Saint Louis Zoo Saint Louis Zoo News 2023

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I went to the zoo today. Here are the changes that I noticed:
-The former New Caledonian gecko exhibit looks finished, as does the former emerald tree boa exhibit. I ended up being right about the half-water half-land design on the latter.
-There is now a spur-winged plover mixed with the white-headed buffalo weaver. Its one of the better Bird House mixes because the two species actually overlap in their ranges, which cannot be said for a lot of them.
-The tawny frogmouth is finally signed in the exhibit it is mixed with Edward's pheasant and formerly laughing kookaburra.
-This next update is an unfortunate one. The former Andean bear exhibit is now occupied again. Unfortunately, the species is the painted dog. The painted dog exhibit in the African section of River's Edge is now unoccupied. I am really hoping this is a temporary situation. In my opinion, this really isn't a good use for this space. Not only does it not make sense from a geographical standpoint, the exhibit design doesn't make sense for painted dogs. It just seems like a waste of all those climbing opportunities it has.
 
JVM said:
I know the painted dogs and bears shared a holding space behind the scenes so it's believable to me it's a temporary measure; if it becomes permanent I definitely agree it'd be a step down and disruptive to the exhibit's overall theming.
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The reason I would be worried that it’s a more permanent change is that the peccaries were moved in pretty permanently to the Red River Hog exhibit. The strangest part was after the peccaries arrived, and the signage was changed, I even saw red river hogs in the exhibit. It doesn’t seem to be simply that they were getting rid of the hogs, it seemed they deliberately added the peccaries, where they have perfectly good space for them over in Red Rocks in the secondary babirusa exhibit that has remained empty for over a year.

My hope is ultimately that they move the jaguar from big cat country into the Andean Bear habitat. I feel that this is the best case scenario.
 
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Forge said:
The reason I would be worried that it’s a more permanent change is that the peccaries were moved in pretty permanently to the Red River Hog exhibit. The strangest part was after the peccaries arrived, and the signage was changed, I even saw red river hogs in the exhibit. It doesn’t seem to be simply that they were getting rid of the hogs, it seemed they deliberately added the peccaries, where they have perfectly good space for them over in Red Rocks in the secondary babirusa exhibit that has remained empty for over a year.

My hope is ultimately that they move the jaguar from big cat country into the Andean Bear habitat. I feel that this is the best case scenario.
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I understand, and it's definitely a possibility, I'm not trying to say it is ruled out. My thought process is if the bears and wild dogs use the same small holding building, they could probably be redirected between exhibits relatively easily in the near or far future.
 
Jambo said:
Jade the Asian Elephant is ten months pregnant and due in around a years time!

Saint Louis also plan to send their bull Raja to Columbus in late 2024/early 2025 and in turn receive a young bull, Samudra from Oregon.

Saint Louis Zoo Elephant News | Saint Louis Zoo
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As someone who grew up visiting Raja, and went to see him about once a week or so over the past few years, this is very bittersweet for me. My son who’s due early next year will get to see Raja before he leaves, and that brings me some happiness. Even more, I’m excited for a new baby elephant! My son will be around 1 year old when this baby comes, so he should be right at the time that the zoo will actually begin to be exciting for him when the elephant arrives!
 
cloudedleopard611 said:
I went to the zoo today. Here are the changes that I noticed:
-The former New Caledonian gecko exhibit looks finished, as does the former emerald tree boa exhibit. I ended up being right about the half-water half-land design on the latter.
-This next update is an unfortunate one. The former Andean bear exhibit is now occupied again. Unfortunately, the species is the painted dog. The painted dog exhibit in the African section of River's Edge is now unoccupied. I am really hoping this is a temporary situation. In my opinion, this really isn't a good use for this space. Not only does it not make sense from a geographical standpoint, the exhibit design doesn't make sense for painted dogs. It just seems like a waste of all those climbing opportunities it has.
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I visited 2 days later (on the 12th) and both reptile house exhibits were occupied. One had Puerto Rican boa, which I didn't manage to see, and the other had Colombian giant toad Rhaebo blombergi - a great new species on exhibit that I don't believe has been exhibited at any other US zoo recently. The boa is exciting as well, I have so rarely seen Puerto Rican species on exhibit anywhere. The zoo also has Virgin Island boas which I argue would be an even more unusual exhibit animal but either is great to see, especially if remaining behind the scenes makes the latter more likely to breed.

