Dr Laurie Marker of Cheetah Conservation Fund will be giving an evening lecture at the zoo on Thursday, April 7, 2016. I have seen her speak at the zoo twice before and she gives an excellent presentation - well worth it if you are in driving distance. Dr. Laurie Marker at Reid Park Zoo - Cheetah Conservation Fund : Cheetah Conservation Fund
A new meerkat exhibit is being built directly in front of the children splash area (Kenya Get Wet). The splash area is temporarily closed until construction is complete. (source - zoo website and facebook page)
27 year old giraffe, Texas, was put down. 27-year-old giraffe Texas euthanized at Tucson zoo | Local news | tucson.com
The café will close for remodeling. No details on what the changes will be. https://reidparkzoo.org/blog/zoofari-cafe-renovations/
The zoo has released plans for a new $3.85 million Health Science Center: Reid Park Zoo announces plans for Health Science Center - Tucson News Now
More on the new health center as it relates to nearby University of Arizona: Reid Park Zoo announces partnership with UA vet school
Here is a really nice news clip with a construction worker at the new gibbon exhibit. He shows the framework of the large artificial tree and talks about how they are designed, so this is the kind of thing ZooChatters love. Zoo 4 You: Gibbon Exhibit
The new gibbon habitat opens to the public next week and zoo director Jason Jacobs does a great job of promoting the exhibit on the clip below. The 3-minute video shows the old gibbon enclosure, the indoor den of the new exhibit and provides information on the innovative "treehouse" that the gibbons will utilize in the future.
The end of the clip says it opens December 28th (2016). Surprisingly I have not received any emails or mailings from the zoo to the membership mentioning this. Anyway it looks nice and it will be a great addition to one of the best small zoos in the country. I will be interested to see the layout in person. There were two adjoining bear exhibits, though for many years only the left exhibit (shown in clip) was for sun bear and the right was for warty pigs. The very elderly bear died and the pigs were shipped out. I thought both exhibits would be incorporated but from what I can tell from the clip only the left exhibit was used? (I could be wrong). If this is the case it will be interesting to see what becomes of the right exhibit? (Jason if you are reading this clouded leopard or fishing cat would be ideal ).
With the moving of the gibbons, someone on Facebook asked what will become of the old gibbon exhibit. The zoo replied they are not sure but it may become an aviary (which would make sense IMO and be an easy transformation).
AZ, do you know if in the early history of the zoo there were ever any ape species at Reid Park Zoo besides gibbons? I know that they don't plan to get additional ape species, but was curious if there were once other species there. When I first visited this zoo in 1988 gibbons were the only ape species.
I am virtually certain there have never been any great apes at Reid Park Zoo, or any other Arizona zoo except for a gorilla at Phoenix Zoo when it first opened and the orangutans at Phoenix Zoo. (There may have been a medical lab with chimps in Arizona - seems I remember it listed in Int Species Inf Sys years ago - but none in a zoo).
