Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo- Births, Deaths, Arrivals and Departures 2013

Zoomaniac,
Welcome to Toronto! The zoo is, unfortunately, on the opposite end of the city to the airport - the distance is ~45 km! Both are well out from downtown Toronto as well.

Public transportation is a slow option because of the distance. I'm surprised that it's only 2 hours!

Taxis and limousines from the airport have set rates depending on the destination (not a ticking taxi meter). It is $69 CAD (including taxes, but not tip) for a taxi to the zoo, $76 for a limousine. If you book in advance, most companies offer a 10% discount. Check out Taxis and Limousines

Having never rented a car from this airport before, I cannot offer you any thoughts, tips, or advice. Nor can I offer advice for crossing international borders with rental cars ... depending on the day, the crossing can either be quick and painless or very long. Not much help!

However, from the airport, it is a very simple route to get to the zoo: follow the signs to Highway 401 Eastbound ... get on the 401 East and stay on until Meadowvale Road (Exit 389, I believe), turn left (north) at the lights, and follow the signs to the zoo. From the airport, it will take ~30 minutes in good traffic ... a lot longer in bad traffic.

Good luck!
 
I'm hopefully heading to the zoo Wednesday (weather dependant). Is there anything I can keep my eye peeled for or ask about for anyone? I am also happy to photograph things for people, not that Im a spectacular photographer but Im willing to try. And to amuse myself are their any new babies people have recently seen that havent been mentioned yet. Hate to miss out on a cute baby.
 
TZFan said:
I'm hopefully heading to the zoo Wednesday (weather dependant). Is there anything I can keep my eye peeled for or ask about for anyone? I am also happy to photograph things for people, not that Im a spectacular photographer but Im willing to try. And to amuse myself are their any new babies people have recently seen that havent been mentioned yet. Hate to miss out on a cute baby.
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I hope you have a great time at the zoo!
I've mentioned all of the babies that I saw on my past two visits. Since I was just at the zoo a few weeks ago, the only pictures I would like to see are of the baby warthogs, the baby zebra (I haven't seen it yet), and if you see the new white rhinos swimming. If you can't get the photos, don't worry about it. Also, if you see anything new, please post it here.
 
Thanks Im sure I'll have a great time if the weather holds. Otherwise Im going to be one sad person for another 3 weeks before I have a second chance to go.

And you bet if I see the babies Ill try to get a bunch of photos of them. If I take 10 pics of each some might be good. Im so looking forward to seeing the lemurs, zebra, warthog, penguins, kudu and capyburra (especailly if they are new and not last years babies). Oh to have a whole day to spend enjoying every single animal.

If you think of anything else I can do for you arcticwolf please let me know. Happy to finally have a chance to add new first hand knowledge for the first time in a long time.
 
2 new female yaks, one of which had a baby girl in quarantine, her name is Amy.
 
Quartz92 said:
2 new female yaks, one of which had a baby girl in quarantine, her name is Amy.
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That's great news. Baby yaks are so cute! Are the new yaks on exhibit yet? Will they be in the new drive through area or the old yak exhibit which is now viewable again?
 
Great another baby to keep my eyes peeled for. I'll try and get a picture of her if I have the chance. Any idea what the adult yaks names are?
 
I just found out about some other babies that were born at the zoo. 26,000 Puerto Rican crested toad tadpoles will be released back into the wild today. Even though they won't be on exhibit, it is still a great accomplishment for the zoo and I'm glad they are working so hard to save a species. The Toronto Zoo has now released about 150,000 toads back into the wild since 1983.
 
K just got back from my zoo trip...

Got there at 10 am and for others looking for a quick look at the pandas it seemed a great time to go. We were in and saw them in under 15 minutes. I didnt spend any real time in the interpretive center though, I was on a mission. Both pandas were inside for the day. Er Shun wasnt really visible but Da Mao was flaked out on a rock. So cute.

Oh big question. I thought the kangaroo/emu outdoor exhibit was a walkthrough. Did i stupidly miss the enterance or is it closed to people again?

Everyone in Tundra Trek were on their game. Nikita and Aurora were having a grand old time wrestling in the water while poor old Inukshuk looked on from the grassy exhibit.

