OK I'm back from the zoo. For the first time in my twice-a-year pilgrimages to TZ (I don't live in the GTA), I actually took notes as I went around in my phone AND actually talked to a few zookeepers, which isn't something I usually do either. Honestly I really enjoyed my visit because I did both those things, even in the extreme amounts of heat!
Buckle up, this post could get long from my notes (lol)...I'll try to break it up by section.
Entrance
- Area across from the gift shop is going to be "under the sea" themed with the decor. There's already the fish statue things in the gardens, and they were working on installing an art thing hanging down over the walkway between the gift shop and the goat area.
- Like I mentioned in my previous post, the construction area's gotten bigger at the entrance, and they have a big banner timeline of zoo accomplishments since it opened. Didn't stop to read it all, but took photos of it to read from the comfort of A/C (lol). I can post them here if anyone's interested in seeing as well.
- Tent for "Zoo Tunes" and a sign with when they'll be there. It seemed to be a dj guy or two playing music.
Kid Zoo
- Armadillos weren't in their area (and I checked back later in the day). Their area is the glassed viewing area attached to the first set of cages when you walk into that area, that also has a stork and a Harris's Hawk.
- Sign says Waterside Theatre is closed. Sign looked permanent vs. it being just today...it's RIGHT beside the construction though so I'm guessing that's why.
- Rabbits are now in where the guinea pigs are. They had ferrets next to that.
- Old rabbit spot had an "area being repurposed sign", same with area that used to have goats, capybaras, and alpacas at different points. The left side of that though had two large breed rabbits.
- Spider web climber is partially removed and fenced off.
- Skunk spot no longer has an animal or a skunk sign...although still has the skunk structure so you can tell what it was.
- Other things in the KZ were the Eurasian Eagle Owl, Raven.
Eurasia
- Mazy the Amur Tiger had the run of the smaller outdoor area and both inside spots. She was pacing around indoors a bunch. Volunteer confirmed it was her.
- Volunteer said she was the only one out though, but then I walked past the big outside area and saw another tiger that turned out to be Hari the Sumatran, so -shrug- as to if that was ACTUALLY Mazy or not lol
- Kangaroo Walk was open which was exciting seeing as I've missed doing that since pre-covid due to a variety of reasons every time I've been there in the past few years. Roos were all napping in the shade.
- Had a really interesting chat with one of the zookeepers while I was in there and was able to learn a lot and also ask a bunch of questions...see the separate section about what I learned below.
- No red pandas out (wasn't surprised, between babies, health issues, and how stupid hot it was today...just noting it anyways).
Kangaroo Keeper's Info
- Zoo has 8 kangaroos and 2 wallabies currently. Looking at the zoo animal names thread though I thought they had 4 wallabies, so not sure what happened to the other 2?
- Simon is their big breeding male.
- Nigel and Howie (who's almost 2) are full siblings from mom Tori. The 4 of them were all napping together in a corner by where we were chatting.
- Per the SSP people, Howie has the best male kangaroo genetics of any 'roos in the SSP right now. Nigel could as well, he's not been assessed.
- They have 1 male roo that's neutered...not sure which one though, just not Howie or Nigel.
- Sydney is still nervous of people and likes to hang out on the cement of the path leading from the walkthrough to the kangaroo house when the walkthrough is open. She came to the zoo during covid so wasn't used to people when it reopened. She now usually has one of the males hang out back there with her, Mr. Partington.
- I asked if the zoo will ever get koalas. She said that koalas are like the Giant Pandas in that Australia kinda controls where they are and zoos typically borrow them for a set amount of time. Didn't know that, so that was interesting!
- They usually try to breed for a baby kangaroo once a year.
- Kangaroos aren't endangered or anything right now. Part of why the zoo actively breeds kangaroos and is part of the SSP for them is so that, in the event a wildfire were to wipe out a large chunk of their population in Australia, because the zoo is already actively breeding them, they could help repopulate them in the wild.
Canadian Domain
- Sign at the top of what I call the "death hill" said all animals in the domain were out. I only went down as far as the cougar to see him, so I can't speak to if that was true.
- Did see one raccoon...not sure which one it was, Macro or Micro.
