This is significantly worse I feel. There are much less species listed and none of them have their own pages. The zoo's old site had extremely detailed pages that even gave the zoo's individual animals' backgrounds. This site doesn't even have scientific names. ~Thylo
I'm hoping it's just not finished. The home page is also automatically scrolling to the bottom for me and won't let me go up.
The six species in Bird Valley are crested screamers, Caribbean flamingoes, Andean geese, trumpeter swans, wattled cranes, and blue-and-gold macaws.
Apparently, the newest Water is Life section for the Giant Otters is not winter proof yet. I remember hearing about this in the past, but I thought they rectified the issue. Anyway, the water is drained from the exhibit and currently the red pandas are able to also access this area. It will definitely be interesting if any photos surface of the red pandas on the slide! The giant otters still have access to their original exhibit and the smaller exhibit next door that once housed the Canada lynx.
Why the heck wouldn't they do that when building it? Though I would love to see the pandas on the slide, too
I am afraid the Small Mammal House is one of the endangered sites in the Zoo. I hope long-time visitors and members will complain about the changes that have already occurred, and that could occur in the future once the Zoo gets passed all the disruption in plans caused by the coronavirus. The problem is that visitors have not been allowed in the Small Mammal House since March 2020 when the shutdown occurred. Even during the Zoo's reopening time, the Small Mammal House was not reopened for visitor access. The Zoo is now closed again for the month of January, and it seems probable that the Small Mammal House will not be open when the Zoo reopens again in mid-February. So visitors can't see what is happening. In addition to housing so many fascinating species for so many years, the Nocturnal Room, which used to feature so many nocturnal creatures, was the first of its kind to be created in a zoo. Visitors could see vampire bats, striped weasels, striped skunks, kangaroo rats, pygmy lorises, echidna, and various small rodents from all over the world. That wonderful part of the Zoo's history was erased when the Nocturnal Room was converted into an exhibit featuring only vampire bats. Unfortunately, even that opportunity may be gone if the Zoo does not commit to renovating the Small Mammal House instead of closing it.
If you travel even further back in time, the Philadelphia Zoo had an even more wonderful collection of wild animals that represented the fascinating variety of life on earth. Elephants (both African and Asian), rhinos (black rhinos, white rhinos, and Asian rhinos), bears (polar and kodiak), two subspecies of giraffe, three subspecies of zebra, warthogs, and too many species of carnivores to list here, including a wonderful variety of big and small cats. The Small Mammal House was filled with both nocturnal and crepuscular species. Whenever I go off on a tangent like this it makes me sad. Changes in the past decade have slowly erased all trace of what made the Zoo so wonderful throughout the first 150 years of its history. I still love and support the Zoo, but the things that make it a good zoo now can not compare to all that made it a great zoo in the past. So I disagree that it was necessary to convert the Pachyderm House into KidZooU, or to relocate so many species then spread the remaining ones out over space they never use just to appease visitors who don't understand that most wild creatures move over large spaces because they have to, not because they want to. Instead, they would stay in a smaller area if everything they needed could be found in that smaller area. I do definitely agree that too much space is underutilized in the Zoo, though. Some really great multi-species areas could be created throughout the Zoo in those areas. That would be enrichment for the animals in those exhibits, and would allow the Zoo to increase the number of species it showcases for visitors.
I agree to an extent, as while I do agree that a drawdown in species as drastic as this covers the zoo's image with a sheen of mediocrity, the exhibit for the elephants for instance was absolutely atrocious. The zoo admitted this themselves through the transfer of Dulary to The Elephant Sanctuary and Bette/Kallie to the ICC in Pittsburgh. That said, the zoo has the historical significance as well as hopefully enough community support to warrant a renaissance in zoological design (they started this with Zoo360 and then sort of stagnated after a while), as well as the return of several species to the zoo. If Seneca Park can successfully have elephants (AND polar bears) on only 16 acres of land, then why can't Philadelphia with 42? Of course the former polar bear-turned penguin habitat can be utilized for polar bears once more (with the proper renovations, like galvanizing the pool, adding a saltwater system and a Zoo360 trail in general for Bear Country), and with enough creativity in site utilization, elephants can be brought back to the zoo. Even a bachelor herd of 2 or 3 would do just fine, and even be conducive to a mixed-species environment, which is what zoos that are limited in space do to maximize their collection as feasibly as possible. Overall I'm not saying that the zoo should return to the days of being a postage stamp collection, but some kind of an indication of a renaissance would be nice, not... *animatronic dinosaurs and a glorified food court*.
And yet the zoo was facing bankruptcy in the 70s and again in the 90s. . Zoochatters' love does not sustain a zoo
I agree with everything you said in this reply! Your realistic vision of how the Zoo should be is definitely one I can be supportive of.
