Roger Williams Park Zoo Roger Williams Park Zoo News 2021

A few other minor updates to the zoo recently:

-The Bald Eagle habitat is getting a facelift with a brand new shelter being constructed, many branches cut down and the entire area getting trimmed of foliage.

-The red wolves now have a man made den (its a metal shed) to incentivize them to be out a bit more and feel more comfortable.

-It does appear like we only have the female Red River Hog (Penelope) left as the male hasn't been seen in many months.

-As another update on the status on animals, The two Bactrian Camels have now been unseen since they first were exhibited in mid summer. Marshmallow has been known to have medical issues but it is a bit odd that both camels haven't been seen since.

 

I would like to know, if this is true???

I am guessing not because there should have been a social media post referencing this by now.

 

Afaik zoos rarely if ever mention the death if infants because of the controversy it could bring up.

 

I saw both camels on exhibit yesterday.

 

In that case great news. I went last week and no luck so appears they finally showed signs of getting better finally.

 

On November 29th, the zoo announced that they have acquired a (1.0) southern tamandua named Salvador from an undisclosed facility.

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Although they did not disclose it, he's the 2020 tamandua offspring from the Dallas Zoo.

 

The zoo has found a new director. He is from San Diego Zoo.

 

His name? Sources?

 

The new director is Stacey Johnson.
Roger Williams Park Zoo names new executive director | WPRI.com

 

Roger Williams Park Zoo names new executive director | WPRI.com
His name is Stacey Johnson, and he was San Diego Zoo Global's director of conservation science operations. If he can bring Roger Williams back on track with the public (the public's wanted polar bears back and they sure don't like Faces of the Rainforest), then I'm excited to see what he has in store for the zoo!

 

Damn! Beat me to it.

 

Are you suggesting that it is at all realistic for the zoo to get polar bears again? I would love for that to happen, but I always felt it was very unlikely, given the current state of the US captive polar bear population.

 

Stacey Johnson has been the Jaguar SSP coordinator for years. I wonder if he’s got any interest in bringing that species to RWPZ

 

It’s certainly “possible” there have been a number of brand new breeding pairs put together recently. And if Talini of Lincoln park were to have a cub I believe RWPZ would be able to pull genetic claim as her father was born here, but it obviously depends on if the bears start producing cubs or not. We’ll see, it’s unlikely, but possible.

 

I thought there weren’t enough breeding males in the US.

 

I was thinking this same thing a few minutes ago. My big thought was where the zoo would put them. Ideally they could go in some of the wasted space near Faces of Rainforest, but that might be a little bit too cramped for jaguars? Maybe if they tore down either the education building or admin building? Alternatively, they could completely rework a section of the zoo to accommodate jaguars, of which the obvious choice would be to rework North America. Irregardless, I agree that jaguars would be a cool species for Roger Williams to get.

 

Well… it’s complicated. There are two proven breeding males right now, one of which has no females to mate with, and the other’s only mate is raising cubs right now. The third proven male, Marty, died less than a month ago. On the bright side there were six breeding pairs together this past season and three or so new ones are to be made next year. It’s never been lack of males that hurt the population. It was birth control, castration and bad luck with fertility.

 

They would never fully tear down the Admin building because it was the former elephant house and is probably labeled as a protected historical structure.

 

I thought the former elephant house was what became Tropical America? Also, didn't the masterplan call for tearing Admin down to get colobus monkeys?