Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo Births, Deaths and Transfers 2023

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Polar bear Humphrey has been transferred to Aquarium du Quebec where he joins young half brothers Shouka and Kinuk.
 
Straw coloured fruit bat pup, Jesse, has finally been introduced to the nursery colony, consisting of some of the females and their little ones. He's getting along with his new family and they anticipate full introduction to the rest of the colony in the next few weeks.
 
hyena142 said:
@Kevin2342 Thanks for the update! Love that you talked to the keepers, I'm usually too shy for that lol

Nice to hear the moose are still alive, it's a bit surprising they haven't moved elsewhere though considering this is the second year of their exhibit being renoed, I'm sure there's a spot in the Eurasia drive-thru that'd work for them with a bit of adjustments. Maybe they're just too old for that, I dunno. Totally agree with TZFan that renoing the moose exhibit is a bit weird but I'm guessing it's more for future use as a breeding/flex exhibit than for the moose themselves.

Never did see the elk and I'll always have a mild grudge against them for replacing the musk ox but it's nice the last one lived that long.

There it is, they're already starting to make plans for the Domain's closure, nice. Personally I think the only thing keeping the Domain open is grizzly Shintay. She's the last true headliner animal down there at least while the moose are off (I like the bison but a guest draw they are not), so when she passes they'll be able to find Micro a spot in the Kids Zoo if she's still alive by then, the turkey vulture that's seat filling in the cougar exhibit will be able to go home to the Kids Zoo as well, and the eagles will probably go back to the outreach barn but if they wanna keep them on-exhibit I think there's a few options for that. And of course the bison will stay down there until Wilderness North happens, whenever that'll be. I'd say this is the year to make that one last Domain visit because if Shintay passes away while it's closed for the season like Samson did this year they might not re-open it next summer. As much as the Domain annoys me it'd be a shame to have one of the original zoo "lands" die just one year short of the 50th but it is what it is

No surprise we don't have Amur cubs in our near future especially after Mazy's recent health scare, I think we all figured Mila was probably a one and done

I'll miss Luca when he's gone. I'm very excited that cubs will finally be a possibility for us but still, I'll miss him.

The kangaroo walkabout is finally coming back, that's great! Feels like it's been ages since it's been consistently open, it was closed for the whole panda visit from 2013 to 2018 and then they made a big deal about it finally coming back in 2019 but then covid closed it again lol. Good to hear the pavilions are almost ready for another avian flu summer as well, Indo's aviary especially needs to be ready for June since that's where the entrance to the outdoor orangs is.
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You would have never seen the elk as they were off-show. You could have seen them through the old monorail, but when the monorail was replaced by the zoomobile, the elk couldn’t be seen by visitors since they were behind the scenes. The only technically behind the scenes space you could see from the zoomobile is the large hilly paddock where the alpacas and Stirling the miniature donkey live.
 
Kevin2342 said:
You would have never seen the elk as they were off-show. You could have seen them through the old monorail, but when the monorail was replaced by the zoomobile, the elk couldn’t be seen by visitors since they were behind the scenes. The only technically behind the scenes space you could see from the zoomobile is the large hilly paddock where the alpacas and Stirling the miniature donkey live.
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The Elk were in the Bison exhibit for a number of years. Visible but mostly towards the back-end of that enormous exhibit.

They were also in the old Musk Ox exhibit as @hyena142 said. But again, towards the back end of the exhibit making them hard to see.

So, they were visible to visitors, just not always cooperative with being close to the viewing points available to visitors.
 
African spoonbill Rita was transferred to Calgary. Turns out Rita wasnt the female keepers thought and is actually a male. Love when it happens and animals get names that dont match their sex in the end. Its why we have a female penguin named Eldon. Birds are hard sometimes.

Maybe when Rita's crate returns it will come with otter brothers Fiddles and Fraser so the beaver exhibit doesnt sit empty all summer. I have my doubts considering the crates would probably be very different.
 
Given Rita's size and species and the fact it was a flight within Canada, he likely just arrived in a medium sized dog kennel, lol.

Otter boxes would likely be built on site out of wood, if they don't already have something suitable on standby already. For the vast majority of animals under 100 pounds, there's no need to ship crates from facility to facility, they're either built in house or they just recycle a crate from another animal that arrived at some point in the past. It's really only the big guys (hoofstock, large carnivores, elephants, etc...) that one needs to worry about looking offsite for transport holding.
 
