Houston Zoo Houston Zoo News 2021

Houston Zoo welcomes bald eagle rescued during February’s winter storm

Houston Zoo has a new Bald Eagle

 

Houston Zoo facebook page posted this today:

Photos: State-of-the-art $70 million Galápagos Islands exhibit headed for Houston Zoo next year

 

I still find it odd they're theming it as "Galapagos" when very few of the animals in this exhibit are actually from that island chain. An Islands or Coasts theme, sure, but why the Galapagos specifically?

 

Lee Ehmke, the Houston Zoo's current director, has a knack for wanting to highlight underrepresented regions of the world. He did so back when he was at Minnesota Zoo with Russia's Grizzly Coast, then came to Houston swinging with Texas Wetlands and South America's Pantanal. Given the California sea lions' similarity to the Galapagos sea lion, and rather than doing the ever-tired Pier 39/California Coast theme, he decided to go with a more unique Galapagos theme instead.

 

I just want to see some south american pinnipeds It's frustrating that places in europe have them but none in the USA.

 

A Committee of Vultures Arrive at the Zoo, The Houston Zoo

Houston Zoo posted about their committee of vultures: Ruppell’s Griffon Vulture, Hooded Vultures, and Cape Vultures. It’s the first time they’ve kept these species according to their blog post.

 

I swear they had hooded vultures back when there was the small vulture aviary in front of the elephant exhibit; between Elephants, the former alligator “pit”, and the now former Jaguar exhibit.

This would have been 30-20 years ago. Anyone know what kinds of vultures were kept in that small cage? Maybe it was just King Vultures?

 

Cinereous Vulture

 

Nimue the 12 year old lioness has unfortunately been euthanized.

Houston Zoo female lion Nimue has died - USA News Lab.

 

Their Twitter page made mention that Genoveve the ocelot gave birth to 2 kittens, named Sriracha(female) and Wasabi(male). Born on May 29th photo provided by Houston Zoo Twitter page.

 

Baby turtles! Houston Zoo has first ever hatching of highly endangered turtle species | khou.com

4 painted terrapin turtles hatched at the Houston Zoo recently

 

Plus the Houston Zoo already has plenty of animals that live on islands, such as the Kagu, St Vincent Amazon, Guam Kingfisher, Nene and various reptiles.

 

I honestly don’t think its that big a problem. The main focus of the exhibit is the conservation work the zoo and others do there, as well as the uniqueness of the islands. It was never going to be like Madagascar at the Bronx Zoo which had more species to choose from, due to a lack of native species kept outside the islands. At the same point the zoo will be able to relocate several species (tortoises, iguanas, and sea lions) to much better habitats and at the same time talk about the evolution of the islands wildlife. The aquatic displays will more likely have species that can found in the Galapagos though (while also solving the issue of the zoo needing to replace its aquarium in some way). So I can imagine the zoo will address in the signage that many of the species are stand in’s yet are fairly similar to species found on the islands.

Other island species will be focused upon in future phases of the master plan. World of Primates will become an exhibit on “Asian Islands”, Natural encounters will become a Madagascar exhibit, and the new hybrid reptile/bird house will likely include the key species mentioned above. I understand why many of here are not fans of the species lineup but from the zoos perspective it has multiple upsides and very little downside.

Edit: Also they found a way to shove in penguins. A small exhibit for them relatively but considering how popular they are with public, this was really the only way they could justify them in under there current master plan/collection plan.

 

Three Green Oropendolas have hatched at Houston. This is a first for the zoo and they now house approximately 15 individuals of the species: VIDEO: Houston Zoo welcomes 3 baby Oropendola chicks for the first time

 

When the border allows it Houston will be welcoming female pygmy hippo, Penelope, from Toronto. It will be pretty beneficial for Houston as her parents are both imports and she is their only offspring. A fair number of babies to come I bet. This was announced by Toronto on their Facebook Live today. Could still be awhile.

 

Article on the ocelot kittens mentioned in post 70 above: New ocelot cubs born at the Houston Zoo | khou.com

 

A ring tailed lemur was born on August 2nd!

 

Here's a little article about elephant calf Winnie's first night out:

Winnie’s First Night Out, The Houston Zoo

 

During the 2021 breeding season, the Houston Zoo assisted to breed and release 68 Attwater’s Prairie Chickens: Saving an Iconic Bird from Extinction, The Houston Zoo

 

Houston Zoo mourns loss of Traci the giant anteater

A Giant Anteater has died