Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo Future Developments 2013

There have been gouramis in the orangutan moat for a while and the soft shell turtle has been with the gibbons for as long as I can remember.
It's nice that the porcupines now have access to the outdoors. What was in their old enclosure? Also how many porcupines did you see?
 
Huh, apparently I pay to much attention to the primates. Uh, the old enclosure was pretty much disassembled, the nest boxes were gone and all the logs and branches were piled neatly against the wall.

Both were outside, hiding in brand new nest boxes. One peeked out for a second to check the world out, but went inside again.
 
Thanks Sealife357! I wonder what the zoo is doing with the old porcupine enclosure. If you saw two that must mean a new one has arrived. Hopefully we will see baby porcupines enjoying their new exhibit soon!
 
The zoo now has a new show called animal adaptations. Hopefully this show is better than the one they had for the past few years.
 
The primate wing in the Americas pavilion got a few updates. The backdrop in all 4 exhibits was painted a very dark forest green colour. Aside from it being even darker in that area, I think the paint colour was a good choice. The 3 larger exhibits also got a few floor to ceiling artificial tree trunks that are supports for real branches. I'm guessing they were having problems finding large replacement logs/branches on a regular basis.

As sealife357 mentioned, the prehensile-tailed porcupines have moved outside to the exhibit next to the beavers. I am guessing this is just a temporary summer location and they will move back into their indoor exhibit (currently empty) when the cold weather returns.

While the Amazon fish tank is still not up and running, quite a few of the other tanks are going again- piranhas, native fish and american eel (which is the one flooded with red light).

A keeper I talked to said that the cichlids tank in Africa won't be filled for at least a few more weeks as they are waiting for the silicon to cure on the new glass. It didn't look like there was major rockwork being done, probably just minor repairs and updates.
 
Sealife did you happen to get any photos of the primate wing? I'd love to see what it looks like. Also when I was looking at the Saki SSP I noticed we have a recommendation for a male to join Kawa. Is there a second Saki?

Maybe they are going to do a mini reno on the porcupines indoor exhibit so while the weather is great they can enjoy the great outdoors. Just a guess since its been mentioned everything was out of the exhibit.

It will be nice when the cichlid tank is finished. It is such an eye catching, colourful exhibit.
 
I visited the zoo today and had a great time. Most of the updates have been posted but here are a few more:

- some of the baby capybaras are living in the pig exhibit in the kids zoo.
- the sign for the shingleback skink has been removed and I didn't see it in its exhibit.
- the renovated Americas primate exhibits were nice but they weren't very different from the old ones.
- the species in the native fish tank were rock bass, smallmouth bass, bluegill sunfish, and pumpkinseed sunfish.
- there are golden frog and dyeing poison frog tadpoles.
- one of the zebras looked pregnant. Does anyone know anything about this?
- I saw the male babirusa for the first time in a few months. The old baby wasn't on exhibit.
 
After reading through the zoo's new guidebook which I bought today, I noticed a few things:

- pheasant pigeons and peacock pheasants are both mentioned in the book, but no pictures are shown. I think I might have seen a pheasant pigeon today, but there were no peacock pheasants.
- elephants are not shown so I'm guessing this guidebook was made to last for the next few years
- snowflake eels are shown in the Australasia section of book. Is this species actually at the zoo?
- since the guidebook was made to last for the next few years, it includes a map for the Eurasian Wilds. I will post a picture of it in the gallery later. The species that have pictures and information about them are camels, wild horses, yaks, red pandas, snow leopards, sea eagles, and eagle owls (giant pandas have their own section). The map also shows reindeer in the exhibit next to the pandas and at least two species of sheep/goats.
 
How many capybura babies did you see in the childrens zoo? Are some still with mom and dad, Brutus? And are last years triplets still at the zoo too?

How pregnant did the zebra look? I know your not a zebra pregancy expert but like really big or just thicker than the others? That might narrow down who it could be. A very pregnant zebra would have to be Tori because its only been about 8 months since Shakira was born so Shani could only be about halfway into a pregnancy at best. Also depends on when Jake was introduced to Tori because he's the only one they would have let her mate with. It would be nice to have a foal this summer since next to no one got to see Shakira before she died.
 
TZFan said:
How many capybura babies did you see in the childrens zoo? Are some still with mom and dad, Brutus? And are last years triplets still at the zoo too?

