Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo Discussion thread 2021

Just got back from a visit, it was my first trip since October and my first one not in a car since before the shutdown so it was a great experience. I did Indo, Africa and the Kids Zoo.

The new signage over the Indo-Malaya and Africa pavilions is fantastic, I love that Puppe and Charles are the two spotlight animals front and center over their respective homes. It was a little weird that they had the otters on the African sign tho considering they're on their way out but whatever, it still looks great.

Not much to say about Indo. The rhinos have a sprinkler now near the mud wallow, and that's about everything new I saw.

I had to walk under some scaffolding between the red river hogs and the giraffes, looked to me like they were doing some repairs on the giraffe roof but I dunno. The Burrows and Caves bathroom is completely walled off at the moment so they're still in progress on that.

Africa was fantastic. Petal and Perky were very active, swimming around and even raising their heads out of the water to yawn. It might've just been my imagination but Mstari looks like she's showing a bit of a baby bump! Tom was the only white rhino out so I can't tell you if either of the ladies looked like they were expecting or not. The lions and hyenas were both surprisingly active considering it was 30 degree heat. There was a fun moment where Kanzi interacted with someone's toddler. The former porcupine/caracal exhibit has been cleared out a bit like Akula said, there were two ground hornbills in there from what I could see but I moved past there kinda quickly because of the crowd from the lions. The underwater viewing for the penguins was open, I dunno if that's new or not though.

Kids Zoo was a little more disappointing, pretty much everything was hiding from the sun. I'll spare you the details of all the changes and moves because kingoffreaks covered everything pretty well. There was one alpaca in the old goat exhibit, and nothing in the capybara exhibit but they've added a more permanent looking pool, so I guess they're either adding something new there or making it a bigger alpaca exhibit.

Anything else you guys wanna hear about?
 
no I didn't make it to Tundra Trek, sorry. I saw it running behind the lions though, looked to me like they were taking the normal path by the Domain
 
@hyena142, they definitely are working on the giraffe roof. It needs some pretty big help so it is taking some time.

You do know Mstari is pregnant right? She's due next spring. It's probably unlikely you could see her pudge so soon unless she's just putting on weight.

Were the two hornbills the Southern grounds or Abyssinians? I could see them using it for the Abyssinians since they probably wont be doing shows for the summer. But maybe a second of the Southern boys has found a home and they have been caught up and place there so they can move him and Tyrion easily when paperwork comes through. Or Biko has decided to push his elder sons out of the family.

Great report on changes you noticed.

Oh I know the zoo said they were going to have the orangs pop out on a zipline to nowhere from the front entrance of the pavilion, did you seen any work on that? Its the most confusing aspect of their plans.
 
TZFan in updates to the Orangutan line, They are making a O-line that will come out of the front of the building where guests enter ( above the guest doors into the pavilion) and it will string across to almost the Malayan woods pavilion. Last time I went they had the materials for building getting stacked up on the roof so I can only assume they are really crunching progress out. last time I went it was sort of dusty so they must have been digging or cutting materials.

Also on that visit I saw Sabi and Zohari out, Sabi looked a little wide. But she does that sometimes, So I wouldn't get my hopes up.
 
Yeah I know Mstari is pregnant, it's been a minute since I saw her in person so I don't have a frame of reference of what she looked like otherwise but comparing her to Kiko who was right next to her she looked a little pudgier. Could be a coincidence but I figured it was worth mentioning.

The hornbills were Southern grounds. I made a quick pass by the kudu exhibit and saw a ton more of them in there as well, so they haven't all been moved. Like you said it's probably two males that're in the process of being transferred. Didn't see any Abyssinians today at all, Bran the raven is in the enclosure that used to have one in the Kids Zoo.

Didn't see anything involving a zipline near Indo, the pavilion is completely roped off tho which I found a little strange considering you could walk right up to all the other indoor stuff that's closed right now (the doors are locked but you can peek inside through the windows of stuff like African Rainforest and the Indian rhino house). Maybe they're redoing the pavement or windows or something like that?
 
@Akula thanks! The description I got before wasnt that great.

@hyena142, I thought it sounded weird you didnt know Mstari is pregnant. You have been up on things for the most part.

Ground hornbill Tyrion definitely has a home set. He's going to Erie. But maybe younger brother Bran is being called up too. Just a coincidence you mentioned Bran the raven too. For those who might be reading and don't know the zoo keeps two birds named Bran. That would still leave Biko, Catelyn and Drogo in with the kudu, and maybe a chick they didnt mention from last winter. I think they would have mentioned it though.
 
