Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens Los Angeles Zoo News 2022

It probably won’t end until either of these scenarios happen:
A. The ARAs get their way and Billy gets sent to a sanctuary.
B. The City Council keeps dismissing the activists’ pleas and Billy stays at the zoo for the rest of his life.

 

They're mad that they lost and they'll never stop. StoppableSan nailed it. He probably should have been moved back in the day, but instead they renovated and frankly did a great job. Also, they're not breeding elephants, councilman.

 

Plus, aren't they going to expand it even more with their new master plan?

 

October animal transactions: https://s36593.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/10.2022-Animal-Transactions.pdf

September meeting minutes: https://s36593.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/09.2022-Zoo-Commission-minutes.pdf

 

Looks like there are now only 3 mountain tapirs in the United States, if not North America.

 

Oof, two Mountain tapirs in a month, CMZ's and one of LA's. I mean not unexpected but still sad as the species has just moved a lot closer to being absent from NA...

 

There are 4 left at the LA Zoo. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's announcement on October 8 of Cofan's passing on October 7 took into account the September passing of one of the males in LA.

 

Where else would they be in North America if not in LA? Is there a secret Mountain Tapir in Canada or something?

 

I believe Mexico has a few Mountain Tapirs left, but I could be incorrect

 

This article from July 2019 noted at that time there were only 9 in human care globally: 2 at Cheyenne Mountain, 5 in LA and 2 in Colombia.

Tracking Tapirs: An Expedition in Ecuador

 

How old are the remaining Mountain Tapirs in LA Zoo?

 

It looks like one of the males passed away so that leaves them with 3.1 individuals (all full siblings out of Mescal X Midori). The female, Inca, was born in 1997 and the four males were born in 1999, 2002, 2005, and 2007 but it's unclear which one of them passed away. Cofan, CMZ's recently deceased male, and Colombia's female (Sedona) were/are also full siblings of these 5.

 

Hopefully the last 3 will still be at LA by the end of next month. Planning a trip around seeing them

 

There are 4 left in LA, 3 boys and 1 girl, as noted by @IndianRhino above. There are currently 2 mountain tapir exhibits in LA.

 

On the subject of mountain tapirs, during my visit today I noticed that the exhibit in South America was closed for renovation. I couldn't tell exactly what was being done, however, I did see the pool was empty, so it's possible it has something to do with that.

 

The zoo’s Twitter page announced they had a clutch of Roti Island Snake Necked Turtles hatch recently. And it looks like some are to be returned to their native range of Roti Island in Indonesia

https://twitter.com/lazoo/status/1583488981160759296?s=46&t=HG1-40KGAn_U8rLh7uCQ4w

 

Update from today: the mountain tapir exhibit in South America is back open.

Also, I noticed the African Pygmy Falcons in the Children's Zoo area are temporarily off exhibit to protect them from HPAI.

 

What is the status of LA's Calamian deer population? I know that Phoenix is down to one male who isn't terribly old, but does LA have many young, unrelated individuals?

 

We currently have 2 males last I checked. The species’ days are numbered here in the US as importing deer species is near impossible. Perhaps there is a better sustained population in Asia but I’m not sure.

 

I noticed today most of the roundhouses that were previously closed off with chains have been reopened and barriers to keep people back were mostly removed. The roundhouse in South America with the spider monkeys, capuchins and howler monkeys was still roped off and a barrier was still in place by the howler monkey exhibit in Rainforest of the Americas. The snow leopard exhibit also still has a chain across the front. The harpy eagle exhibit is closed for avian flu precautions.