Milwaukee County Zoo Milwaukee County Zoo News 2019

I visited the zoo today and finally saw the zebras in Impala Plains. One of them does look very young, so it makes sense that they're two foals. Possibly brothers?
The colobus monkeys also have access to their outdoor exhibit at long last, and seemed very comfortable in their outdoor home.
Alex the orangutan seems to be adjusting well, but is still quite shy.
I saw the new baby giraffe through the doors of the giraffe building (the building was closed when I was there) but I was told that zookeepers plan on having the building open all day starting tomorrow, depending on how mom (Ziggy) does.
I got to see the new Kenya Guinea fowl up close as well. They're much smaller than what I thought they'd be. It appears that the zoo has 3. I did not take my camera, so I uploaded a few photos in the zoo gallery I took on my phone.

 

The rhino expansion I feel could involve much more rebuilding in the area and might allow new species or more of existing animals to AA. Great to hear about all the new breeding plans. After the rhino expandion, does anyone know what the next phase of the master plan will be?

 

After Adventure Africa is complete (with the rhinos being the final phase) the zoo will shift focus to renovating the main entrance and humblolt penguin exhibit. The next major exhibit will be Alaskas Cold Coast, taking up the existing North American line and will feature polar bears, brown bears, caribou, sea lions and sea otters.

 

I've been wondering what makes the Milwaukee County Zoo special. I see other zoos with larger, more imperative, more naturalistic exhibits and wish this zoo could be better.

 

Honestly, I think its genuine the zoo that is the biggest diamond in the rough that makes it special. Its the zoo that feels like its in the woods and the animals are relatively close, but its also one that has the most potential to be something great, its just needing the right people to spur that development.

Besides that its the one thing that Milwaukee has attachment too, like the brewers or beer. Its something that every generation seems to have a story to go with their zoo going experience. You talk to the older generation and they will talk to you about Samson the silverback gorilla for a long time, or how others would throw marshmallows to the polar bear. Milwaukee zoo has that aspect to it that when the weather gets warm again one must go to the zoo. Its hard to put into words but the zoo is something that is ingrained into the DNA of the city and the surrounding communities.

 

I could not have put it any better myself. It's written into the city's DNA that people go visit the zoo and create memories. The fact that it's located within a forest is also pretty unique. And while a lot of the exhibits are dated, the zoo does have some pretty top-notch stuff; Big Cat Building, Apes of Africa is pretty good, and the best bird aviary building that I've seen to date. With big project coming and underway, maybe I'm a little biased as this has been "my" zoo since I was born, but the Milwaukee County Zoo is special.

 

Where are they gonna get the polar bears from, considering U.S. zoos are having a bit of a polar bear shortage?

 

That will be the million dollar question when they finally get around to renovating the area into the Alaskan Coast. Currently we have one polar bear and when she passes we won’t get one to replace her due to her exhibit not fit for polar bears due to current standards. They are also not even going to start construction till 2024 or 2025. So there could be more polar bears in the system, a law could change that would allow the transportation of them out of their native range (the problem ones), or they could scrap the whole polar bear area for something else. We’ll have to wait and see.

 

The zoo is teasing a big pregnancy announcement on social media for tomorrow. Usually they’re pretty hush about expecting moms so it’s pretty cool to see hype about it.

Any guesses what it is?

 

Baby bear or rhino?

 

Both rhinos are females and the bears are either solitary (polar and Alaskan brown) or all related (grizzley).

 

In that case, I really don't know. That any big feline would be pregnant?

 

I’m thinking it’s the red panda

 

I believe it is another giraffe calf because I went in May and saw the giraffes showing signs of mating. Hopefully many species will be having babies. I think it would really draw more people to the zoo while they are trying to raise attendance for all the master plan projects upcoming

 

I’m thinking the red panda as well. Are the hippos able to breed?

 

Milwaukee’s hippos consist of male Happy and female Patti. I’ve heard that they never got along, and I’ve only seen Happy exhibited alone in the almost ten years (wow that went fast) he’s been here.

 

I see. On another note, I'm pleasantly surprised that they plan on bringing in sea otters, since there's not that many zoos that keep them (not counting aquariums); the only ones I can think of being the Pittsburgh Zoo, Point Defiance Zoo, Oregon Zoo, and Minnesota Zoo.

 

I believe Shedd Aquarium has two different species of Sea Otters, so it would be interesting to see how Milwaukee would do a Sea Otter Exhibit

 

In my opinion, the proposed future polar bear exhibit doesn't look impressive much at all. Its still going to be awfully small by modern standards, and I would prefer if that whole area would be dedicated to a great large coastal exhibit for sea otters.

 

One thing that I keep reminding myself is that this is a road map it’s not the actual plan per se, so things can change. Even from the time they show what an exhibit will look like to what is actually built can change drastically, look no further then the first phase of AA. They originally had the elephant house in the woods then moved it more to the center, and then had the animal bridge but then took it away. So things can change depending on funding so who knows what may come from it. It’s still a few years away but with respect to the project it looks like it will be costing them more then they are projecting hence why they keep pushing it further down the road.