As agreed upon in the previous news thread, it's about time for a brand new one and with me having visited today I feel this is the perfect time to make one. My visit was nice and quiet with very few other visitors in the zoo, though it was also extremely cold so was making sure to get from one building to the next as fast as possible A good few noticeable changes, though: -The new play area appear to be being built in the overflow parking lot near the Bronx River Parkway entrance, I can foresee this causing problems in the busier summer months. -The parking lot in general appears to be getting some upgrades with new plant beds, lighting fixtures, and what looked like tolls being added. -The zoo has 2.0 Palawan Binturongs off-exhibit. -All of the primates have been removed from World of Birds. -Sulawesi Forest Turtle has been added to the Maleo/Pink Pigeon enclosure. -A pair of Andean Cock-of-the-Rock have been newly moved to the Grey-Winged Trumpeter enclosure (ex-lion tamarin/titi), where they are much more showy. -The old quetzal enclosure is still under renovation for Australian finches, although if the species that can be seen in the bird nursery are the ones that will be displayed (Star Finch and Long-Tailed Finch), it's going to be a pretty disappointing replacement. -Golden-Breasted Starlings have been added to the African scrub enclosure. -There's a Lesser Bird-of-Paradise chick in the nursery. -The Storm's Storks are no longer nesting, anyone know what became of the egg(s)? -There's a one-winged Brown Pelican added to the flock. -A Black Skimmer which was rescued off a local beach has been added to the Little Blue Penguin enclosure since it cannot be released. -The Guam Kingfishers are off-exhibit and have been replaced by the Chestnut-Breasted Malkohas. -The Guanay Cormorant is still around but it's really looking rough nowadays. -Bushmasters have been added to World of Birds. -The snake-lizards on-exhibit in World of Reptiles are Lialis jicari, not L. burtonis. -Indian Roofed Turtles, Yucatan Box Turtles, and Blue Tree-Monitors are in the nursery. -The pool in the Arrau River Turtle enclosure was drained for some reason and the caiman lizards and basilisk removed and replaced by Crimson-Rumped Toucanet (as previous mentioned). -A Chinese Water Dragon has been added to the snake-necked turtle enclosure. -The Pygmy Marmosets have had twins. - The arowana in JungleWorld has been moved to the Weber's Sailfin Lizard enclosure. -Bony-Headed Flying Frogs have been added. -The Sanford's Dwarf Hornbills have been added to the main enclosure in JungleWorld. And now for the biggest piece of news that some of you have been hoping for for some time now: The zoo has added several Indian Gharial to the final pool in JungleWorld! The area is currently blocked off to allow the animals to get used to their new home, but I was able to spot one through another window so they're definitely there. Fingers crossed they've fixed the heating issue so now the species will stay. ~Thylo
Thank you. Indeed it is, though they've been around since the closing of RSCC when Nashville picked up their old animals. Bronx is now the fourth US zoo to keep the subspecies, though all zoos currently keep them off-exhibit. Personally, I think that's a waste because if you're going to go through the trouble of bringing in such as rare taxa, why hide them? Surely if they wanted education animals it would be easier to simply get some of the many generic animals around. ~Thylo
Do you know the number of gharials imported? Would Bronx be sending them to other facilities as well?
The bushmasters are in World of Reptiles. According to a Facebook post from the Madras Crocodile Bank in December, twelve gharials were sent to the zoo, though I don't know how many they kept or if some were shipped elsewhere. I know they zoo has imported gharials to be shipped elsewhere in the past, which is what I assumed would happen here as well. ~Thylo
Wonderful review Thylacine! Some interesting and even some somewhat baffling changes! The Adventure Playground being built in the overflow parking lot is surprising, summer parking will not be fun. They will probably have to utilize Fordham for excess parking. The gharials is probably some of the most exciting news I have heard! I do hope they are staying and not being shipped to another zoo. I am surprised they added a bushmaster to the WOB, they seem to be adding more reptiles/invertebrates. I am surprised about the monkeys- they could make WOB a little more popular. And I agree, Australian finches is a disappointment. Could they not add Eclectus parrot or Palm Cockatoo. I am also surprised about the Arrau River turtle exhibit- the caimen lizards and basliks had a great exhibit. For Jungle World- were the flying frogs there? Are the turtles no longer in the sailfin lizard exhibit? Maybe the binturong could go in Jungle World one day. Good news about the hornbills, but would be more exciting to have the Indian hornbills back. Sounds like you had a good winter visit with some interesting additions. Thank you for sharing.
I'm not 100% sure if the playground is being build in the overflow parking lot but there's certainly a lot of construction going on there and none inside the entrance. Well the zoo had a lot of signage about gharial conservation and a sign saying the animals are adjusting to their new home so at least a few of the animals are staying it seems. As mentioned above, that was a typo and the bushmaster is in World of Reptiles, sorry. Another unfortunate fact about the primates being removed from WOB means there are even fewer primates on-exhibit at the zoo with the lion tamarins in the Mouse House going off-exhibit earlier in the year to make room for the elephant-shrews. Though at least the Grey Mouse Lemurs are on-exhibit again! The flying frogs were in JungleWorld and there were no turtles with the sailfin lizard. My hope is the Binturongs either go on-exhibit in the outdoor cages of the Mouse House in the summer, in the tree-kangaroo enclosure once the last individual dies/leaves, or even in the Children's Zoo (the coati enclosure would be good). At the very least perhaps send them to Central Park or Prospect Park. Personally I'd like to see the Sulawesi Knobbed Hornbills back. ~Thylo
Thylo, they probably will hold onto a small grouping now. But I am pretty sure that a good portion will be redistributed across AZA facilities currently participating in the Gavialis gangeticus program. The plan is to continue these imports of young (immature) gharials to establish a robust ex situ conservation breeding population. For now, breeding has only been accomplished once (a singleton hatchling) and in 2016 at St. Augustine Alligator Farm. The adult population within the US is in the tens (ranging between 20-40) of individual animals, I believe.
According to the Zoo's photo blog (found here) the red legged seriemas are now in the Aquatic Bird House until the summer
They were there when I visited at the beginning of the year, and in a pitifully small enclosure in my opinion. ~Thylo
Thank you what about the caipercaille ocellated turkey anhinga and little egret mentioned on your animals i have seen in zoos website.
Okay, so no real news here, but it appears as though the Bronx Zoo's Wikipedia page has undergone a massive overhaul since I was last on it. The article is much denser than it ever has been, if my memory serves me correctly. I mean, the specificity with which the Zoo's exhibits and inhabitants are described is surprising. It leads me to believe that a ZooChatter must be responsible for this. Also, authors on Wikipedia are supposed to be impartial, as far as I know. One section of the article reads "Unfortunately, [the Arabian oryx and blesbok]... were phased out of the collection." The user who wrote this particular sentence must have had an affinity for ungulates.
Yes that would be the works of @ThylacineAlive (the pictures of the guanay cormorant and the gelada are also thylo's)
