The vast majority of animals have "colonial names" rather than "indigenous names". What do you suggest when an animal has a range which encompasses multiple languages - surely it wouldn't be right to just choose one of them because that would be disrespecting the speakers of those other "indigenous languages"? Or would you just use all of them equally? What about species which don't have "indigenous names" to start with?
@Chlidonias It’s not all names, and I’ll use gazelles and giraffes as an example. There is nothing wrong with Red-Fronted, Goitered, Masai or Reticulated, but you can run into issues with names like Cuvier’s, Soemmerring’s, Rothschild’s, and Speke’s. More specifically, it is when we have named the animal after a European who did not actually “discover” the animal, but rather massacred a herd in the name of science, and who typically was extremely racist and violent towards to the local people. Just wanted to shed light on a mini-movement that will unfold slowly over the coming decades as we learn more and more.
I've heard there's a movement in North America about whether to change the names of various bird species which are named after European scientists and other people of questionable beliefs.
The greenhouse is such a great update. Really makes it seem like you are suppose to be there and not wondered into a backstage area, also draws guests to the Wildlife Health Centre which is always good. The entrance is a big change, tons of new land prepped and ground moved. Looks like the are going to the side where the zoomobilie station is set up first and then likely move people in through there while they work on the new buildings. Interesting about the Capybaras. I wonder if they are keeping them separate, or perhaps the usual habitat is just not quite ready for the season? Also love that the snow leopards are together, twice the chance to get a good view!
Not sure. When I was there there was only one in the pen that I could see. It literally sat there in the middle not moving, like a statue lol. Got an answer from the zoo on the Przewalski name thing (holy cow that was fast...and on a Sunday!!): Makes sense, what he's saying. Would be nice though if it was a universal change across the world vs. various zoos and sources deciding to change it to different variations. On the renaming topic as a whole, I do know of one horse breed that has gone through a recent more correct/reconciliatory name change...the Lac La Croix Indian Pony is now known as the Ojibwe Pony. I can see why renaming is important going forward, just would love it if it was more of a universal thing.
Yes, those are eponymous names - there is a whole thread about it elsewhere on the forum. However the original post in this thread was saying that "colonial names" should be changed to "indigenous names" which isn't the same thing at all. The follow-up post made it clear that they were actually talking about eponymous names.
Red-bellied Piranhas appear to have been phased out in the Americas. After a rather long stint of "habitat upgrades", the tank is now occupied by a handful of Butterfly Goodeids in preparation for the arrival of Marojejy Rainbowfish. The only species I can find with that name is Bedotia marojejy, an Madagascan endemic, so I'm curious to see why they would put them in the Americas. Also, not sure how new this is but the wood bison have a large shade structure near the viewing fence, and Weston pond has been outfitted with some wonderful new signage.
I managed to sit in on the Board Meeting today, although I did miss a lot because of working simultaneously. I overheard a few neat things: The zoo is finalizing in choosing a company to design the Savana Pavilion, also known as the African Savanna Indoor Viewing and Holding. They hope to make a decision within the next few weeks. The design process should take about 1 year, and then construction should take 2 years. Of course, those are estimated times, so who knows what the actual timeline will look like. The Steller's Sea Eagles have laid eggs, so staff will keep an eye on that. The hatch date is estimated to be in April. There were talks of a cat being added to the Domain. But I missed what species the cat is, which exhibit it will be held in. Hopefully, someone else can shed light on that. Lastly, there was a presentation about the 50-year anniversary, which I mostly missed. But there was mention of Charles (Gorilla) getting a statue in his honour. I missed in what capacity this statue would be. If anyone can provide more details on my limited tidbits, or remember anything else that was note worthy, please share. It seemed like a more interesting meeting than usual.
Was also told on my last visit on Tuesday that the Sea Eagles have laid eggs so fingers crossed. Also Matilba the female Southern hairy-nosed wombat was in for an xray, ultrasound and blood test on Tuesday. The reason for the checkup was because they had found a stillborn Joey in the wombat habitat. A very small and underdeveloped one, but the staff were actually very positive about it because so far they haven’t shown and progress on breeding. When they had her in for the ultrasound they were doing a lot of looking I believe to see if there was another Joey in there. They all looked quite happy while doing the work so fingers crossed for the wombats too!!
@Kalvin Losing the piranhas is unfortunate but not unexpected, they've been absent for about 2 or 3 years now. It's a bit of a surprise that they never got refreshed considering they're pretty easy to acquire from what I understand, a lot of exotic fish stores have them. Not a fan of Madagascar fish coming to Americas but having critically endangered butterfly goodeids is nice. It's strange they're adding new guest stuff like signage and shade to the Domain with this as this is likely it's last year. @cypher Hopefully the Savanna Pavilion will make the 2027 date we heard a while back, this sounds like they're on track to meet that. The TZ team has been making great time on the new projects as of late and the exceptions have been due to stuff out of their control, so I'm confident in them. The sea eagles having eggs is huge, this year marks 10 years since their arrival so it'd be extra fun if this is the year we finally get successful chicks. Fingers crossed all goes well Again with the new stuff going in the Domain talk. Weird. The only cats I can imagine for the Domain are either bringing back the Canada lynxes or bringing back the cougars. Cougars would be easy, they can just move turkey vulture Ted back to his home in the Kids Zoo like they were always going to and their exhibit is free again. I suppose they could also fix up the old raccoon exhibit and move Macro and Micro back in there if they wanted lynxes back. I just don't know why they'd wanna add a new species to the Domain right now unless they have a plan for it for afterwards or we're wrong about the cutoff date for the disability requirements. A Charles statue for the 50th is a must, I think we can all agree on that @Rev705 Oh wow that's big news from the wombats. Hearing last year that the keepers haven't given up hope yet gave me a confidence boost, and now knowing that they've actually bred, albeit unsuccessfully, makes their future look even brighter. I'll still believe it when I see it but I'm glad progress is being made.