I saw no animals in the former spectacled bear exhibit, but I too think jaguar is the best animal for it. The zoo's current jaguar exhibit could be used for the tiger cubs as they age. I agree with the general sentiment the zoo is in a bit of a lull at the moment - having visited the zoo for two decades now, the collection has declined, most notably so in the Bird House. A few of my other gripes include the many pinned animals (rather than live exhibits) in the Insectarium, the fact that there seems to always be empty exhibits in the reptile house, and a feeling of decline in River's Edge too. I hope that the zoo improves, but I wasn't all that impressed with Primate Canopy Trails and I worry that other new exhibits will be similar. I appreciate what PCT achieved for the zoo but dislike its general appearance, difficulty to navigate without backtracking, and small indoor housing for the primates.
 
jayjds2 said:
the other had Colombian giant toad Rhaebo blombergi - a great new species on exhibit that I don't believe has been exhibited at any other US zoo recently.
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Also posted in my herp thread just now, but worth noting in Saint Louis Zoo's thread as well I think - the zoo is involved with amphibian conservation work in Ecuador, which might explain the presence and appearance of rare Neotropical frogs in the Herpetarium (not just this recent one, but also the Gastrotheca riobambae, Atelopus balios, Ceratophrys stolzmanni, Oophaga sylvatica... all native to Ecuador).

Saint Louis Zoo | Center for Ecuadorian Amphibian Conservation

jayjds2 said:
The zoo also has Virgin Island boas which I argue would be an even more unusual exhibit animal but either is great to see, especially if remaining behind the scenes makes the latter more likely to breed.
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A few zoos have recently begun breeding Virgin Islands boa as part of a conservation initiative. Definitely would be nice to see the zoos highlight their work by displaying a snake or two.

jayjds2 said:
I agree with the general sentiment the zoo is in a bit of a lull at the moment
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I'm a bit surprised to hear your take on PCT; others who have seen it thought highly of it and I thought from the photos it looked like a good addition (though I agree with you on it not matching my aesthetic preferences). I also thought the indoor housing was still the Primate House exhibits... in which case they'd be a pretty good size?

At least many of the issues you mentioned are relatively easy fixes if the zoo chooses to make them - filling the exhibit buildings back up to capacity, putting jaguars in the Andean bear exhibit, etc. Would be curious to know what else contributed to a "feeling of decline" for River's Edge though - the only thing I can think of is the replacement of RRH with Chacoan peccaries, a change which frankly I felt people on here overreacted to.
 
Coelacanth18 said:
Also posted in my herp thread just now, but worth noting in Saint Louis Zoo's thread as well I think - the zoo is involved with amphibian conservation work in Ecuador, which might explain the presence and appearance of rare Neotropical frogs in the Herpetarium (not just this recent one, but also the Gastrotheca riobambae, Atelopus balios, Ceratophrys stolzmanni, Oophaga sylvatica... all native to Ecuador).

Saint Louis Zoo | Center for Ecuadorian Amphibian Conservation
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This is the case. Other animals, such as the Agalychnis spurrelli and Atelopus “limon” on exhibit and the Boana picturata that was formerly exhibited and may still be behind the scenes also came from Fundación Jambatu. I am sure there are more gems behind the scenes that may yet go on display. The only other zoo I know for sure to be working with Fundación Jambatu is the Dallas World Aquarium, which has two of the same Atelopus as well as elegans.
 
Coelacanth18 said:
At least many of the issues you mentioned are relatively easy fixes if the zoo chooses to make them - filling the exhibit buildings back up to capacity, putting jaguars in the Andean bear exhibit, etc. Would be curious to know what else contributed to a "feeling of decline" for River's Edge though - the only thing I can think of is the replacement of RRH with Chacoan peccaries, a change which frankly I felt people on here overreacted to.
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I forgot to respond to this with my last post :eek:

I am sure the zoo has animals to put in the empty Herpetarium exhibits, I just am always amazed how there are constantly 5-6 exhibits empty - that’s been the case for the entirety of 2023, in which I visited relatively frequently.

In general, River’s Edge just feels less lively. The South American portion is empty now, essentially. No spectacled bear, no bush dog (though their exhibit is signed for giant anteater, I haven’t seen it at all), no more macaws (I agree with no parrot on a stick, but a single aviary would be nice). The only remaining South American animal in the South American section that I can personally confirm is on exhibit is capybara. I just checked the map of the zoo and now there is an African wild dog icon on both their exhibit and the spectacled bear exhibit, so I suppose that is confirmed. Between that and the Chacoan peccary in the RRH exhibit, I just find them to both be odd choices to “ruin” the exhibit’s geography in terms of exhibiting continents in order. I understand why this might not be a priority for the zoo - but it is a shame IMO. The African aviary is also one which is a bit of an odd case. It was designed for bee-eaters, yet has none, and has often been empty or with only one or two birds this year. River’s Edge just feels a little unloved. Moving over jaguar would be nice, as would revitalizing the capybara/anteater exhibits (perhaps making one larger exhibit, if the zoo has no plans to reacquire bush dog), and as I alluded to I think another aviary or two would not only help liven up the exhibit but also improve the zoo’s ever-declining bird collection. The two bird species the zoo has recently added to the collection are a good start, but I fear it won’t last for long and they’ll continue losing species.