@TZFan yeah the descripti0on wasn't clear for me either at first I had to ask one of the volunteers to explain.

Also Next time I visit I will definitely hop on the Zoomo on look out for the baby p-horse if it is born by the next time.
 
I assume the zoo will announce the P Horse birth. They may wait until they open up the zoomo to everyone but by then he or she becomes a feature so they will definitely announce it by then.
 
Some irresponsible person abandoned 3 red eared sliders in the parking lot of the zoo. The zoo made an announcement on Facebook stating they cannot take in unwanted pets and directed people who had made bad pet choices to the right group for that and as always encouraged all to do their research before buying a pet. These little turtles were lucky a staff member or guest found them before it was too late. So disgusting people can just abandon a life they choose to protect.
 
That is absolutely horrible. I don't understand how people thought that was right.
 
Does anyone have any updates on the orangutans? I know they have been trying to breed Budi and Sekali, has that been successful? And what about the others, will Jingga and Kembali be transferred soon? And what about breeding plans for Ramai? @TZFan I know you’ll have a lot of info about this!
 
@Animals R AMAZING!, no updates to be had. The zoo hasn't announced a pregnancy or that Budi has been introduced to Ramai and Jingga which would signal Sekali is likely pregnant. With the border starting to open up the zoo is probably starting to work on arrangements for Jingga's transfer out and possibly starting crate training. Kembali's future home hasn't been decided but now that Calgary has opted not to go with orangs he will undoubtedly be going south. They may be trying to nail down a home for him so they could ship out both of them at the same time. He will be in demand as mature males are in shorter supply in the US.
 
The zoo has joined in partnership with Calgary and Assiniboine to present a conservation based series of Facebook lives every Thursday throughout the summer. Very nice to see 3 of the big zoos uniting to showcase the incredible work they all do. Too bad Granby wasn't part of the team.

Toronto Zoo | Weekly Wildlife Wonders
 
Took a trip to the zoo today. Didn’t go around the entire place like I usually do. But I did notice a few things.

3 Snow Geese are on exhibit. 2 adults and 1 younger one that has grey feathers. I posted a picture of them.

Took the zoomobile ride. Starts at Tundra, but also stops at the Africa stop for pickup/drop-offs. Nothing of interest to report. Script is pretty much the same with some new jokes thrown into the mix. The Barbary Ape exhibit has the Lion Tailed Macaque. And the old Dhole exhibit has Wattled Crane, Cedric, in it.

While entering the free roam animal portion of the zoomobile ride in Eurasia, I spotted a large White-Tailed Deer. I was in the last row of seating in the last car of the zoomobile, and while we were waiting for the gate to open, we spotted the Deer to our right. It was large enough to spook the announcer and she forgot her lines for a bit. I tried get a picture, but it promptly ran off into the bushes, disappearing. The announcer told us that it’s been seen often in the area, but that was the closes it ever came to people, which was probably 20 feet away from us. It was pretty neat to see, also something for others to look out for.
 
@cypher, good to know there is only one snow goose chick. It was never announced and the only time I would see it there was only one but there could have been more. Just nice to know. Wont be long before it's as large as mom and dad.

A second stop in Africa is a good thing.

Do you not usually take the zoomo during your visits? The macaques and crane have been in those exhibits for several years.

Always neat when you get up and close with wildlife at the zoo. Its a cool feature of our zoo. You never know when you will run into some of the Rouge's natural wildlife. Most people forget the zoo is in the middle of a wooded area.
 
Glad to have brought some closure on the Snow Geese for you.

Yes, a second stop is definitely a good idea. I forgot to mention, they've tried their best with distancing, so every other row is empty on the zoomobile, and they ask that you wear a mask for the entire ride. It's been a while since I was on the zoomobile. Last time I went through there, The Macaques may have been on exhibit, but definitely not the Wattles Crane, so, yeah, it's been a while.
 
You know me Cypher can't stand any kind of questions.

I thought it was odd you wouldn't know those animals were in those exhibits. Not riding often answers that question.

Glad they imposed masks and left rows empty on the zoomo. While more and more adults are fully vaccinated, especially in Toronto, kids who are the key market are not.
 
Yes, I know ;)

I'm not sure what the wipe down procedure is, but I'm hoping it's extensive, especially with the camps back up and running. Kids are going to be all over the place at the zoo in droves.
 
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