The zoo seems to be starting a lot of interactive experience programs. I've seen ads for giraffe, rhino, and Cheetah experiences among others. ~Thylo
They've had the cheetah one for 2 years now. That and the fennec fox one are the only ones that are year round; the reptile and bird ones also are, but the species vary greatly. In the fall/winter they add in penguins, and for late sept/october they do a halloween themed one with "scary" animals - snakes, owls, crows, tarantulas, etc. With the popularity of the show, they're talking about adding some other things in the future, but it's really dependent on scheduling, how they can work keeper availability, etc. There's 2 actual tours, as well. Animal Ambassadors is a 2 hour tour in a cart, then you get to meet 3 ambassador animals. You get a bit of a choice in the animals but no one is guaranteed. This is the only tour where you might meet Jim Breheny. The Wild Discovery Tour also goes around the zoo, and then you get to meet one African animal - so far it's been either a giraffe or rhino each time but they might expand. All of this is from talking with the woman in charge on the experiences. The regular experiences also potentially have the opportunity to meet different animals, especially in colder months - we got to meet the Linnaeus's two-toed sloth because there was a pretty sharp drop in temperature and it was too cold to put her outside.
I like the Bronx zoo's show on Animal Planet. I think its very well done. The only thing that irks me is at the beginning where Jim Breheny says "if you ask a child to draw a picture of a zoo, chances are it will show an animal behind bars". I mean What the Hell that really hasn't been true for like 40 or more years for "real zoos". What time warp did these kids come out of?
It's because of childrens' books depictions of zoos as well as the kinds of parents. Mr. Breheny's talking about a very vocal minority of parents who espouse the message of animal rights to their children.
That’s kind of his point. People of all ages still have the perception that zoos are full of animals in cages. The show was partly made to change that perception.
Fortunately, I have just went there and I can report that the reptile and amphibian house has some new poison dart frogs including the golden dart frog, the most deadly dart frog one of all, in JungleWorld, they hatched Indian gharials, a critically endangered animal. Thats all I have to report for now!
Certainly! There ghariala were hatched at the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust Center, the zoo and the MCBTC had a partnership to be ambassadors for the spieces. (I looked this up, for I did not see much info on the new gharials, and, the gharials may not be new, I just have not been there a lot and have seen many new things.
The zoo received gharial again either at the end of 2016 or beginning of 2017, and their presence has been heavily reported on on this thread and in the zoo's gallery. This is not the same as the zoo hatching gharial, especially as the animals are mid-sized.. The zoo has a good relationship with Madras and has served as an import station for the species, having provided at least LA and San Diego with their animals. ~Thylo
I was kind of excited that gharials might have been locally bred and hatched. The claim was thus a different story.
I don't know how old Bronx's animals are but it seems males mature around 13 years of age and I'm not sure if the zoo's animals are that old yet. It would be fantastic if they managed to breed them, though. ~Thylo
As I wrote above, they arrive in late 2016 or early 2017 as juveniles. The only US zoo to ever breed this species is St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park. ~Thylo
The zoo has brought in several new bison, though I'm not sure from where. Additionally- and more excitingly- the zoo has imported 2.2 Gelada from NaturZoo Rhiene in Germany. This brings the zoo's total number of Gelada to 6.9, including four young (1.3) born at the zoo since 2014. ~Thylo
No those are mixed with the nearby nyala now (last time I was there I saw them chasing the nyala away). I never actually saw them mixed in Baboon Reserve, only Cape Teal around 2011ish. ~Thylo
A good thing for the Bronx's gelada's is there is now a group in Canada at Zoo Sauvage de St. Felicien. The two could work together to switch up genetics.
Do you know where they came from (presumably Europe)? San Diego also keeps them and unless I'm forgetting something I think these are the only three holders in North America. A much better situation than when Bronx started breeding them again and they were the only holder. ~Thylo
They definitely came from Europe. There original zoo isn't mentioned but they flew out of Munich according to the video announcing their arrival in Quebec. There are 4.
