Columbus Zoo and Aquarium Columbus Zoo News - 2014

Unfortunately, both female polar bears were not pregnant. The two females are back on exhibit, and Nanuq the male will be back on display soon too.

Pregnancy hopes dashed for polar bears at Columbus Zoo | The Columbus Dispatch

 

Zoo seeks permanent levy to allow long-term planning | The Columbus Dispatch

 

Three interesting things from this article would be found in the list of future projects.

1.Tripling the size of the upcoming African Savannah.From day 1 it was said there would be several phases but in recent months it seemed that might no longer be the case.Hippos,Rhinos and African Elephants have been mentioned.

2.Master Plan exhibits for a South American Zone and a Madagascar Zone are not being mentioned anymore perhaps because they'll be incorporated in the Downtown Scioto River Rainforest facility.

3.No mention of Gorilla renovations.

Team Tapir223

 

Rainforest, you say?
I wasn't aware that there was even a hint of a plan for this proposed facility

 

It has been previously said that Columbus planned on modeling the facility after Dallas World Aquarium and Omaha's Lied Jungle both of which are Rain Forest themed.Could this approach change ? well absolutely but it certainly makes sense that they go that route.

Team Tapir223

 

With African Safari being seasonal, I wonder if the Lion exhibit can still be viewed as they are cold-tolerant?

 

More information on the proposed levy:

Zoo's permanent tax would allow downtown expansion | ThisWeek Community News

 

Female gorilla Pongi passed away.

Gorilla mom, veteran zoo resident, dies at 49 | The Columbus Dispatch

 

The zoo's webpage for the new Safari Africa exhibit will open on Valentines Day:
Home

 

When I saw the headline for this I thought- oh, Colo's finally died... but no. Pongi was several years younger than Colo too.

 

Looks like the name of the new region has been officially changed from "Safari Africa" to just plain "Africa".

 

What makes you think that?

 

They changed the name on the concept art, all the social media channels refer to it as simply Africa, and the new website is Home.

 

I see on the zoo's FB page there are now regular posts that do show it as "Africa."
How 'bout that

 

Nevermind. The official name is now "Heart of Africa" (which I personally like better than Africa or Safari Africa) and was changed to differentiate it from the Wilds. There are some new pictures in that Columbus Dispatch article I just linked to. They've built some pretty big mounds of dirt to hide the houses in the neighborhood behind the area.

 

The webpage for Heart of Africa is up and running now. The animal page isn't complete yet as the zoo's Facebook page is running a once-a-week guessing contest in which a new species will be revealed every Wednesday.

Heart of Africa: Home

 

The money ($100 000) the zoo raised in an effort to rescue a giraffe (which wont be needed thankfully) will be kept by the zoo and put into its Animals in Crisis fund. The fund has been used in the past to care for animals the zoo has rescued.

Columbus Zoo to keep cash raised after giraffe?s killing to save other animals | The Columbus Dispatch

 

New giraffes in New Giraffe Barn

 

The temperature was over fifty degrees today so I visited the zoo for the first time since October. The biggest surprise was they moved the reindeer again (at least the third time)! The move wasn't far, just across the path. The moose have taken over the old reindeer enclosure which makes perfect sense. There is a new path (not open yet) going around the new reindeer exhibit back towards the entrance of Heart of Africa.

The structure for the entrance into Heart of Africa is up and clearly visible. Looks like there will be two paths encircling the reindeer that lead to the entrance of the new region. I posted a few pics in the gallery.

Crossing the railroads tracks into Polar Frontier, immediately on the right, is a station for the new tram transportation system. I’m not sure where or how many other stations there will be. My guess is one by the entrance. Any other ideas?

 

Thank you for the update, Amnesiac!

Well, given the fact that the now former reindeer enclosure was built as a holding yard for the bull moose during rut, this is not much of a surprise. Their adult bull did pass away several years back now, but they did take on three or so new orphans around the same time so it makes sense that they would need the additional space for the moose. From the looks of your photograph, it'll be much easier to actually see the reindeer as well. The size and strength of the fencing needed to hold a rutting bull moose made it quite hard to see the much smaller reindeer.

As far as the tram goes, I have only heard of it running between the entrance and Heart of Africa; however, if you are going to run a tram system within a park as large as the Columbus Zoo, it would only make sense to have a station somewhere beyond the bridge as those will be the three most distant parts of the park.