- Bowen was out, flopped down in his mesh bed thing by the fence checking us all out and licking his shoulder. He's BEAUTIFUL...
- Bison weren't in top field across from him.
- Technically Africa, but the ostrich wasn't out in the field at the top of the death hill even though the sign by the Africa zoomobile stop said it was.
Africa
- There's a sign up about the Savanna barn, billing it as a new home for the zebra, warthog, ostrich and eland.
- All 3 Watusi were out and all lying down
- Hyena MIGHT have been out under a log tunnel at the back...it was hard to see.
- No Eland out
- 3 Southern Ground Hornbill were across from one of the top lion lookouts
- Saw 2 lion...the male Fintan and one female (not sure which). They were on top of the tunnel lying together.
- Baboons were out...didn't count how many because I was trying to get ahead of a group of really loud camp kids (not zoo camp, another camp there for the day) that were yelling obnoxiously with no adults trying to curb them of that or banging on the glass....
- 3 Zebras were out, all females, so Maizy, Tori, and Lori Anne.
- 1 cheetah out
- 3 White Rhinos were out, including baby Kifaru. All 3 were really close to the fence...I think it's the closest I've ever seen one!
- Ostrich was in Africa where the Kudu usually is, by itself. It was far away so couldn't see which one it was if I even had a chance to know lol
- Perky and Petal the River Hippos were both completely underwater...don't blame them, almost joined them LOL
- No warthogs visible
- Amani and Mstari were both out in the main area standing together. Kiko was out back when I took the zoomobile past on my way to Canada.
- Dotty the Nile Softshell Turtle was actually out of the water...not sure if I've seen her out before. I also noticed a little info plaque attached to the glass about her. She came from Utah, and it had a bit about her injury from another turtle.
- Both pygmy hippos were out, zonked out in the sun.
- Signs for fruit bats were SUPER confusing by the new area in the African Rainforest Pavilion for a bunch of white birds (forgot to note what they were, but I don't remember them being there in March). Sign said to look up to see them, so I'm looking at the ceiling not seeing anything, until someone pointed straight ahead into a cage where they were LOL.
- Whatever was behind Dotty the softshell is no longer there, no sign.
- 2 Gorillas were inside...the bachelors Sadiki and Nassir.
- 5 others were outside, all napping. Charles, Charlie, and Nneka were against the back wall, Ngozi was on one of the platforms keeping an eye on things, and Johari was sleeping kinda close to the spectator fence with one of her feet straight up in the air LOL.
Indo-Malaya
- New boardwalk is BEAUTIFUL, very nice and shady for the hot day. I recommend if you go and it's super hot, do it downhill to get the full effect of the shade, breeze, and walk.
- New Sumatran Tiger enclosures have a lot of work still needing to be done...all dug up, fencing removed but posts still there.
- Walked into the pavilion and two zookeepers were there looking up. Looked up to see what was so interesting and Puppe was making her way slowly up the ramp of the new stuff. Ended up chatting with one of the zookeepers after asking which orangutan it was and learned some things:
- Puppe is the bravest out of all them because she's the only one not born at the Toronto Zoo. Prior to the new exhibit, none of the others had really been outside before. She's explored the most, and they've been getting the others to watch her to show them that it's safe to explore.
- They leave some of the areas open overnight for them, and have trail cameras set up. He said they're funny in that they do a lot of more brave exploring and sneak out then when they think no one's watching.
- Noticed at this point in my zoo wandering that they have these new 50th signs on certain animals around the whole zoo that are species they've had since 1974. Not necessarily that particular one of the species, but species in general.
- Wali and Sekali were in the outside area of the new exhibit, but in the indoor room part, in the canvas tower thing in there. Wali kept coming out to explore just outside it.
- Puppe was the orangutan who was meant to be in the indoor original orangutan area, but obviously she'd gone for her walk.
- Gibbons are coming soon to the area beside the orangutan.
- Came out of that pavilion in time to see Puppe outside the entrance/exit sitting in the ramp looking at everyone below her.
- Clouded leopard wasn't out, but there were zoo camp kids looking for her who were SUPER loud, so one could have been hiding to avoid that.
