Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo Discussion thread 2021

Glad to hear there is some mask compliance. I wish the zoo would just force the issue and not so much for the sake of guests but for the safety of the animals. I know right now its all outside but once guests can go inside they may face a fight with people refusing to put them on. Just set the right tone from the start and say to people we don't want to risk the animals who have no choice the matter where your masks. Not like we don't have them and aren't use to them. I would be so frustrated to hear an animal at the zoo got sick. Granted its probably from a keeper but why take any risk with highly endangered animals. But that's must my opinion.
 
I will say that 98% of the signage at the zoo about masks are informing people to wear their mask, because the animals can't, which is spot on. then in certain area that are prone to gathering they have signs saying wear a mask beyond this point. I have yet to see any actual enforcement, although that may change starting tomorrow, when they'll be open to the general public.

Also some area where you can get real close to the animals normally, have been roped off to provide more space between visitors and the animals. For example, the outdoor Red River Hog exhibit has a rope barrier to view the animals, putting more distance between visitors and the animals.
 
Was back at the Zoo today ... :)

I checked out the washrooms inside the Zoo at the front entrance (by the Zoomobile entrance) and the one near the rhinos ... both have not been renovated. :(

The Kangaroo walk thru was open, but only two out and about ... no sign of the joey.

I counted the goats today in Goat World ... only four.

The splash park was open but I didn't see anyone in it (probably a little too cool this morning).

So last week I went at noon and today I went at 11am. Definitely more people today than last week. But it still didn't feel crowded. And I was super pleased that even with the increased number of visitors, everyone was mostly respectful of each other's space. There was a little crowding at the lions and hyena, but most people just patiently waited, socially distanced, until others left before getting closer. Almost all of the paths are divided by a white line with arrows to encourage the social distancing. On both occasions it was rare to see people walking outside their path. Sure it happened, but it was usually because it was a group together or it was momentary.

I love the signs reminding everyone to mask up since the animals cannot! When I am walking around and not near others, I do pull down my mask. When I get near others and near the exhibits I put the mask back on. It's my impression that most do the same thing. I will say there was one time at the hyenas today where a family had pulled down their masks and were drinking/eating within a foot or two of others and the exhibit (albeit glassed in). It caught me off guard because I thought it would have been nicer if they had moved away from the exhibit to allow others in while they were drinking. I did not see any enforcement of the masks. But to be fair, I also did not see anyone unmasked in areas where they specifically asked us to be masked (closer to the exhibits where there is no glass).

A few things I do wonder about:

1. I literally see no one cleaning. When you go to a store, a restaurant etc. there is always someone cleaning after you touch something. I certainly expect there's cleaning after the Zoo closes. But it does seem a bit strange to me that I haven't seen anyone wiping down railings, or the exit gate, or the door handles to get into the washrooms etc.

2. Tickets are not available for booking for next week. I get releasing them a week at a time, but at the moment the last day for tickets is Sunday. I asked at the gate when more tickets would open and they did not know. Even if there is a possibility that things will open even further next week (i.e. capacity limits increase), they could release the 4000 tickets now and just add more later. It's not like things are going to go backwards and they'll have to cancel the tickets.

3. The water fountains are open (or so they appeared). The bottle refilling part of the water fountains were bagged closed but the drinking part was open. I wouldn't have thought drinking fountains were a good/safe thing right about now :( So definitely a bit surprising. Maybe they are new and I am seeing them as they are getting set-up - I don't know. But if that's the case, then why isn't the drinking part also bagged? Odd.

I saw in the developments post mention of koalas ... oh me oh my how exciting!!! :p Please let that come true soon!!
 
@kknudsen, well thats disappointing to hear its not all bathrooms like I had heard. Hope they tackle more of them next winter.

The splash pad while able to be open probably wasnt because you visited on a Monday. Usually at this time of year its still closed during the week. July 1 it opens up daily if I recall correctly.

Glad people are social distancing for the most part. We all know someone who believes rules are for others and not for them. That person who is more important than the rest of us.

Interesting observation about the cleaning. I remember when I went in the fall the zoo was just brimming with staff cleaning everything. You really defeat your message of wear a mask because they cant if you make it harder to avoid germs. I know its expensive both in staff and chemicals but take the hit this summer and reevaluate in the fall when hopefully the vast majority of us should be fully vaccinated.

