I like the direction that Frawley is taking with it. I have great respect for Ehmke and his ideas, but I agree that a mega-large African exhibit in Minnesota probably isn't the most optimal way to spend limited funds.
Yes the new director definitely seems to have his priorities in order. I was at the zoo a long time ago (before Grizzly Coast and tiger redo), I would like to go back to see those additions. (I probably won't as there are a lot of places I would like to see and nothing else in the Minneapolis area really intrigues me).
While it would have been great to see the zoo have a major African complex, this is definitely an efficient decision and I have full confidence the zoo will continue to build high quality exhibits. I'm excited to see what they do for the macaques. Also, one error I noticed in the article is the zoo actually has had lions before since they had Asian lions in Northern Trail decades ago.
I remember the lion display when we visited as a family in 1990. It was a neat forested area and they had a nice sized pride. Personally I think the zoo should focus on cold weather species. The Como Zoo has the ABC species and is free.
I may need to rethink my statement about nothing else in Minneapolis appealing to me. Just today I read in the auto club magazine that Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport was voted as having the best restrooms in America!
Sorry if this info. is posted earlier in the thread and I simply missed it, but does anyone know where the zoo's Daurian Pika were imported from? ~Thylo
Thanks, I thought as such. Do you happen to know which region of Mongolia? The earliest I knew about them was 2013. ~Thylo
A new seasonal "outback" exhibit has opened. Walk through the Australian Outback — at the Minnesota Zoo
North America's oldest Japanese macaque, Nikko, died at age 34. Oldest snow monkey in North America dies at MN Zoo
An African Penguin chick was hatched! Minnesota Zoo Welcomes New Endangered African Penguin Chick - Minnesota Zoo