- Still no butterflies
- New signs (since March anyways) going into rhino house talking about Vishnu, how rhinos have sensitive hearing, how if you don't see him that he has access to a behind the scenes outdoor area for his well-being. Smaller plaque sign inside says Babirusa though. Either way, nothing was inside although the back doors on the right were open so maybe Vishnu WAS just out back?
- 1 Babirusa was in outdoor side pen to the left of the house.
Australasia
- Komodo statue has moved to the front entrance to the pavilion with a sign talking about Kilat, from where it was by the kangaroos.
- New black cockatoos were very loud and chatty. Didn't see Annie, but there was a little sign in the exhibit with an arrow pointing into a hole saying she's often in her burrow right down there.
- Doors to go out to the peacock area were both blocked off...one with a rope, the other with a giant tarp blocking view of the entire door.
- Wombats were hiding...didn't see them inside or out.
- Seemed like there were less fish in the big tank in the Great Barrier Reef? Might just be my memory though.
- Baby seahorses from the last time I was there have gotten bigger!
Tundra
- Juno was out in the smaller area in her little pool...didn't realize it was as deep as it is at one end!
- Hudson has the big area with the pool
- Nikita and Aurora were in the area with the big hill
- Arctic Wolves were actually visible (usually from my experience they hide when it's this hot) in the shade
- Area where the snowy owl used to be is being repurposed, per a sign, same with the area where the geese used to be across from the caribou
- Snow geese were in the old Arctic Fox area. There were 4 of them...not sure who the 4th is though seeing as the naming list only lists 3? lol there were definitely 4 though.
- Area where the traps used to be on your way from the tundra to the Americas pavilion all fenced off for construction...not sure what's going in there?
- Next to it where the picnic area is has been redone with new tables and chairs. There's one of those big muskoka chairs for photos that says Toronto Zoo 50th on it. There's also this cool board thing called the "CocaCola Recycle Zone" to promote recycling plastic bottles. You scan your bottle, then when the light turns green you vote for your favourite of a few specific animal species by putting your empty bottle through the corresponding hole. The animal with the most votes gets an enrichment activity. There's also a QR code to see which animal has the most votes currently. Your choices are the Aldabra Tortoise, Snow Leopard, Polar Bear, or African Penguin. I didn't try it, but thought it was a cool idea.
Mayan Temple Ruins
- There were gold-painted animals everywhere that were clearly old carousel animals. There's a sign in front of the old snow goose pen talking about them...there's 14 in the Mayan area, can you find them all sort of deal. They're from the zoo's carousel when it originally came I think?
- 2 Macaws were on their perch, one was very loud.
- Flamingos still where spider monkeys used to be.
- One capybara where the jaguar used to be...not sure which one.
Americas Pavilion
- Jays super loud
- Space beside the golden lion tamarin is now covered with a sign on the glass about tamarins. I can't remember what used to be there though? It's the one on the far right of that glass wall of exhibits.
- Originally thought no river otter were out, but turns out one was out (I think? hard to tell) but in the mesh hanging thing above water having a snooze. I only noticed once I was outside the pavilion and looking at it at the angle I was from above it was hard to tell if one or two were in there together napping.
- The "original" boardwalk up the hill to the Africa section has a new sign and is apparently called the "David C. Onley Boardwalk".
Zoomobile
- Couldn't see Rosita or Gunther, and I can't remember what they are (lol), nor could I find them on the TZ names list.
- They have a "Shady Acres Retirement Barn" for the two senior Mongolian Horses. Not sure who lives there...Phoenix and Alexandria maybe if they're still around, based on age from the family tree thread?
- Couldn't see Cedric the Wattled Crane
- Saw the two Mongolian foals...both definitely female per me (who knows horses) and also the zoomobile commentator said they're both female. Don't think they're officially named yet, but they are CUTE!
- Per zoomobile commentator, TZ alone is responsible for 300 Mongolian Horses being released into the wild to help un-extinct them, which is seriously impressive!
- There were 4-5 Yak, all lying along back fence.
- Saw Turnip, Turbo 2.0, Turminator, and Turnado (LOVE those names!!) the Tur
ok that's it. I have some photos of stuff if there's something specific anyone wants to see, I can see if it's something I snapped a photo of! If anything needs clarifying or any questions let me know.