I absolutely get your point about the tickets. Doesn't make sense to me either why you wouldnt open up things 2 weeks out and increase as necessary. If you need to dip lower just start the first week its available at the lowest number you are allowed say that 2500 and then in week two increase it to your full capacity whatever that may be. Some need 2 weeks to plan things out if they need a day off work. At this point things are going ok with the pandemic and another shut down doesn't seem like it will happen any time soon. I could get slowing it if numbers started to rise and you had to worry about another closure but the government has been good about warning us when they need us to smarten up or they will lock us down.

Weird they would have the drinking fountains open but bottled refills closed. Really should be the reverse. We were all kids. We all knew kids who put their mouths on the fountains. Forget covid I still wont touch them because they are germ infested. The bottle refills out mouth or things that go in our mouth shouldnt be touching the tap. It would be more hygienic to encourage bottle use in my opinion. Oh well, thats why I go to the zoo with a hydration backpack. I carry in my water safe and sanitary. I also might fill it completely with ice first so I also have an cold spot on my back. Like to think of personal comfort when possible.

I really appreciate these updates. You really looked at your visit and thought about the covid situation and passed on great information we often wouldn't think of normally.
 
One other thing ... after last week's visit I was asked to complete a survey about my visit. It focused on what did I notice about the Zoo's conservation efforts. There's no question, their conservation efforts are important ... but it's not what gets people to the Zoo. So when money is tight, and overall attendance is down (even before covid) it seems more than a little strange to me that the survey was focused on conservation.
 
They could be focusing on that because they want people not to think of the place like a zoo but as a Noah's Arc saving species. Change that mindset of zoos are bad, animals are in cages, to wow look at the real world conservation work this place is doing. What they do matters. Zoos can save species. Zoos are good. They are repackaging the same thing they have always done so people who hear too much blah blah blah from anti zoo activists will change their positions. The zoo has done a lot better then it did in the past with marketing itself as a conservation leader. They just need to know if the work they have been doing is working or not. Im sure there will be other surveys over the summer about guest experiences ect.
 
TZFan said:
They could be focusing on that because they want people not to think of the place like a zoo but as a Noah's Arc saving species. Change that mindset of zoos are bad, animals are in cages, to wow look at the real world conservation work this place is doing. What they do matters. Zoos can save species. Zoos are good. They are repackaging the same thing they have always done so people who hear too much blah blah blah from anti zoo activists will change their positions. The zoo has done a lot better then it did in the past with marketing itself as a conservation leader. They just need to know if the work they have been doing is working or not. Im sure there will be other surveys over the summer about guest experiences ect.
Click to expand...

Great point TZFan ... thank you!
 
@kknudsen, no problem. When it comes to the things that make us all stop and wonder sometimes all it takes is another persons different point of view for it to make more sense. Now I could be straight up wrong about everything I said. Just an educated guess on my part but my gut says that's the most likely reason.

They have really been pushing their conservation programs, well since Dolf took over. Just think back over the last few years and the announcements about bison, black footed ferrets, Vancouver Island marmots, Massassagua rattlesnakes and shrikes, the zoos key conservation programs. You used to hear nothing about it other than the odd bison birth. I know I left the Blanding's turtles out but they have announce their releases since the program began but I think thats because its one species the zoo could take the media with them to the release sites easily as its in the zoos backyard. In the last few years we have found out who had how many babies and when, got a few updates on them as they grew, got inside glimpses into the super special breeding barn, learned how many of the young were released or deemed release candidates. And all that is ignoring every other endangered animal birth that they have also announced and whos development they have been sharing with us over social media.

Just a new era at the zoo where they want to showcase why the zoo is important not just to the local community, or Canada but the planet as a whole. The zoo is no longer only a place to come look at all kinds of animals and get the kids tired, though still important. It's a place where a special group of people are banding together to try and save species on the brink of extinction due to man kinds actions and create healthy enough populations that when the day comes that they can safely be released to a secure location in the wild to boost numbers there are animals to do that with.

Some of their amazing successes...

Less than 10 years ago the Rouge had just 10 adult Blanding's turtles, the zoo has released 500 plus hatchlings and 2 year old (bulked up) turtles.

Black footed ferrets were thought extinct until a single colony was found and since 1992 they have produced over 450 healthy pups, a portion of which have been released to the wild.

Vancouver Island marmots were down to just 30 wild animals in 2003 but lucky for them in 1997 Toronto began working with the species. Over 160 marmots have been born at the zoo and the wild population now stands around 200, well on their way to their goal of 600-800.