Coelacanth18 said:
I'm a bit surprised to hear your take on PCT; others who have seen it thought highly of it and I thought from the photos it looked like a good addition (though I agree with you on it not matching my aesthetic preferences). I also thought the indoor housing was still the Primate House exhibits... in which case they'd be a pretty good size?
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I could be working on outdated information here, but a previously published master plan called for the transformation of the Primate House into a Madagascar exhibit. PCT includes a central building with housing for most of the exhibit’s primates. I am guessing that when Madagascar comes, the lemurs’ indoor housing may remain in the new exhibit, but the other species will have only that central building in PCT. Despite having my critiques of it, I still think PCT is a vast improvement over what once was - just not at the caliber I was hoping for.
 
Thanks for expanding on all that @jayjds2. A couple aviaries and a few more S. American species would be nice additions potentially. I see the point about the peccaries, I just don't feel like the "geographic theming" of River's Edge was ever that noticeable to begin with :p even if it's technically laid out that way... and if RRH was going to get replaced by something, Chacoan Peccary is a solid choice IMO.

I didn't know that about the master plan or turning the Primate House into a Madagascar exhibit; that would be cool if they went ahead with that.

Neil chace said:
I'd imagine the zoo would be hesitant to move a big cat species that is very dangerous and highly skilled at both climbing and leaping into an exhibit that an Andean bear managed to escape from multiple times. Just throwing that out there, as I'm sure it is a legitimate concern.
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Fair point :p as an alternative idea to jaguar, a large pack of bush dogs could make for a lively exhibit...
 
jayjds2 said:
I could be working on outdated information here, but a previously published master plan called for the transformation of the Primate House into a Madagascar exhibit. PCT includes a central building with housing for most of the exhibit’s primates. I am guessing that when Madagascar comes, the lemurs’ indoor housing may remain in the new exhibit, but the other species will have only that central building in PCT. Despite having my critiques of it, I still think PCT is a vast improvement over what once was - just not at the caliber I was hoping for.
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Coelacanth18 said:
I didn't know that about the master plan or turning the Primate House into a Madagascar exhibit; that would be cool if they went ahead with that.
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This was part of a now outdated master plan done under previous management. It would have involved combining the primate and reptile houses into one large complex called Legends of the Forest by adding several glass domes surrounding the buildings. A Madagascar region would have been a part of this, as well the Congo, Southeast Asia, etc. The area where Primate Canopy Trails was built was going to be a Flooded Forest exhibit, but of course this is no longer the case.
 
jayjds2 said:
The two bird species the zoo has recently added to the collection are a good start
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Would those be Chinese hwamei and American crow?

Coelacanth18 said:
I just don't feel like the "geographic theming" of River's Edge was ever that noticeable to begin with
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I've loosely followed the recent conversations about River's Edge here and I was always confused because I too didn't ever think the zoogeographic component of the exhibit was that notable (or the exhibit in general for that matter).
 
jayjds2 said:
I visited 2 days later (on the 12th) and both reptile house exhibits were occupied. One had Puerto Rican boa, which I didn't manage to see, and the other had Colombian giant toad Rhaebo blombergi
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Both exciting new additions to the Herpetarium! Definitely seems like an upgrade from the previous inhabitants, which while both cool species are quite common and something that can be seen at many other facilities. The addition of Rhaebo blombergi is especially exciting, as their amphibian collection has been lacking in size as of late.
 
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I share others' concern about River's Edge but at the same time, everything that has happened so far is pretty reversible - not to say I expect bush dogs or Andean bears to come back tomorrow, but there haven't been barriers being knocked down or completely irreversible losses, and I have some doubts the current situation will remain as it is indefinitely. Red river hogs are not hard to find and I think it's very plausible they could return for example even if the peccary sticks around a few years. I remain unconvinced the wild dog situation will remain long-term. The zoo could always acquire a new anteater for example as well. The South America section definitely feels empty right now and hopefully some new residents can be found for those spaces to liven up the exhibit. The macaws are the hardest space to replace actually. My broader point is though River's Edge can be restored very easily and even if it stays like this for five years or more, it could still pretty much go back to how it was or something similar.
 
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