Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Cleveland Metroparks Zoo News 2022

We start 2022 with an update on the gorilla baby. Apparently, the baby got pneumonia and had to be separated from the troop, but has since been reintroduced and everyone's acting like nothing happened. Cute.

Video with more details on the CMZ Facebook page.

Baby G ReIntroduction

 

Too cute!! Thanks for sharing the video.
Does anyone have good name ideas for Baby G?

 

Gorilla Update/Naming Competition

Born to his mother Nneka, 23, and his father Mokolo, 34. on Oct. 26, the male baby gorilla has been cared for by the troop’s eldest female, Fredrika, 47, after she instinctively took over maternal care of the newborn when Nneka did not show appropriate maternal care.

Now that he's settled into the gorilla habitat, the little one needs a name, which the public can vote on.

The zoo has announced three name finalists and their meanings:

• Bakari, “One who will succeed”
• Jabari, “Fearless or brave one”
• Kayembe, “Extraordinary”

 

UNO. The one! Better option hands down!

 

The public has spoken. The baby gorilla's name is Kayembe.

 

terrible name. UNO better suiting gorilla management history at cleveland zoo.

 

New gorilla exhibit announcement is on Tuesday.

 

I like what I'm seeing with this announcement! I'm not going to be pedantic about the whole moat thing, as long as inventive exhibit design and animal welfare are the utmost priority. Which, definitively, the latter is.

 

This is about the zoo’s 150 plan. It is from last week.

https://www.clevelandmetroparks.com...44facadd12ff/CM-Board-Meeting-Zoo150.pdf.ashx

 

I listened to the Cleveland Metroparks board meeting. The tropical bear renovation begins this summer.

 

I'd assume it'd solely be for sloth and Andean bears then, with Scruffy effectively retiring there... business as usual, I guess.

 

Article/video on the expansion, which could begin as early as 2023:

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo reveals 'major announcement' with expansion plans | wkyc.com

 

From the CMZ YouTube channel.

I find it beautifully poetic that the next significant addition to the CMZ adds on to the Rainforest, which was the cutting-edge exhibit that elevated CMZ 30 years ago. While I find it hard to discern too much from the video, it looks incredible in the right kind of way.

My only nitpick (so far) is the lack of verticality for the orangutans. Given their arboreal nature, I'd like to see more than two levels for a new exhibit. Still, a new exhibit is an immense improvement over the current one - maybe there will be some greenery!

Assuming the orangutans will not occupy the dome anymore, any ideas what might take their place? Or will the dome be attached to their new exhibit? That'd be really cool.

 

Here is a screenshot from yesterday's video. Thought you'd enjoy a closer look at the indoor lay-out

 

And a bit more info from the zoo
Future Project: Primate Forest | Cleveland Metroparks

 

This will be complete by 2032. They do not have all the plans yet. Additional zoo construction projects will occur during this. The tropical bear renovation that will begin this summer is an example. It will not have a regional theme. It will have more of a whimsical theme because the sloth bears and Andean bears will rotate habitats and are from different continents. This information comes from the most recent Cleveland Metroparks board meeting.

Board Meeting Archives | Cleveland Metroparks

 

Are both the gorilla and orangutan exhibits going to be completely indoors?

 

I'd imagine they'd have retractable roofs.

 

That's a cool idea. Looking forward to seeing how this comes to fruition.

 

If you have seen the links then you know every detail that has been revealed. Anything else is baseless conjecture and speculation. Time will tell (by 2032 apparently )