Eastern loggerhead shrikes had just 18 pairs in Ontario and less then 100 adult birds in the country in 1997. The zoo has since produced about 400 chicks with the vast majority being released.

Wood bison were once thought extinct too until a small surviving herd was found. Since 1977 the zoo has been pioneering work with bison, developing methods for preserving semen, artificial insemination, and embryo transfer. And while I couldn't find an article that said how many the zoo has reproduced it has been breeding bison for release all along. Through the work the zoo and its partners have done there are several thousand wood bison roaming the wild as their ancestors once did.

Eastern Massassagua Rattlesnake were down to critically low numbers in a few small pockets in Ontario so the zoo began breeding the species in 1977. Since then the zoo has produced roughly 150 hatchlings, incubated many more wild clutches, and given a head start or rehabilitated even more. While still struggling the zoo has definitely helped to boost numbers.

Trumpeter swans in Ontario were gone in the early 1980s. The zoo in conjunction with other partners have helped reestablish a population. Over 60 cygnets have been hatched on zoo grounds from the captive pairs and wild ones. Other birds have been released at the zoo to give them a safe place to start out their new wild lives. The population is now somewhere around 1000.

And those are just the Canadian ones they have trained us to think about. There are probably more I'm forgetting but here are some other ones we don't commonly think of.

The zoo does do a lot of work with the Puetro Rican crested toad and Panamanian golden frogs with tens of thousands of tadpoles and froglets released.

With the scimitar horned oryx some of the animals produced by Toronto were released to the wild and some of their descendants were as well.

Sumatran orangutans Dinding and Abigail have a grandson who was captive born and released successfully to the wild, probably has great grandkids wild born by now.

Just this year the great grandsons of cheetah, Rafiki, were released to the wild in an area which hasn't seen cheetahs in quite some time.

There are descendants of our golden lion tamarins who are still hopefully running free in the wild today.

And lets not forget we are about to embark on a new conservation journey with out woodland caribou.
 
@TZFan I love that the zoo is expanding on their messaging of conservation, but they need waaaay better signage to convey that information to visitors. Now, I might miss that kind of stuff, because when I visit I know where I'm going to see and what I'm looking for. But there are plenty of times you see people actively reading or getting there kids to read the signage. So an improvement on signage improves getting the messaging on conservation.
 
@cypher cannot disagree. I know they have been increasing their signs or updating existing ones with improved versions but they should hammer home the conservation message there too. I also don't bother with signs because I know far more than that sign is ever going to tell me. You and I though are not the signs key target audience. They are for the average zoo goer and the below average zoo goer who thinks a tiger is a lion. Ah the balancing act they must perform.
 
Indoor for the Gorilla they have an old video playing of a keeping talking about caring for the Gorilla and what have you. They should do this for the animals they have significant conservation programs for. You listed off more conversation success stories than I can recall hearing or seeing mentioned in the zoo.

And while were on people misidentifying animals, I recently heard someone call a Zebra a Giraffe, until someone corrected them, which lead to a small argument. And once in the past, I heard someone call a Tiger a Orange Bear. I almost fell down the boardwalk out of disbelief.
 
TZFan said:
Vancouver Island marmots were down to just 30 wild animals in 2003 but lucky for them in 1997 Toronto began working with the species. Over 160 marmots have been born at the zoo and the wild population now stands around 200, well on their way to their goal of 600-800.
Click to expand...
Do they have any marmots on display?
 
@chlidonais, Sadly no. The zoo keeps all of the marmots in a breeding barn with the ferrets. They want the breeding stock to be as wild as possible so they have a small dedicated group of keepers that care for them and the others at the breeding facility only. They also maintain super high bio security even before covid. And they keep every marmot trying to breed because numbers are so low and breeding sing as prolific as with the ferrets, so there are no retirees we can use on display. I was so lucky a few years ago to see one though. One just happened to be in the health unit for a check up that day. Im probably one of very few Ontarians who doesn't work at the zoo to be lucky enough to see one in person. Honestly looked like a ground hog. Not that impressive if you dont know the rarity of the species.
 
Today's Zoo adventure.

Biggest changes and key points.

1. The old porcupine exhibit by the lions had a southern ground hornbill in it today. The exhibit has almost been fully gutted and is just foliage and grass. The bigger logs and rock structures for the porcupines have been removed.

