used to be an exhibit for Himalayan black bears grotto now turned into a pretty, old ruins themed, mid minus sized exhibit for the 3 bears (Menta, Bo and Babet) to enjoy with a multi leveled pool for bears of all ages to enjoy, and new climbing frames and trees scratch and climb. The bears now have a window viewing point in which they make interactions with the guests. In the future after the second bear enclosure would be built the zoo plans on bringing in new bears for a breeding program.
Overall a big improvement for the bears and they really seem to enjoys the new home. 7.5-8 in my rating.
The new leopard enclosure is quite nice normal sized exhibit for leopards. In which male Koresh lives with lots of climbing frames, a tree and some rocks for him to enjoy, while the new female Noa is in the older leopard exhibit. The new leopard enclosure is also linked to the rock hyrax exhibit which gives the leopard some enrichment. Overall a 7 - 7.5 for me on this exhibit
The hyrax exhibit is also quite nice with lots of rocks for the to climb and hide, a tree with a little bit of climbing frames for them. Not much on the ground sadly. Overall a 6.5-7 on this one.
Last but not least of the new renovations are the sand cats who have a really large exhibit for them, and a really quite nice one, with sand terrain, rocks in which they use to make burrows, a tree and artificial climbing frames to use. Could use some rocky parts.
Overall a 7.5 exhibit for me.
Great to see Ramat Gan keep trying to improve and let's see what the future holds for them!.
Also in the native species section a Somali wild ass named Baroko was born in January to mother Bar and and father Jude!