Wild Asia Bronx Zoo » Bronx Zoo

13-09-2008

The time of day is a huge factor if you want to get a good look at the animal and see it active. At the San Diego Wild Animal Park you shoud ride the Journey into Africa in the morning. Also, since the WAP just had a baby Black Rhino, this is the time to see the baby active. Plus, at this time there is less people. I suggest if you are going to a zoo with a tram/monorail to ride that tram/monorail first thing in the morning. If an animal is active, chances are the guides will spend more take more time when passing an exhibit.

30-11-2008

[quote=reduakari;48514] Of course I am always amazed/impressed when visiting European zoos in the winter to see many animals, including elephants, given access to the outdoors with snow on the ground, which is never done in US zoos.





I have seen zoos in the US give access to the outdoors to the elephants in the winter. At the Cleveland Zoo they use to do this all the time and the one elephant, Moshi, loved snow! She would love to roll around and play in it. For those of you who think elephants cannot handle cold they are pretty adaptable. They can go outside as long as the temperature remains above 30 degrees fahrenheit. Also in Africa it can get very cold in the night. In most zoos the elephants go out once a day even in the cold. They just don't go out for that long. it's not like they are locked in the indoor houses for weeks on end.

30-11-2008

Hogle Zoo has an area of the outdoor yard that is heated that they go out in during the winter.

30-11-2008

Most US zoos allow elephants out in colder temperatures, even if there is snow. The general cutoff is 25 degrees or higher with no ice. I've seen Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo, and Indianapolis elephants out in colder conditions, two with snow.

Also, in the wild some Asian elephants in southern China and northern India experience snow and cold weather conditions.

10-12-2008

I used to work at the Bronx Zoo in the Wild Asia Monorail just last year and I agree that the tour guide really makes the ride. If you have a bad tour guide, your twenty minutes on the ride will seem like a hellish eternity, but a good tour guide will make it very enjoyable. As far as the speed of the ride was concerned, there were certain exhibits where we had to go faster than others. For example, we were prohibited from stopping at the elephant exhibit or going too slow because they hated the trains and I witnessed several times where they would come charging towards us and some people don't understand that we do want them to see the animals but we would much rather get them out of an exhibit than get charged by a 10000 pound elephant. In the exhibit with the gaur and the brow-antlered deer it's hard to see them towards the end of the day because they go towards the back of the exhibit because that's where the entrance gates were that led them back inside. Most animals did this, they would go to where the gates were near closing time because they knew it was time to go. The horses for example would be all over the exhibit in the morning but by 4:30 they'd be in the very beginning because that's where they would go in through. If you want a really good look at the animals, go earlier than two.

11-12-2008

Interesting! I never knew that the elephants hated the train! That explains a lot.

Any other fun monorail tidbits to share?

I guess I've also never really had any complaints about the exhibit because I've always taken the first one out heh.

28-01-2009

Can anyone tell me what species there are to be seen on the Wild Asia monorail ride?

28-01-2009

Asian elephants, Indian rhinos, Indo-Chinese tigers, gaur, Przewalski's wild horses, red pandas and a variety of deer and antelope. Chital, barasingha and others are in large paddocks in this 38 acre section of the Bronx Zoo. Sadly in the winter it is off limits to visitors, as can be the gorillas in the famous Congo Gorilla Forest. The zoo still has loads of pavilions containing all sorts of animals.

28-01-2009

And I am sure winter is the best time to see the winter loving Snow Leopards playing in the snow in the #1 snow leopard habitat in the country.

28-01-2009

It was the variety of deer and antelope I was hoping to find specifics on...

28-01-2009

On my last visit a few years ago, the species were as follows:

Open paddock: Blackbuck, chital, barasingha
Forest paddock 1: Formosan sika
Forest paddock 2: Gaur, Eld's deer
(Tigers, babirusa, elephants, Indian rhinos)
End paddock: Sambar
Then individual enclosures for tufted deer, Himalayan tahr, and red pandas.

Since then, the collection has changed - hog deer and nilgai have been added (I presume they are in Wild Asia)

28-01-2009

I believe Asian Wild Horses have replaced the Formosan Sikas in the second exhibit.

A few years ago there were also babirusa in a small exhibit near the elephants--don't know if they are still there

28-01-2009

Awesome thanks! I'm impressed the species mixes are even close to geographically accurate (at least within the same country, blackbuck and barasingha certainly don't live in the same part of India)

28-01-2009

Yes, the last time I was on the ride in October the Wild Horses were on the monorail (instead of their old exhibit space by aquatic birds) and the formosan sika deer are now in that exhibit space back by the aquatic birds.

Babirusa was there last summer (I think) but I can't remember this past year.