Milwaukee County Zoo Milwaukee County Zoo News 2020

I believe the zoo takes away the sign of the screamer every season. Not sure why that do it for them and not other animals that are off the exhibit until next summer. Maybe because the zoo won’t put them back on if the winter is warm enough while other animals they will.

Glad it sounds like you had a good time!

 

I did have a great time. Thanks!

I plan on taking another trip to the zoo in December.

 

EsserWarrior, do you have any information on a bonobo female named Oona that was born at Milwaukee?

 

OONA (*July 7th 2015 to RICKY and FAITH) died from a parasite infection on December 18th 2017.

 

The AZA Ungulates website says that all new hippo facilities should be able to house 4-8 individuals and be willing to breed. I don't think that Milwaukee's new facility would be able to do that though, right?

 

Keyword is "should" and "new." I'm pretty sure Milwaukee's hippo facility is more of an upgrade rather than a new facility. The indoor housing is exactly the same right? They just upgraded the outdoor yard?

 

I'm not sure, honestly. I'm hoping that the third phase of their African expansion will allow them to remove the old indoor stalls that the hippos and rhinos use. That would allow them to fill that area with more space for both species.

 

I think the phrasing in the AZA TAG is meant to signal that all facilities renovating or building new hippo exhibits are expected to be able to accommodate that number of 4-8 hippos. This certainly sounds ambitious and most current and relatively new exhibits we talked about over recent years seem to not be up to the task.

 

Milwaukee County Zoo posted an update on their gorillas:

Update on Zoo Gorillas Maji and Hodari | Milwaukee County Zoo

The walls in the indoor exhibit were raised from twelve to fifteen feet high. A larger planter pocket was removed to give the gorillas around 900 more square feet of space. Mulch has been added to the floor of the exhibit.

 

I like the changes

 

I'll take photos when I visit Sunday.

 

12/13/2020 Milwaukee Visit

- The penguins inside the aviary had their stockings up. It took photos of them and could share the names of all the individuals the zoo has if anyone is interested.

- The kookaburra wasn't on exhibit and the sign was taken away.

- There hasn't been any progress on any of the Reptile/Aquatic Building exhibits.

- The renovated western lowland gorilla exhibit is decent. I'll upload photos to the gallery.

The Milwaukee troop of bonobos was also doing well! I'm glad I got to see Maji Maji the gorilla again too.

 

How many bonobos are there

 

Milwaukee has 19 bonobos. Not all of them are on exhibit at the same time, as I'm sure you know. The Laura, Claudine, Qasai, Murph, etc. group was out on exhibit again.

 

A male Prehensile-tailed Porcupine named Seamus has been added to the Small Mammal building, joining the armadillos and Quinn, the female who arrived last year.

 

The photos from my visit on 12/6/2020 have been uploaded. It includes photos of the renovated gorilla exhibit.

 

According to the zoo’s Instagram a new Golden Lion Tamarin now resides in the Small Mammal Building.

 

According to their Facebook, there is also a new male ring tailed lemur and a female red ruffed lemur which are new additions to the small mammals building

 

Are they being brought in for breeding purposes?

 

I'm hopeful that all these new animals in the building will be followed by it opening up to the public again.