Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens Los Angeles Zoo News 2024

Some really great news today:

The Los Angeles Zoo welcomes its first FIVE California condor chicks of the 2024 breeding season. The first egg was laid at the Zoo at the beginning of January, marking an early start to the season. Since then, more have been laid for a total of 16 eggs so far this year. The first hatchling arrived March 1 and four more have already hatched in the past two weeks.

 

April animal transactions: https://lazoo.org/wp-content/upload...sion-Animal-Transaction-Report-April-2024.pdf

 

According to a zookeeper I talked with this week, the Cape Vulture Aviary should open in early May. She said most of the exhibit is completed, but work is still being done on the visitor viewing area.

 

Piece of January 2024 News Not Mentioned:

On January 31st, it was reported that the zoo transferred a (1.0) Von der Decken's hornbill named Jake to the North Carolina Zoo in North Carolina.

NC Zoo | Desert Dome Welcomes Pair of Rare African Birds

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Also on April 11th, the zoo announced that a (0.0.1) spotted thick-knee hatched which is now on exhibit adjacent to the zebras.

Fluffy Adorable Chick | Chick Alert! An adorable, spotted thick-knee chick recently hatched at the Zoo. Guests can spot the fuzzball with its parents across from the zebras.... | By Los Angeles ZooFacebook

 

Good news regarding the vultures. Was this culture aviary part of the master plan?

 

The new Cape vulture aviary is not part of the master plan as far as I know. According to the September 2023 newsletter by GLAZA (Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association), the exhibit was funded through a private foundation and a state grant: Zoo Update from GLAZA President Tom Jacobson - September 2023 - Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens
The new aviary is a refurbishment of one of the zoo's long-vacant exhibits. In my opinion, this kind of project is exactly what the zoo should be doing instead of going forward with the master plan. The zoo has many empty exhibits throughout the grounds and the cost to redesign and fill these would be much less than the types of projects proposed in the master plan. They could also be completed much faster with a more immediate benefit to zoo visitors.

 

From my Volunteer Visit, during Party for the Planet

Shade Structures have been added and completed in the Cambodia Yard in Elephants of Asia and in the First of the Three Yards for the Indian Rhinoceros.

The Kids Korner Building in the Children's Zoo is now Project Pollinator HQ.

 

Here are some noteworthy items from my visits to the zoo this month:

Children's Zoo Cave

• Instead of bat sounds being played over the speakers, there is now more soothing New Age meditation-style music.
  
• One of the larger empty exhibits now has an LED screen with images of nocturnal animals.
• There is no longer green lighting over the cave formations.

These changes have made going into the caves less "creepy" and more relaxing.

Children's Zoo

• Muriel's Ranch is no longer a petting zoo, but animals are on view until 2:30 PM.
• The yard next to the nursery exhibits the male gerenuk in the morning and the Vietnamese pot-bellied pig in the afternoon.
• The African pygmy falcons have been off-exhibit since at least January and were not back yet as of April 10. It was 84 degrees the day I visited, but the sign said they wouldn't be back until spring due to the cold weather -- very strange! I don't know if they have returned since I was there two weeks ago.

Rainforest of the Americas

• A school of striped leporinus fish has been added to the aquarium. This was announced in the zoo's April newsletter, but there was no signage at the exhibit.
• A male white-faced saki is visible in the enclosure up the hill behind the black howler monkeys. There is no signage for this exhibit.
• The fringed leaf frog terrarium is still "temporarily closed," but I haven't seen the frog for two years!

South America

• The ocelot kitten is now almost as big as its mother and they are hard to tell apart!
• The female blue-billed curassow is by herself now as the male passed away last fall.
• The squirrel monkey exhibit is still marked "temporarily closed" although it's been like that for a very long time and the monkey has been removed from the zoo's website animal list.

Other

• The flamingo signage has never been put back since changes were made to the fencing -- there is now an extra barrier so the birds can't get right up to the fence.