Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo Subforum

Quartz92

Quartz92

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I decided to post a review of the Eurasian area, to give something back to all the people who have answered my question ;) Ungulate and the people who have visited this forum. The will be doing construction on this part of the zoo in the next 2 - 3 years.

Siberian Tiger: I like this exhibit, some updates could be done to the maternity den and it seems like it is not a part of the Eurasian section. (The reason I forgot to do this exhibit.) Maybe try and include it more

Yak: I never did like the yak exhibit, but I would like to see a large field like the Wisent(European Bison) for them as well as a forested area, sort of like what they have now but larger. The zoo should move the yaks over by the Wisent's. The layout could be like this, the yaks in one yard, then a middle larger yard, then the Bison yard. The middle yard, the two animals could alternate in. I think the zoo has two and what are their names?

Bison: I also do not like this exhibit maybe more foliage. Even if possible get some more to establish a breeding program. Does the zoo have two as well and what are their names?

Butterfly Meadow: I never really have gotten a chance to visit this area, has anyone ever been? What is it like and what is its purpose?

Red Panda: One of the better old exhibits at the TZ. I wish the red pandas had access to the second yard. If they cleaned it up and weeded it, it would probably look nice. Why did they stop using this yard? What are the red pandas names? I have also herd that they plan on breeding them? And I think they have two? I haven’t seen a bamboo plant in a while, do you know where they are and if they are visible from the public?

Marco Polo Area: The exhibits in this area are ugly, sorry to say but they the only animals I know there are the Peregrine Falcon, a type of crane? And the crane exhibit is a winter house for the birds in the kid’s zoo. As well as the camels. I do think that this area will be demolished and converted into the Dr. Schofeild Memorial. Ungulate said there might be pheasants included with it.

The Eurasian Station is the best kept zoo mobile station at the zoo. The gardens around it are always nice.

Camel, Reindeer, Wild Horse and the Scimitar Horned Oryx: All these exhibits are plan maybe add some more foliage. Hopefully when the Eurasia Re-vamp is complete they will all have new exhibits! I’m not going to ask you the names are I just want to know the names of the Scimitar Horned Oryx?

Dhole: This exhibit is nice but it needs to be re-done you can tell it is an ageing exhibit and it should be almost the same just with lower foliage like bushes and shrubs

Snow Leopard: I don’t want to say it but in my opinion this is one of the worst exhibits at the zoo. I can’t explain why but I think it can be much larger. The best things about this exhibit is the use of the vertical space and maybe even have some higher platforms if they choose to re do this exhibit as well. What are there names?

Japanese Macaque/ Barbary Ape: I like the layout of these exhibits. I would add more foliage. Which animal is no longer there? Why did they leave? And is the Japanese Macaque also known as the snow monkey?

The animals with the mountains are really good exhibits as well, again I would only add foliage to them and maybe some improved seating. What are these animals?

I would love to see an Eurasian highland exhibits with maybe three new species added to the Eurasian section and I would love to see Giant Pandas this will improve the TZ greatly in numerous ways.

Overall: In honest words the Eurasian section is not up to par with the rest of the zoo, some of it is old and outdated, but when they do the re-vamp it can only be better! I honestly do love this area of the zoo because it is the least crowded and it gives you a break from everything else, so in some cases it is an old and outdated place but is also the best place in the zoo.
 
Quartz92 said:
I decided to post a review of the Eurasian area, to give something back to all the people who have answered my question ;) Ungulate and the people who have visited this forum. The will be doing construction on this part of the zoo in the next 2 - 3 years.

Siberian Tiger: I like this exhibit, some updates could be done to the maternity den and it seems like it is not a part of the Eurasian section. (The reason I forgot to do this exhibit.) Maybe try and include it more

Yak: I never did like the yak exhibit, but I would like to see a large field like the Wisent(European Bison) for them as well as a forested area, sort of like what they have now but larger. The zoo should move the yaks over by the Wisent's. The layout could be like this, the yaks in one yard, then a middle larger yard, then the Bison yard. The middle yard, the two animals could alternate in. I think the zoo has two and what are their names?

Bison: I also do not like this exhibit maybe more foliage. Even if possible get some more to establish a breeding program. Does the zoo have two as well and what are their names?