I was disappointed in the American pavillion. I didnt get to see the tamerins, marmosets, sloths or saki. The crested tinamou were sitting near some eggs. A keeper told us they usually arnt every sucessful hatching the eggs. Looked like 15 or so but she said they might get one or two chicks. She wasnt their keeper so she wasnt too certain when the chicks might hatch. The eggs were such a cool shade of green. The otters were a hoot. They put a quite a show prior to feeding time.

The drive thru exhibits in Eurasia left a lot to be imagined. Just two horses and 3 yaks. I didnt see the newborn yak. The guide said her moms been keeping her in a lot.

Sorry Arcticwolf but no baby zebra photos. I didnt see her but I did see Jake and two females.

I didnt see the kudu calf. Saw the male and what looked like the two grown females. But right now is supposed to be their rut so maybe Odin has been removed so his mother can breed again?

In the kudu exhibit I did notice one baby. There was an almost grown hornbill chick hanging out with one of its parents. The parent was calling to its mate across the exhibit and the baby would pipe up every now and then as the parents tried to get it to follow them.

Poor Fintan isnt feeling well according to his keepers so he wasnt out with the girls.

Saw the warthog piglets. Very cute and they squealed as they ran after their mother when she moved without telling them.

I was very sad not to see the lemur babies... wait let me correct that i got to see one tiny tail sticking out from the bottom of a heap of sleeping lemurs. Every single lemur was piled into a big ball of lemurs. Not one was doing anything interesting!

There was a crate in the Nile soft shelled turtle exhibit. Are they planning on moving Dotty? That exhibit could definately be used much better.

Got to see the naked mole rats tunnels being cleaned. They did not like it.

Is it normal for keepers to leave the chameleons cages open when they are across the room cleaning other cages? I watched as one walked out along the top of his or her door and then fell off to the ground. The keeper looked quite embarrassed and went to pick him up but then put him back without closing the door. Is this normal? Also saw a young chameleon. It didnt move for the longest time and I wondered if it was a statue until it moved.

Both Harvey and Abou were out but not together. He was in the bigger exhibit while she slept in a very small pool in the second exhibit. Considering how crummy my search was for babies I wished even more that their calf had lived.

Saw both of the tigers. Hari was very interested in a chipmunk on the other side of the ramps. He just kept pacing back and forth never taking his eye off it.

The orangs were out and hilarious. Ramai, Sekali, Kembali and Jingga were out. The kids were having a blast. If anyone can tell me how to upload a video to here in language a 6 year old can understand I'll happily share.

In the Malayan woods the butterflies were out in force for you butterfly lovers. Merriweather was no where to be found so she must have been resting in back.

Vishnu was out in the rhino yard but he looked more interested in Asha who must have been behind the fence. Kept looking up and over there and she wasnt inside.

Important question about Olive. We saw her and Muna outside and she had a very bad limp on her right rear leg. Is she a limper? Or has she recently hurt herself?

That brings me back to the giraffes. The darker of the girls, not sure which, came really close and on her left rear hip she had a long bump. It didnt look like the lighter of the two had it or her other leg for that matter. She didnt seem to have trouble walking but I was just wondering what the long bump was.

I'll be uploading pics soon. Just need to look through them.
 
It's too bad that you didn't get to see many babies. I haven't had much luck too. The kangaroo/wallaby/emu exhibit is a walk through exhibit but hasn't been open since construction started on the pandas. I'm upset that the Eurasian drive through exhibits weren't great. Hopefully more animals move in soon. On my last visit, the Malayan Woods pavilion seemed very empty so I'm glad there are more butterflies in it.
 
Yeah it seemed like a cruel taunt to see next to no babies after last years awesome summer of cute that I missed out on. 3 warthogs, a lemur tail, a almost grown hornbill chick and 3 penguin chicks is not fair. I did forget to mention the penguin chicks yesterday. One was on display in the exhibit. The other two still had some down on them and were hanging out at the indoor pool. They must nearly be ready to go on exhibit with the other one. Now I dont know if there are anymore being reared by parents in the back. I only saw 4 adults not that I went looking for the rest around the exhibit. I came by them at a nuts time. No one was in the water. But the other adults could have been across the exhibit nestled amongst the rocks.

I had been looking forward to the walkabout with the kangaroos. Too bad its closed. Unfortunately I also didnt get to see a wombat. The wallabies were out instead which is okay.

