Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo - Developments 2016

Well who knew 3 of us TZ zoochatters would end up at the zoo today. We all probably walked by each other without knowing it.

I have to agree with you about the lions. I was a great day and I have no clue why neither the full pride or the brothers were out. However it was cool getting to go behind the scenes and see things you don't usually get to see. I tried to take photos but my camera battery died right then. I wanted to take some behind the scenes photos for others who haven't had a chance to get back there.

Now that you mention the eland possibly being in the watusi area and that the zoomible was running Im a little bummed out I didn't notice it was actually running until the end of my day and we said forget it. As to why the eland might be there... and probably are because I haven't heard of any other big arrivals... I have heard that staff are a little concerned about Mstari. With all of the changes that have happened in her short life she has been a bit skittish of late. They may be concerned that at this point the eland might just spook her and something bad could happen. They do not need or want an accident to happen with the most genetically valuable Masai giraffe in North America nor do they want to risk the death of one of two herd animals and frankly what could be the zoo's best and only shot at a breeding female for years to come. The watusi yard is clearly big enough for watusi and at least one if not two more species. Honestly I think I would prefer the eland there. We shall just have to wait and see.

With regards to the kids... does not surprise me but does disappoint me greatly. Odds are nothing will come of the teacher's promise to punish them. However you are absolutely right they could have killed an endangered species for all they know. That kind of cruelty to a living creature does not speak well for the kid's character either. On a pleasant note though most of my time at the zoo I ran into nothing but polite and considerate teens on their field trips. What a change up. They tried very hard to stay out of others way, they weren't cursing and carrying on even with no adult in sight, many of them were even reading signs and dare I say learning. One older kid even stopped and read to a little kid who was just looking at the photos which seemed so thoughtful and sweet. While the teens you encountered made your day just a little more miserable, the ones I encountered happened to restore my faith that some children are being raised correctly.
 
That's funny that you, me, and Mr Wrinkly all happen to be there on the same day. walking passes each other and not even realizing it. Just funny.

Yeah, I just happen to catch the zoomobile pulling into the main station, as I was getting ready to leave. Hopped on before they had a chance to escape.

I may have sounded bleak with the high schoolers in my previous post, but also met many great teens that behaved themselves around others. For the most part, I found most of them to act better then other school group I've ran into in the past.
 
More free time, so I dropped by the zoo again. Found out and confirmed a couple things from my last visit.

Panda cubs had access to the outdoor section of the exhibit today. They clearly loved it, exploring every inch of the exhibit. I just wish they didn’t put up the plastic barriers along the bottom of the fencing of the outdoor exhibit. Made it a pain for a lot of the serious photographers that came out to get some shots of the cubs. About 6 of them were pretty vocal about the annoyance. Still hoping they move Er Shun and the cubs to Da Mao’s outdoor exhibit.

Red Pandas were back in the exhibit, as the raccoon has been removed.

I confirmed with a Keeper that the Eland were the animals I saw on the zoomobile. They are currently being kept at the Watusi holding. Turns out the Eland were put with the Giraffes indoors, and things did not go well one bit. The Keepers apparently had to quickly remove the Eland from the Giraffes. I didn’t get the specifics on what happened exactly, all I know is that the Giraffes and Eland will not be sharing an exhibit, indoors or outdoors. The Keepers are currently looking for an appropriate exhibit for the Elands to go. There are just being held at the Watusi house, but they are not necessarily going to be staying with them. And in case you someone missed it, it’s 4 Eland all of which have been neutered.

The Whites Lions are still off exhibit, although I found out why. A while ago Fintan absolutely destroyed the water bowl in the secondary yard of the exhibit. They finally got around to replacing it this week, and made sure to covered it in cement to make sure Fintan doesn’t rip it up again. They also covered it in molding to make it look like the red rocks of the exhibit. They are basically waiting for that material to fully dry. They are hoping it’ll be dry by tomorrow for the weekend crowd.

Also, some Keepers are pushing to have the Tawny Lions out on exhibit on Tuesdays throughout the summer, instead of just overnight. “Tawny Tuesday’s” they’re looking to call it. Someone also mentioned that they can also push conservations asking to for a toonie as a donation. I think it’s a pretty interesting idea, as a lot of people ask about the Tawny boys during the summer months.

White Rhinos Tom, Sabi and Zohari were on exhibit today. Spoke with the White Rhino Keeper at the at the Keeper talk. She mentioned that they are going to be giving Tom first shot at breeding with the girls for the summer. Sabi, if she is the older one, will be cycling hopefully sometime next week. So they’re hoping Tom can do the deed. Zohari cycled last week, although no breeding occurred. The Keeper said that after Sabi cycles, Tony will most likely get a shot with the girls. It’s still in discussion, but Tony will likely be getting a shot this summer.