Butterfly Meadow: I never really have gotten a chance to visit this area, has anyone ever been? What is it like and what is its purpose?

Red Panda: One of the better old exhibits at the TZ. I wish the red pandas had access to the second yard. If they cleaned it up and weeded it, it would probably look nice. Why did they stop using this yard? What are the red pandas names? I have also herd that they plan on breeding them? And I think they have two? I haven’t seen a bamboo plant in a while, do you know where they are and if they are visible from the public?

Marco Polo Area: The exhibits in this area are ugly, sorry to say but they the only animals I know there are the Peregrine Falcon, a type of crane? And the crane exhibit is a winter house for the birds in the kid’s zoo. As well as the camels. I do think that this area will be demolished and converted into the Dr. Schofeild Memorial. Ungulate said there might be pheasants included with it.

The Eurasian Station is the best kept zoo mobile station at the zoo. The gardens around it are always nice.

Camel, Reindeer, Wild Horse and the Scimitar Horned Oryx: All these exhibits are plan maybe add some more foliage. Hopefully when the Eurasia Re-vamp is complete they will all have new exhibits! I’m not going to ask you the names are I just want to know the names of the Scimitar Horned Oryx?

Dhole: This exhibit is nice but it needs to be re-done you can tell it is an ageing exhibit and it should be almost the same just with lower foliage like bushes and shrubs

Snow Leopard: I don’t want to say it but in my opinion this is one of the worst exhibits at the zoo. I can’t explain why but I think it can be much larger. The best things about this exhibit is the use of the vertical space and maybe even have some higher platforms if they choose to re do this exhibit as well. What are there names?

Japanese Macaque/ Barbary Ape: I like the layout of these exhibits. I would add more foliage. Which animal is no longer there? Why did they leave? And is the Japanese Macaque also known as the snow monkey?

The animals with the mountains are really good exhibits as well, again I would only add foliage to them and maybe some improved seating. What are these animals?

I would love to see an Eurasian highland exhibits with maybe three new species added to the Eurasian section and I would love to see Giant Pandas this will improve the TZ greatly in numerous ways.

Overall: In honest words the Eurasian section is not up to par with the rest of the zoo, some of it is old and outdated, but when they do the re-vamp it can only be better! I honestly do love this area of the zoo because it is the least crowded and it gives you a break from everything else, so in some cases it is an old and outdated place but is also the best place in the zoo.
Click to expand...


Hi Quartz,yes im still doing reviews.I have the awnsers to some of your questions.

Butterfly Meadow:The butterfly meadow is a sort of garden that has a few hilly trails in the back,butterfly feeders and houses plus lots of flowers.It also tells you about butterfly conservation and how you can attract butterflys to your backyard.

red pandas:My guess is that they stopped using the second yard because in 2006 the older dhole pups lived here for a short time before shipping out.This may not be the reason but maybe?I also heard from someone that they thought of adding binturong but i find this very unlikely.The names are Ferrous and Sweet Pea and i don't know if there planning on breeding or not.They are visible to the public but i think they always have access to the house and the two are usually in the yard closest to Marco Polo and the dhole.

scimitar horned oryx:there are currently only two.A male and female and the species is being phased out.I don't know the names either

snow loepards.Yes, there exhibit is somewhat strange and they need more rockwork.The breeding pair are Koda and Tiga and the 2007 cubs are Maya and Kazi.

barbary ape/snow monkey:the japanese macaques are the ones who left for St Felicien in Quebec during February 2007.I think they actually belonged to St Felicien but Toronto Zoo had them for atleast a decade before St Felicien finally opened there new habitat for them.The barbary apes now live in both sides but i think they should get more since there is also this space or get more japanese macaques.Yes,japanese macaques are also called snow monkeys.

"the mountain animals":These goats do have quite good habitats.The ones were you can go on top of the mountain to view them are barbary sheep and the ones next to the bathrooms are chamois which are due to be phased out.

I agree there are many aspects that make eurasia seem very old.When i walk here i wonder about the zoos past and what it used to have like past species.The signage and paving needs to be redone and it needs a more asian feel to it.Maybe they could have a steppe,forest,river and highlands area.
 
