Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo Future Developments 2014

Oh I have been so focused on Eurasia stuff I forgot I also found out about the snowy owl female. Cypher mentioned two weeks ago that they hadn't seen her in awhile its because she passed away. Hopefully a new female can be sourced through a rescue group at some point. With winter coming if there isn't one the zoo could adopt already around there's always a chance there will be soon enough.
 
Speaking of snow leopards, the other day I caught a glimpse of one from the zoo mobile. It was a pleasant surprise. I also saw a clouded leopard in the malay-butterfly pavilion but only for a short moment before it took off.
 
meadowvale, where during the zoomobile ride did you see the Snow Leopard? As for the Clouded Leopard, they've been partially on exhibit for a couple weeks now. I'm hearing that they are starting to avoid the people, so you're lucky to have catch them.

Oh, and welcome to zoochat. Always good to have others join the discussions.
 
Tiga's birth control implant fell out recently and caused significant problems with reintroduction. Kota tried to mate with her and as she was unbalanced as far as hormones go, Tiga wasn't into it and caused a big fight. Kota would have killed her if both cats hadn't been darted in time. So still separated at the moment.

Great news of a new female snow leopard. I am very excited. And we all know Kota can make the magic happen.
 
Interesting they would try to hold Tiga and Kota together again when the new exhibit will clearly have enough room for 3 adults on display at once in separate exhibits. Even if cubs were born to the new female in spring 2016 they wont need space for them until 2018. That 4 years away and Tiga would be 19... raising the question of would she even be alive? Maybe but probably not. Even then there are 4 holdings in the barn which would allow for rotation. Or she could go to the health center like the older cheetahs. Why bother introducing them again? And even if it were necessary why do it until they are settled into their new home.

I do know the were good with each other before and spent no cub time together.
 
Today I volunteered at the zoo for its Fall festival. I ran a table where kids could make bird feeders out of milk cartons and water bottles.

Here are some changes that I noticed today:
- the green aracaris are now in the tanager exhibit. All of the tanagers are gone and other than the aracaris, only the elegant crested tinamou remain.
- the prehensile tailed porcupines were back in their indoor exhibit
- in the amphibian conservation area there were tons of tiny baby Panamanian golden frogs, which were very cool to watch
- two warthogs were in the indoor red river hog exhibit. There was another one in the regular warthog exhibit.

Also one of the new clouded leopards was very active today. I tried getting a couple pictures but it were moving too quickly and the lighting in its exhibit is very dark.
 
Either a keeper misspoke or I misunderstood - the Bactrian Camels are 1.6.0 - the baby being included in the 6 F. The male is Goober and Lexus is at Safari Niagara. Yasser died.

The Red Panda F Maki who has gone to Safari Niagara is having an exhibit built for her. Today I spoke with another member who was there recently and says her enclosure is much smaller and less suitable than where she was at TZ all winter. She also said there Maki does not have any access to the outside, but was unclear about the problem with that.

The Snow Leopard exhibit has one large outdoor viewing area. Someone told me there were three shown on the original plans, but that was changed. There is another small outdoor area near the 3 outdoor holdings that they can use for training and moving the leopards around but it not visible to the public.
Don't get too excited yet about having a wild born F.The other day the keeper who said to me there was a female coming from Tokyo did not say it was wild born and the one I spoke to today said as far as he knows it is captive bred and he has not heard anything about a wild one.

West Caucasian Tur - there are 24, and they have had babies every year for some time. The zoo is preparing to ship some to a couple of U.S. zoos, good news for an endangered species.

The Camel Palace was not open today as expected.

Really enjoyed the Kangaroo Walk. I assumed it would not be reopened until the pandas are gone but the keeper in there supervising the viewing said they expect to reopen it with Eurasia in the spring. Today the old fencing keeping visitors on the path was not there - the keeper was watching. Still, a woman and her toddler went off the path right up to the back end of an adult kangaroo who was lying down! We were within three feet of it on the path but they went right over.
There are 11 kangaroos, 2 Swamp Wallabies and 4 Bennett's Wallabies. 1 Swamp and 1 Bennett's are in the indoor exhibit and all the rest were out today. As far as they know there are no Joeys and they don't expect any because their breeding female is 17 now. One kangaroo hopped across the path a few feet from me!

Haven't looked at my pics yet but will post a few later this evening.
 
Even though it would be nice if the new snow leopard female was born in the wild, I'm still really excited for her to come to the zoo. I'm assuming that if she's being brought all the way from Japan, she will be used for breeding.

I wonder what zoos the tur will be going to. I think they're a great species and I would love to see more zoos start to exhibit them.