How pregnant did the zebra look? I know your not a zebra pregancy expert but like really big or just thicker than the others? That might narrow down who it could be. A very pregnant zebra would have to be Tori because its only been about 8 months since Shakira was born so Shani could only be about halfway into a pregnancy at best. Also depends on when Jake was introduced to Tori because he's the only one they would have let her mate with. It would be nice to have a foal this summer since next to no one got to see Shakira before she died.
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I think there were three capybaras babies in the kids zoo. Some of them were still in the Mayan temple.

Like you said I'm not a zebra expert but the zebra I saw had a very large stomach compared to the other two zebras it was on exhibit with.
 
I wonder how big the capybara's litter was then this year. Im really regretting not going to the mayan temple at least once this year.

I suppose we can only hope then. Could it be that we could have a baby zebra and a baby gorilla in less than 6 months?
 
I don't have any pictures of the changes to the primate wing, and I don't remember seeing the trees when I was there. Interesting about splitting the capybara babies though, I saw two babies and three adults out at their main enclosure on my visit.
 
@Arcticwolf: The last time I went there, the Pigeon Pheasants were roaming free in the Malayan Woods Pavilion, and if I remember correctly, the Peacock Pheasants were also there, just in the second aviary on it's own, next to the one that, at that time, housed a Wrinkled Hornbill, though it seemed much too small for it.
 
Cypselurus said:
@Arcticwolf: The last time I went there, the Pigeon Pheasants were roaming free in the Malayan Woods Pavilion, and if I remember correctly, the Peacock Pheasants were also there, just in the second aviary on it's own, next to the one that, at that time, housed a Wrinkled Hornbill, though it seemed much too small for it.
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Thanks for confirming that both species area at the zoo. As I was looking through some of my zoo pictures from a few months ago, I realized that I took a photo of two pheasant pigeons! I just didn't know what species they were at the time.

Does anyone know anything about the zoo having snowflake moray eels in the Australasia Pavilion? They are shown in the guidebook, but I have never seen them.
 
I'm not sure, but I *think* from hearing something somewhere that the eels were part of the Great Barrier area, and were meant to be displayed in the Lionfish tank, but the lionfish turned out to be more popular than expected, so it was kept on, and the eel might be behind scenes? That was when I visited- the tank seemed a bit large and oddly shaped for a lionfish. Maybe the eel remained off exhibit, and maybe it's actually there but hiding..? :confused: Not sure though, most of the other tanks in the reef section I remember were for jellyfish, community fish and seahorses, none of which should be mixed with eels..
 
arcticwolf said:
Does anyone know anything about the zoo having snowflake moray eels in the Australasia Pavilion? They are shown in the guidebook, but I have never seen them.
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There is one snowflake eel living in with the lionfish, but he's hardly ever visible. He's made his home underneath the coral structure in the tank and only seems to come out for feeding!
 
Thanks Ungulate! Now I have something to look out for when I go to the zoo again in a few weeks. When I was at the zoo on the weekend with my friend he wanted to skip through the Great Barrier Reef section because he thinks fish are "boring".
 
Fish are far from boring. Oddly one of my favorite animals at the zoo, odd as it sounds, are the jellies :D I also think the Great Barrier reef section harks back to the original plans on having an oceans pavillion (I seem to remember seeing that on the original map). I also had a dream TZ got Ocean Sunfish. Talk about an ambitious species to keep :P
 
I think an oceans pavilion would have been brilliant! Now i could care less about fish... no offense to fish lovers, Im just a mammal lover with a strong interest in birds, and minimal interest in reptiles and amphibians (I do like Komodos though). But it would have been cool to have some floor to ceiling windows on massive tanks representing oceans of the world. It would have been cool to have tropical reefs from around the world with sharks, eels, lots of colourful fish, star fish, more jellys, rays, sea turtles, ect. They could have included sections for penguins for an antarctic creature, Sea otters, seals, walruses (I still wish they had included them in the tundra trek plans) , and puffins and other sea birds to satisfy people like me. I dont think I'd have wanted whales, dolphins or porposies. But the others would have been great. It would have been a huge attraction itself, set apart from all the zoo animals. I would have a hard time skipping a pavillion that amazing even if I could care less for fish. Might not spend long there but I'd always make time to visit. Pity it never came about.
 
Agree with the walruses. They would have made a great addition to Tundra Trek. I wish they also included Wolverines in Tundra Trek..I remembered them being on the plan, but they never did put them in. I would also like a Ocean Pavilion, with an open ocean area with marlin or tuna- I'v only seen tuna in Hong Kong, and since they were being kept with Manta Rays and Hammerheads, they seemed a bit overshadowed...
 
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