I couldn't have said it any better! Your idea for th steppe,forest,river and highlands area is a very good one. I wonder what the zoo will look like in the next 10 years. I also wonder the past, I wish i remember what the savanna looked like before construction and the African pavillon. I also have a slim memorey of the Edge of Night. Can't wait to read the rest of your Candian Domain!
 
Ok.Canadian Domain.

Grizzly Bear Habitat:The girzzlies have a some what small area.Heres my vision.The walls should be rockwork with a waterfall coming out leading into a deep stream with underwater viewing and it would PACKED with salmon and trout.Then.There could be a huge cave underground with a window looking in so that you could see what a bear cave looks like.There would also be signs about how hibernation works and a video monitor so you could watch the bears hibernating in the holding building which would be hidden from public view.The rest of the yard would have tons of trees and it would be about an acre in size.There would also be an overlook and a viewing window so you can get a close experience on dryland.The viweing could also have tons of totem poles and a geyser.What does the holding look like here

Bald Eagle Habitat:The bld eagles could also have a fairly large area with rock work instead or netting except a bit on top.They would aslo have a smaller pool stocked with fish and the would be viweing in three places.The first would be an underwater viewing window so you could see them catch fish.The next would be a tall overlook tower so you could get a high view through glass in the rockwork.The last would be a another tower on the oppsite side but this one would have a mesh window in the rock instead of glass.

Moose Paddock:The moose should have a new paddock that allows them access to a fenced of part or Weston Pond.When i say fence i mean a log fence,not mesh or chain link fence.They could have a nice wooded area a log fence view and then an observation tower overlooking the enclosure plus you could see them from the weston pond overlook.What does the holding look like and what happened to the days of having calves every spring?

Wolf Wood:The wolf woods should happen like this.They should move the entire poack to Tundra Trek and turn it into a black bear habitat.They could have rockwork innstead of mesh plus they should make a rolliing waterfall going down the hill to a pool with underwater viewing that would also have salmon.The holding would be hidden and and there would also be more glass viewing plus another observation tower.

Bison&Elk Field:The bison and elk should have real prairie grass and should also have a few rocks.The cable fence should be turned to a log fence.Not alot hopuld be done either then that except maybe they would add an observation tower (sorry about my towers,i just really like them at zoos.)
How large is the bison slash elk area as on zoo diaries it seems to have tons more yards and they make it seem liek it goes on forever.Plus,how many bison and elk are there right now,are they even breeding anymore?

Weston Pond area:The Weston pond area is very good.I'd love if they added more exhibits around the aboriginal trail like beaver and otter though and then they could turn the Americas Pavilion area where they are housed now into a new jaguar,ocelot or giant otter exhibit
 
It would be a great idea for the grizzly bear and bald eagle (the tower idea could be cool and they could have something like a treehouse) It would be cool if the moose had acesses to the pond, Adding of a black bear would almost be a replica of the grizzly bear but interesting and the beaver and otters around weston pond would be cool to!

The bisons are breeding they just had a baby this spring! i do not know about the elks.
 
don't forget,the first half is on the other toronto zoo thread still
 
Ok,like ungulate once said...most of the are pipe dreams,lol.But still i just wanted to throw them out there.This is my plan for Eurasia and as i said earlier about the zones im going to mention them.Get ready for many pipe dreams

Highlands Area
amur leopard
pallas cats
siberian tiger
red panda
markhor
pheasant aviary
asian black bear
eurasian yak
francois langur
giant panda

Eurasian Forest Pavilion
sun bear
tufted deer
chinese goral
japanese serow
pere david deer
forest aviaries
sloth bear
wild boar
rhesus macaque

River Pavilion
asian small clawed otter
japanese giant salamander
fishing cats
waterbird aviaries
muntjac
various river fish

Steppe&Plains Paddock Area
blackbuck
elds deer
bactrian camel
onager
bateng
mongolian wild horse
more muntjac!!!!
addax
barbary sheep

again,these are probably really dumb ideas but i'd love if they magically came true.pipe dreams my friends,pipe dreams
 
Last edited:
Cool species, surprised you didn't say Giant Pandas lol
 
Cool species, surprised you didn't say Girant pandas lol. Maybe some of them might come true, lol I would love to see amur leopards
 
Nice species list! It'd be good to have the species in order the country; little funny seeing Scimatar Horned Oryx right next to the Reindeer. I also think that the Giant Panda; the amount of people who come into the zoo to see them, could give a lot of money to the zoo and might help the zoo pay back the money it would cost to take care of them.

