Going through during the Halloween special is so depressing.. The zoo actually had the chinensis subspecies of Leopard Cat, though if you follow the new felid taxonomy they're one and the same. The zoo has Pygmy Slow Loris, though at one point they kept Javan. The nigh-monkey would have been Grey-Handed. ~Thylo
WCS's 2017 annual report came out last month: https://c532f75abb9c1c021b8c-e46e47...onservation_Impact_Report_Digital_Version.pdf Zero mention of any new projects at the campuses in NYC, not even the new Ocean Wonders exhibit at the Aquarium. Overwhelming emphasis is on conservation projects in other countries, although the financial report shows that the zoos and aquarium are a larger part of the budget than the global programs.
Went to the zoo yesterday (Memorial Day). It was very, very crowded, more like a Sunday than a Saturday (was hoping for the opposite, alas). Nonetheless, the cooler morning temperatures made for some good activity levels among the hoofed stock (including a male blackbuck bouncing all around). Didn't take exhaustive notes of changes in animals on exhibit, but here's what I remember: The otter exhibit in Jungle World was under repair. There were only three Ebony Langurs on exhibit that I could see, and didn't see any of the Rodrigues Bats. Didn't see any of the Slender-horned Gazelles, Hunting Dogs, or the Ring-tailed or Collared Lemurs, but don't know whether they were secreted somewhere in their exhibits or off exhibit for some reason. The Grevy Zebras have a partly grown calf I had not seen before. It looked like the Colobus Monkeys are now Angola Colobus instead of the Mantled/Abyssinian that used to be there (and are at Central Park). There's a Gaur calf but didn't get a view of it. The Red Panda exhibit in the Himalaya Highlands is still under repair, but there were Red Pandas to see in Wild Asia. Markhor and Tahr were off exhibit--could see a crew repairing the back fence or maybe a gate. It appears the lone Kudu is gone, at least there's no signage. But the herd in the enclosure for the Tommies was too far away for me to be sure. Both male Lions were out, perched regally on the rocks for a great view across the Nyala yard. Young Geladas were playing up a storm. Had never really noticed just how big the horns are on one of the White Rhinos. There's now just one Storm's Stork in the Aquatic Birds Building and a male Andean Condor was on exhibit by himself in the central cage at the birds of prey. Didn't see the Kiwi, but did the last time, so I consider myself lucky. Seriemas are gone. Pelicans were out in the outdoor aviary. White-naped Cranes have been moved to a yard next to the World of Birds and the walkways to their former exhibit are blocked off. The lone swan is gone from the waterfowl pond across from the Himalaya Highlands Exhibit. Nothing was on display in the outdoor cages at the Mouse House. They have a bunch of finches in the butterfly exhibit, although no sign identifying the various species (one is the Blue Dacnis) and the employees in the exhibit could not tell me any of the other species. The Ppudu is gone from the Children's Zoo, replaced by Patagonian Maras/Cavies. Squirrel Monkeys and the Anteater were not on exhibit at the Children's Zoo, but that probably had to do with the cool morning temperatures. The African Jungle Exhibit at the World of Birds seemed particularly full of birds, but it might be just that they were particularly active. There's a Kea in the mountain exhibit just past the South American Jungle exhibit. There are fledgling Bee Eaters, so there's a partly transparent curtain in front of the exhibit until they learn the exhibit's boundaries. The Cocks of the Rock were beautiful as was the Lesser Bird of Paradise. Saw a fantastic display by an Ocellated Turkey male. They have added highly interesting and informative plaques on standards outside the landmark buildings at Astor Court detailing some of their history, like how the novel design of the Bird House helped make Beebe's reputation as an ornithologist and the Lion House used to have its own artists' studio. There are also plaques for the Rockefeller Fountain and the Jaguar sculptures opposite the fountain, near the stairs up to Astor Court.
Visited today and noted a few things: -Two new Geladas have been born -The old elephant-shrew enclosure in the Mouse House has been redesigned and a few species is clearly living in it but they're not signed and I couldn't spot them -There are some new climbing vines added to the Leopard enclosure I've not seen before -No Javan Langurs were on-display -There's a Northern Helmeted Curassow chick -Electric signs have been added to the nursery section of WOR -The Kihansi Spray Toad enclosure has been totally redone, but the frogs are still on-exhibit -There are Pancake Tortoise on-exhibit in that African scrub enclosure in WOB ~Thylo
Which elephant shrew exhibit was renovated in the Mouse House? Are the black and rufous ones no longer on exhibit? As for the Geladas, they had 2-3 born last year so it's wonderful this troop is having such great breeding success! I'm assuming nothing else new appears to be being built at the zoo? Were there any marmoset or tamarins at the WOB or outside the mouse house?
