Woodland Park Zoo Woodland Park Zoo 2020

snowleopard

snowleopard

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The link below contains Woodland Park Zoo's 2020 Annual Plan and there are a lot of details in regards to changes or breeding recommendations with the animal collection.

Some intriguing highlights:

Northern Trail is being re-branded as 'Living Northwest Trail'
Hippo habitat changes? The zoo's wording is vague, but something is afoot.
The old Day and Night complex (currently closed) could become a Papua New Guinea exhibit.
A baby Lowland Gorilla and a baby Malayan Tapir are both due in 2020.
Indian Flying Foxes and Ocelots will both be phased out of the collection.

https://www.zoo.org/document.doc?id=2600
 
snowleopard said:
The link below contains Woodland Park Zoo's 2020 Annual Plan and there are a lot of details in regards to changes or breeding recommendations with the animal collection.

Some intriguing highlights:

Northern Trail is being re-branded as 'Living Northwest Trail'
Hippo habitat changes? The zoo's wording is vague, but something is afoot.
The old Day and Night complex (currently closed) could become a Papua New Guinea exhibit.
A baby Lowland Gorilla and a baby Malayan Tapir are both due in 2020.
Indian Flying Foxes and Ocelots will both be phased out of the collection.

https://www.zoo.org/document.doc?id=2600
Click to expand...

Man I wish Oakland gave a plan like this. It offers some things to look foreword to. Out of curiosity, what animals do you think will be included in this new Paupa New Guinea exhibit? There aren’t many options in aza zoos, are there?
 
TheEthiopianWolf03 said:
Man I wish Oakland gave a plan like this. It offers some things to look foreword to. Out of curiosity, what animals do you think will be included in this new Paupa New Guinea exhibit? There aren’t many options in aza zoos, are there?
Click to expand...

Woodland Park Zoo has had a strong conservation focus on Papua New Guinea over the past decade, with Matschie's Tree Kangaroos the prime species for the proposed new exhibit that has been earmarked for at least two years now. However, the 'Day and Night Exhibit' used to be a superb little Nocturnal House (closed a decade ago) and a solid Reptile House (closed more than 3 years ago) and both are substantial losses to the zoo.
 
snowleopard said:
Woodland Park Zoo has had a strong conservation focus on Papua New Guinea over the past decade, with Matschie's Tree Kangaroos the prime species for the proposed new exhibit that has been earmarked for at least two years now. However, the 'Day and Night Exhibit' used to be a superb little Nocturnal House (closed a decade ago) and a solid Reptile House (closed more than 3 years ago) and both are substantial losses to the zoo.
Click to expand...

What kind of reptile collection does Woodland Park Zoo have now that the reptile house is closed?
 
DavidBrown said:
What kind of reptile collection does Woodland Park Zoo have now that the reptile house is closed?
Click to expand...

I'm tempted to say ZERO, but off the top of my head there are a couple of terrariums in the indoor playground area known as 'Zoomazium'. Other than that, there are a few snakes, turtles and frogs in the Tropical Rainforest building, but the zoo's cold-blooded selection is incredibly minimal for such a major zoological park. A python in the Asian zone is another animal, with Komodo Dragons in the Adaptations building, but the zoo probably has 9 reptile/amphibian exhibits in total. To be perfectly blunt, it's become an embarrassing situation, and the Reptile House had 38 exhibits before a fire closed it permanently.

Here is the zoo's Reptile House species list from August 15th, 2015:

Reptile House Species List (46 species): Matschie’s Tree Kangaroo, Three-Banded Armadillo, African Dwarf Crocodile, Sidewinder Rattlesnake, Northern Pacific Rattlesnake, Speckled Rattlesnake, Southern Copperhead, King Cobra, False Water Cobra, Baron’s Green Racer, West African Gaboon Viper, Eyelash Viper, Large-Eyed Pit Viper, Blair’s Kingsnake, Taylor’s Cantil, Burmese Vine Snake, Trans-Pecos Rat Snake, Tentacled Snake, Mangrove Snake, Madagascar Tree Boa, Desert Rosy Boa, Reticulated Python, European Legless Lizard, Gila Monster, Armadillo Lizard, Shield-Tailed Agama, Ornate Spiny-Tailed Lizard, Chinese Crocodile Lizard, Prehensile-Tailed Skink, Madagascar Giant Day Gecko, Asian Brown Tortoise, Egyptian Tortoise, Radiated Tortoise, Yellow-Margined Chinese Box Turtle, Pan’s Box Turtle, Yellow-Spotted Side-Necked Turtle, Black-Breasted Leaf Turtle, Western Pond Turtle, Chinese Flying Frog, Blue Poison Dart Frog, Giant Leaf Frog, Waxy Monkey Frog, Tomato Frog, Colorado River Toad, Smooth-Sided Toad and Axolotl.
 
