Roger Williams Park Zoo Roger Williams Park Zoo News 2021

The zoo announced via facebook today that there is now a pair of blue-throated piping guans in Faces of the Rainforest. This is definitely good news, as when I looked on the website only 6 bird species were listed in the Faces of Rainforest aviary (Teal, Whistling Duck, Motmot, Sunbittern, Cacique, Hyacinth Macaw). I wonder what happened to the Oropendolas, troupials, and currassows. Also, does anyone know of any masterplan update? Faces of the Rainforest has been open for a while now and I still haven't heard anything about a next project.

 

Sad news today. The zoo's nine-year old female masai giraffe has unfortunately passed away. Log into Facebook

 

@Neil chace since “Tufani” the aforementioned female has now since passed away, do you know how many giraffes the zoo has left?

 

One, maybe two.

 

On January 22nd, the zoo announced that a female American red wolf named Brave has recently made her public debut. She came from the Wildlife Science Center, and was added to the SSP.

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On February 14th, the zoo announced that 4 (2 boys and 2 girls) North American river otters were born on February 1st. Zookeepers are still in the process to name the babies.

Quadruplet river otters born at Roger Williams Park Zoo | ABC6

 

So I have a historical question about the zoo. I was looking at the AZA Ungulate Mixed Species Manual, and it lists an Exhibit at Roger Williams Zoo until 2006 containing red-flanked duiker, black-crowned crane, and Cuvier's gazelle. Does anyone know anything about this Exhibit? Apparently it was removed for construction and expansion of other Exhibits. I'm assuming it was in the Africa section, but can anyone please specify further? Thanks!

 

I remember that exhibit fondly. It was taken over when the elephant exhibit expanded. They also had sulcutta or leopard tortoise in there, possibly both. I believe it used to be a bongo exhibit at one point.

 

I was guessing an elephant expansion is the most likely scenario- and that also makes sense with the Bongo. I was aware the zoo had Bongo at one point, but was confused at where the Bongo could possibly be located. So did the old crane habitat (current river hog) get built when this habitat was destroyed? Or was something else in their previously?

 

I believe it was built after and I do not recall an exhibit prior. The current aoudad exhibit had either gemsbok or beisa oryx before the rocks were added for the sheep. Also, unless it happened in the last half decade or so, the bongo barn still exists between elephants and cheetah. Tàlking to the elephant manager some years back, they had consider using it for rhino (supposedly a hell of a constructed barn hence it still existing).

 

It would be nice if Bongo returned to New England at some point- they're such an impressive Antelope. I'm not old enough to have seen then at RWPZ, but I remember them at Franklin Park Zoo, and they were always one of the cooler animals there. RWP is going to run into some problems over the next decade with the current elephant and giraffe habitats- as neither is large enough to house their current species long term with current AZA protocols. It will be interesting to see what becomes of the Africa area.

 

I never realized FPZ no longer held bongo. They had quite a successful breeding program over the years and liked when they had them mixed with RRH.
For a while now I believe that RWP will phase out the elephants. Sadly they were never successful in getting the girls pregnant and gave up quite early on their reproductive efforts. Also, tho not in complete agreement, that given AZA standards both the giraffe and elephant areas are considered too small. Even if giraffe were phased out to give elephants more room, it still would considered too small. Reluctantly, I agree that one species should be maintained in that area (giraffe or even rhino). Side note, the two male cuvier's gazelles that were previously exhibited are the only two individuals of that species I have ever seen.

 

Again back in early 2019, I was part of one of their programs, and I learned that they will not be phasing out elephants anytime soon. I believe that they try the breeding program soon

Also the bongo barn is still there, and I heard the rhino rumor too.

 

They may not actively phase them out but given the girls age, they won't be breeding them either. Also 3 elephants is basically the max capacity for that facility.

 

The hogs were moved to the crane habitat? What's in the old hog enclosure?

