Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo Discussion thread 2023

I'm happy you had a better time than me then. I was pretty miserable for most of my visit, weirdly tired and sore, and the unexpected heat didn't help, nor did barely getting to eat because everywhere I sat to try and enjoy lunch turned out to be swarming with hornets. I'm very worried about my knee at this point too--it's had problems in the past, but two day trips in a row now have left me constantly wincing and groaning in pain after just an hour of venturing around and being in total agony as I hobble up and down stairs like an old man, even though I handled the far bigger Anime North just fine a few months ago. My camera's lens also suddenly stopped working for no reason halfway through the visit, which has me more upset than anything, because I've had my camera with me on every trip and at lots of special occasions and events for about 15 years. I had to use my phone for the rest of the visit, which kinda sucks to use for photos, has next to no glare resistance and doesn't have anywhere near as good a zoom function. ;w;

But on a more zoo-specific note that affected my enjoyment of the trip, the new boardwalk in the Core Forest? I'm just gonna say it, after experiencing going up it myself, I think it's stupid. Almost as stupid as general admission plus tax jumping from $30 to $44 since last year and having to pay the price of two 2-litres for a small bottled pop outside of the Tim's locations. It takes twice as long to get to the top now because of the convoluted zig-zagging crooked pattern, and somehow it feels MORE difficult to scale than the slope we had before. I even somehow pulled a muscle in my thigh while going up it, and not helping at all was the lack of places to sit--the old path had several nice little sit-down spots along it, but I only saw one the whole way up this boardwalk. Maybe I should change my route next year just so I can go DOWN this thing instead.
 
One, a black jaguar named Zambucca, the sister of the remaining regular jaguar Luca, but she died a few years ago--she was put down at 17 after suffering from a disease in her joints, if I recall correctly... :c
 
@Zoo adventures In addition to Zambucca our previous pair of jaguars from before she and Luca arrived also included a black one, female Serena. Zambucca will likely end up being Toronto's last black jaguar, at least for the foreseeable future, as the zoo pivots towards hopefully breeding the species instead of just using them for display. There was interest in breeding Serena with standard male Damien back in the day but for whatever reason that pair couldn't produce a surviving cub, and Luca and Zambucca were siblings and inbred themselves so obviously that was no good, they were only ever meant to be display only. As I understand it the zoo has found a female they're interested in and are currently just letting Luca reach his natural end before bringing her in.
 
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For anyone interested Amur tiger, Vasili, is undergoing a medical exam and dental procedure on Oct 6th. Would be a really cool time to visit the health center for an exam.
 
@Zoo adventures, nope there will be no Sumatran tiger cubs. Kemala was put on a birth control while at Fort Worth that rendered her sterile. Despite years of hormone therapy, diet, and other reproductive tech attempts they cannot get her to cycle. They tried hard because she was a top rated female. They eventually had to accept it just wasnt gonna happen and now she is also just too old. The zoo is very unlikely to breed until Kemala and Hari have passed and a new pair arrive.
 
TZFan said:
@Zoo adventures, nope there will be no Sumatran tiger cubs. Kemala was put on a birth control while at Fort Worth that rendered her sterile. Despite years of hormone therapy, diet, and other reproductive tech attempts they cannot get her to cycle. They tried hard because she was a top rated female. They eventually had to accept it just wasnt gonna happen and now she is also just too old. The zoo is very unlikely to breed until Kemala and Hari have passed and a new pair arrive.
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That is sad, why did Fort Worth put her in birth control, they know that she was top rated female. Are Hari genetics good?
 
hyena142 said:
@Zoo adventures In addition to Zambucca our previous pair of jaguars from before she and Luca arrived also included a black one, female Serena. Zambucca will likely end up being Toronto's last black jaguar, at least for the foreseeable future, as the zoo pivots towards hopefully breeding the species instead of just using them for display. There was interest in breeding Serena with standard male Damien back in the day but for whatever reason that pair couldn't produce a surviving cub, and Luca and Zambucca were siblings and inbred themselves so obviously that was no good, they were only ever meant to be display only. As I understand it the zoo has found a female they're interested in and are currently just letting Luca reach his natural end before bringing her in.
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Luca is pretty old, around 17 years old. I think the Zoo Granby Jaguar are going to Toronto zoo, am I right
 
@Zoo adventures, Fort Worth put her on birth control because she was living with her brother still and they didnt want inbred cubs. Its common to put big cats on birth control when they are living in a group with both sexes. They didnt mean to destroy her chances to breed. What they didnt know at the time was that birth control often lead females (particularly tigers and lions) to stop cycling for much longer times than intended to life. Its no longer used now that they know. Some females responded to hormone therapy and successfully went on to have cubs. Others are like Kemala and nothing could be done to save their reproductive ability.