snowleopard said:
Woodland Park Zoo has had a strong conservation focus on Papua New Guinea over the past decade, with Matschie's Tree Kangaroos the prime species for the proposed new exhibit that has been earmarked for at least two years now. However, the 'Day and Night Exhibit' used to be a superb little Nocturnal House (closed a decade ago) and a solid Reptile House (closed more than 3 years ago) and both are substantial losses to the zoo.
Click to expand...
Zoos, especially progressive ones like Woodland Park, are moving away from just having animals for the point of having a big collection and working towards exhibiting animals with purpose and connection to the zoo's mission and conservation priorities. In the past few years WPZ has become very focused on creating a social movement of conservation and highlighting their most important legacy project (and a severely threatened ecosystem poorly represented in U.S. zoos) is a great way to do that.
 
Some interesting parts of the zoo have been eliminated over the past decade or so, with some decisions admittedly making sense. However, the lack of something 'new' has been keenly felt.

Nocturnal House...gone.
Elephants...gone.
Reptile House...gone.
Common Hippos...gone.

A Big Decision for Hippos Lupe and Lily
 
snowleopard said:
Some interesting parts of the zoo have been eliminated over the past decade or so, with some decisions admittedly making sense. However, the lack of something 'new' has been keenly felt.

Nocturnal House...gone.
Elephants...gone.
Reptile House...gone.
Common Hippos...gone.

A Big Decision for Hippos Lupe and Lily
Click to expand...

As a more direct response to the article about the hippos, I'm surprised that they say that the younger hippo (Lupe) is a good fit for breeding, as unless her pedigree has been substantially further investigated in the past year and a half, it is only 37.5% known, which would usually make the hippo SSP reluctant to breed her. Assuming that is not a barrier, however, I could see both of them potentially moving to Milwaukee's new exhibit when it opens later this year.
 
snowleopard said:
Some interesting parts of the zoo have been eliminated over the past decade or so, with some decisions admittedly making sense. However, the lack of something 'new' has been keenly felt.

Nocturnal House...gone.
Elephants...gone.
Reptile House...gone.
Common Hippos...gone.

A Big Decision for Hippos Lupe and Lily
Click to expand...

Alright this is too damn far. The africa complex is by far the best area of the zoo and one of the finest examples of an immersive savannah exhibit. The hippo exhibit is one of the best in the zoo, what the hell are they thinking. I understand if they are doing breeding transfers but for gods sake bring in replacements. Chances are they will just throw some mud in and replace them with generic red river hogs like they replaced the wild dogs with warthog... Every damn AZA zoo is going to look like the same same basic species list in expensive pseudo immersive cages before long.

Picture for those unfamiliar:
full


For those who never visited the reptile house was actually really nice. It had traditional terrariums for smaller species on one side, but the other was made up of large open exhibits with a railing. There was a dwarf crocodile pond, a tortoise and armadillo exhibit, but by far the most impressive was a 30 foot pool with a very large group of Yellow Spotted Amazon turtles. From what I have heard the insurance claim has been in courts for years, although im dubious they are very motivated to replace it any time soon.

I dont know what is going on with the leadership, but its been nothing but bad decisions and a downwards trajectory for the past decade. The main development was the Banyan Wilds and IMO it was woefully unimpressive, mostly window dressing on the old bear grottos with one less species, and a generic tiger enclosure... If they cant do the new stuff right it was only a matter of time before they got around to ruining the old stuff done well.
 
If, as it appears in the photo, the hippos were allowed to leave the pool and roam the entire savanna, then that is a really nice design. Assuming that is the case, I agree it would be a tragedy not to replace the hippos. I was at the zoo two years and a half years ago (I think) and I agree - Banyan Wilds was nothing special. In fact the bear grottoes were actually worse because they was a very usable viewing area on far left that was boarded off and rendered unusable. Tiger viewing was dismal (I don't think I even saw one).
 
Arizona Docent said:
If, as it appears in the photo, the hippos were allowed to leave the pool and roam the entire savanna, then that is a really nice design. Assuming that is the case, I agree it would be a tragedy not to replace the hippos. I was at the zoo two years and a half years ago (I think) and I agree - Banyan Wilds was nothing special. In fact the bear grottoes were actually worse because they was a very usable viewing area on far left that was boarded off and rendered unusable. Tiger viewing was dismal (I don't think I even saw one).
Click to expand...

There is a hidden barrier keeping the hippos out of the main Savannah, this is necessary as with very few exceptions hippos are too aggressive. It is still more than adequate however, and the rockwork and use of sight-lines is top notch.

