I'm not so sure about that - the plans were never to put the seals/sea lions outside the zoo's entrance. I'm actually not sure exactly what construction the original poster was referring to - I was just at the zoo, and didn't notice any large areas of construction near the entrance. Haven't heard a thing. I was wondering the same thing myself. I would imagine there will be no public display for quite a while, as (at least to my knowledge), the Zoo hasn't officially announced that it has the pangolins (though other stories have confirmed this). I would imagine that even if a display were planned, it would be limited (as Brookfield only has 1 of its 13 pangolins on display) and would not occur until the zoo felt comfortable with its husbandry. As to potential locations, given the zoo's current organization, only the Congo area would make sense zoogeographically, and there are probably some options in that area if the zoo decided to add an exhibit somewhere in there. I would hate to see the Zoo destroy the coherence of any of its current areas by shoehorning the pangolin in somewhere it didn't belong - as much as I would love to see pangolin on display. I was just at the Zoo for a quick visit last Friday and had a few updates. Species list has been updated in the Migratory Birds aviary (which has not been done consistently) and I managed, on a slower, sunny day, to locate almost every species signed except for one - the American Woodcock (which is probably the species I'm most interested in). Siberian Musk Deer was signed, but not on exhibit - instead, the female Tufted Deer was in that exhibit (though unsigned). Two sun bears were on exhibit inside (I have seen only 1 over the past few years), while the sloth bear was on exhibit outside. White-naped cranes (formerly in the exhibit now supposed to be housing Siberian Musk Deer) have moved to the Pheasant Aviary (which they share with the Reeve's Muntjac that used to share their prior exhibit) - a few other species changes include the move of Magpie Geese, Cattle Egret, and a male Crested Wood Partridge into this aviary from other exhibits. Eurasian Eagle Owls are signed in the Markhor exhibit, but no sign of them in the exhibit. I had hoped to catch a keeper to ask a few questions in this section, but no luck... Over in Australia and the Islands, the biggest disappointment is unquestionably the loss of the Brown Kiwi from the Roadhouse. All signage for the species is gone, and their exhibit has been stripped of all of the plants and shelter that had been moved in along with the kiwis. Only a tawny frogmouth remains (and this species is still occupies the one-time banded palm civet exhibit, sharing with brush-tailed bettong). Again, no luck finding a keeper to find out what's going on - I wouldn't imagine the Zoo has discontinued its kiwi program, given its breeding success with the species, but who knows? Hope to get back very soon, when my goal is to hit keeper talks and hopefully get answers to some of my questions...
Thanks for all the info jibster!! It's a shame the kiwi is gone. And I was under the impression the sun bears were gone
Do you think they are going to phase out the kiwis or just keep them behind the scenes? I always really liked those birds and didn't they have pretty good success with breeding them in the past?
There are two pictures of the construction I'm talking about here. Looks like a rectangular pad has been built so maybe it's a small building, tent, or shade structure. Nothing major, but when you visit the zoo a lot you notice little things that change.
When I returned this past weekend, I saw the site you mention. It's small, and quite a ways outside the main entrance (prior to the ticket booths). Not sure what they're building, but I'm 99.9% sure it's not animal/exhibit related.
Borrowing a bit from Moebelle's old list as well as some changes of my own: Blue-tongued skink Giant prickly walking stick Jungle nymph Tawny frogmouth (two exhibits) Southern hairy-nosed wombat Binturong Halmahera gecko Brush-tailed bettong (mixed with frogmouth) Mastchie's tree kangaroo Feathertailed glider Pygmy slow loris Don't have the aviary, and I think I'm missing one small lizard. Sorry!
That's basically how it was in January of this year. Just missing the Crested porcupine and I believe the gecko was replaced. There is also a small terrarium that typically holds a reptile as you said.
The only change as of earlier this month was that the smaller reptile exhibits were all empty (though still present); at least one still had signage (don't recall the species), but also a sign indicating the exhibit was closed. I could probably put together 90% of the species list of the aviary from memory, but I'll wait until I visit later this week or early next week and post a complete list then.
A link is always nice. New Sea Lion Habitat Coming to the Columbus Zoo in 2019 I find it odd that they're coming from China of all places. Surely there are more than enough in need of rescue?
I was under the impression that harbor seals would join the sea lions, but I'm still excited to see the exhibit
Sorry for spamming this a bit but is there any more plans for new exhibits? Like Heart of Africa phase 2? Pandas? (I know they have been in talks with China for some time, an insider of the zoo told me).