I have a personal vision of redoing the orangutan exhibit, something like the gorilla habitat. Aesthetically it's probably my least favorite exhibit. I'd like to see a sculpted tree of sorts, with platforms of sorts, like the one in the orangutan show on Animal Planet. I do like the enrichment these guys and girls get, though and always enjoy seeing them.

A bigger tapir yard would be nice, too. If I had the money, I would hand it over to the zoo :)

Does anyone know what next year's special temporary exhibit will be? I heard sharks on Wikipedia, but we all know how how reliable Wiki is ;)
 
Last edited:
On wiki,it said that there is goign to be STINGRAY BAY again but there will be SHARKS! with them.Sound pretty cool,now all they need are horseshoe crabs
 
lol yea I saw that two it says in the 2008 operating budget

O I almost forgot, did we miss any reviews of the zoo?
 
I still have to do Americas,Australasia and Eurasia.
 
Response to snowleopard's review

Snowleopard, on his epic road trip, gave a very thorough review of the Toronto Zoo, which provoked a significant amount of debate.

snowleopard said:
I knew that some of the Torontonians would be offended by me calling the zoo average. I just felt, and still feel the same way, that I could name at least a handful of better exhibits elsewhere for each enclosure at the zoo.
Click to expand...

Putting (some of) my inherent defensiveness behind, I do agree with snowleopard on the basic premise of his review. There are few stand-out exhibits, but as a whole, I think Toronto is more cohesive than most. Unlike many "great zoos", Toronto has relatively little history; the site was constructed 35 years ago. When the zoo opened, it was very revolutionary for several reasons:

1) Its size - at 710 acres, the zoo is massive (although only about half of the land is actually developed), and it was all built at once

2) An entirely zoogeographic concept - the zoo was one of the first (if not THE first) to group all of the animals by region ... with only a few exceptions (e.g., emerald tree boas in Australasia, used as a counterpoint to the green tree python display). Most of the indoor plant collection is geographically arranged as well.

3) The "Indoor Zoo". As Zooplantman mentioned, the indoor pavilions are definitely the star exhibits during the winter for most visitors. In 1974, I believe the idea was pretty unique - the designers probably scratched their heads for some time to figure out how to provide indoor viewing, when the only models they had to go with were cat houses and monkey buildings.

Because the zoo was built all at once, for the first 20 years the infrastructure was all "new" ... but as things started to decay/need replacement, it all needed to be done at the same time. This obviously is not conducive to financial planning! (Older zoos, which have had a constant cycle of replacement are much better off in this regard, I think, especially in terms of the mindset of doing so). In the meantime, the zoo has been trying to play "catch up" with the new, amazing exhibits built elsewhere, but without the innovativeness needed to really succeed.

The pavilions themselves are an early example of immersion exhibitry, although by today's standards they probably wouldn't be called 'immersion'. (FYI, the pathways were initially bare earth, but the dust caused on crowded days was so severe that they laid interlocking brick after the first summer). The exhibits within are generally simple, but are effective in compromising the needs of the visitors with those of the animals. There is no elaborate mural work in the original parts, no cleverly disguised barriers ... basically, no illusion. What you see is what you get, which is rather at odds with the current exhibit philosophy.

Even with the gorilla rainforest renovation in the Africa pavilion, the only indoor exhibit which comes even close to being fully immersion (by today's standards) is the tiny Malayan Woods Pavilion by the Indian rhinos. The design is not complex, but I think it is effective for the public, being lushly planted, with free flight birds and butterflies, as well as fish in an open tank, two separate aviaries (my least favourite part of the pavilion), and the clouded leopards. (To get defensive for JUST a bit ... snowleopard's comment about the leopard exhibit being appropriate size-wise for squirrels is, in my view, an unfair exaggeration. It is not huge, but it is larger than many that I have seen ... they have natural substrate and climbing opportunities (although they could/should have more) ... my main complaint would be the poor use of space by the 'stream' that runs through the exhibit. If you are disappointed with this exhibit, definitely steel yourself before going into Cincinnati's cat house!).