Agreed on all points on Banyan wilds, they reduced viewing by boarding up on side, then cut into the exhibit space itself to put in a viewing window. The tiger exhibit is nearly the same size as the old grotto as well, the whole thing was a waste of money.

Outlines of Banyan Wilds (rough):

Old bear grottos:
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Grottos Now... (smaller, bare)
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Old tiger grotto (red):
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New tiger exhibit:
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And a rough outline of the hippo exhibit for the guy asking about it! (hippos for scale):
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DelacoursLangur said:
Alright this is too damn far. The africa complex is by far the best area of the zoo and one of the finest examples of an immersive savannah exhibit. The hippo exhibit is one of the best in the zoo, what the hell are they thinking. I understand if they are doing breeding transfers but for gods sake bring in replacements. Chances are they will just throw some mud in and replace them with generic red river hogs like they replaced the wild dogs with warthog... Every damn AZA zoo is going to look like the same same basic species list in expensive pseudo immersive cages before long.

Picture for those unfamiliar:
full


For those who never visited the reptile house was actually really nice. It had traditional terrariums for smaller species on one side, but the other was made up of large open exhibits with a railing. There was a dwarf crocodile pond, a tortoise and armadillo exhibit, but by far the most impressive was a 30 foot pool with a very large group of Yellow Spotted Amazon turtles. From what I have heard the insurance claim has been in courts for years, although im dubious they are very motivated to replace it any time soon.

I dont know what is going on with the leadership, but its been nothing but bad decisions and a downwards trajectory for the past decade. The main development was the Banyan Wilds and IMO it was woefully unimpressive, mostly window dressing on the old bear grottos with one less species, and a generic tiger enclosure... If they cant do the new stuff right it was only a matter of time before they got around to ruining the old stuff done well.
Click to expand...

The decision to move hippos out was due to updated AZA guidelines wasn't it? The space requirement going up or something like that. I agree hippos fit very nicely there, not many places here in the US that I can think of where they are directly viewable with other African hoof stock. Hopefully the big species like elephants, hippo, and rhinos can continue to maintain a solid presence in American zoos while receiving good husbandry and holding to higher exhibit standards.
 
Great Argus said:
The decision to move hippos out was due to updated AZA guidelines wasn't it? The space requirement going up or something like that. I agree hippos fit very nicely there, not many places here in the US that I can think of where they are directly viewable with other African hoof stock. Hopefully the big species like elephants, hippo, and rhinos can continue to maintain a solid presence in American zoos while receiving good husbandry and holding to higher exhibit standards.
Click to expand...

I can think of a number of new hippo exhibits which are significantly smaller so that cant be it... Dallas for one has a tiny land area, less than half the size and its a brand new "state of the art" complex. From what I read part of the reason was the amount of water needed to drain the pool multiple times a week, although why thats a problem in the pacific northwest is beyond me, its not like we are a drought region.
 
I may get some hate here but I don’t care. All I see is the zoo choosing animal welfare and sustainability over keeping up with maintenance with an exhibit that clearly is not appropriate for the future of the species in captivity. I applaud Woodland Park Zoo for making the tough decision to send away a big guest attracting species in order to maintain their mission as a sustainable facility that cares about their animals.
 
Echobeast said:
I may get some hate here but I don’t care. All I see is the zoo choosing animal welfare and sustainability over keeping up with maintenance with an exhibit that clearly is not appropriate for the future of the species in captivity. I applaud Woodland Park Zoo for making the tough decision to send away a big guest attracting species in order to maintain their mission as a sustainable facility that cares about their animals.
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Going against the grain of zombified zoonerds, good job, while I may not agree with you, simply put, the exhibit could always be expanded and revamped to fit the needs of the animals inside.
 
Ebirah766 said:
Going against the grain of zombified zoonerds, good job, while I may not agree with you, simply put, the exhibit could always be expanded and revamped to fit the needs of the animals inside.
Click to expand...
I mean it could, but without knowing the ins and outs of Woodland Park’s finances and future goals, we can only speculate. The back areas may be unsuitable for hippos anymore and renovations just wouldn’t be financially viable. Plus, exhibit expansions and renovations are rarely that simple and unforeseen issues come up all the time (cough.. Cheyenne Mountain). These decisions are often extremely tough for zoos to make. I’m absolutely certain that the staff thought of renovating and expanding before ultimately deciding that what was best for the animals was for them to be sent away.
 
Agreed. The same thing occurred when the zoo decided to move away its Asian Elephants in favor of Indian Rhinoceros. As a slightly smaller species, the confines of the exhibit provided more space for them and I think supports the zoo’s mission better. Though, it is the first and so far only place I have seen Indian Rhinoceros so I may be biased. :p
 
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