Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo Developments 2015

During my visit on Friday I noticed that in the Americas Pavilion the Prairie Dogs weren't on exhibit. Instead the exhibit has been renovated for a Eastern Loggerhead Shrike.
 
cypher said:
During my visit on Friday I noticed that in the Americas Pavilion the Prairie Dogs weren't on exhibit. Instead the exhibit has been renovated for a Eastern Loggerhead Shrike.
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That's good news. I never understood why there was a prairie dog exhibit in the Kid's Zoo and the Americas Pavilion. I know that the zoo does a lot of conservation work with eastern loggerhead shrikes and I've always wanted to see one.
 
arcticwolf said:
That's good news. I never understood why there was a prairie dog exhibit in the Kid's Zoo and the Americas Pavilion. I know that the zoo does a lot of conservation work with eastern loggerhead shrikes and I've always wanted to see one.
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There are groundhogs in Kid's Zoo, not prairie dogs. I assume the reason there was a prairie dog exhibit in Americas is because of their connection (e.g. food source, burrows) to black-footed ferrets. The two exhibits are next to one another.
 
I noticed that the Board meeting that was scheduled for this upcoming Thursday is no longer listed. Either it was canceled or the page is currently being updated. I'm thinking it's the former.
 
adams7 said:
There are groundhogs in Kid's Zoo, not prairie dogs. I assume the reason there was a prairie dog exhibit in Americas is because of their connection (e.g. food source, burrows) to black-footed ferrets. The two exhibits are next to one another.
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There was prairie dogs in the kids zoo, the first enclosure after the Theater where kids can "pop up" and see the animals through domes. How ever they passed away and the enclosure hasn't been filled since as it needs repairs and upgrades to hold any other species.
 
adams7 said:
There are groundhogs in Kid's Zoo, not prairie dogs. I assume the reason there was a prairie dog exhibit in Americas is because of their connection (e.g. food source, burrows) to black-footed ferrets. The two exhibits are next to one another.
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I know about the groundhogs, but I was talking about the exhibit with the pop-up bubbles. I didn't realize the prairie dogs passed away until I read Sealife357's post.

I heard the black footed ferret that was on exhibit has passed away. Has a new one replaced it yet?
 
Went to the zoo today. Not a lot going on but here’s what I noticed.

Da Mao was in Er Shun’s exhibit today. I don’t know if this will be permanent or whether it’ll go back to the way it was before the cub’s birth. Da Mao’s exhibit remains empty.

Red Pandas Cassie and Ralphie are again sharing the main Red Panda exhibit. Hopefully there will be successful breeding between the two.
 
Da Mao may being shifted in the future because frankily they will want the twins in the main exhibit. Plus its just good for him to get to explore. He has the whole place to himself for now. Could also give staff a chance to really examine the exhibit and make repairs if necessary before winter.

Don't hope too much for success between Cassie and Ralphie. Officially if a female red panda has not given birth by the time she turns 8 (which Cassie is) it is extremely unlikely she ever will. She is considered post reproductive. However if something weird happens and she beats that odds thats great. The zoo has never been very successful in breeding red pandas (just 3 in two litters over 20 years ago). The zoo has already started asking for a new pairing for Ralphie... no options yet.
 
I just remembered something from my visit on Tuesday. I went to the Komodo Dragon Keeper talk, and she mentioned that Kiki was, for a while, getting ultrasounds every 2 weeks to gauge her egg situation. So far nothing has come up. So on November 12, she will be going for an MRI in London, ON to get a more detailed analysis. Interestingly, she's going to a human facility, so there are extra procedures that need to be followed.

Kiki has never breed, and her and Kilat don't get along at all. Keepers believe she's scared of him, mainly do to his size and he has beat up on her in the past out of frustration of her not wanting to mate with him.

Keepers have requested for another female to breed with Kilat, but there is currently a surplus of males and a shortage of females, so they have not gotten any good news on that front yet. Right now it doesn't look like we'll have a successful breeding between the two.
 
Went to the zoo today. Noticed a couple things today.

Tree Kangaroos Harrington and Nokopo were actively mating today in the morning. Good to see the zoo didn't give up on them, despite no positive result so far, especially considering that it was recently revealed that Harrington will be retiring soon.

Wolf in the Tundra exhibit looks to be done with repairs. Fencing has clearly been refortified making fencing higher and lower in some section. Not a big change, but noticeable if you were paying attention to that before.

Inukshuk is still being kept separate from the girls due to mating aggression from him. Girls want none of it.

Noticed the Plush Crested Jay in the American Pavilion has been absent for a while. Anyone know anything about that? Also, there's no sign for the species in the free flight section.

Fintan and Lemon were on exhibit without Makali. Wasn't expecting to see them.
 
Went to the zoo again yesterday.

Overheard a keeper mention that the Clouded Leopards have had some time together on exhibit, although no signs of breeding occurred. Also, not sure when this happened. It could've been during the summer months for all I know, as I think it was mentioned in the latest issue of Wild for Life that came out recently.

Orangutans Puppe, Budi and Kembali were on exhibit with each other. Budi and Kembali kept their distance from Puppe.

I can't say for certain, because I didn't stay for the Cheetah talk, but the wire for the Cheetah run looked to have been removed, along with the motor used to run the lure. Maybe someone else knows more about this, but I wouldn't be surprised if it has stopped for the season.
 
Clouded leopards breed any time from late fall to early winter. Most births occurring between January and April. Now would be the time they would be trying. We need to temper our hopes though as this is the first season when Pavarti and Mingma are fully mature. It would be nice if cubs are born though.

I sincerely hope that Budi and Sekali being separated means good things. It is good though that the boy can be housed with Puppe now so she doesn't have to be alone and they all get more exhibit time.

I would bet anything the cheetah run equipment was removed in preparation for winter. Better to remove it early then have to dig it out of the snow later.
 
Quick questions for you guys.

First one, does anyone have a status update on new Snow Leopard Ena? Has she been on exhibit yet? Has she been introduced to Kota or even Tiga? Just curious on that.

Also, does any one know of a sure fire way to tell Kota and Tiga apart? One way I've heard about is their noses. Apparently, and I may have this mixed up, but Tiga's nose has less pink in it and veers of towards the right of her face. Kota's nose has more pink in it, but it's more evenly spread across his entire nose and it isn't as bold in colour.
 
Snow Leopard, Ena, has indeed cleared quarantine and been moved to the exhibit. I'm not terribly sure if shes been on exhibit yet. My guess is she has been given visual access to Kota and Tiga. I have my doubts that she will be physically introduced to Tiga. Kota on the other hand will have a chance to meet Ena just as soon as they are ready to potentially breed.

I don't know how to tell them apart. I did get a good face photo of Tiga in the fall so look that up and see if there are any distinctive marks that you can compare against a photo you know is of Kota. There are photos of Ena readily available online so take advantage of them too so once she is on display she is easy to identify as well.
 
ThylacineAlive said:
The zoo is set to get 300 Lord Howe Island Stick Insect eggs from Melbourne Zoo:

Rare stick insect to go international to save its species

~Thylo:cool:
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That is very exciting news! I remember reading about this species as a kid and thinking that the conservation work being done for it was amazing. I'm glad that the Toronto Zoo will now be able to participate in it. My guess is that the stick insects will remain off-exhibit (similar to some of the zoo's other endangered species like Vancouver Island marmots), but I would love to be able to see them in person. I could see them fitting very well in one of the walking stick enclosures in the Australasia Pavilion if they did go on exhibit.
 
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