Hari is a mid level male now. Until recently he was one of the lowest ranking males. Obviously some of his family have now passed increasing his value. He was only given a shot to breed before because of Kemala's value and Brythne before her. A top level female was chosen from Palm Beach for him and Kemala was to leave before the pandemic but then it hit and like a lot of transfers that option died. He is unlikely to get a mate because we will need to wait out Kemala first. Its very unlikely anyone will want to take her off our hands.

Luca an older animal and hes not in the best of health. They probably will wait for him to pass before bringing in the new female from Granby or in all likelihood another jaguar because she will need to go somewhere else before he goes.
 
Luca unfortunately passed away today so perhaps the Granby Jaguar will come sooner than originally thought
 
How doable is Toronto in a seven hour timeframe? Unfortunately, my companion for the day is a bit of a late riser and I won’t have the full 8.5 hours I was banking on.
 
@Persephone I'd say seven hours is more than enough time to see everything, especially if you skip some of the less interesting spots like the Canadian Domain
 
@Persephone, if the zoomobile is running utilize that too. Let it take you from point a to point be faster than you can walk.

Definitely dont linger anywhere you're not interested in. Dont do the domain unless you think bison, 1 grizzly, maybe the sea eagles, a turkey vulture and raccoons are worth it. Spoiler alert they are not. The domain takes you far out of the way.

Also skip the temple because all it has now is capybara and if its warm enough the flamingos. And never waste time on the Discovery Zone.
 
Persephone said:
How doable is Toronto in a seven hour timeframe? Unfortunately, my companion for the day is a bit of a late riser and I won’t have the full 8.5 hours I was banking on.
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I went today for the first time, and finished the entire zoo in a little over four and a half hours. Beware that it is a lot of walking, but completely doable. That four and a half hours included going up to the domain, which had the most impressive Bison exhibit I've ever seen.
 
@Neil chace Glad to hear you enjoyed your visit! Both bison exhibits are classics, but they're likely on borrowed time as the Domain is set to close sometime in the near future. Good you caught it while you still can
 
Hi, all. I was trying to make a full species list. My partner ended up being even slower than expected and we only arrived at the zoo around 12:45. She’s also a slower walker than expected and, because I’m trying not to use data in Canada, I didn’t see the advice here. This was enough time to see and chronicle everything but the outer path of Africa, the Canadian Domain, and whatever species in Eurasia can only be seen by Zoomobile. This means I have to go back tomorrow to finish the job. The pavilions really screwed me over since they had dozens of species apiece. Here’s hoping I can do the outer path of Africa, Canadian Domain, and Zoomobile in 1.5 - 2.0 hours.

I probably do want to go to see Canadian Domain since I’ve never seen wood bison before.
 
@Persephone If you're looking to do a full species list I'm sure we can help fill in anything that might be missing. I also have a document that's slightly outdated (it's from 2020 so there's a few things in there that we don't have anymore) but it covers pretty much everything

My advice for the Canadian Domain is to take the zoomobile and do it first, it's the first stop along the way and your legs will get tired after tackling that hill
 
Are there any animals only visible from the Zoomobile on the Africa side of the zoo? I saw the ones behind Eurasian Wilds. Species list is otherwise done. Just have an etiquette / rule question. In the US subforum it’s common to post species lists in their own threads so people trying to make the list of holders threads have an easier time. I can’t find any in this subforum. Is it allowed? Or should I just post it in this thread.
 
@Persephone No there are no Zoomobile exclusive animals in Africa. The Zoomobile exclusive animals are the Himalayan tahr in Indo-Malaya and the lion-tailed macaques, wattled crane, Przewalski's horses and yaks in Eurasia.

I'd say something like that warrants it's own thread. Just be sure to say somewhere that it was taken in October 2023 just so we can keep that in mind
 
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