Also, the Peacock Cafe will be making a killing in revenue with Tim Hortons in place. It was absolutely packed full of people around lunch time. Never seen it that packed before, especially considering that a majority of them were high school kids.
 
Forgot to mention something else I found during my visit today.

The plan for the Hyenas is to have Pinduli and Moja with each other while Echo and Kanzi spend time with each other to eventually breed.
 
Given that Mstari has been skittish since Twiga's passing the eland probably spooked her and she freaked out forcing the staff to act quickly before she hurt herself, Kiko or one of the eland. The eland have lived with giraffe before so its more likely that they were cool with the giraffes. The more likely reasoning is one or both giraffes had a problem with the eland.

Glad to hear they have decide to keep Pinduli and Moja separate from Echo and Kanzi. They need to ensure Kanzi is allowed to breed and that Echo is the father.
 
The rhino calf has been introduced to the great outdoors. He seems to like it from the video I saw but he is right on Asha's heels wherever she goes.
 
The results of the naming contest have been announced.
Unfortunately the legacy of "V" names will not live on, as the winning name is: Nandu.
 
Well Vihaan was going to be a long shot going up against Nandu and Kaziranga. Both are more likable names. Unfortunately as part of the marketing that the legacy wasn't pointed out. And there are countless other V names they could have gone with that would have stood a much better chance against Nandu and Kaziranga. We can always hope baby number two carries on the tradition because now that Asha and Vishnu have given us one calf its time to start expecting more.
 
Male lynx, Ryan, has been moved to the former wolf enclosure in the Domain while Ember is rearing the kittens. He will probably love having the additional space and new things to explore. Its a decent use of the old enclosure for the time being.
 
So, I’ve had a chance to visit the zoo a couple times this week, including today. Never got around to posting the information I came across, so I’ll try giving a cohesive summary of everything.

Today I saw the Red Pandas chase a small rabbit out of their exhibit. Looks like it entered through a hole in the fencing underneath the boardwalk.

Tur Sarah is back with the group. She’s easily identifiable with only one eye.

They were trying to get Tree Kangaroo Nokopo into the exhibit, but she’s pretty shy in the exhibit. Almost to the point of being stressed. With Harrington leaving soon, hopefully she becomes more comfortable with being on exhibit.

Earlier in the week, I was speaking with a regular visitor, who also does volunteering. Like myself and others I often see him speaking with Keepers. He mentioned to me that the Polar Bear Keepers are currently debating whether they are going to continue breeding Aurora and Nikita again. The Keepers are finding that the majority of visitors don’t like the fact that Juno is alone and not with her mother. Plus, staff would rather not have another situation like that again, but it’s likely to happen again, as Aurora has milk producing issues. And Nikita, well, she has yet to get pregnant and probably can’t. Discussion is actually moving to making Juno as the future breeder of the zoo, obviously when she’s much older. Finding a viable male will come later. If this is the case, Inukshuk may leave the zoo for a much longer period than usual.

Still no word on what will permanently replace the Arctic Fox.

Bird show is back on. Same old performances as usual. Kind of wish they at least tried changing it up and adding new acts. It would be nice to see.
 
Did you let a keeper know about the possible hole in the red panda fencing? If a rabbit can get in wouldn't take much for a red panda to get out.

If Nokopo still isn't comfortable on exhibit she probably never will be. She has been at the zoo long enough to be comfortable out on exhibit alone. Hopefully she will find Collins comforting.

It is a interesting time with the polar bears. Inukshuk should be retired from breeding as he has 5 surviving offspring. He is good. Aurora should be retired as well because well 3 of 13 cubs surviving is not a positive number. The only way she should ever be bred again (not that its necessary) should be if cubs are immediately pulled to ensure the cubs grow up with other bears and not alone. However if they want to keep trying to breed Inukshuk with Nikita I think that is reasonable. Important research could be conducted on getting a female who has never been pregnant, pregnant. Using Inukshuk as a proven sire would ensure it has nothing to do with the males fertility. He just looks at Aurora and bam cubs. And frankly if no cubs ever come of the attempts no harm in that. Should the zoo decide to keep Juno for breeding finding a male for her will be easy. Assiniboine has Storm, Blizzard, York and Eli who are all wild born and excellent candidates. If they were willing to part with one it would most likely be one of the brothers, York and Eli, as the other would be in Winnipeg to represent the gene pool. Cochrane also has Austrialian born Henry (though if one wants to keep pure Canadian blood lines he is a poor fit being half Russian). That is a long time off though and highly unlikely. Juno wont be ready to breed until she is at least 6 and what are you going to do with Inukshuk, Aurora and Nikita? They are all in their teens and could live another 15 or more years. The zoo probably is considering dumping them off at Cochrane which used to house at least 5 bears and if Inukshuk was neutered he could live with the girls full time. That's too far in the future to consider realistically.

