Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Pachyderm Building at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

This is a question some local Zoochatters (to Cleveland, Ohio) might know the answer to. I was at the Zoo on August 23, 2008 for Trunk Party (the event held before the elephants moved to Columbus) and I went in the Pachyderm Building. I vaguely remember a capybara in the Pachyderm at the time, as well as red river hogs, the tapirs, Nile hippo, and of course, the three elephants. Was there a capybara ever in the Pachyderm Building in 2008? I know there's capybaras in the Rainforest, but I thought there was a capybara in the Pachyderm.

 

Yes, capybara was in the Pachyderm building before African Elephant Crossing construction. Traditionally the Pachyderm building was home to elephants, Blackie the Nile Hippo, pygmy hippos, Malayan tapirs, and warthogs. The Pygmy hippos and warthogs were transferred to other zoos early. They brought in red river hogs for one summer and the capybara from the rainforest to fill out the building before the construction began in the fall.

 

I thought the last pygmy hippo died in 2006 (Mushka?) I thought someone told me she died of pneumonia. Also, do you remember the boardwalk that stretched from the former cassowary exhibit (near the lorikeets in Australian Adventure) to the elephants? I remember the Bruijn's pademelon/double-wattled cassowary exhibit, Matschie's tree kangaroos in a glass-fronted outdoor exhibit, pygmy and Nile hippos, the tapirs, warthogs, and Kirk's dik-dik. Since you're a local, do you know what else was on that boardwalk? Thanks!

 

I remember the capybaras too, but I wasn't so sure of the date. I do take a bit of an issue (jokingly) with your use of "traditionally" for that time period - for some of us, "traditionally" would be the time when the former elephant exhibit was subdivided into two, one exhibit home to elephants and the other to the Masai giraffes. And one other species that was traditionally found in the pachyderm building was the honeybee (though it made little sense as to why the exhibit was located there, I remember it very fondly). I've been going to the zoo long enough to remember the old seal pool (located near where the ampitheater currently sits) and the old main building (home to many of the animals who moved into the Primate & Cat building), plus both the original and the later (now late as well) Bird Houses...(though not quite old enough to have seen the original reptile collection or the opening of the pachyderm building)!

 

When were there bees in the Pachyderm? By the time I started going to the zoo, the giraffes were in the African plains. I have heard from other locals that the walls near the eating areas and the lion exhibit used to be part of the seal pool. Is that true?

 

Yes the sea lion pool was where the lions/food court is now.
Also along the boardwalk was a Goliath Heron. Nearby were the bongos and white wallabies. I member the cassowarys and tree kangaroos. Does anyone member the beaver/otter exhibit?

 

I don't remember any of this. I moved to Ohio in 2002, and started going to the zoo that time. I am talking about more recent stuff. I know Wolf Wilderness has beavers. Wasn't there Brazilian tapirs in the Rainforest at one time? When I went to Living Treasures in Newcastle, PA, they had tapirs, but I couldn't see the actual tapir.

 

I think they may have had Brazilian tapirs at the beginning (I know they had them at the Pachyderm building at one point), but the last tapir species held at the Rain Forest was Baird's tapir (thankfully, as the exhibit is really too small for tapir). And the beaver/otter exhibit mentioned by MaxRebo was in the area where the Australian Walkabout is now - alligators were also held in this area at times, as were skunks (if I recall correctly). That area closed, if I recall, when they put in the children's railroad. Anyone else remember when (briefly) there were rudimentary pens inside the railroad track opposite the pachyderm/cassowary area that were, for a period, marked with signs for species to come? At the time, there were to be some North American animals added - I remember signs for Pronghorn and Black-tailed Jackrabbit. Those "exhibits" were around for several years, but I can't ever remember them having actual inhabitants...

 

I meant Baird's tapirs. Didn't the last tapirs leave in 2003? I know the exhibit with the sloth/prehensile-tailed porcupine/agouti used to have the anteaters until the tapirs left, when they were moved to the capybara exhibit. I also have a weird, vague memory of an okapi at the Cleveland Zoo around 2005-06, a few years after I moved to Ohio. Is this possible? I know the zoo doesn't have them, but I am almost positive that's what it was. If not, it was something else.

 

They never had okapi, they had bongo

 

Was it possible there was a bongo around 2005-06 in the African Savanna near the giraffes? I might be thinking wrong.

 

I don't ever recall bongo in the African Savanna. I'm not sure where around the giraffes you might have been thinking of - I can't recall any exhibits other than the three main African yards since the exhibit opened. At one point, Thomson's gazelle were in the end exhibit that has always housed the giraffe, but otherwise that exhibit has, to my knowledge, only housed various birds (including kori bustard and ostrich) in addition to the giraffe herd. The middle exhibit has (again, to my knowledge) featured zebra, vulture, and occasionally additional hoofstock, and the exhibit nearest the main entrance has been various hoofstock (the birds have always shifted around, and some of these configurations may have been shifted slightly during exhibit renovations). The rhino exhibit was only home to rhinos and, for a brief, interesting experiment, cheetahs (the zoo prominently advertised that it was the first institution to display cheetahs and rhinos together). I can't think of anywhere else near the giraffes where bongos might have been, and I cannot ever remember them in any of the main savanna yards.

The bongos used to be kept in the yards next to the pachyderm house (that land is now occupied by part of Elephant Crossing). Those yards housed a large number of different species over the years, including Thomson's gazelle (prior to the opening of Africa), sarus crane, ground hornbill, red-necked wallaby, and many more. For most years, this area felt like a kind of catch-all, though at times a good portion was mostly dedicated to African species and the exhibits nearest to what is now the Australian area mostly focused on Australian species (this area included the exhibits that were long home to the Zoo's cassowaries, as well as the small glass-fronted exhibit long home to tree kangaroos)

To my knowledge, CMZ has not exhibited okapi (I've never seen or heard tell of the species being part of the collection, at least not since the 1970's).

 

I have a question. I what order were the exhibits at The Pachyderm Building?

 

When you first walked in on the left were the elephants, then on the hallway down the building were (If I'm remembering properly), Warthog/ Aldabra Tortoise [In the winter], Nile Hippo, Tapir and Pygmy Hippo

 

The warthog/ albabra didn't have an outdoor exhibit?

 

All of the animals did. The Aldabras stayed inside though because it was winter

 

And the rest of the year, the Aldabras lived at an outdoor exhibit near the Primate, Cat and Aquatics Bldg.

 

I believe the tortioses now live in the hospital during the winter

 

Yep, but they're off exhibit in the winter.

 

Yep, but they're off exhibit in the winter.