Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Cheyenne Mountain Zoo News

Malaika actually went down in Jan 2018. Hasn’t had any other incidents like it until today. Keepers do multiple checks on her every night because of the last time. Luckily CMZ is equipped to deal with these situations.

 

Oh interesting! Well fingers crossed for another uneventful year or two for her in that case!

Also unrelated to elephants, it's good to see Eve is doing well! I must admit, I find her overall appearance as a "tripod siamang" quite amusing. In reality though, it couldn't have happened to a better species of primate given how "little" gibbons use their legs compared to other primates during aboreal locomotion. It's interesting to see how it affects her movement while swinging around though, you can see her "momentum" for lack of better words, is a bit different from her two legged partners.

 

What’s funny is that the zoo also has a par of Lar gibbons that are both missing their left hands from separate incidents so the zoo is used to taking care of “tripod” gibbons

 

13 year-old mountain lion, Tocho was euthanized due to age-related illness. Only female, Kaya remains of the 4 cubs from 2006.

 

Forgot to post this earlier. Two bronze hippo statues arrived and are now on display in front of the new habitat construction. They will eventually find a permanent home somewhere in the exhibit. They were designed by the same sculptor who made the elephant statues in Encounter Africa.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

 

Mexican wolf pup was born on Friday morning.

Mexican wolf pup born at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

 

A baby Hoffman’s two-toed sloth was born yesterday. Mom, Chalupa and the unsexed baby are on exhibit but are in one of the cages of Monkey Pavilion and will join father, Bosco above the guest path in a few months.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

 

The zoo will announce a pregnant giraffe who is due soon at 2:30 MT today.

 

10 year old giraffe, Msitu is pregnant and due sometime in June.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=470464287023255

 

In an email sent to members this morning, it was announced that the zoo will be taking in 3 orphaned mountain lion cubs. Two females and one male whose mother was victim of human-wildlife conflict in Washington state. After their quarantine period, the zoo will try to introduce the cubs to their current mountain lion, Kaya who was also orphaned after her mother was illegally shot in 2006.

Edit:
Here’s an article that came out after my post.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo takes in orphaned mountain lion cubs

 

Notable things in this month’s Waterhole are videos about the zoo’s new Gila monsters which will be on exhibit in Scute’s Family Gallery and a Water’s Edge exhibit construction update. There are also articles about pioneering giraffe footwork, pollinator gardens, tips for visiting, and the new mountain lion and sloth babies.

THE WATERHOLE: Meet the Gila Monsters; Pollinator Gardens Take Root; Mashama's New Shoe; and more!

 

Update on the construction of Water's Edge.

 

Apologies if this has been discussed before, but does this new Waters Edge area have an opening date? And additionally, where could one find the full plans for this exhibit area?

I must say that the indoor hippo area looks quite massive, especially that pool, it may be one of the largest indoor pools in the nation. This has potentially to be a seriously great exhibit.

 

The exhibit will be opening up in stages through the summer/fall. No exact date yet but it keeps getting pushed back. Similar to the indoor elephant enclosure, the space needs to be large enough for 5 hippos to be inside for extended periods of time in the winter. It’s definitely going to be unique as the outdoor exhibit will be mixed with warthogs and the lemurs will be on an peninsula surrounded by the outdoor and indoor pools.

 

Msitu is in labor.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo giraffe in labor!

 

Was just watching the birth cam, and the calf was just born a few minutes ago.

 

Article on the zoo’s 201st giraffe calf:

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo giraffe gives birth to 201st calf born in Colorado Springs

 

The zoo’s giraffe calf has been officially named Viv.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=518018098937077

 

A video tour of the new hippo and lemur areas.

Security Check Required

 

This video really in a nutshell shows how far zoos have come in how animals are held in human care. Even within the last 20 years, I remember hippos simply soaking underwater all day in pools that were literally their size. This is really breathtaking!