@Hyak_II, I figured as much. Wishful thinking we could just get the otters sooner. Of course if I really had to pick I want the giraffe swap more.
 
I agree, the Giraffe swap is #1 in my books!

Although to be fair, I honestly see no reason why the otter boys weren't sent off to Toronto, like...yesterday. It's a direct flight from Calgary to Toronto via West Jet Cargo, so that's not problematic. Otters are small, so it's not like its any great hassle to ship them or make transport boxes. And morever, Calgary already has a billon otters, AND they're not even on display right now!! There's literally seemingly zero reason to hold off on a transfer right now.
 
And we have a spare exhibit right now for extra otters. The beaver exhibit is just housing some fish and snapping turtles. Move them and problem solved. No one will miss the fish or snappers. Heck if you really wanted to keep those on display just rotate them with RJ or try integration if the all seem compatible. Toronto has options.

The giraffe swap is all I want right now! I need Nabo to clear quarantine by early fall so he could breed in the late fall early winter and then we get two calves for spring 2025! Sadly a year too late to get the calves by the 50th anniversary next summer but Ill take two giraffe calves again as a huge win.
 
The zoo finally confirmed what several of us suspected, that the roo joey is a male. He has been named Howie.
 
TZFan said:
55 Blanding's turtles were released into the Rouge by the zoo. This brings the total to over 650 turtles released by the zoo over the last 10 years.

Toronto Zoo releases 55 endangered turtles to the wild
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This made me so happy to read! :'3

On another note though, I'm sad to find out how poorly Luca's doing, and I hope I get to see him one last time on my trip this year and say goodbye, since he's so likely to pass soon. Also sad to learn that Penelope's left already, and that Samson has died. :c
 
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The new domestic rabbits in the Kids Zoo are named Frodo and Gandalf. They were rescued from Toronto Animal Services after being surrendered by an owner that didn't want to care for them.
 
Blue wildebeest Ben was transferred to Safari Niagara last week to join a herd of three females. He was the last wildebeest at Toronto and there’s currently no word on if we’ll get replacements, however the zoo says they have plans for the space involving animals currently in their care, so it sounds like they’re done with the species. They’ve used it as a flex space in the past so don’t be surprised if the male zebras or warthogs start using it.
 
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And another species bites the dust. Honestly I could care less if we had wildebeest because the zoo couldnt mix them. Wonder what comes next for the habitat. I pray a cool species but I also wont be surprised if I'm disappointed.
 
What exactly is the game plan behind the exodus of so many of the animals at the zoo? Is there a reason they are not replacing any leaving species?
 
@Elliot A. Every animal has a different reason for being phased out and why they won't be replaced, but all of it's happening now because we're at the dawn of massive changes coming to the TZ and some species need to leave, either temporarily or permanently, for that to happen. For example the Domain animals are dying out because that area's closure is imminent so there's no need to get new cougars or grizzlies until Wilderness North opens a long time from now, or the spider monkeys and possibly the gibbons were/are in the way of future developments. In the case of the wildebeests it's because they were a non-breeding species that were exhibit only, and now that they're gone their exhibit can be used to help us with our flux zebras.

As for why they aren't bringing in new species, the answer is that Dolf's game plan seems to be using the money that could be spent on a new species and instead giving it to a breeding species we already have and making their quality of life better. That's why the orangs and jaguars are finally getting the long delayed love they deserve, the red pandas and Amur tigers are getting exhibit expansions, etc. So when a species like the spider monkeys leaves all the money that would've gone to them is going to those species getting the big renovations they need instead.
 
Elliot A. said:
What exactly is the game plan behind the exodus of so many of the animals at the zoo? Is there a reason they are not replacing any leaving species?
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For one, keepers are better able to focus on the needs, enrichment, and health of remaining animals and overall, the zoo is able to use the time to renovate and improve existing spaces. Take the spider monkeys for example. Their phase out will allow the zoo to expand the existing jaguar habitat.

The imminent phase out of river hippos is also supposed to pave the way for a mixed red river hog/pygmy hippo exhibit.

In my opinion, this downsizing should also give the zoo time to prioritize conservation. Evaluate which species are a priority for care or breeding. Replace "display" animals with SSP breeders or less common, more vulnerable species. Who knows, we might see a rise in species diversity again somewhere down the line. Scheduled construction is bound to create a few new empty exhibits.
 
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