Since you were in the Tundra Trek area... any word on the potential for wolf pups this year? I know the goal was pups once they swapped exhibits.
 
Ok, so I just realized that my brothers and I looked for a Keeper to tell about the hole, but never found one, and completely forgot about it. Next time, I visit I'll try to bringing it up to a Keeper. The one good thing is that the rabbit, was a pretty small one. No bigger than the Red Panda's head. Now I couldn't see the hole in the exhibit, but when the rabbit went through the hole, it was clearly a tight fit. So no way the Red Pandas will be fitting through the hole anytime soon.

I rarely see Nokopo on exhibit, much less by herself. So, she'll probably be forced on to exhibit, under Keeper watch to see how she adjusts.

I think a lot of Keepers would rather see Juno be the last cub from Aurora. The amount of deaths just isn't viable in continuing to breed her. Continuing to try with Nikita should be fine.

Last I heard, Keepers weren't sure on a wolf pregnancy, but one did think one of the girls was pregnant, but nothing was confirmed. I didn't see a Keeper around to ask, so hopefully next time.
 
Went to the zoo today. Here’s what I have to share.

No Tree Kangaroo was on exhibit in the morning. Not sure if any was on exhibit later in the day.

Spoke with a Tundra Trek Keeper. Confirmed 3 lingering questions I had for them.

1. Still no word on a permanent replacement for the Arctic Fox. Discussions are still taking place.

2. Currently, Aurora and Inukshuk will not be breeding this season. They are currently listed as do not breed, although that can change next year and beyond. Their current listing is mostly because Juno is taking up room for any potential cubs in the future.

3. Despite one of the Arctic Wolves digging out a den in the exhibit, Keepers don’t believe any of the girls are pregnant. They aren’t showing any signs of pregnancy, however, there is a camera setup on the fencing, aimed at the den for just in case purposes. The Keeper I spoke to believes the wolf making the den may be making the den to beat the heat, as dens are cooler than the outdoors. I watched as one of the wolves entered the den seeming digging out the interior. The other 2 wolves approached the den entrance and began crying, until the wolf in the den came out. Pretty neat to see. The wolf eventually went back in the den after the group dispersed.

Went to the bird show again. They didn’t use every bird in the performance but they did use Secretary Bird, Katani which I don’t remember seeing before. They said they used him a couple times last year and this was his third time performing this year. Apparently Secretary Birds aren’t the smartest birds around, and are pretty hard to train for shows. Toronto Zoo is 1 of 2 zoos the have Secretary Birds as part of their bird shows.

Finally got a chance to see the Nile Monitor on exhibit. I’ll try posting a photo later.
 
The agenda for the Board meeting scheduled for June 2 is up for those interested. Financial of 2015 are included for those interested. There's also the Attendance and Revenue report up to April 2016. Needless to say, 2016 is doing a lot better to what was Budgeted and 2015.

Here's the link for those that need it:

Decision Body Profile
 
I was at the zoo last weekend, but then my body turned on me and got sick, so here's what I noticed on my trip.

-There was a species of frog/toad in the Wallaby/Wombat indoor enclosure pool, I'll post a picture of it in the gallery if anyone wants to take a shot at ID-ing it

-There's an accari in an cage in the common marmoset enclosure (possible mixed species in the future?)

-There were only two Blue and Yellow macaws out at the Waterfall, no keeper to ask about the two Scarlet Macaws from last year. Has anyone heard anything?

-Cheetah Run is back up (best time to see the run is on cooler days, ie. spring and fall, they can overheat quite easily and won't chase the lure on warm or humid days)

cypher said:
Went to the bird show again. They didn’t use every bird in the performance but they did use Secretary Bird, Katani which I don’t remember seeing before. They said they used him a couple times last year and this was his third time performing this year. Apparently Secretary Birds aren’t the smartest birds around, and are pretty hard to train for shows. Toronto Zoo is 1 of 2 zoos the have Secretary Birds as part of their bird shows.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately they can't use all of them in each show, they're only allowed to have each animal off exhibit for 2 hours, which includes setting them up into their boxes, or holdings on the side stage, before the show, and of course there's how the animals are acting/feeling and where they're at with their behaviours and if they want to use some of the animals out in the zoo for Encounters. The Kid's Zoo is also currently understaffed right now so that may also affect their shows

Katani is really not a smart bird, he once got his head through a plastic log used for enrichment and couldn't figure out how to get himself out. He's on a very strict, simple enrichment plan, ie. nothing he can get stuck in and is very easy to open/get in/get food out
 
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