The drivethrough was sad. First I really thought they could have spared a couple of bucks to repave the path. Its just the old pedistran path. They seriously couldnt find room in the budget to repave? Its so bumpy that all the jostling makes it hard to hear the guide through that section. Though to be fair my hearing is less then ideal. But since the animals had fences they could have ripped it out then moved the fences. I also found it sad that they couldnt even be bothered ripping out old seating areas. Theres no path there no so get rid of it. And I'd like to have seen some other improvements to the yards. It might have been nice to see a mountain in one of the yards with some combination of the animals who love mountains. It would be more impressive then just the flat green exhibits with just horses and yaks so far. Now the disappointing amount of animals is because not all of the animals have adapted to life with the zoomobile yet. The guide said just a few have become used to it so far but they are hoping to have the yards full by next years Eurasia Wilds opening.

Oh Arcticwolf there were tons of butterflies out in the Malayan Woods. Tons of colour. The sky was just alive with them. One almost hit me twice. And your right about how empty it seemed. There were several birds behind the wiring but you can never get a good picture of them. I couldnt find the javan whistling ducks. And when theres no Merriweather, not that you can find her all that easily in the first place, your left with the green snake right before you exit. If the butterflies hadnt been so pretty I'd have felt it was a total waste of time. Since Merriweather is getting on it might be time to really consider the future of the clouded leopard exhibit. Either bring in some new leopards or get a second species to rotate with Merriweather.
 
Due to Merri's geriatric age, I wouldn't expect to see much in the way of acquisitions/additions until after she passes away.
 
I wasnt sure if there was the space back there to house more then one leopard based on newer rules from the AZA since Flora and Fauna passed away. In theory the should be able to house 3 adults again and any cubs that come would have to be pulled from mom anyway to be hand reared and placed with future mates before they got too old. The cubs could be housed elsewhere. Given Merriweathers health though the time to make the decision will come sooner rather than later.
 
Oh i just remembered something else I wanted to ask about. At the baboon exhibit I saw two females clearly ready to mate. Their rear ends were quite swollen which I know is normal but the ones rear looked enromous and kinda crusty and she... how do I put this delicately... had a very dry something sticking half out her tushie. It kind of looked stuck. Is that normal? On the one had it seems like it might be with all the swelling but then again you think it would bother her. Was a huge turn off to the male who tried to mate with her. Took one look and walked away. Looks like early winter their could be at least two new baboons.
 
TZFan said:
I wasnt sure if there was the space back there to house more then one leopard based on newer rules from the AZA since Flora and Fauna passed away.
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The clouded leopard exhibit has quite a bit of holding space attached to it. There are two holding spaces (not sure how many rooms in each) on either side of the indoor habitat, along with an off-exhibit, outdoor, meshed-in holding yard adjacent to one of the indoor holding areas (the one closer to the "rainforest" area of the two)

I don't think the problem has much to do with space in acquiring new animals at the moment. Due to Merri's age and health, having new animals in close proximity is probably stress that she can happily go without.
 
TZFan said:
Oh big question. I thought the kangaroo/emu outdoor exhibit was a walkthrough. Did i stupidly miss the enterance or is it closed to people again?

I was disappointed in the American pavillion. I didnt get to see the tamerins, marmosets, sloths or saki.

Sorry Arcticwolf but no baby zebra photos. I didnt see her but I did see Jake and two females.

I didnt see the kudu calf. Saw the male and what looked like the two grown females. But right now is supposed to be their rut so maybe Odin has been removed so his mother can breed again?

In the kudu exhibit I did notice one baby. There was an almost grown hornbill chick hanging out with one of its parents. The parent was calling to its mate across the exhibit and the baby would pipe up every now and then as the parents tried to get it to follow them.

I was very sad not to see the lemur babies... wait let me correct that i got to see one tiny tail sticking out from the bottom of a heap of sleeping lemurs. Every single lemur was piled into a big ball of lemurs. Not one was doing anything interesting!

There was a crate in the Nile soft shelled turtle exhibit. Are they planning on moving Dotty? That exhibit could definately be used much better.
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From what I've heard about the kangaroo walk-through, they are (or already have) going to make it into a loop so that the entrance and exit are the same door. They do not want to use the actual exit door right now because it leads directly into the panda area.

In the Americas pavilion, I have heard that the primate wing is being refurbished (probably just paint), which is why it is currently blocked off.

There seem to be only 3 zebras right now, with both females looking full grown. I'm not sure if something happened to the baby born in October or if she or one of the other females has left the zoo.

