Only in 2017: a news thread for the zoo in Morelia. Well I would like to start with a news item informing us a state official is hoping to assist the zoo management in renovating the zoo. Link: Podrían renovar zoológico de Morelia: SEDETUM
I'm a bit late to this thread , but I'm glad to hear that the zoo is being rennovated. I have been there twice many years ago and to be honest for me Morelia zoo is a really mixed bag. When I visited they had some very interesting animals not typically kept in Latin American zoos such as pygmy hippos, striped hyenas, genets, bonobos, African wild dogs, cheetah and Tonkean macaques.Not to mention , the herpetarium / reptile house at the zoo has a superb collection of Mexican reptile and amphibians including many endemic species of rattlesnake and other venemous snakes. The problem is that many of the enclosures for the animals that I saw ( I'm using the past tense because I hope things have drastically improved since) were just not up to standard and while none of the animals looked mistreated as such I remember feeling quite angry at how poor the enclosures they were housed in were and the stereotypical behaviour. Some of the enclosures particularly those of the big cats seemed like health and safety risks to visitors just waiting to happen. I remember that there was an open moated enclosure as part of a series of primate enclosures which held a single Geoffrey's marmoset (I think that was what it was but not sure) and I saw this poor animal being chased around this enclosure and narrowly caught by a feral cat that had somehow got inside. I actually felt so concerned about this cat killing the marmoset that I picked up a pebble and threw it at the cat as hard as possible and hit it. I told my girlfriend of the time to go and find and alert a zoo worker as to what was going on so that he could do something and remove the cat from the enclosure. Eventually a "zoo keeper" turned up and I explained what was going on and pointed out the cat (which was hiding in the grass but still visible) and the danger the marmoset was in but I was met by this totally feckless expression that seemed to be an attitude "what do you want me to do about it?". I told him again that he needed to do something or the cat would succeed in killing the monkey but he just told me something to the effect of "oh nooo , the monkey is too fast" and then some moronic comment like "why worry young man ? they are just friends". I asked him to direct me to his superior so I could explain the situation and he just waved / shrugged me off and walked away very rudely / dismissively. Eventually I did find other keepers and the zoo office and went to speak to someone they said that they would go and check and deal with it but they didn't seem in any rush to do this. The whole thing left a bitter taste in my mouth and that single incident was demonstrative to me of how neglectful the place used to be.
A male North American Bison calf was born in late April. Also, a crocodile was captured near the city by the zoo on May.
It is an Morelet's crocodile. Link: Rescatan cocodrilo (Crocodylus moreletii) en Chiapas y tucán (Ramphastos sulfuratus), en Michoacán
Parque Zoológico Benito Juárez | Superan animales del Zoológico de Morelia expectativa de vida Here is information on the oldest animals at Morelia zoo including the bonobos, chimpanzees, Asian elephant and Aldabra tortoise.
