Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo Developments 2023

For those interested, the Agenda for the next Board Meeting is up. Link is below.

Nothing too surprising. There's and Attendance and Revenue Report, and a neat 2022 Environmental Initiatives Report.

Biggest news is that we're getting closer to the start of the Conservation Centre construction. A company has been chosen from the recent bids as Construction Manager. They'll pretty much oversee all construction from start to end. Later this year we'll be much closer to seeing a final design of the project.


Toronto City Council
 
Hopefully the zoo has chose its new team well and they can stay on time and close to budget so we see less cuts. Good weather the next two winters would really help.
 
Couple tidbits from the Board meeting today:
  • Nature Bat conservation
    • Opening an exhibit onsite to spread awareness of local bats
    • Will be a mobile exhibit that won’t have any bats, but will be more educational
    • Opening later this year
  • Operation update
    • Upgrades being done to prep for AZA inspection in June
    • Zoomobile back to the original path
    • New Wildebeest holding and Red Panda House to begin construction this year
    • Boardwalk to finish in next couple of weeks
    • Finalizing the design of Indo Boardwalk to start later this year
    • Orangutan Outdoor habitat to open last week of June
    • New addition to the African Savanna to be announced soon (Sounds like a pregnancy, Dolf was pretty cryptic about it)
 
Hmm I wonder if they are taking a year off red panda breeding if they are working on their house given how sensitive they can be with cubs and the high infant mortality. Time will tell because we do know we have a proven pair and Suva has never failed to sire a litter when given the chance (twice but he is two for two).

Hope the zoo uses the same team that did the African boardwalk when they switch to Indo. That team did a great job and were pretty quick even working through the winter.

Interesting there could be a pregnancy on the savanna. Options are pretty limited. No way its the giraffes with the swap upcoming... wait could it be the swap that they are announcing? The hippos, baboons, eland, watusi, wildebeest and lions are non breeding. The kudus have no male. The hyenas havent breed since Kanzi's arrival because they dont have the space. Leaves the cheetahs, marabous, rhinos or zebras. Unlikely its a cheetah because Laini is now considered too old to try with but her genetics might demand running the risk. They haven't let the marabous breed since Zuri's hatching so... I doubt it. Rhinos are possible given that Tom likes to breed with the girls. But I would have thought they would announce the pregnancy long ago to build hype. If its Sabi though they might be pretty darn cautious given how hard its been to achieve a pregnancy with her. That kinda would just leave the zebras. Its possible since they did transfer Rey out finally thus freeing space but no one mentioned seeing Jake with Tori so... Oh could be the penguins. This time of year is the end of the possible second clutch. They arent supposed to breed them though. At the moment they are well enough represented.
 
An educational bat spot sounds interesting, but it really is odd that the zoo is such an advocate for bats but we only have one species in Africa and these days it's a pain to see them. We really should get a North American species at some point, or even a rescue centre.

Yesss red panda house! Seeing them in the summer can be tricky so this'll likely fix that problem. I wouldn't be surprised if they take the year off breeding so they can focus on that.

Nice to hear they're sticking with the last week of June date for the orangs, hopefully no complications arise and they're able to meet it

Dolf's making us speculate lol. I don't think he'd tease the Kiko/Nabo giraffe swap, sure Nabo's a celebrity since he was in Last of Us but I don't see a reason why Dolf would be cryptic about that. They said recently that they aren't breeding the zebras again until the boys have moved out so unless that's happened and we didn't hear about it I doubt it's them. If I were to hazard a guess I think we have a rhino calf incoming, Tom was out with the girls all last summer and yeah this'd be a late announcement but I agree with TZFan that Sabi could be pregnant instead of Zohari and they wanna play their cards a little closer to their chest with this one considering her past attempts. Plus a rhino would warrant Dolf building up hype for a surprise, we just had a batch of cheetahs and the zebras have always been consistent when they're not on pause so those aren't as newsworthy. White rhino calves aren't as common at the TZ. I've had my fingers crossed for a white rhino calf arriving in time for the 50th next year for a while now, here's hoping!

either that or they've finally solved the hyena problem and bred them but we all know that's not happening lol
 
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I'm leaning towards Rhinos. While we might wish for a Hyena announcement, we know that the chances of that of next to zero.
 
cypher said:
Couple tidbits from the Board meeting today:
  • Nature Bat conservation
    • Opening an exhibit onsite to spread awareness of local bats
    • Will be a mobile exhibit that won’t have any bats, but will be more educational
    • Opening later this year
  • Operation update
    • Upgrades being done to prep for AZA inspection in June
    • Zoomobile back to the original path
    • New Wildebeest holding and Red Panda House to begin construction this year
    • Boardwalk to finish in next couple of weeks
    • Finalizing the design of Indo Boardwalk to start later this year
    • Orangutan Outdoor habitat to open last week of June
    • New addition to the African Savanna to be announced soon (Sounds like a pregnancy, Dolf was pretty cryptic about it)
Click to expand...
Do we know how "soon" this announcement is coming? Really hoping a rhino baby
 
Lots of updates from the various projects around the TZ courtesy of Dolf's insta

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I love how they have used the off season to get so much work done. Im devasted we have to net off the walk through aviaries. I get it but they lose their charm when its netted in my opinion. The waterfalls being netted is the most depressing. I love the darn waterfall. One of the prettiest places in the zoo and now its netted. Darn you avian flu!!!! The nice thing is all of this netting looks like its meant to be temporary if that is possible. They arent installing super heavy duty stuff or doing glass which would seem more like they plan on it forever. This stuff looks like they could bundle it up at the ceiling should avian flu subside, ready for deployment again if needed.
 
I think I'd be more annoyed with the nets in Indo if Indo wasn't a complete nightmare in avian flu mode. With one entrance and exit plus a baby orang that everyone wants to see I've seen the crowds in there reach Black Friday levels in the summer and adding on the outdoor orangs this year would likely only make it worse. I think this is a good long-term but temporary solution because Indo needs it.
 
You are right @hyena142, its completely necessary. Just massively disappointing that there is absolutely nothing we can do to protect the birds other than net them off. Not the zoo's fault. They have to do what they have to do. I just wish we had a vaccine for avian flu so the zoo animals and our pets could be protected. Im constantly paranoid when I put my dog in the yard or take him for a walk that he will find and touch a bird and I will lose my buddy. Really horrifying disease.
 
Wow, neat! I don't know why I had it in my head that the chute would be underground/behind-the-scenes. This is (intuitively) much cheaper and interactive too. I cannot wait to see it all up and running and the orangs in their new exhibit!
 
@Kalvin, I thought the same thing. I thought this would all be out of the public eye. This makes much more sense and is quite the sight to see. I can't wait.
 
I think once the chute is done horticulture will come in and replant a fair bit to help hide the posts at least. The goal will probably be for the chute itself to still be visible but help it blend in a little better. Make it feel more like the orangs are climbing through the jungle.
 
This chute was a long time coming especially since last year when they explained it they had already dug up all the plants, But I really like it. For one, it expands the range that the orangutans can move and also its nice to see high level variations in the pavilions, I do wish that the African pavilion could have something like this for the lemurs or gorillas. Also yeah I really like the imagery that @TZFan mentions it really will look awesome to see the orange apes moving through the chutes.
 
On May 10th, the zoo announced some changes to the African penguin exhibit, including a temporary cover erected over the small outdoor pool, as well as changes to the filtration system.

The Toronto Zoo
 
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