Philadelphia Zoo Philadelphia Zoo 2021 News

I have not been in the kidzoou building for a while even since before covid. On certain days Milan does not like being touched. I was able to touch her today. If she doesn’t want to be touched she walks away and keepers direct people to not touch her. Milan is 15 years old now and she has been at the zoo as long as I can remember, she probably was even part of the old children’s zoo. She’s my favorite goat. Milan has been semi-retired for a while. A while back she was in the side yard after living in the contact yard for many years, and when she moved back she spent a lot of time in her stall. It wasn’t a good choice since she didn’t get enough time outside so now she gets to live her retirement outside. On July 18 I saw her in her stall so the change was just made in the last few weeks. It’s the best for her since when she wants to be pet she can come close and when she doesn’t she can stay far away. Today I saw four other goats with her. The black one, Dale, is 11 years old so she’s also pretty old. Sheldon, one of the Arapawa goats, also lives there now and he used to live in the contact yard. He’s also about 9 or 10.

 

I have photos of the finches from 2019, and I remember seeing them before then too, so maybe 2018?

 

Male Andean bear, Sinchi, has arrived from Salisbury Zoo.

Salisbury Zoo bear cub settling in to new home in Philadelphia - 47abc

 

When is the best time to see Sinchi? I went on Sunday July 18 and I saw him at the end of the day. I went yesterday and I saw Joaquin at the end of the day. Since Andean bears are solitary animals, they live separately. Does anyone know if the two bears have a set schedule or it’s just random? It seems random to me.

 

Sinchi arrived at Philly in April, not sure why it keeps getting posted as new in here

 

In the reptile house, the Anderson’s salamander passed away. Not sure how, but it had been living there for a long time so it was probably age-related although I’m not sure if it’s age. And the Madagascar ground boa is behind the scenes, not sure why. Maybe exhibit renovations.

 

How come the small mammal house is closed for covid precaution but nothing else is closed?

 

I got a nice response from the zoo on the giant tortoise at Philly. It seems the youngest along with Aldabra male Bubba were transferred out to allow for the introduction of new Galapagos breeding male!

 

I visited the zoo today and I noticed some changes.
- In the reptile house, a keeper told me the Haitian anole passed away. Somehow it is still signed. There is an eyelash gecko in its exhibit.
- Meerkats were off-exhibit, not sure why. A sign shows they are temporarily off-exhibit but I don’t know when they will come back.
- Naked mole-rats are temporarily off exhibit while their home is being renovated.
- There are plans for bringing two new red river hogs from California to be companions for their last elderly red river hog, Charlotte. At 19 years old, Charlotte is the second-oldest of her species in the United States. Last year I heard her and her sister were the third oldest, but one red river hog from a different zoo older than Charlotte must have died within the past year. Not sure where it was. Her sister passed away earlier this year, as well as their male Hamilton who followed her just two weeks later.
- I finally saw a Maned Wolf
- There have been talks about what to replace the old coati exhibit. A number of discussions have been talked about, including bringing coati back to the zoo or adding a fine layer of mesh(which has been discussed years ago before Water is Life) so the fossa can use that outdoor space. Both coatis passed away years ago.

 

More Updates
- In KidZooU, the goats have the option to be in the main contact yard, side yard, or holding stalls. I saw Milan again in the side yard, and she just got a sheer earlier last week. She looked so old, just standing in the exact same position all the time I was there. I checked back later in the day and she was in the same spot. The North yard is for goats and sheep that either have sharp horns or are not friendly around people. Sheep tend to be less friendly than goats.

- In the reptile house, a keeper confirmed to me that one of the beaded lizards passed away. It was around 2 or 3 years ago(pre-covid). I remember on another post saying the zoo only now has two beaded lizards on exhibit. When the one passed away, he was about 40 which is extreme old age for a beaded lizard. The remaining two males are in their mid-20s which is also getting up there but not as old. The zoo also has two females off-exhibit, females and males don’t get along too well. All the beaded lizards have been there as long as I can remember, and the one male that died has been there the longest I think.

 

Starting monday the 13th, through halloween, the zoo will be closed on mondays and tuesdays. It'll be open 930-5 wednesday-sunday, with last entry at 330.

Sounds like they'll be back to weekends only for the winter

 

There is now a Congo peafowl at the McNeil Avian Center. There are so many ground birds there like the great argus and Victoria crowned pigeons.

 

Omg! Is it a male or female? I actually find the females cooler than the males; they have such a unique mossy look to them.

 

It's a male named Eric.

 

Well, I hope they’ll get a female soon! It’d be cool to see a pair.

 

I visited the zoo today.
-I heard from a keeper about Storm the mangabey’s history of diabetes. He was diagnosed in 2019. Not sure of exact cause, but primate diets usually have lots of fruit so he was maybe getting too much. His medications daily are in a grape(one of his favorite foods.) Since he has diabetes the zoo has limited the amount of fruits he gets since they have lots of sugar. The keepers need to take urine samples daily to make sure his blood levels are at a healthy rate.
-In McNeil Avian Center, the violaceous turaco is now in the African Savanna Section.
-In PECO Primate Reserve, aye-ayes are off exhibit. Keepers are making improvements to their habitat.
-About the goats in KidZooU: sorry I didn’t make this clear, but during the day the goats are locked in a certain area. At night, they have the choice to switch between the contact yard and side yard. Each goat is in the side yard for a different reason. The goats and sheep in the North Yard are always there.
-Mason, one of the Nigerian dwarf goats is temporarily locked away from the others due to a skin condition. Each day, the zoo puts one goat with him as companionship since goats are social animals.
-2 of the sloth bears have moved to other zoos. The remaining two rotate on exhibit.

 

From my visit today, it seems like Grunt the male Aldabra tortoise has moved to another zoo. The updated sign outside does not show him and I did not see him.

 

Do you know which two and where they were transferred to?

 

It was Keematee and Balawat, Balawat returned to his home zoo but not sure where Keematee went. Keematee got transferred because she was born here and it was time to separate from mom and form a family of her own. Balawat returned to Cleveland Metroparks Zoo which was his home zoo. It’s not very good to keep two males together since they can fight. They weren’t fighting too much, but they were kind of like always so the zoo wanted to be safe than risky. Since Bhalu and Kayla have lived alone for a while and bears are solitary, the zoo now keeps Bhalu and Kayla separate.

 

Hopefully this means Bhalu and Kayla have another cub or two this winter. And hopefully Balawat and Shiva at Cleveland have more cubs this winter as well. I'm also interested to know where Keematee is at now, I guess we will find out sooner or later.