The Rainforest of the Americas site plan

Legend:
1 - River\'s Edge Entry Plaza
2 - Stilt House & Aquaria
3 - Harpy Eagle
4 - Giant River Otter
5 - Bamboo Thicket
6 - Baird\'s Tapir and Cotton-top Tamarin
7 - Village Plaza
8 - Agouti, Curassow and Howler Monkey
9 - Uakari
10 - Oropendola
11 - Support Facilities/Holding
12 - Strangler Fig
13 - Toucan
14 - Rainforest Harvesting
15 - Rainforest Marketplace

I'm really excited to see that there will be a Red-Uakari exhibit, but with them being old, I wonder what will replace them when they pass. Also, since a lot of the animals from the current South America section will be moving to RofA, it will be a double win since we will probably be getting new South American species to replace the ones that move.

I was expecting a new habitat for the Crested Capuchins. I would have also thought there would be a habitat area for Black Caiman, since they had been mentioned in the past. And maybe Tamandua, Spider Monkeys, Sloths, Macaws, and several more species of Tamarin and birds to give it a fuller rain forest effect. But overall, still very promising.

Maybe the caiman will be in one of the aquaria mentioned on the map?

I wonder if some of these other species that you mention will get expanded or new homes in a renovation of the old South America section? Given the zoo's history and success with tamarins having a large tamarin zone would make a lot of sense.

I was thinking the same thing about the Caiman maybe being inside the aquaria building.

Also, regarding the tamarins, the zoo still plans to hopefully have free ranging Golden Lion Tamarins once all the major construction projects are done. As to where that might be, I have no idea. The zoo is also finishing up on some enclosures to expand the tamarin breeding program. These cages are being built on both sides of the Koala house, but unfortunately they will be off-exhibit so they won't be visible to public.

I hope they don't put a black caiman in that aquaria building. Adults average about 9 feet and get much bigger than American Alligators.

Crocodilian Species - Black Caiman (Melanosucus niger)

This site plan is a bit disappointing, given the vertical terrain and the zoo's long history with Neotropical species. I was hoping there would be a large aviary and multi-level walkways (similar to San Diego's Monkey Trails, etc.). Its a shame construction costs are so expensive in LA.

If the site plan is accurate, the uakari enclosure is set quite far back from the visitor pathway. I guess this is in response to the high-strung nature of these awesome monkeys, but it may be a little strange when they are (inevitably) replaced by a more common species.

Also, I note that the graphic scale shown on the drawing is way off--if it wasn't then the pathways would be no more than about one foot wide, and the giant otter enclosure would be about 8 feet in width! Sloppy work by someone.....

As I noted a few years ago--the red uakari exhibit is--frankly--ridiculous.

So the jaguar exhibit will be where the path is at the moment leading to nowhere at the left. (between numbers 14 and 13)

The area above 14 is where the jaguar exhibit is going to go apparently, yes. From construction documents released by the zoo it looks like they want to get it built by summer 2015.