2. The Spider monkey exhibit has a small crate in there, with some treats and a toy inside.

3. The zebra exhibit now has a shading tarp structure built in the lower end of the exhibit.

4. Kemala was in the maternity exhibit. The exhibit was really in shape this time, they had mulch down, toys, new platforms, mirrors, hanging barrels. Hari was in the back exhibit, the one Kemala is normally in and for the second time they were actually vocalizing. Little chuffs and a few roars. But I just found it odd that they had the maternity exhibit so filled.

5. The Indian rhino exhibit had mounds of dirt that Kiran was just loving.

6. The cranes were in the lemur summer home.

7. The peacocks were just overly loud today, the males were out and about, but the females were in the Australasian outdoor aviary.

8. The giraffes were pretty active Amani and Kiko did a full two laps today even going down to the south paddock and coming back up. But does anyone know why the south paddock deck by the hippos is closed?

9. The Kudu exhibit had two marabou storks in the enclosure, Normally I just see one but today there were two. The zebra exhibit had 1 this time. I'm sure some knows more than me about this.
 
The hornbill is likely Tyrion who is set to move. Having him in there would assist with training where as out with the family he will just ignore them.

The crate is likely there to get Lucas ready to go since he could easily be move to Granby any time.

Which cranes are in the lemur summer home? I ask because we have just 2 cranes and they are different species. Either we have someone new or there is mix going on.

The peacock girls are probably on time out so they dont have any babies the zoo doesnt want.

Interesting the marabou math is different. My guess is Gracie joined Zuri and George is solo. My only guess is there are social issues or someone is ill and they want to isolate them.
 
The Crane was one Crowned Crane. Also I forgot to mention, but Luca just looked really down and bored. normally he would jump on the platforms, but he was just lying down this time. The Americas front half was all blocked and just clouds of dust flying everywhere. But the South American half was almost empty like. Only 2 macaws, one capybara, one jaguar, 3 spider monkey's, and the flamingo flock. So I wonder if they are going to be filling it up again with new stock or just waiting some of them out?
 
Interesting the crowned crane is there. Oh wait you cant see him in his usual yard... covid. And you cant put the lemurs out there... covid. Ok that makes sense.

Well we know they are waiting out Luca and the spider monkeys. The capybara is neutered so probably waiting him out too. No idea why we are down to 2 macaws but the answer seems obvious. They and the flamingos are the only ones we know are staying. Though if the capybara dies they will probably just get new ones.

This might sound weird but has anyone been into the kids zoo if its even open? I ask because with the capybara out and the goats out what are they doing with the largest exhibit in that space?
 
I was in the kids zoo last Thursday
Ted the Turkey Vulture is in the first exhibit.
The Crested Sereima was in the largest may just be switching with the Secretary Bird.
Nothing was in the third.
Saw one Blue and Gold through the glass window.
Guinea Pigs in the in the old Prairie Dog exhibit but with new signage to reflect that.
A skunk in the Ferret exhibit didn't notice whether they had changed the signage.
Nothing in the old rabbit exhibit.
Think there were woodchucks in there exhibit but didn't look closely.
Brant the Raven was is the exhibit where the Abyssian Hornbill usually is with paper signage.
There was a Eurasian Eagle Owl where the ravens usually are.
The skunk exhibit had a single large white rabbit.
Nothing was in the first yard.
The goat yard appeared empty but there was hay in the feeder so possibly out for a walk.
And finally a single alpaca where the capybara were and the pool has been removed.
Don't know if they have future plans to restock the area.
Pretty sure the four goats in goat are the same we've always had they must be seniors by now.
I saw a live with the project head for the Orangutan exhibit and they mentioned Goat World saying they had had to improve the friction of the ramps because they were to slippery but pretty sure it's just that they are old and not in the mood for it.
 
Also thought I saw a lemur in the lemur summer home which I thought was odd but didn't really look.
 
Thanks kingoffreaks. Sounds like they may be using the goat exhibit for the alpaca and maybe the donkey.

The goats are the same ones the zoo has always had. I recognize the 4 of them. They have to be at least 10 because I don't remember adding any goats to my master names list since they were first added. They probably will start dropping like flies. What does surprise me is that they are not using goat world for the alpaca and donkey too. Let those guys out on grass too. Just better for them. Call it Farm World instead.

I wonder how many of the other chances you noticed was due to covid concerns.

The lack of marabou Ethel is interesting when we add in the fact Akula saw 2 in the kudu exhibit. Maybe she's the one in with Zuri and something happened to George or Gracie (or they just weren't visible).

I'm loving how much everyone is discovering right now. I guess the benefit of no one going since November. Everyone is on the look out for changes and there are plenty of them.
 
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