Several of the exhibits which snowleopard condemns I don't have much of a problem with (Kota the snow leopard was able to completely avoid detection by visitors for the first few months he lived in the exhibit, and unlike some other snow leopard exhibits, at least they have natural substrate), and likewise I am surprised that some other exhibits that I think are the pits (including the African free-flight + otter exhibit) didn't make the list. I guess that's the fun of making and comparing lists!
 
Great response Ungulate, and it just dawned on me that no one has actually responded to my question: what are the world-class exhibits at the Toronto Zoo? Many zoos have only 1-2 truly great enclosures, while somewhere like the San Diego Zoo probably has 5-10 classic habitats that deserve applause. I made the claim that Toronto has plenty of good to average enclosures, but not one single world-class one. What's the best exhibit there? A couple of folks mentioned the gorilla enclosures, but I'm still rooting for the baboon habitat.
 
Mine would be, as a starter:

-The indoor gorilla exhibit

-The Komodo dragon

-The Great Barrier Reef, and pretty much all the Australasian exhibit

-The majority of the African Savannah, minus the exhibits that are scheduled to be redone

-The Malayan Woods pavilion; even with it's mentioned flaws; I love immersion in zoos

-The Sumatran Tiger exhibit; I really think this is the best Indonesian exhibit, although I would probably make some modifications to the materinity enclosure to differentiate it a bit from the other one. Being a photographer, though, the fencing a challenge to say the least :P

Chris Dulong wakes up in the country and spends the day on the savannah. On this Friday morning in late June, he rises before dawn and takes his two Labrador retrievers out for a bit before leaving for work. His home is north of Port Perry, and he drives for 45 minutes through a series of back roads until he reaches Scarborough and his job at the Toronto Zoo.

He changes into his uniform on arrival: a khaki shirt and pants, along with tan workboots. A set of keys jangles from his belt, and a walkie-talkie chirps non-stop like one of the zoo's tropical birds. He then heads to the library to check his e-mail, before attending the morning briefing with his fellow keepers.

A green John Deere Gator shuttles him on a brief journey through the zoo, which encompasses 710 acres in the Rouge valley, on twisting employee-only paths and public walkways, past abandoned monorail stations and a makeshift Serengeti bush camp, where the public can sleep overnight. He is heading toward the African Savannah exhibit. Even at this early hour, one can spot a lone zebra grazing, while nearby an ostrich sticks its sleek, elongated neck into the air like an antenna.

It's a little after 7 a.m. when Dulong, 36, and fellow employee Ashley Kirk, 25, arrive at their destination - a large, greyish structure at the top of a small hill. It's not a pretty building; utilitarian is an apt description. It looks like it could survive a nuclear strike. There's a reason it's so fortified: In the adjoining two-acre enclosure, waiting for breakfast, stand six African elephants.

One crowds the fence, sticking her trunk through the gaps and snatching the grass. One farts, while another urinates, producing a stream so forceful it turns the dirt at her feet into a river of mud. Two are lined up at the door, impatient to eat, enforcing the stereotype that elephants never forget. But there is no chance of them breaking it down to get in.

"It's very Jurassic Park-like," Dulong explains later. "It was built for the biggest elephant going the fastest speed it could and the strongest it could ever be."

Maybe they can smell the food a few metres away; near the back doors are two 50-pound bags of "jumbo carrots" and two bins stuffed with fruit and vegetables, dropped off earlier that morning.

"That's our treats for the day," Dulong says.

The interior of the elephant house is humid; a musky odour, like the inside of a high school change room, lingers in the air. There's a yellow line that circumnavigates the holding pens, which visitors are implored to stand behind. A yellow sign hangs on the wall near the entrance:

WARNING: Do not enter without approval. One of the elephants has been striking out with her trunk.

It's later explained that there is always something between keeper and elephant, an operating procedure instigated after 26-year-old keeper Nick Rensinck was almost gored to death by an elephant in November, 1993.

"Elephants are big," Dulong says. "The wrong place, at the wrong time with 9,000 pounds, you can get hurt. Not that there's anything wrong with managing elephants like that. There are a lot of great programs that work very closely, one-on-one, with their elephants."

Dulong starts to prepare the food. They get eight kilograms of small cubes, made up of ground-up hay, vitamins and minerals and seasoned with different supplements, including vitamin E and an elephant biotin for their nails and feet.

