Took a trip to Cleveland today because of the weather being nice (and spring break). Not too much was new: V the Black Bear and Pacha the Andean Bear were no shows. A door was left open and I was able to see the former shark area in PC&A has been gutted. I'm sure this happened long ago, but it was still cool to see. The feed yard was open in the Australian Outback. It was closed last week when I went.
I’m started to get very worried about V the American Black Bear. No sightings of her the whole year! Does anyone know how old she is?
I was planning on asking an employee about her, but I only remembered after I had left the zoo. I'll be sure to ask next time I go.
On a side note about older animals, Onion the Seal and Sombra the Snow Leopard were both out today. They have both been hit or miss recently
Good news, V is apparently alive. My friend was at the zoo today before it rained and says he saw her. Of course, he could have seen the Andean and/or Sloth bears. I'll still ask about her next time I'm at the zoo.
I apologize if this is "old news" or pretty well known but I've been unable to really be on this for awhile. Do we have a timeline for the Rainforest renovation and expansion?
They've already removed the recycling plant next to The RainForest for a new parking area. I was told by an employee that they could begin road rerouting for the entrance this fall (Probably after the busy summer season), as a new road will go behind the RF. Groundbreaking on the orangs/gorillas and any closure of the building will probably be 2025+.
From Facebook - The RainForest will be closed tommorow March 19th for utility work. It will reopen on Wednesday the 20th
Most likely just over thinking but I've never seen them respond to a question about Primate Forest like this. Makes me wonder if somethings on the way
The Zoo had a trading card giveaway yesterday (3/20) so we went. We got an extra Red Panda card for showing up in the snow lol, I love how they've embraced their giveaway system. We got to see one of the Mexican Wolves in the surgery center having a checkup! One of the volunteers agreed about the secrecy of the schedule. One of the wolves has been limping so they were performing a checkup, but the wolf was immediately taken back to the wilderness trek. The elephants were also getting baths so it was kind of a busy, albeit cold day. We also learned that the CMZ adopted a female tree Kangaroo in January, but she hasn't made an appearance yet in the exhibit. The volunteer wasn't sure if they were looking to breed. For something entirely different... my partner and I took a walk through Australia and while the area is beautiful and peaceful, it just feels forgotten. I suspect that major changes will come in my lifetime, whether that be the area completely renovated or turned into something else. Calling back to an earlier thread, it really is a product of a time and place where zoos focused more on education and hands-on experiences. There's the theater and the house, which call for a very unique type of labor. I just don't know what the zoo can realistically do about an interactive experience in the era of record profits yet shrinking labor. Personally, I'd love to see the area staffed from March until July (the Asian Lantern Festival-ish?) specifically for the purpose of school field trips and day trips with children. You'd need to spin up an entire department though, from costuming to script-writing to rehearsal, and there's just no way to do that with the cutthroat budgets of 2024 stockholder etiquette.
I think Australia's time for either a heavy refurbishment or complete replacement is coming. Whenever I walk through it, the kangaroos and wallabys are still a delight, but after them, I get the vibe the land's just existing. Kind of forgotten. The only part of Australia past the Kangaroo walkaround that seems like they care about it is the petting farm. The Yagga Tree has been open but the condition its in is less than great. Wooly Bill barely functions, the props are visibly grimy, and the upper level has been closed for years now. The BBQ place has been closed for years. the maze just takes up space, even on busy days it sits empty. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said its a product of its time. I still walk through it every time I'm at the zoo, and I can see its age more and more every year (Maybe that's a me thing though, since I'm only 2 months older than Australian Adventure). On a side note, the nice thing about AA being empty is you can really look for details. I spotted this nice stained glass piece above the entrance of the Homestead last time:
According to Fox 8 News the zoo will be receiving Jameela an almost 2 month old Western Lowland Gorilla. Many attempts have been made for Fort Worth’s gorillas to adopt her but none were successful. The news said that they would be coming in a few weeks.
Third baby gorilla in what, two years? At what point do they start moving out Gorillas since Kayambe, Nuna and now Jameela will all take up quite a bit of space in PC&A.
I would surprised if they break up the troop, but I have feeling this will urge the zoo to start construction on Primate Forest faster! Another big question is who will adopt her? Kebi is busy with Kunda, Freddy should still be busy with Kayembe, Nneka didn’t want to raise Kayembe, and that would leave Tusa as the only option in my eyes? -The baby is 11 weeks old Article explaining more about the transfer and situation:Cleveland Zoo to foster baby gorilla, hoping for bond
Should be very interesting how Kayembe reacts to being yet another big brother. On my last visit an employee was talking about how he keeps trying to play with Kunda but Kebi has to keep them seperated.
The Cleveland Zoological Society's website has what seem to be new renders of Primate Forest. There are some noticeable differences, such as the dome on top of the atrium, paths, and details inside. First render, showing the exterior. Top is new, bottom is old. Second render, showing the interior. Top is new, bottom is old.
Went to Cleveland today. Lots of updates: V the American Black Bear was out for the first time in a while. The Zoo employee I talked to briefly about her said she's usually out right at open and close. Onion the Harbor Seal was out. Swan Boats are being staged in the old Rhino parking lot. Don't remember of they had them previous summers. Peered into the Homestead window. Clancy and Digby (the animatronic Koala and Kookaburra) are gone. The living room area is now full of desks and storage stuff. Jameela the infant Gorilla was being introduced to Keyambe and Freddy through the mesh in the back of the Gorilla exhibit. The docent at PC&A says there's no plans to move any Gorillas right now since Kay, Kunda and Jameela are all still young, but that might change in the future. Only saw three Elephants. Even inside there was no sign of the other one. V:
