Detroit Zoo Detroit Zoo News 2022

On May 23rd, the zoo announced that a (0.1) giant anteater named Chesley passed away at age 26 and was the oldest of her kind in an AZA facility.

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Also on May 23rd, the zoo announced that a (0.0.1) McCord's box turtle was born in a bts habitat today.

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Apparently the new zoo director is going to continue with plans for the children's zone. I think the zone is going to replace the old guanaco and Chilean flamingo yards. She also said in another article that she doesn't want to do anything major for a little while until she gets a sense of the facility.

Detroit Zoo’s First Female Director Shares Summer Plans | Mirror News

 

I fully get why she would want to wait before doing too much. Becoming the head of a zoo during a pandemic when the penguin house is leaking isn't easy. I hope the childrens area introduces a few new species and isn't just a playground. Even a petting farm would be nice as while I get that they are rescue animals and can't be petted, I feel that the Detroit Zoo barn is the most boring farm exhibit I've ever seen, especially nowadays as they no longer have barn owls and the chickens are all inbred looking Cornish meat crosses that make me feel sad to look at as they try to move around (if they could find another farm sanctuary to move these guys to in the events of a petting farm so there aren't two farms and they could put an new exhibit in its place that would be great). She states in the article that they are going to renovate the Belle Isle Nature Center, which I think is overdue as I find it paling to the aquarium on the same island. I'm excited to see what the Great Lakes Center for Nature will be like, if it ever gets off the ground.

 

On May 30th, the zoo announced that their (1.0) African spurred tortoise named Tubby has moved from the exhibit near the vultures to the exhibit between the giraffes and warthogs.

Detroit Zoo - Baby McCord's box turtle, Tubby the...| By Detroit Zoo

 

Does this mean aardvarks have been phased out? Aww man. Honestly though, better exhibit for the tortoise than before, he seemed so out of place in the former pampas.

 

Your comment nearly gave me a heart attack. No, I believe the veldt is the eland/ostrich habitat. I remember seeing a tortoise in that habitat a while ago.

 

Oh, phew.

 

I watched the relevant segment of the news video that Smaggledagle sent and it turns out that Tubby is not with the aardvarks OR the elands and ostrich. He is with the zebras and wildebeest. Also they apparently simply walked him there instead of grabbing a crate or something. That must have been a sight to see.

 

The long-rumored children’s area has been confirmed with construction set to start next year, now under the title “KidZone.” Some of the plans include an aerial trail, a new and improved barn area, new prairie dog and anteater habitats, and even the return of bush dogs. All sounds promising!

Detroit Zoo plans $22 million KidZone with aerial adventure, treehouse

 

The return of bush dogs is probably the best news out of Detroit in quite some time. Definitely makes this long rumored development way more exciting.

 

We'll have to see if they can source any first, but the fact they haven't yet written them off from the collection is indeed good news.

 

How's the European population doing? I know that when Stone got them a few years ago at least one was imported from a European zoo, perhaps this could be the route Detroit takes?

 

My thoughts exactly. After phasing species out left and right for the last decade, who knows? Maybe this could mark the beginning of a turnaround.

 

Fine, I think. It's certainly an option... I didn't realize Stone imported for their bush dogs, although it makes sense.

 

And here I was thinking that replacing the Pampas with a children’s zoo was a lame choice.
Also, yay! Bush Dogs! Now we wait for the rest of the collection to be refunded .

 

Cheated my way past the paywall of the article to read it by opening an incognito tab and reading it as a document. This is everything I said a couple days ago about replacing the barn with an actual petting farm and more (rip old barn in favor of a new one, you won't be missed). They mention the bush dogs a lot, I think they are dead set on the concept. They also apparently are looking for goats and a "giant tortoise", presumably the Aldabra giant tortoise. Even the playground, while not exciting as an adult, sounds like a BLAST for the kids (maybe tear down the playgrounds between Amphibiville and the old Penguinarium for more exhibit space as they will look lame by comparison and probably get much less use). Very excited. Oh, and apparently the Great Lakes Center for Nature will be next after this if all goes well. And this is apparently the first true move from the new director, because as I suspected she had to get the zoo past a lot of penguin house leaking bullcrap first.

 

Here is a non-paywalled article. "Anteater feeding" will apparently be a thing, but based on how it is worded I am unsure if it is an animal encounter or something that any guest can do for an extra cost, I'm heavily leaning on it being the former. Also underground viewing of prairie dogs, which I'm shocked I've never seen an exhibit for them try before. Detroit Zoo to invest up to $24M on KidZone, prairie dogs, anteaters - consommateurscitoyens

Edit: found this document, among other things anteater experience is definitely an animal encounter DocumentCloud

 

I found a PDF about the KidZone intended for construction workers that has hidden from us in plain sight since 2020. Lots of info we already learned today and boring construction stuff, but also this. Keep in mind that 2 years have passed and plans have more-than-likely changed. I'd be so happy if black footed ferrets happened, personally.

Proposed Species For Detroit Zoo KidZone - ZooChat

 

Maybe copying the image address?