The news about the kangaroo walk through is great! Ever since it closed, I haven't been able to get a good look at the kangaroos because they're always close to the back of the exhibit.
 
I wondered if the zoo would move the warthogs into the red river hog exhibit over the winter if babies were due. Makes sense to use the exhibit so they can be on display. I would guess because two are in the exhibit its Woody and Lucy. Interesting that Norm is in the normal exhibit but moving him frees up space in the ostrich house for the winter and maybe they will do a little work on the exhibit in anticipation of the wildebeests arrival.

Thanks Mr. Wrinkly for figuring out the camels for us. But if there are 6 females total I have one too many females on my list, Eva, Rebecca, Easter, Tilly, Alice, Sally, and Jozy. Clearly Jozy is there being the baby, and Sally is her mother. Which means one of the four others isnt... I feel like I had heard Alice died but I dont remember.

Hopefully the smaller exhibit at Safari Niagara for red panda, Maki, is just temporary. I hope the new exhibit they are building will be bigger and have outdoor space.

Well I guess if there is going to be just one main exhibit for the snow leopards it makes sense to reintroduce Tiga and Kota. If they can get along again then at least they can spend more time on exhibit. Just wonder why they would start the process before the move but they know more than me.

I dont think the female snow leopard will be of any less value to the North American population being captive born. So long as she's from unrepresented Japanese bloodlines she will still be just as valuable. New bloodlines in North America would still make her a potential founder whether they are captive Japanese or wild. I thought the odds of her being wild born were smaller. It's rare to get wild born animals these days and if she was wild born why on earth would the Japanese give up a female unrelated to their stock.

It's interesting that they are shipping Tur out to US zoos. Last I had heard they were on phase out AZA wide. But then again those are only recommendations and zoos can ignore it if they want. At least if there are other zoos breeding and enough varied genetics we can keep breeding. Young tur are fun to watch.

I would love it if the walkabout reopened. Once I started visiting again I missed my one and only chance to go through it because I didn't know it was a possibility. I would be thrilled if it reopened.
 
In regards to the Snow Leopard being wild born, my brother is telling me that the Keeper told him that the parents are wild born and the daughter we're getting is captive born. So if the parents are wild born, the new female is basically wild born as well.

I definitely remember the Keeper being excited about the new diversity of the female either way.

I remember seeing the Warthogs indoor for some time now. Couple weeks at least.
 
That's great news if both of the new snow leopard's parents were wild born. She will be very important for the zoo's breeding program.

It's possible that the warthogs have been indoors for a while now, but nobody posted it. I hadn't been to the zoo for a couple months and was just posting the news that I didn't hear already. The only reason why I though it was interesting was because I know that there might be baby warthogs soon.
 
It always slipped my mind to post about the Warthogs. Are they still super skiddish? Last times I saw them they ran into the back room, which was open, to hide from anyone that approached the exhibit.
 
Odds are the warthogs are less skittish. Any time an animal is moved to a new area they are unsure of things. If they have been there for several weeks now then its likely they have learned they are safe and nothing is going to hurt them there.
 
I was chatting witha friend about some of yesterday's info and they cleared a few things up for me.

The camels are breeding male Goober, adult females Sally, Eva, Rebecca, Alice, subadult female Tilly and female calf Jozy. Subadult male Ollie may be off exhibit as last they heard he maybe a potenial breeder for the zoo in time but they weren't sure. At least we know the 7 on exhibit.

I have been corrected about the warthogs. The two in the pavilion are 2013 offaping Winnie and Petunia. I had heard they were to leave in the spring but it fell through. Woody is in the normal yard by himself while Lucy is off exhibit awaiting her potenial impending arrivals. Probably very wise since it is probably too cold out now to risk them being born on exhibit. That leaves Norm in his usual home. I apologize for the error yesterday. I assumed based on the fact I thought the younger girls had gone. Oops.
 
Went for a quick visit to the zoo today. Figure I’d get another look at Eurasia while I can. Not much to report on but here it goes.

Couldn’t go in the Kangaroo Walk-Through because an unruly child threw something at the Kangaroos and got them riled up.

Noticed that both Red Pandas were in Cassie’s exhibit today. Not sure how often that happens.

Managed to get on the Zoomobile and noticed that the 3 Watusi are at the Giraffe house. Commentator said it was a Mother, Father, and Daughter, although who knows how accurate that is. They all seem pretty small. I’ll post some pictures.

Again the commentator mentioned that male Przewalski’s horse Phoenix is with the female heard for breeding due to him having a special Chromosome 26. I remember someone mentioning that he castrated so finding some clarification on that would be nice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top