Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo Future Developments 2014

Day 2 of zoo camp was really good. The campers are still behaving well most of the time, which is making it more fun for me. I don't have a lot of new information still, but here is what I did today:

In the morning we went to the Kid's Zoo. One thing that I noticed here is that the bugs on exhibit in the backyard wildlife section are different from last year. I thought this was great because I love it when zoos have large invertebrate collections, and it's nice to see some native species in addition to the exotic ones. Here are the species I saw:
- Nursery web spider (Pisaura mirabilis)
- Daring jumping spider (Phidippus audax)
- Green stink bug (Acrosternum hilare)
- Banded wood snail (Cepaea nemoralis), which is technically an introduced species

In the afternoon we went to Tundra Trek and got to see Humphrey playing in his pool. Also one of the snowy owls was very active. Does anyone know if the snowy owls have their wings clipped? The one I saw was hopping on the ground instead of flying.

To finish off the day we watched the Amazing Animal Show which still has the same animals, jokes, facts and music as it has for the past bunch of years. Even though it is still fun and entertaining, it would be nice if some new species could be used.
 
Pretty cool stuff arcticwolf. I've only been through the Kids Zoo twice. I should head through there again.
 
The bugs were the only really interesting thing in the Kid's Zoo to me. The rest of it is pretty much the same as it's always been. A few recent changes I can think of are that an Abyssinian ground hornbill is in the large exhibit in the forest area that used to hold pheasants and wild turkeys, and the exhibit by the exit of the forest area is now empty.
 
It always makes me so frustrated when people break the rules. Just because a lock isnt on a closed gate doesnt mean hey lets open it. Yes the staffer was wrong for not locking it but its still wrong to just open up a gate to a space you damn well know you shouldnt be. How would these people feel if we walked up to their door and just because it wasnt locked walked right in? Im telling you zoos in the future will have to feature glass tunnels for guests to travel in so they cant get in any... well as much trouble.
 
My third day of zoo camp was amazing. Since it wasn't too hot and sunny outside, lots of animals were very active.

In the morning we went on the zoomobile and I got to see the mouflon for the first time. They came really close to the zoomobile, but I wasn't able to get a picture of them. After that we went to see the Indian rhino and the Malayan Woods. I learned that the clouded leopard exhibit should be open by the end of the month.

In the afternoon we saw the African Savanna and the tigers. Both of the tigers were playing in their pools, which is something I have never seen. Many of the African Savanna animals like the rhinos, hippos and cheetahs were active and came very close to the viewing areas. I was able to get a couple of photos that are now in the gallery.
 
Glad you had such a great up close and active day with the animals. Those are great days to visit aren't they? Cant wait to see the pictures... headed off to browse now.
 
The photos actually aren't that great. What's impressive about them is that I took them with very little zoom.
 
One other thing I forgot to mention is that an electronic lure will soon be added to the cheetah exhibit. It will probably be similar to the ones done at other zoos.
 
Its basically a lure (something the cheetahs willwant to chase) on a cable. They start to pull it towards a winding machine that coils the cable really fast. When that starts they release the cheetah from holdings so it will sprint after the lure. Its good exercise for them and the get a treat for hunting. Here's a clip of several runs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTQt6uLKuBQ
 
My fourth day of zoo camp was also lots of fun.

We started the day by seeing the pandas. In the interpretive centre there was a great display with the zoo's first guidebook. I will probably post some pictures of it in the gallery later today. After that we went to the Australasia Pavilion and Harrington the male tree kangaroo was very active.

In the afternoon we went to the Indomalaya Pavilion. The only update I have from there is that in the tortoise exhibit, there was a small tank with a baby Burmese star tortoise.

Some other updates that I heard from volunteers are that Rio the kudu has moved to another zoo and another kudu is now pregnant. The most exciting thing I learned is that 3 baby ostriches have hatched! I don't know if that's true though, so hopefully someone can confirm this next time they visit the African Savanna.
 
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Great day for you Arcticwolf. A baby tortoise is cool but Im excited about the ostriches. Its been awhile since there where any. I beg of any of you to post photos if you can get some. That would be awesome to see. A baby kudu would be great to have again.
 
I would have loved to be able to see the baby ostriches, but I only heard about them today and we already did the savanna yesterday.
 
I had a great last day of zoo camp today and I got to see some very special animals!

In the morning we visited the African Rainforest Pavilion. Many of the animals including the meerkats and Harvey the pygmy hippo were very active and came right up to the glass. The kids made enrichment items for the fruit bats and it was very fun to watch the bats use them.

In the afternoon we got a very special surprise because we were allowed to visit Eurasia! Sadly we only had enough time to visit a couple of animals. First we looked at the West Caucasian tur which had a baby. Their exhibit is almost exactly the same as it was before. After that we got to see one of the snow leopards in their old exhibit. Since snow leopards are one of my favourite species at the zoo, this was very exciting!

I heard another volunteer say that the plans are for Eurasia to open in early October, but based on all the construction I saw, I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't open until next year. There were piles of dirt and rocks everywhere and lots of fence pieces that haven't been put up yet. I also saw life sized (or maybe even larger) statues of a Bactrian camel and Przewalski's horse that I assume will be placed near their exhibits.

I only got a quick look at the new Eurasia exhibits that were under construction, but they seemed pretty good. A lot of the old goat mountains were still there and also some large logs and other rocks were added on the ground in the exhibits.
 
Lucky you a sneak peak at Eurasia and a maybe date for opening. Though I agree with you that any date they say now should be taken with a grain of salt. And really at this point it if its not ready until October maybe it makes more sense to just leave it be until the spring and push it as the 2015 big new thing all summer. Why have a big opening when people stop going to the zoo.

A little surprised there was a baby Tur. They are supposed to be phased out in the AZA... but the zoo doesnt always listen. I would like to see them replaced with Makhor or Takin though. I like the looks of both species.

Odds are you saw snow leopard Tiga. She was never moved from their old exhibit. Kota is probably still in the health unit unless there are other holdings or Kota was returned to the exhibit but then why did they move him in the first place right?

Did you get any pics?
 
TZFan said:
Kota is probably still in the health unit unless there are other holdings or Kota was returned to the exhibit but then why did they move him in the first place right?
Click to expand...
Kota has been placed back to his usual hideout a few hundred yards behind the Malayan Woods pavilion where he has spent many months in the past (prior to his more recent transfer) for when they've needed to separate him from Tiga. If you hang out near Malayan Woods pavilion long enough you can often hear his vocalizations. It will be nice once they complete Eurasia and they can be reunited and/or separated much easier. I used to be able to spot his special holding area way out behind Malayan Woods pavilion on Google Maps but can't specifically find it at the moment.
 
Cool thats interesting to know Tiffanyanddave. You seem to be a Kota expert, always knowing where to find him even when I thought he was dead last year. Too bad they didnt leave him a Safari Niagara for another summer.
 
That's too bad about the Eurasias. I mean we all knew after the spring opening never happened that it was significantly delayed but after it wasn't open for the 40th anniversary weekend I mean, there was no hope for a summer opening. This past winter screwed the zoo pretty bad with tons of other work needing to be done to clean up the parts of the zoo that are already open to the public.

I agree TZFan an October opening wouldn't be fantastic as that's when people start to dwindle down on visiting the zoo! Maybe they're hoping that it will help bring in visitors during months where attendance is low but more likely they're just sick of making people wait and having to answer the question all the time of when the Eurasias will be opening!
 
I was not able to get any pics from Eurasia. My phone was about to run out of battery so I couldn't use its camera.
 
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