I don't think so, as nomenclature in taxonomy is pretty fixed. Suggesting otherwise and renaming and moving away from standards set at the outset of taxonomics and cladistics creates a political dimension to science that I frankly find very disconcerting and unhelpful (unhealthy would be the stronger word).
I wonder if the new animal in the Domain was a situation of another institution needing to place the animal and Toronto having space, less than Toronto seeking out the animal. It is very possible the animals for the domain will remain down there for a few years while the new domain is getting worked on. Although honestly, I think there will be a few years where we don't have a Canadian Domain, as I expect it will be after the Savannah Pavilion. That being said it is quite exciting to see stuff moving with the Savannah Pavilion. It seems like they are planning to start it ideally right once the entrance is down. I am loving how there is always a big project going on at one time. Sad but exciting about the wombats, and fingers crossed re: the eagles. I am quite curious to see if there is any chance of snow leopard cubs this summer. Would be nice to have a few more babies to join the party than just the White Rhino Kafiru I also took a recent peruse of the business opportunity section of the website, again the plans that use to be available are behind a paywall. But I have highlighted a few titles here for people's interest: CONSTRUCT SHADE STRUCTURES FOR AFRICA SAVANNA BABOON, KUDU AND ZEBRA EXHIBITS PROJECT DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION FOR ACCESSIBLE GUEST PATHWAYS AT THE HYENA AND JAGUAR HABITATS PROJECT DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION FOR THE AFRICA VILLAGE PROJECT The one that stands out is the Africa Village project. I am not quite sure what this in reference to as I don't recall anything like this in the Masterplan. Regardless lots of construction going on, and it is so good to see a mix of large, medium and small projects all at once.
Good find! @snowleopard The most interesting part with regards to the animal collection was Dolf stating the need to get to 200 total species, with a current estimate of 283. It’s incredible to think that just 10 years ago the zoo was home to nearly 500 species including domestics. The animals that will be a part of the zoos collection moving forward will greatly benefit from the increased space, attention and care. Looking forward to August when they reveal the next phase of plans!
200 eh? That is quite the cut back. While I hope it means they can provide better exhibits and better care for the animals they have, I do worry about the concentration of the animals. The zoo is already so large and spread out that sometimes you can walk for 10 minutes without seeing any animals which can be hard on families with small kids. What are they revealing in August?
@Jefferson They will unveil the next Strategic Plan on the zoos 50th birthday. I believe it will cover 2025-2030. Highlights could include the Jaguar Exhibit, the Savanna Pavilion, the new Entrance, the Red Panda exhibit, and perhaps any carry over from the Tiger expansions. Curious to see if they’ve shifted timelines on anything else, or thought of anything new.
Thanks for clarifying that. Yes it will be exciting to see what is next. We know the Savannah pavilion and red panda have both had tenders go out. I haven't seen any formal announcement around the jaguar except a tender around th epathings, but that would be a great area to use a revamp! Would love to see a breeding pair!
From Dolf's story, this is in the Africa pavilion. We can see the penguin house. In the bottom FX there is the rhino hoof stock. I do not know what is M.P., and BQA? P/B+K(?) FX? Can someone tell me the definition of these words? They also added a new emergency phone in maybe the Gorilla place(see Toronto zoo discussion thread) Edit: I do not know why it doesn't show the image. I can see the image during edit. Link here: New intercom system in gorilla place Toronto zoo Africa pavilion map new
Keep cutting down the species to 200....Well, my dream of watching Okapi and Fossa in Toronto Zoo is gone
This seemingly arbitrary number of 200 species is a little confusing to me. How did they come up with this being the magic number of species they want to house, instead of, say, any other number? Obviously, resources and space won't necessitate a specific number of species- as the amount needed for polar bears is by default vastly different than for Panamanian golden frogs, and the zoo keeps both. I don't find downsizing collections to always be an inherent bad thing (and there's actually an entire rationale in animal welfare of reducing the number of animals used to the fewest possible), however publishing a goal of "reducing the number of species to 200" sounds weird compared to "ensuring we have the resources to properly give each animal in our collection the best life possible". The second one may still result in a collection downsizing, but it is for a greater purpose and requires more careful justification of which animals to phase in or out. Hopefully most of the future losses come from inside the pavilions- both the Indo-Malaya and African Rainforest pavilions are complete disasters to navigate, so re-working them to include fewer exhibits in a more streamlined path would be something I consider a positive change.
