The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore The Maryland Zoo News 2024

Anna and Felix are both post repro although Felix is still housed with on a “if it happens then it happens” when she is cycling. But with no available females Maryland will be transitioning to a bachelor facility much like San Diego unless the SSP says otherwise and can procure viable females for either bull.
 
E Maximus said:
Anna and Felix are both post repro although Felix is still housed with on a “if it happens then it happens” when she is cycling. But with no available females Maryland will be transitioning to a bachelor facility much like San Diego unless the SSP says otherwise and can procure viable females for either bull.
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Thanks for your helpful comments! I had thought so, just cow Felix did have a calf in 2003 (Max, born at Riddles, and passed away in December 2018 at Grants Farm).

Do you know if bull Tuffy (41+) has ever been evaluated for reproductive viability? It would be nice to see him - even at his age - get him to breed at some other collection. Or has it been determined that given that he had been maintained with the only breeding cow Felix ... since their transfer from Riddles Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary in 2007 ..., there was never another calf.

I applaud / welcome that Baltimore will in future completely transfer to a bachelor bull facility. Hopefully, the next generation of young bulls will be better adapted by more modern concepts of their management and husbandry that they behaviorally become well adjusted potential breeding bulls in future.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
I wish chimp-wise the AZA would research their genetics properly and try to document what chimps they have (Pan troglodytes: West African verus (Yerkes?), troglodytes (Central basin Gabon to Congos) elliotti (Nigeria-part Cameroun) and or schweinfurthii (East African Arc mountains).
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Yeah, I noticed that Kasoje (the most dominant chimp) came from the Little Rock Zoo, which lists Western Chimpanzee on its website, and I know zoos can put those fancy labels on animals if they want (like labeling generic tigers as Bengals), but Kasoje's parents were King Richard and Judy, who were both wild caught. It is possible that Kasoje could be a purely Western Chimpanzee, depending on where Richard and Judy were captured from.

Interestingly, despite being the most dominant chimp at the Maryland Zoo, he also hasn't fathered any of the baby chimps there. Jack and Louie did.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Thanks for your helpful comments! I had thought so, just cow Felix did have a calf in 2003 (Max, born at Riddles, and passed away in December 2018 at Grants Farm).

Do you know if bull Tuffy (41+) has ever been evaluated for reproductive viability? It would be nice to see him - even at his age - get him to breed at some other collection. Or has it been determined that given that he had been maintained with the only breeding cow Felix ... since their transfer from Riddles Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary in 2007 ..., there was never another calf.

I applaud / welcome that Baltimore will in future completely transfer to a bachelor bull facility. Hopefully, the next generation of young bulls will be better adapted by more modern concepts of their management and husbandry that they behaviorally become well adjusted potential breeding bulls in future.
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To my knowledge, he has never been evaluated. I know under previous management he was "trained" for semen collection but when the time came and semen was required for AI nearby he was "unavailable" so do with that knowledge what you will. As of earlier this year, the plan was for him to remain and alternate with Felix and Samson. Once the girls pass they can then open the facility up to more bulls again unless the SSP has females available at which time they would explore other options. As for fertility/viability, in reality, both he and Felix should have been evaluated long ago. He breeds her when she cycles but she never falls pregnant so there honestly is no way of telling who's to blame for her failing to conceive after all these years.
 
The father-daughter pair of ring tailed lemurs have been moved to Fort Wayne zoo. This is in anticipation for renovations in the chimp forest holding (set to start any day now) that require all of the species to have outside spaces to stay over night. The red ruffed lemurs will go to the hospital and the other primates will remain in the colobus trail and lemur lane.
 
So I visited this zoo last week and had a few observations.
  • Contrary to what the website currently states, the Giant Tree exhibit was fully open and all enclosures were stocked.
  • However, the Marsh Aviary in the Maryland Wilderness area was closed for "renovations" (no work was taking place and there were still birds in the aviary). This is not mentioned on the website at all.
  • No Lady Ross's Turacos were observed in the African Aviary at all. Or anywhere for that matter. Not even signed.
  • A Snowy Owl was on exhibit in the historic main valley.
  • White-breasted Cormorants were signed at the Penguin Beach exhibit, but were moved to the African Aviary.
  • On a related note, there were two unsigned Great White Pelicans on display with the Penguins.
 