"This is breakfast." He corrects himself: "Well, this is like part of breakfast."

Combined, the elephants eat about 1,000 kilograms of food each day, which includes 20 bales of hay and 180 kilograms of tree branches.

Kirk and another keeper, Sarah Cribb, 28, chop up apples, celery, carrots, potatoes and butternut squash into chunks. The elephants, he explains, have to be fed separately; if they were fed together, the dominant female would eat everything.

"There's a real social order," he says as he and Kirk prepare to bring the elephants inside. The gates are all controlled by hydraulics. Kirk operates the control pad.

"OK, ladies, are you ready?" Dulong yells. It's unclear if he's talking to the elephants or his fellow keepers.

The gate slowly opens, and soon an elephant's hulking frame fills the entrance. One by one, they make their way inside the elephant house. Toka. Iringa. Tara. Tessa. Tequila and her daughter, Thika, who at 27 is the youngest of the elephants, and the only one born at the zoo. Tessa and Tara, the dominant female, are the oldest at 38. The elder five have been at the zoo since its opening in 1974. They came from Africa as orphans.

"They've kind of grown up together as a family group," Dulong says.

Dulong stuffs hay into a feeding slot in one of the pens. The elephants hoover up every morsel of food, their trunks, which contain over 100,000 muscles, track down every last pellet, every straw of hay. Preoccupied, the keepers can leave them alone as they gorge on breakfast.

"OK," says Dulong, a broad smile on his face. "It's time for the fun to start."

Fun is one of those words that has a different meaning for each person, but fun, by anyone's definition, likely does not include shovelling giant piles of elephant dung. It's time to clean the outside enclosure of some of the more visible aspects of elephant life before the public arrives. Dulong says a nutritional study once determined that, combined, the zoo's six elephants produce about 2,000 pounds of waste per day. It's a job everyone must participate in.

"We all chip in to do the hard work together," Dulong says.

The back of the John Deere fills with the yellowish cakes as the trio make their way through the enclosure. Dulong knows these grounds well, having worked at the zoo since 1994, and with the elephants since 1995. For over a decade, he's worked to forge a bond with these animals.

"I think they get to know you, too. I think they know my voice, or my smell," he says. "Whether they care or not? If I leave tomorrow, there will be someone else here to feed them. I don't know if they would miss me. You always like to think they would."

Dulong always wanted to work with animals. His first job, he jokes, was cleaning up after the family dogs as a boy. A little bit prophetically, he has pictures of himself with these very same elephants, taken when he visited the zoo as a 10-year-old. He worked at a rehab centre for birds of prey as a co-op student in high school while growing up in Burlington, then attended Sir Sandford Fleming College in Lindsay, Ont., for parks and forest recreation.

"The more animal experience you can get, whether it's on a farm, at a pet store, a rehab centre or volunteering, all those things sort of add up," he advises aspiring zookeepers. He knows what it takes; Dulong is currently vice-president of the international Elephant Managers Association. He loves educating the public about animals and conservation. It's also part of his job: "Meet the keeper" talks take place throughout the day.

"I love the zoo," he says. "I believe in what we do here. I believe in educating the public about how awesome these animals are - why they're so important."

Dulong's life revolves around animals. His wife is an environmental educator, teaching kids about birds of prey, and he describes their two daughters, seven and nine, as "animal freaks." "You take, whether you want to or not, your zoo life home with you, too," he says. "So I go home, they want to know how the [elephants] were today."

After the pen is clean, Cribb and Dulong head down the hill to check on the hippos. At the zoo, keepers don't necessarily deal with only one animal; the hippos and a pair of seals are under Dulong's watch.

The hippopotamus bunker is a few dozen metres away, built in the ground underneath the elephant enclosure, like a Cold War-era bomb shelter. Here, too, food is waiting: carrots, heads of lettuce, apples, parsnip. The room is divided into three holding pens, equal parts land and water. The three river hippos, not to be confused with the zoo's smaller pygmy hippos, spend most of their day soaking. The pools are drained and cleaned every day. Currently, Samson, the lone male, is submerged while the two females, Petal and Perky, are outside. Staff ensure these siblings remain separated.

"Samson doesn't know that," Dulong says. "It's our form of birth control."

