Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo Developments 2023

The zoo has posted an official update about the construction of the Indo-Malaya to Africa boardwalk.

Sumatran tigers Hari and Kemala have made the move to the Amur tiger complex in Eurasia. Over the next few days the Amur tiger dayrooms will be closed so the houseguests can get some private time to adapt to their surroundings, while Amur tiger Mazy will still be viewable outside as normal.

As for the new boardwalk, construction will commence in the coming weeks and will be completed sometime next summer. In the meantime Africa will only be accessible through the Americas boardwalk. The Indo-Malaya pavilion will be accessible as normal, however that path will likely be a dead end until construction is complete so unless you wanna see the orangs I'd advise starting your zoo journey by going right for the next few months. The zoo says that the new boardwalk will provide guests with a more accessible journey to and from Africa.

At the same time as the ramp construction they will also be working on upgrades to the Sumatran tiger habitats while the tigers are away. This will include the redevelopment and expansion of the southernmost exhibit, and both exhibits will also receive brand new climbing structures, feeding poles and a zip lines thanks to funds raised from the Oasis 2022 ZooRun.
 
According to Dolf's Instagram the Greenhouse Gift Shop is no more. Hopefully more progress on the Conservation Campus will continue over the winter.
 
For posterity's sake here's the images

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Kinda a bummer to see the Greenhouse Gift Shop in pieces, that thing's been there since I was a kid. Still I'm sure the Conservation Campus will be worth losing it. I wonder how much of the campus they're gonna get done over the winter
 

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I think someone recently mentioned they planned to reopen the Woods and get the clouded leopards back on display.

It was closed when the zoo first reopened after covid because people couldn't spread out enough to mind social distancing. It is the tightest path in a pavilion by far. So initially it was closed for covid reasons. It stayed closed because they had been planning on tearing it down. The building sits on top of a ravine and erosion is a significant concern for structural safety. Now between its closure and now the master plan happened. The Woods is to become the foundation of the brewery. I assume they have done more research and think they can stabilize the ground as part of the conversion so opening it again became an option. They likely didnt to it last year because the bulk of the space is a free flight aviary and that meant avian flu concerns. Over 2023 they have been making changes to the aviaries to adjust for avian flu but the big aviaries needed to be opened first. The still closed Woods would be the lowest priority. Pity they have likely had to net it all off. I loved how immersed you used to feel in there especially in the spring when the pavilion was alive with butterflies.
 
This is fantastic news! We never really got to say a proper goodbye to the clouded leopards with how abrupt the Malayan Woods closure was so it'll be nice to see them again. I wonder if there's anything else left in there, I'm pretty sure most of the birds, reptiles and fish got moved to Indo-Malaya and the bugs have to all be gone by this point

@Cat-Man Here's a link to the Master Plan, happy reading!
 
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That is exciting!

Was anyone able to attend the Board meeting last week? Where there any key messages on TZ developments? I would have thought re-opening a pavilion would have been on Dolf's list for his presentation but I wasn't able to attend. Or any updates on the impending white rhino birth.
 
hyena142 said:
This is fantastic news! We never really got to say a proper goodbye to the clouded leopards with how abrupt the Malayan Woods closure was so it'll be nice to see them again. I wonder if there's anything else left in there, I'm pretty sure most of the birds, reptiles and fish got moved to Indo-Malaya and the bugs have to all be gone by this point

@Cat-Man Here's a link to the Master Plan, happy reading!
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Thanks so much!
 
@Zooer, I believe @cypher listened in to the board meeting. Come to think of it I think Cypher was the one who told me about the Woods.

No update on the rhino calf other than its taking its sweet time. White Rhino pregnancies are 425 tp 496 days so 14 to 16 months. They were expecting the calf early September through late October so clearly they were wrong about the conception date because that's long come and gone. Something tells me he or she will arrive around Christmas like its older half brother/cousin Theo.
 
Very happy with the woods staying open and to see the leopards again. Really thought it was gone for good.
 
@Zooer, I did attend the Board Meeting, and that where I first heard of the Malayan Woods opening back up. I was supposed to open Friday, per Dolf's Instagram, but as you've seen, that wasn't the case.

There was much else mentioned at the board meeting that hasn't already been discussed here already. Mainly construction projects upcoming and started like the Conservation Campus (set to be completed 2026), the new Indo boardwalk (set to finish by the summer of 2024), and the greenhouse, which I can't remember if there was a completion date given.
 
@cypher - good to hear. Thank you for the update.

I went by the Malayan Wood pavilion again in the afternoon (I knew a status change was unlikely - but I was already there, so why not). There were some staff members at the door, so I asked when it was opening. I found it to be pretty funny when they admitted they were trying to go see the pavilion themselves, and had thought it was open.
 
@antilio capra A lot of the birds that used to be in Malayan Woods were either phased out or moved to the Indo-Malaya pavilion when it looked like the Woods weren't gonna reopen
 
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