The old Short-Eared Elephant-Shrew enclosure. The zoo only has one breeding male, though, so all the young being born have been sired by the same male afaik. Not that I recall no. And nope, though there was a pudu signed outside the Mouse House that I didn't see. ~Thylo
Realized something on the Bronx Zoo map in another thread. For a long while especially in the past few years the symbol for Jungleworld on the map was the leopard outline, but now its a gibbon outline. That was a change that happened in the last few months. I guess that is another confirmation of what we already knew from the construction and no one having seen them recently. Now the question is what replaces them? Another question for Jungleworld is with the Javan Langur population dwindling, what will replace them eventually? The other big change with the map is the removal of the Polar Bear obviously. It feels wierd, as Tundra was an installation I was so used to seeing. Will the zoo leave this exhibit vacant for a while, or will they renovate it? I imagine the zoo would not want to leave it as an eye sore for to long, so even if they have no plans to put an animal there, maybe they fill it in with dirt and just plant it.
All of my maps have a gibbon, Leopard, and a fish over the JW building. There are three langurs left, and I suspect when they leave they will be replaced by Francois' Langur since the design of the enclosure doesn't exactly work for a macaque species. I have nothing to back this up with, however. ~Thylo
Here is the newest map. Only gibbons on jungleworld. Map - Bronx Zoo Yet we look at older maps from last year and they had the leopard as the symbol of Jungleworld. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pinterest.com/amp/pin/350999364689191072/?source=image The zoos old map used to have multiple species representing the building, but when they switched to the more sustainable map, the only kept one species for the building. That species was a leopard up until this year. So I imagine the zoo took them off the map when they either passed or were moved off exhibit. Now hopefully we can get palwan binturong in there. Francois Langur would work but my concern with them is that are rather similar looking to the silvery lutung. Blackish adults with orange babies, in a way that visitors may feel they are the same. Lion-tailed macaque would work but at the moment seem to be fading out of AZA zoos. For all we know the Javan Langur could have several more years in them, so I wish them long lives.
Yeah I see what you mean. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the Binturong but I suspect those will be kept as education animals (all zoos with them keep them for that for some reason) and we'll probably get Clouded Leopard as was originally intended. Well the zoo had 6 Javan Langurs left a year, year and a half ago so... The AZA turned around on the Lion-Tailed Macaque phase-out I think so they're possible. ~Thylo
Either way we will likely get another animal that will sleep in a ball all day. Which is fine as the gibbons & tapir accross the path are fairly active and balance it out. A pipe dream of mine though would be to make it into a great hornbill exhibit. Yes they definitely have gone down in numbers fast but you never know it could still be a while (trying to be optimistic because I love the Javan Langurs). Zoo primates can drag on frona while. Lion tailed macaque would be my choice tbh, but I would like to see some exhibit alterations before any species moves in there.
I wish zoos and their regions were more constructive around this phase in and phase out options. Sent the Javan lutung to Europe, at least there they have a useful life and are part of an EEP / ESB.
Jungleworld is generic mix of Asian rainforest animlals. They even got some species from New Guinea in their. For nearly every one of the exhibits, theirs another species of animal that coupd fit in it. Regarding the Javan langur they are all pretty elderly so I doubt they would have value, but Bronx should have swapped them with Europe for a ssp species years ago. The silvery Lutung were always the focus, as the zoo is the driving force behind their ssp and breeds them nearly every year. But back to the point, some zoos do box themselves in to much but for Bronx its usually not been an issue. African plains is literally the whole continent and Wild Asia is all of Asia at this point (used to be South Asia only, now its got wild horse & amur tigers).
Two lesser adjutant storks have been born at the zoo. They are currently on display in the exhibit attached to the Aquatic Bird House. The zoo has also reopened the former black leopard exhibit in Jungleworld. According to instagram it is now home to an Amur Leopard.
An Amur leopard... in an ASIAN RAINFOREST? I don't believe this. They could have gone with their Palawan binturongs, or brought in clouded leopards. My guess is they are going for theatrics rather than authenticity.
Its not the subspecies that annoys. Maryland and San Diego Zoo both have Amur leopards (the ssp species) in African themed exhibits. So at least this animal is a part of the ssp. AZA can only support a single leopard population at the moment, so if the zoo wanted to stay with leopards this was their only option. My issue is more with the size of the space for a larger cat. Its got nice vertical height, yet is not well suited for a larger cat. I was hoping for a downgrade in species size, like you said. Potentially this is a stopgap measure for these leopards, with a new Amur leopard exhibit in the future? But who knows. At least WCS works extensively with the species in the wild.
That is not the news I was looking for in regards to the leopard exhibit at Jungle World. First, the Prospect Park Zoo was supposed to get the Amur leopards (likely where the wallaby walkabout was). Maybe this is a stopgap until something can be built outdoors. But the exhibit is too small for a big cat (forget about the theming issue). I do wish they would have done clouded leopard, binturong or bring the leopard cats back (I know they are nocturnal and would probably not be awake often).