The kudu calf from last year, along with his brother from the year before (Odin and Ogden) have both recently left the zoo.

Its too bad that you didn't see the 3 lemur babies. I've had good luck with the lemurs being active first thing in the morning.

The crate in the nile softshell turtle exhibit has always been there. In fact, they recently built a concrete platform for it in the water, so I don't think Dotty is going anywhere.

I was surprised that you didn't mention that the cichlid tank is currently blocked off and drained. They are apparently replacing the glass and doing minor repairs to the exhibit. Unfortunate timing, as it probably should have been done in the winter/early spring.
 
TZFan said:
Yeah it seemed like a cruel taunt to see next to no babies after last years awesome summer of cute that I missed out on. 3 warthogs, a lemur tail, a almost grown hornbill chick and 3 penguin chicks is not fair. I did forget to mention the penguin chicks yesterday. One was on display in the exhibit. The other two still had some down on them and were hanging out at the indoor pool. They must nearly be ready to go on exhibit with the other one. Now I dont know if there are anymore being reared by parents in the back. I only saw 4 adults not that I went looking for the rest around the exhibit. I came by them at a nuts time. No one was in the water. But the other adults could have been across the exhibit nestled amongst the rocks.
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If you saw 2 penguin chicks inside, still with down feathers, then it means the zoo was somewhat successful with the 2nd clutches of eggs that the females laid in March. There could also be more chicks off-display, I guess we will have to wait and see. The chick on display (his name is apparently Scooby) is the only surviving chick from December (when the papers reported 5 chicks). There are at least 17 penguins now in that exhibit (11 adults, 3 juveniles from last year, and 3 from this year). Too bad you only saw a few.
 
Thanks for all the answers.

Its good they are rerouting the walkabout. I saw no evidence of work being done so maybe they are waiting until its too cold for the kangaroos and emus and wallabies to be out.

If they are refurbishing the primate wing I the americas that explains why I didnt see them. I wondered how I missed them. I have another chance to go in 2 weeks whats the odds they might be done? I dont know if its been blocked long.

I thought we only had 3 adult zebras. Jakes our new stud. Shani and Tori our breeding females. I wonder if shakira died early on hence the zoo not announcing it like they seem to be decent with when its come to zebras. I remember an article written around Hudsons first birthday where she was mentioned and it said the keeper or rep only wanted to discuss hudson. Maybe she wasnt healthy from the start.

Its a shame Odin is already gone. I thought Ogden was our adult male? Since I must be wrong what is our males name?

Yeah I was pretty bummed to only see a tail of a a baby lemur. Couldnt believe they were all balled up together. Not even one adult up keeping watch. It was as if the zoo was mocking me with the lack of babies to see. I love babies.

I just wish there was more in the exhibit then one rather lazy turtle. Yes hes big and thats impressive but couldnt he be paired with something more interesting or active?

Yes I didnt mention the fish tank, but someone else had mentioned the refurbishment a few weeks ago so I didnt both. The glass was out and there were workers in with a ladder that I could make out behind the fencing. I couldnt say what they were doing.

There were only the 2 chicks in their indoor area but all the other doors were closed so who knows. The two are almost done replacing their down with real feathers. Id guess they should be on exhibit with the adults before July. They are almost adult sized. And like I said there could have been more adults out but I didnt want to fight my way I to look for them. No one was swimming so everyone was crowded up top.

I did have fun watching the gorillas though. Poor Nassir was scared by a peacock who hopped on the roof of the pavilion and shrieked. He bolted under a platform and kept nervously peaking out and checking to see if he was in any danger from the peacock. Even Ngozi was started and walked further away keeping an eye on it. You would think they would be more used to the peacocks antics. It was funny.
 
When we were there two weeks ago there were four penguin chicks almost full grown but still with down outside with adults and Friday there was three Canadian otters I thought there only was two before
 
Cool good to know there are more chicks then what I saw. Could mean I missed 2 on exhibit or the two I saw are additional chicks to the four you saw who might just be a little bit younger and no ready for being on exhibit. Either why its good to know the second clutch is doing better than the first.

I thought until a few months ago we had 3. Females Maria and Fifi and a male named Neo. But Adams7 corrected me and informed me we had Maria and Talise and Neo had died. So maybe there is a new male?
 
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