Fort Wayne Children's Zoo Fort Wayne Children's Zoo

I checked out this zoo's website. They have a nice little collection for a "children's" zoo. Interesting species listed are Komodos, echidnas, spotted hyenas, Sumatran tigers, orangs and dingos. Their new African Journey looks fairly extensive with leopards, multiple monkey species, giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, mongooses, vultures and honey badgers. I may check it out. Any ZooChatters with experience here? I was thinking maybe Mr. Nyhuis as he's a Hoosier.

 

ZooChat member "rookeyper" is an actual keeper at the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo, and she is a wealth of information. The new African zone sounds impressive from what I've heard, and the Aussie section is arguably the best of any North American zoo.

 

I'm going Tuesday morning.

 

I haven't seen their new African Journey yet (maybe later this summer), but my coauthor Jon has been there recently. Hopefully he'll soon have a review and some pictures at both his website (America’s Zoo Scoop) and on our book's website (America's Best Zoos - America's Best Zoos).

 

I heard it is not just for children. It is a good zoo in its own right.

 

You're right! It's absolutely "not just for children". We included it in our book with a full review because it's clearly one of America's 60 best zoos! We rated its Australian section as the #1 best overall exhibit of animals and habitats from that continent in any US zoo. Its Indonesian rain forest building is also an excellent indoor jungle exhibit, and its new African section looks very promising.

 

Sorry I didn't see this earlier--I've been on vacation. Groundskeeper--hope you had a good visit! We are absolutely not just for children. We retain that name because we believe that all zoos are for children--children of all ages. The African Journey is wonderful and has one more resident--a baby sitatunga was just born overnight! Quite a shock to the keepers who didn't even know she was pregnant. This individual is rather a loner and stays far away from keepers.
I'd invite all of you to come check us out. Let me know ahead of time and I'll try to show you around! I'm also glad to answer any questions anyone has.

 

...and please take pictures. I've been dying to see more from this zoo, and pictures seem to be hard to come by.

 

I've taken some and will try to get some posted in the next day or so.

 

You work at a fantastic zoo, Rookeyper. I had a blast there today. It seems that you can get close to more animals than most zoos. The lions, hyenas and honey badgers were all sleeping against the glass, making for some nice pics. The giraffes and ostriches were close enough to touch (or bite, as the ostrich was angling to do). The African Journey is wonderful. No eles or rhinos, but you hardly notice walking through this set of displays. The Kopje was my favorite part of the zoo. The gardens at the entrance were also very well done. Saw the little sitatunga, too.

I am generally not too pleased with sea lion pools at most zoos, but the one at FWCZ was quite large, mostly occupied by the pool. Very nice enclosure. The Asian Rainforest didn't disappoint either. The only question I'd have is: why is the bottom of the orangutan valley flooded? Is this normal or a problem? Just a little odd. The apes did not seem to mind, as there were climbing structures everywhere in the spacious exhibit. The tiger cage was a big one, too. It was on a nice wooded hillside and even had the requisite zoo waterfall. Even though they were not much more than mesh and wire, the outdoor treetops cages seemed very well done. They all had plenty of room and enrichment, and the presentation to the visitor was from an elevated boardwalk, which enhanced the "forest" feel. The binturongs, gibbons and siamangs seemed comfortable in them. Compared to Knoxville's recycled corn silo cages, they were a major upgrade.

The Aussie exhibits are quite impressive as well. I was pleased to see the echidna in the nocturnal building. The use of wire in the place of glass for the fruit bat enclosure made the seem like they were in the room with you. The reef was nothing too special, but I suppose sharks are a good draw for kids. The walk-through aviary was a treat. I'm a fan of kookaburras, and they had a nice center-stage aviary. You don't see a lot of dingos in the US, but I was glad to see one here. Overall it was a top-notch Australian set of displays, but I'd still put C-bus ahead of FWCS only for the fact that they have koalas and kiwis. The roadhouse is tough to beat at that zoo. FWCS has nothing to be ashamed of though. It's a zoo full of pleasant surprises and enclosures that won't leave you feeling sorry for the animals. Definitely a diamond in the rough.

 

Thanks for the kind words groundskeeper! I've finally posted some pictures from the zoo. I'll try to take some more as time permits.

 

I just posted a few more pictures, sea lion pool, alligator yard, and more from Africa.

 

I am bbaaaccckkk! Missed being part of the conversation
I really want to visit this zoo espically for the sitatunga and other really cool animals too. Sitatunga had a baby that is even better

 

The zoo is to receive a 7 year old female moloch gibbon called Dieng from the Belfast zoo at the end of the year to be paired up with an unrelated male.

Belfast Zoo. News and events. Latest news.

 

Looks like the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo has some new dingo pups!

Feisty Dingo Puppies Make Their Debut - ZooBorns

 

Our dingo pups are doing quite well and are on the way to becoming model dingo citizens. I just returned from Australia where I spent several days at the Dingo Discovery Centre learning a lot about dingoes. What fantastic creatures they are!
Our Javan gibbons have both arrived and are in quarantine. I've only seen pictures but they look pretty cool as well.

 

Rookeyper,
I've always been intrigued by dingoes. They are, aren't they, genetically the same species as domestic dogs, right? How different are they? Can they be domesticated? In Australia, are wild dingoes dangerous to humans? Do you know, how many US zoos exhibit dingoes?

 

Dingoes are much closer to wolves than most dog breeds. A new paper has just come out that explains the connections. Dingo found to be one of the world's oldest dog breeds - Times Online Dingoes are rather wary of humans. There have been some interactions on Fraser Island with humans feeding the animals though it is expressly prohibited. They can be tamed but not domesticated--the wild streak always remains. They have a strong prey drive and will hunt whenever given the chance. There are 5 US zoos that exhibit dingoes--Brevard, Columbus, Dreher Park, Naples, and Fort Wayne. We have the only breeding pair at this time.

 

One of the gibbons came from Belfast, where did the other gibbon come from?

 

From what I know of the breed (I too find them fascinating and have done some research on them), you can domesticate them somewhat, although I believe they don't make great indoors dogs.

As for "are wild dingoes dangerous to humans", perhaps the most famous case of a dingo attack is the Azaria Chamberlain one:

[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azaria_Chamberlain]Azaria Chamberlain disappearance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

However, I stress that attacks between dingoes/humans are rare AFAIK