Astrotom3000 said:
So I visited this zoo last week and had a few observations.
  • Contrary to what the website currently states, the Giant Tree exhibit was fully open and all enclosures were stocked.
  • However, the Marsh Aviary in the Maryland Wilderness area was closed for "renovations" (no work was taking place and there were still birds in the aviary). This is not mentioned on the website at all.
  • No Lady Ross's Turacos were observed in the African Aviary at all. Or anywhere for that matter. Not even signed.
  • A Snowy Owl was on exhibit in the historic main valley.
  • White-breasted Cormorants were signed at the Penguin Beach exhibit, but were moved to the African Aviary.
  • On a related note, there were two unsigned Great White Pelicans on display with the Penguins.
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Huh, are the pelicans really unsigned? They’ve been there for 3 years now.

Was this your first time visiting the zoo? I always enjoy hearing people’s impressions.

Also, did you see the ostriches? I haven’t seen them out on any of my visits since before the pandemic. Bad timing, I guess.
 
TheGytrash said:
Huh, are the pelicans really unsigned? They’ve been there for 3 years now.

Was this your first time visiting the zoo? I always enjoy hearing people’s impressions.

Also, did you see the ostriches? I haven’t seen them out on any of my visits since before the pandemic. Bad timing, I guess.
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We visit almost monthly, or every month, and it has been approximately three years since we've seen the Ostrich. There were lots of factors and changes at the time like the Avian Flu, but we also wondered if the new Rhino pair had anything to do with it. The Zebra are definitely far more skittish around them than any past combinations of Rhino and Zebra were.
 
TheGytrash said:
Huh, are the pelicans really unsigned? They’ve been there for 3 years now.
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Yes, they were unsigned (Or at least, I didn't see any signage; I knew what they were so I didn't look super hard).

Was this your first time visiting the zoo? I always enjoy hearing people’s impressions.
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Indeed it was, and I will be typing up a review and species list soon (but I got another zoo I want to cover first).

Also, did you see the ostriches? I haven’t seen them out on any of my visits since before the pandemic. Bad timing, I guess.
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No Ostriches observed, although their signage is still there.
 
TheCappyCouple said:
We visit almost monthly, or every month, and it has been approximately three years since we've seen the Ostrich. There were lots of factors and changes at the time like the Avian Flu, but we also wondered if the new Rhino pair had anything to do with it. The Zebra are definitely far more skittish around them than any past combinations of Rhino and Zebra were.
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The ostrich are still at the Zoo, so you must keep missing them since the avian flu threat has subsided for now
 
Some observations from my most recent visit.
- Clyde the saddle-billed stork who was previously in the African Watering Hole habitat with the kudu is now in the Crane Barn. That is because he is almost 40 and has some foot issues and the exhibit he was previously in was hard to navigate for him because it is very hilly. The zoo still has more saddle-billed storks in African Journey with the sitatungas.
- The zoo no longer has addra gazelle. The male was very old and passed away and the other one was sent to another zoo.
- The elephants were all separated, Anna was not viewable because there are only three exhibit yards. Sometimes they said they will put Tuffy and Samson together or put one of the boys with one of the girls but Felix and Anna never go together. They said Anna enjoys her alone time cause she’s almost 50 years old, even though typically elephants are social lol
- Giraffe feeding prices have gone up. Now it’s 8 dollars instead of 5 dollars. It’s ridiculous. I didn’t even feed them although they werent near the deck when I was there.
 
Aww, that's a shame about the gazelles. I really like the antelope yard and I hope they bring in another species to supplement the kudu. It always looked so cool having both kinds there. Wasn't there just a baby addra gazelle born about a year ago? What happened to her?
 
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