From photos the zoo's remaining animal looks as though it could be a natural hybrid between C. suchus and niloticus unfortunately. The now-deceased croc was definitely a suchus, though. ~Thylo
Lots of stuff has been happening since my visit! Interesting to see that the Rare Animal Conservation Center is getting some renovations. Hopefully it's for the Mangabeys and larger Lemurs. The Chinese Alligator was there on my visit a month ago, and the West African Dwarf Crocodile was present but in a side exhibit. I didn't know the Zebra Mice were actually Barbary Striped Mice, although regardless they have a very good exhibit. The Sloth thing must be recent as it was there during my recent visit. What are your thoughts on the zoo in general? I'd be interested to see what you think.
It was for those exhibits, I believe. I was with a friend and was worried about my dog (the TinoPup was at UPenn having a spinal tap and MRI) so didn't note things like I usually do. This wasn't a dwarf crocodile, they were still in their exhibit across from the big tortoises. A few photos have been uploaded to the gallery and labeled as Barbary, so that's what I'm going with. "Zebra mice" is another name for the genus of striped grass mice, and the Barbary species is the one kept in zoos and as pets. There hadn't been anything done to the sloth exhibit yet so I'm assuming it was very new. I really like the zoo, and it's the one I get a membership with (though the free parking is a factor with that too!). The updates they've done have been great and they're consistently improving the place to benefit both the animals and visitors with innovative ideas. There are some areas that I'm impatiently waiting to be updated, namely bird alley and my beloved cheetahs, but hopefully those will be done in the next decade.
*cough cough* elephants pls? But in all seriousness, even Penguin Point (a move I somewhat disagree with as it once had polar bears) was a good move in terms of animal husbandry! (I would like to see the giraffes get more space, maybe a drastic redesign of the Rare Animal Conservation Center (Annamite Mountain range complete with loaned doucs from Singapore, similar to Zoo Chleby's design?) and the Reptile House (similar to Zoo Atlanta, more modern galleries complete with natural substrate), a more heavily planted otter exhibit that looks like the Pantanal, etc.?) But aside from that, good on the Zoo for making all these improvements!
A renovation of the Reptile House isn’t really necessary, it’s one of the best reptile houses I’ve ever seen. The Rare Animal Conservation Center idea sounds really cool though. I really liked the Otter exhibit, it isn’t very naturalistic but it’s huge with lost of water.
Sunshine, the aardvark, has moved to the Memphis Zoo on a breeding recommendation. The zoo does not plan to exhibit aardvarks anymore.
One step closer to completely emptying out the Small Mammal House... Is Philly the "London Zoo" of the US? ~Thylo
From what I know, Philadelphia Zoo has significant plans for the future (something I could not say for London), specifically the south end of the zoo. It upsets me to see the decline of the small mammal collection, but I’m optimistic for this zoo. They still have a great carnivore, primate and reptile collection right now.
I've just seen the zoo decline so much since my first visit in 2014. Yes they still have a solid collection (as does London) but they seem to be on a rather sharp decline diversity-wise overall. I've heard they have plans and most of them sound good, but part of those plans also calls for the further shut down of existing exhibit spaces. ~Thylo
They have less birds and less bird exhibits since my last two visits, though. I'm not saying Philly is a bad zoo and doesn't have a good collection (again, it does, and so does London) I'm saying I've observed a sharp decline over the past five years (as with London). ~Thylo
One plan suggested a new giraffe house on the site of the cheetah yards and the Frog Parking Lot along with an extension of the small primate/great ape trails (on account of the existing tree cover) and another suggested the return of an animal that's big and grey and hasn't been at the zoo for slightly over ten years as of the time I'm writing this...
While the Aardvark news is definitely disappointing, I really enjoyed the Small Mammal exhibit on my visit in August. Yes I'm sure there were less species than there were a couple of years ago, but the exhibits were much larger with multiple habitats being combined to form great rodent enclosures. The same thing happened in a lot of houses in the zoo. Honestly, I was fine with it, Philly has a great collection, exhibits are the main problem. Losing a few species but improving enclosures is more important than adding new species imo.
I have no problem with a collection being downsized in order to give animals that have don't have appropriate space larger enclosures, it's the closing down of sections of the zoo that worries me. While I've heard the Small Mammal House has been restocked a bit since my last visit, there is still an entire wing of the building that's been blocked off to the public since my first visit. The entire area of the zoo that used to house Okapi was completely emptied between my visits, and is there much of anything left in Bird Valley? Afaik, the zoo doesn't plan to keep Bird Valley or the Small Mammal House around long-term and have no real plans to refill those spaces with animals. The last time I visited, the only project that the zoo was committed to was a restaurant. ~Thylo
There are 6 species in Bird Valley, the only notable species were Flamingo's. I still enjoyed the area though; it's quiet and the exhibits are pretty good.
I’m sure its changed by now, yet the largest part was a giraffe house & exhibit capable of holding 10+ animals. The zoo also proposed renovations or new exhibits for rhino, hippo, zebra, cheetah, & flamingo in that request for proposals.
I've got to agree with @ThylacineAlive. Philadelphia still has a decent collection, but a decade ago it probably had one of the best collections in the US outside the Bronx/Omaha/San Diego group, at least for mammals. Plenty of interesting rarities too -- not just the douc langur but also things like bamboo lemur, striped weasel, bearded pig, striped possum, etc. Some of the drawdown was inevitable, of course, and was precipitated by needed renovations, like the Pachyderm House/KidZooU renovation or through combining adjacent enclosures to provide more space. What is concerning is the underutilization of space when areas are closed down or when seemingly viable mixes are ended (as is the case with the Aardvark). Looking at the entirety of the zoo, the entry sequence (Rare Animal/Reptile/KidZooU/Primate/Big Cat) has vibrancy that the rest of the zoo lacks. Hopefully some of that big empty space in the south end of the zoo gets updated to something special.
Not to split hairs, but I'm glad Philly sent their aardvark away; that animal deserves a better enclosure.