The aging elephants will likely remain there the rest of their days I imagine, but I doubt New England will continue with any elephants once RWPZ and Buttonwood's current animals pass. As for breeding, afaik the girls are post-reproductive so I'm not sure where you heard that they're going to be trying to breed them again. Those efforts would likely prove expensive and fruitless.

White rhino would be a good (and expected) replacement for the elephants. I would like to see the zoo continue with their Masai Giraffe program, though. I'm not familiar with the location of the old Bongo barn but perhaps a renovation of both is and the current elephant/giraffe house could allow for a small mixed savanna in the current elephant yard with both giraffe and an antelope species (maybe zebra as well?), with then either something else taking the current giraffe yard or it become part of the main yard. While I am excited for RWPZ's masterplan, I am disappointed to see how rapidly the zoo plans to phasing-out most of their hoofstock. The Pronghorn will be replaced by Grizzly Bears, the zebra/wildebeest will be replaced by the sea lion development, the muntjac are unlikely to be replaced due to Rhode Islands CWD regulations, I believe the babirusa are slated for phasing-out once the new kangaroo walk-through comes to fruition, and with the Kordofan Sheep program likely ending within the next few years and their current habitat listed in the masterplan as tbd, it doesn't seem like maybe none superstar ungulates have much of a future at the zoo.* It would be nice if at least the zebra/wildebeest mix could be maintained in a mixed yard with giraffes in the future, but I can't see that happened.

*I'm also skeptical of whether the planned Bighorn Sheep and Moose habitats will ever happen. The AZA Bighorn Sheep SSP is a regional program and the subspecies doesn't fair well outside of their native range. Moose are more likely, but also don't strike me as as big of a priority as the Grizzly Bear project so if push comes to shove I can see them simply being scrapped for more bison. Additionally, RI's aforementioned CWD regulations might inhibit the Moose import to begin with.

~Thylo

 

I've never seen a Cuvier's Gazelle. The issue with the Giraffe habitat is that the AZA has a moratorium on single species Giraffe habitats, because they are so popular that they take space away from many other species. I'd personally like to see the zoo scrap its sea lion/penguin plan for the entrance and renovate the current zebra area for Giraffe- as it is larger than the current habitat and could accommodate both Masai giraffe and Soemmerring's gazelle (which is what the AZA encourages, but doesn't require, be mixed with giraffes), or Masai Giraffe and Grevy's Zebra. The elephant habitat could become Eastern black rhino, and that would be a nice use of the space, or if they were to make it a priority they could turn that space into habitat(s) for just about anything.

The issue is they have no room to breed elephants. I don't expect them to phase out elephants soon either, since the deaths of their current elephants is likely twenty years down the line. But I would place bets on these being their final elephants.

 

I actually looked into Rhode Island's CWD restrictions rather recently, and they only restrict imports from states with recorded cases of CWD. My guess is if they choose to acquire moose, they'd be Non-releasables from any of the three Northern New England states- none of which have reported cases of CWD. At this point I'm not sure any of the masterplan will happen, to be honest. It definitely has its flaws, and with the zoo not starting anything since Faces, I doubt it's really a priority right now.

 

Ok to clear this up as I went to the zoo last August:

The red river hogs were moved into the enclosure that formerly housed crowned cranes, however, afaik there is not an "old hog enclosure". Since the last time I remember going to the zoo back in 2015 and 2020, they replaced the front-viewing glass and the exhibit looks cleaner. The new crane exhibit is right next to the elephants.

 

@Neil chace agree with black rhino being the elephant replacement when that happens.
@ThylacineAlive also agree with you that elephants in New England are on their way out. Buttonwood has already slated GOH when either Emily, Ruth or both pass. With White Rhino at Southwicks (and have heard that will be expanding to breeding), I would like to see black rhino at RWP, basically have all three species represented in New England

 

One other interesting possibility that I haven't heard mentioned is replacing the elephants with hippos. If they build a pool, couldn't this be a good, popular replacement? They would'nt necessarily require the whole area either, so something else could go in the giraffe area as well.