San Diego Zoo San Diego Zoo News 2024

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Neil chace said:
Hemker Park and Zoo (a common "dumping ground" for AZA surplus at the moment), Rum Creek Center for the Conservation of Tropical Ungulates, Iron Mountain Ranch, Micanopy Zoological Preserve. There are a lot of private holders of rare ungulates that have limited openings to the public, if that.

Article from Connect a few years ago about collaborations between zoos and the private sector: Achieving Ungulate Sustainability
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Interesting.

This is likely a foolish assumption but, tbh, I always assumed the AZA turned their noses at the private sector because they see non AZA zoos as "beneath them" and "lowly," especially the many private ranches in Texas, whose association with exotic hunting would certainly be a PR nightmare for any zoo.

But I do hope facilities like this and the ones being started up by St. Louis, Audubon, Denver, etc. will deliver some hope.
 
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According to the photography Facebook group, it’s not only the Safari Park that has been seeing recent ungulate births! The group has reported a new Nubian Soemmerring’s gazelle calf in Urban Jungle as well as a new Cavendish’s dik-dik calf in Elephant Odyssey! I haven’t been to the Zoo yet this month in order to avoid the pandemonium, if you will :p, but maybe I’ll have to squeeze in a trip before Europe after all!
 
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Some updates from todays trip:
- Mandazzi, one of the bachelor male Gorillas is still at the zoo despite plans for him to head to another zoo to start a troop of his own.
- The Andean Bear cubs are also still at the zoo after their transfers fell through, they are being housed behind Skyfari West in the meantime.
- The Black-Headed Bushmaster habitat in the reptile house is being enhanced. Along with a few others that have been for a while.
- Crowds for the Giant Pandas have died down a little since opening with the best time to see them being first thing in the morning and right at 5:25.
- Giant Panda Live Cam is coming back at some point, they’re figuring out the locations for the cameras with the renovated spaces.
 
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RJB Wildlife said:
Sedgwick has Gorillas which is why Mandazzi was supposed to go there on a breeding recommendation.
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That makes more sense, I was trying to follow the conversation and got lost somewhere. Thanks for the clarification.
 
I decided to brave the pandemonium crowds and squeeze in a visit to the Zoo today to help break in my new walking shoes ahead of my trip to Europe in less than a week!

While I did not have any luck seeing the new antelope calves, I did have really good luck in other ways! The Zoo was practically dead today -- it was the emptiest I have seen it since right after the New Year, probably? And I actually got to see the spot-necked otter pair very actively swimming around with each other in Ituri Forest AND awake and active giant pandas!

I didn't visit the whole Zoo today, but I do have a couple of updates:

-It appears that they are putting up some support structures over the outdoor European reptile yard behind the Reptile House, so it looks they will be netting it over soon.

-There are now at least four or five pancake tortoises in the outdoor African/Madagascan reptile yard, as well!

-The upper deck of the Acacia Woodlands Aviary is currently closed.

-Eagle Trail has reopened, and the harpy eagle pair has been introduced to each other! They can now be seen together in the first aviary as you go up the boardwalk from Asian Leopards. The second aviary is now empty.

-There appears to be some sort of construction going on the the rear polar bear yard.

-There are now only two guanaco left in Elephant Odyssey :(

- The male klipspringer was very interested in the female this afternoon. Hopefully this will lead to the pitter-patter of further little hooves at the Zoo, soon!
 
RJB Wildlife said:
Some updates from todays trip:
- Mandazzi, one of the bachelor male Gorillas is still at the zoo despite plans for him to head to another zoo to start a troop of his own.
- The Andean Bear cubs are also still at the zoo after their transfers fell through, they are being housed behind Skyfari West in the meantime.
- The Black-Headed Bushmaster habitat in the reptile house is being enhanced. Along with a few others that have been for a while.
- Crowds for the Giant Pandas have died down a little since opening with the best time to see them being first thing in the morning and right at 5:25.
- Giant Panda Live Cam is coming back at some point, they’re figuring out the locations for the cameras with the renovated spaces.
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The SSP drafts with the plan to move Mandazzi are for a 2-3 year planning period, so that is the time frame it could take for a move to happen. There's of course a lot of logistics from both the sending and receiving institutions that can determine how long exactly it takes, but I would not have expected it to already have happened.
 
Grant said:
The SSP drafts with the plan to move Mandazzi are for a 2-3 year planning period, so that is the time frame it could take for a move to happen. There's of course a lot of logistics from both the sending and receiving institutions that can determine how long exactly it takes, but I would not have expected it to already have happened.
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I was hearing rumblings of the move all the way back to around April. I’m wondering if the passing of Winston at the park also put a hold on a move. I know Paul Donn was in the conversation to be the new silverback there, but maybe they decide to go with a younger male like Mandazzi to pair with the younger females. Just a thought.
 
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Is it possible the zoo can give red pandas to the Los Angeles zoo so that the La zoo can utilize some of their space
 
X213G said:
Is it possible the zoo can give red pandas to the Los Angeles zoo so that the La zoo can utilize some of their space
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I believe they’d have to go through the SSP in order to do that transaction. Any move between the Safari Park and the Zoo is different because they are one organization and database.
 
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