Mountain Tapirs are namely being phase-out because they compete for the same space in zoos as the other tapir species. TAG officials realized that there is not enough space in North American zoos for 4 species of tapir. Therefore they chose to recommend that the lowland tapir (most common in wild) and the mountain tapir (while not common, it had the least possibly chance of future success than the other species in captivity). The lowland anoa has a very different story. Very few lowland anoa actually exist in North American zoos (maybe 15 ind. max?). The remaining exists in private hands where their numbers are bolstered by the interest on of private facility. For a population originating from a small founder base to become successful. Its important to be able to hold a large amount of individuals. Unfortunately there really isn't enough space in US zoos for 300 tapirs.
It seems sad that some of the larger zoos don't take it upon themselves to become "hubs" for tapir breeding and conservation. It looked like the LA Zoo was going to do this for mountain tapir at one point, but it obviously isn't going to happen now.
Here is a partial list of animals at the los angeles zoo back in 1992, the year that i was born, Mammals only for now Saiga Elds deer Giant eland Chamois Rocky mountain goat Dalls sheep Nyala Sable antelope Leopard Caracal Gelada baboon Tasmanian devil Polar bear Sloth bear Spectacled bear Siberian tiger Capybara Gaur Axis deer Chinese water deer Hartmanns mountain zebra American bison Wolverine Black footed cat does anybody have any other species in mind ???
@ Cat-Man regarding mountain tapirs ( tapirus pinchaque) in europe here is a list of 6 european zoos that used to have them Berlin Zoo Frankfurt Zoo Leipzig Zoo Stuttgart Zoo Paris Zoo I hope this helps
Does anybody know from what year this map is from? http://www.reineckandreineck.com/reineck/maps/zoomaps/losangeleszoo/LAZooFinal.pdf
Looks like circa 1990 or early 90's. That is when I first started going back to the zoo as an adult and that is what the layout was like. Interesting that 77 is listed as future desert bighorn, which never happened (I believe that is where turkomen markhors are and I believe bighorns are in the enclosure labelled empty on this map).
This looks almost exactly like the zoo was when I moved to LA and started visiting the zoo in 1997. The chimp exhibit says "future expansion", so it looks like it was probably shortly before they started any construction. I think the chimp exhibit was heavily under construction in 1997 so maybe this is from 1995-1996?
I would agree with AZ as circa early 1990s. A few giveaways would be an empty exhibit space 82, which has housed American Black Bears for many years, and space 88 still listed as showing Gaur; long gone from being exhibited here and later occupied by our first Sumatran Rhino in the 90s. And with the Opening of Chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains in 1998, that project had land cleared and construction started by the mid 90s, which obviously hadn't begun according to the map in question. My conclusion, at least 1990, the opening of World of Birds Show thanks to a generous gift from Nestle but probably prior to 93. 1993 saw the remodeling of the tiger exhibit, now know as Tiger Falls but not indicated on the map.
I found some images for a possible new map for the LA Zoo from the same company that also created the San Diego Zoo's map. These maps have nice aesthetics but do not accurately illustrate most of the Zoos' collections nor the enclosures. LA Zoo:LA ZOO Full Gallery:Visual Maps's Portfolio
I like the new map. Even if it's emphasis is perhaps too much on visual effects, the old one was dire, IMO
Regardless of what the symbols look like, the zoo did have both African and Asian at this point in history.
At the time of this map there were two female African elephants, Billy the Asian male, and an Asian female. By the time the current Asian elephant exhibit opened in 2010, only Billy was still alive.
Thanks David. I'm glad to see Rhinos return to the zoo. When I visited in 2019 that area of the zoo felt quite empty, and when I returned in 2022 there were no bears and no hippos - even more empty! Obviously this was tempered by the mountain tapir, but most people probably don't appreciate that!
Yes, there are several parts of the zoo that are starting to feel empty - the old lion exhibit, the old bear exhibit, the old children's zoo. I expect that some of this is in preparation for these areas being torn down and replaced with new projects from the new master plan. The timing for this is unknown though, and so this is a period of some of the zoo being desolate.
It certainly feels like that. The Rhinos will go someway to helping this but I can only assume there will be no new lions until there is a new exhibit for them.
