Myself and others have expressed very similar opinions on this thread. Brookfield really needs to start making some revisions as soon as possible. Attendance has been down in recent years, which has resulted in money troubles for the zoo. Attendance was also mentioned in the thread, and yes, Lincoln park is the 3rd most visited AZA facility with around 3.5 million annual visitors.
Yup, it needs some work especially with the empty exhibits like Baboon Island, Bear Grottos, Nile Hippo Pool. Simply restocking exhibits and closing off certain areas would do a lot for the zoo.
The habitat space next to the Lowland Tapirs in Pachyderms now houses tortoises, including African Spurred and an unidentified species.
the Land Brookfield Zoo sits on is and always has belonged to the Cook County Forest Preserve, the buildings and animals belong to the Chicago Zoological Society. It is the most visited attraction in Chicago where paid admission is tracked with 2.1+ million visitors for several years running, and is second in the country only to SanDiego. Replacing large exhibits takes many years of planning and aLOT OF MONEY. As with any almost 100 year old zoo aging building and infrastructure is always a problem. Being in a climate that goes from extreme heat To bitter cold plays havoc on structures. We are replacing as fast as we can, you just can’t always see the work being done. Admissions account for needed revenue that is why we have over 125,000 + member families,it’s cheaper to join.
A baby Black-and-Rufous Elephant Shrew is now on display in Habitat Africa! The Forest according to the zoo's social media.
They are African Spurred Tortoises and Galapagos Tortoises. Also Prehensile-Tailed Skinks have moved into the former Madagascar display and an Emerald Tree Monitor is now in the skink display.
These must be the pure-bred hatchling Galapagos tortoises they have housed from elsewhere for the long term. The adults colony was disbanded earlier to other collections as they contained representatives of various species among them.
Just returned from an excellent evening at the zoo. I was invited to the "Share the Care" event for adopting a red panda late last year. It was an afterhours event where special animal talks and some behind the scenes access were present. I will go into some detail here and read to the end for an exciting update on Tropic World. -The new tortoise yard by the pachyderm building is a bit strange. The moat is filled in and a small fence surrounds the area and restricts them from back of the exhibit. Not bad, just very strange. -Some of the talks I attended this evening included a grizzly bear training session, a leashed reindeer outside the main exhibit, a meerkat scatter feed and a sloth demonstration. I will upload some photos shortly. -As a special bonus, attendees were allowed into the animal nutrition center and animal hospital from 6 to 7:30PM. I went into the former, but there was an hour long wait to get into the hospital so I took a pass. Tropic World Expansion Update: So just before I departed, I decided to go into tropic world before I left. It was so interesting to see such a immaculate building almost completely void of visitors. While I was there I talked with a primate keeper and she relayed some very exciting bits of info on the future of Tropic World. Long story short, the old baboon island is being destroyed by the end of this year. The demolition is fully funded and in its place, a tropical pavilion for events and gatherings. Then, after that will follow the new ape habitats, which will likely take up some of west mall space and the water conservation trail. Phase 1, the new tropical pavilion, should be completed in Summer 2019, the ape habitats will follow. There are even rumblings of some smaller species getting outdoor exhibits as well. However, there are no plans to make major modifications to the indoor spaces. Still exciting none the less.
Four baby dwarf goats have been introduced into the goat yard and the male Brazilian porcupine is now on display in the former kestrel habitat in the Hamil Family Play Zoo.
Sounds like a fun evening -- I've always wanted to do an adoption but it's always been put off. Maybe when I'm back on my feet financially and renew my membership I'll finally take the plunge. Interesting news on Tropic World and Baboon Island. The latter news is a little bittersweet - as an ameteur historian I'm sad to see it go, but as someone who is rooting for Brookfield's success, I'm very happy to see progress being made at last. I feel guilty for complaining about a possible Macaque island now seeing we're only getting a pavilion though... Glad to see Ape Habitats are still on the horizon, and I'm lowkey thrilled. I've always felt Lincoln Park's outdone Brookfield to death lately when it comes to primates, and the apes are charismatic species so I'm sure seeing gorillas, orangutans, hopefully gibbons and hopefully even more all outside will tease the interest of visitors, allowing them to fund more opportunities down the road . I'm especially excited because the orangutans have always been difficult to see. If BZ could afford to be more ambitious, it might even be nice to add outdoor habitats for Pygmy Hippos and Tapirs, since they used to be a Tropic World staple, thus making things easier for when they demolish Pachyderm House to expand the African Savannah area... or, I always thought an outdoor Jaguar habitat would be a nice compliment for the South America section. But they don't have the money for any of those I'm sure. If the old rumor I heard about bonobos was true I wonder if we might see them? Probably not though.
Brookfield Zoo's Great Bear Wilderness The Great Bear Wilderness, a 4.5 acre complex, opened in May of 2010. At its size and cost of $27,300,000, this is the largest project in the zoo's history. Despite of course already being in North America, the Great Bear Wilderness succeeds at capturing the appearance and manner of the woodland Northwest. The paths cross with the Regenstein Wolf Woods, another forest attraction that predates the Great Bear by 6 years. Together, they feature North America's most recognizable and iconic creatures including polar bears, grizzly bears, bison, bald eagles, Mexican gray wolves in habitats that reflect the prairie, tundra and temperate forest landscapes.
An adult male grey seal named Kiinaq (pronounced key-nack) is now on exhibit with the zoo's resident female grey seals, Tasha and Lily.
8 Texas Blind Salamanders have arrived from the Audubon Zoo (in addition to the one already on exhibit in The Living Coast): Chicago Zoological Society - Texas Blind Salamander at Brookfield Zoo Brookfield is one of only three zoos in North America to hold this species. Earlier this year, Kate the North American River Otter was sent to the Calgary Zoo: Chicago Zoological Society - Conservation Flying Company LightHawk Helps Brookfield Zoo Relocate North American River Otter
Two squirrel monkeys have been born in recent weeks and a third is due soon. Brookfield Zoo welcomes 2 baby squirrel monkeys
All but one of the wolves are leaving next week. More info here: Chicago Zoological Society - Changes Coming to Mexican Wolf Pack at Brookfield Zoo
Adolescent male sea lion Kanuk now lives at Oceans of Fun. More info here: Cowabunga! Sea Lion Makes Big Splash at Oceans of Fun | Milwaukee County Zoo
Two 2-year-old Mexican gray wolf sisters, Rain and Pika, are now on exhibit. They arrived a couple days ago from the Endangered Wolf Center.