Hippos breed fairly easily in captivity, but as hippos can live into their fifties, the zoo needs to be smart about bloodlines and breeding. Dulong opens the door to the enclose and calls out. Petal trudges down the runway and into her pen. She puts her head on the rail to watch Dulong and Cribb work. The animals have ugly but endearing mugs. Perky, the holdout, is being stubborn. She stands at the top of the ramp refusing to come closer.

Dulong pleads with the stubborn hippo: "Perky, come on!"

"They just like to give Chris a hard time," Cribb says.

"Peeeeerrkkkky!" he yells. "I don't know why she's decided not to come in."

"It's nice out there," Cribb replies.

He bangs on the side of her pen to entice her. "Who knows what she's doing out there?" he says. "I don't know. It happens sometimes."

After about 10 minutes of waiting for Perky, Dulong has to leave. Their time is heavily scheduled, and there's a list of tasks that must be accomplished before the zoo opens.

"It's just part of the joys of working with animals," he says. "It doesn't always go as planned. You need to be able to roll with it. We need to be flexible as well. We can have our day planned to a T, but all it takes is the elephants or hippos or seals to decide they don't want to do what we want them to do."

Back at the elephant house, it's time to start their training. Dulong works with three elephants at a time, so he sends Toka, Iringa and Tara outside, rewarding them with carrots the size of a forearm. As they head outdoors, each steps on a scale that displays their current weight in red numbers on a box fastened to the wall. Iringa hits 3,686 kilograms; Toka pushes 3,683. Dulong resets the scale from kilograms to pounds before Tara leaves. The numbers are just north of 8,800.

Once the trio is safely outside, he heads to the building's small office and pulls up a spreadsheet that charts the elephant's monthly training program.

"Basically, we teach them ways to help us look after them better," he says.

The staff and elephants practise invasive procedures such as injections, or drawing blood, so if the animal is ever unhealthy, they'll be familiar with the process. They also get a physical: checking the skin, the ears, the feet, inside the mouth. It's all about prevention, Dulong explains.

"Our theory is, we have an animal that weighs 9,000 pounds, you need to be able to look after it properly," he says. "You need to be able to look inside of her mouth. You need to be able to take blood from her. You need to be able to touch her all over."

Training begins with Thika, while Tequila and Tessa are occupied with hay. Dulong straps a yellowing jug around his waist and fills it with fruit. He stands along with Kirk on one side of the bars, while Thika looks on from the other side. He says, "foot." The creature slowly puts her leg through a hole in the bars. Kirk checks to ensure there are no stones or sores, then washes the giant foot with a hose. Dulong whistles sharply to let Thika know she did it right. She drops her foot.

"Ear," he says. Thika moseys over to the bars and sticks her flapping ear toward Kirk.

"Lean in," he says. She aligns her flank with the bars, and patiently allows Kirk to check her hide for lumps, bumps and scrapes.

"Trunk up," he says. She rests her long snout on the bars.

"Open," he says. She opens her mouth wide as Kirk peers in with a flashlight.

Around this time, Dulong's supervisor, Eric Cole, comes in to check on his staff. The staff is eight employees strong, with at least five coming in on any given day. They are divided into two shifts: 7 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. and noon until 8:30 p.m. Security monitors the animals at night.

"Perky wouldn't come in. She's on the runway right now," Dulong informs his boss.

Cole watches as Thika's training comes to an end - "she's a smart cookie," Dulong says - and she's replaced in the pen by her mom, Tequila. Cole jumps in and hoses down the feet, before Kirk takes over again.

"Everything looks good," laughs Cole before he takes off. "Except there are no hippos on display."

"That will be happening shortly," Dulong replies.

There's a lot left to be done. After training Tessa and the three other elephants waiting outside, Dulong and his staff must train the seals. There's still more cleaning and feeding to do, not to mention "meet the keeper" presentations, before he'll finally go home.

But the most pressing order is the matter of Perky, so Dulong heads down the hill to deal with a stubborn hippopotamus.

mmedley@nationalpost.com
Click to expand...
Elephant Man
 
What exhibits are scheduled to be redone? I only know of the Elephants and the South part of teh Afican Pavilion?
 
OO most definatly!
I can't wait for the Tundra to be complete, I have doubts it might not be complete in early 2009...
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top