Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo Discussion thread 2021

Went to the zoo to mainly check out he pavilions. I normally like to go in the mornings to avoid the extreme heat and gathering of people. However, the zoo struggles to have exhibits ready and animals in them. It’s annoying and something that’s bothered me for years now. Today was a lot of that.

No Orangutans were on exhibit around 9:10am, which was a letdown. For the most part Indo-Malaya is fully open, as in all areas are available to walk around. The barrier at the Orangutan and Gibbon are increased with ropes, but that pretty much it.

The African Rainforest is setup backwards in my opinion. The entrance is at the Giraffe house and the exit is at the Gorillas. Should be the other way around for a number of reasons. No Pygmy Hippos were on exhibit, again, disappointing. Keepers were cleaning out both exhibits. This is something that should be done before opening. Anyways, access down to the “bridge” area for the Pygmy Hippos are roped off, so you can’t go there. So unfortunately, no way to see the Spoonbills and Sacred Ibis.

I noticed Fintan wasn’t on exhibit with the girls. Now, it could be that he was hiding, but normally, you can always spot them somewhere, and most other people didn’t see him either.

The America’s pavilion is kind of a mess. There’s construction at the railing for the Otter exhibit outdoors, and indoors the entire Otter and Beaver exhibits are roped off for construction. The space by the Boas right after the open aviary is roped off with no access. It looks like both Boa exhibits were empty, as the large Boa has been moved to the Prehensile-Tailed Porcupine exhibit.

Australasia is also fully opened. Nothing much has changed in the pavilion that I noticed. No Tree Kangaroo on exhibit. There was a crate in the exhibit, so it looks like they’re crate training them. Out of all the pavilions, this one is the quickest to feel compact, as the walkways are all fairly narrow.
 
@cypher I agree with you about the rainforest entrance and exit but... it's genius on the zoos part. They are forcing you by the restaurant to encourage people to spend more money. If it was routed the other way people are more likely to skip their biggest restaurant and go for the Simba Lodge which cant handle huge volumes like the other one can.

Fintan also might have been doing training.
 
Not really though. Most people were doubling back to the Giraffes after the exiting the Pavilion. And that's mainly because these people are coming up from Indo-Malaya, and they know that if they go in the direction of the African Restaurant, they'll either skip the Savanna, and head down to the Americas, or they'll go the direction of the restaurant go through the Savanna and end up not doubling back to the rest of the zoo. It's weird, but today alone I saw people making this decision.

Aaahh, that makes sense. It's rare to see the Pride broken up at all.

Yes, Porcupine is off exhibit, but the birds across from the Boa area are still on exhibit, although you can't stand in front of that exhibit.
 
I posted a picture of the Boa exhibit, now former Prehensile-Tail Porcupine exhibit, as well as a picture of the mural in the primate exhibit.
 
If you squeeze between the plants and look over the railing across from the meerkat/porcupine exhibit, you can get a top-down view of the spoonbills and ibis. Porcupine is on exhibit, I saw her today. Sometimes she is tricky to spot. They've also doubled their plush-crested jay numbers, not sure if that's from breeding or if they are new arrivals from another zoo. Crested tinamou (previously shared exhibit with one of the primates, forget which though) is in there as well, but the sunbitterns have moved to the free-flight aviary and there is a chick.
 
@Kalvin, they now have 4 plush crested jays? They weren't due to get any but they were to breed. Perhaps we had chicks. It would be a shame if we did and they didn't announce it. The chicks would be the first for the zoo I believe. Not 100% certain but pretty sure.

The tinamou was in with the tamarins I think.

Great that the sunbitterns have a chick it is definitely a first for the zoo. Shame again they aren't sharing it. Firsts should be celebrated.
 
I also noticed the 4 Plush Crested Jays. It would be a shame if they had chicks and it was never announced.
 
Given the pandemic and the breeding recommendation chicks are the most likely scenario for the jays.
 
If it was due to breeding make you wonder, what else was born during the closure that maybe wasn't announced.
 
Probably several birds, reptiles, tons of amphibians, fish and bugs. I don't think there is a mammal not announced unless it's newer than the Przewalski's horse.
 
Makes sense. As long as they're sharing large animal births, I guess that's good enough.
 
I wish they just had somewhere on the website to list the births for the year like the old members magazine did when I was a kid. It did births and deaths monthly. Loved it. It would be a smart move because if its prominently placed then the home page the babies become draws for the zoo. Not everyone is a mammal fan. Some might want to know there are baby painted terrapins and come just for them.
 
That would be pretty neat to see for sure. A section on there website to list all animals in general would be nice. Currently, they're missing species all over the place.
 
Missing species. Keeping species we no longer have and havent for awhile. We could go on.
 
It really shouldn't be hard to list animals in your care, whether they're on or off exhibit lol. They need better management of their website for sure.
 
You are not wrong however we need to be thankful there is even a revamped website. What we had before last year was even more out of date and useless. I'll take what I have and hope that new team working on the tech master plan will work with the website as well as the app.
 
Ostrich, Zednick, will be off display for the next 6-8 weeks as she broke her humerous bone in her wing. Vets has do to go in and install a pin to hold the bone together. Due to the fact ostriches have a rough time recovering when put under and the chance of rebreaking the bone or worse she is being kept under close eye in a specially designed padded holding at the health center. They seem optimistic about her chances.
 
Took a trip to the zoo today. Nothing much to report for animals, but I saw Mayor John Tory walking around with the CEO. Could be something, could be nothing. Just thought it was note worthy.
 
That's cool you saw the mayor and CEO even if its just a chat. Would we ever have seen the past CEO period? Nope I dont think he ventured into the zoo much. Dolf loves to get out there and tour the zoo daily as exampled by his instagram. Means he can get out there and talk to keepers and my guess is in a pre pandemic world guests.
 
Yes, Dolf seems to like being amongst the visitors and workers to get a sense of the atmosphere of the zoo. And that's good, because interaction with everyone gives a unique perspective.
 
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