Malayan sun bear Baubles died of heart disease. Baubles the bear dies at San Antonio Zoo after battle with heart disease
No! That’s so sad! 14 is such a young age. Poor little Baubles. Does San Antonio have any other sun bears, or was he their last one?
As well as: which are still to go and which will remain? I am really sad though they have not found the space and resources to showcase primates elsewhere in the zoo. I do think primates are in some way staple / backbone of a good zoo and a reason why Joe Average go visit a zoo.
When I visited the San Antonio Zoo in 2016, these cages housed families of Angolan colobus and golden-bellied mangabeys. While it's always sad to have species leaving collections, the cages were really dated, and they still have other primate species in more modern exhibits throughout the zoo.
Well, our communal query is really which primate species remain exactly and where and which ones are due to leave shortly yet?
Last time I went, the Monkey House had golden-bellied mangabeys and black-crested mangabeys. Apparently they would sometimes rotate in Angolan colobus, Wolf's mona monkeys, and a few lemurs. I'm guessing since the lemurs already have their own exhibits near the entrance, while the Angolan colobus and Wolf's mona monkeys share a nice habitat in Africa Live, the only ones they'll be sending to other zoos will be the two mangabey species.
I assume San Antonio Zoo was one of the zoos sending overseas its golden-bellied mangabeys (???). Some have ended up in Arnhem - Burgers Zoo and 1 or 2 other Continental European zoos.
The zoo is attempting to get the rights to Geoffrey the Giraffe of Toys 'R' Us fame as an ambassador for giraffe conservation: San Antonio Zoo wants to offer Toys 'R' Us mascot Geoffrey a new job as an ambassador for giraffe conservation - CNN
The zoo has begun renovating the rhino habitat, it is expected to re-open in early 2019. Here is the release from the zoo's facebook: San Antonio Zoo has begun the process of transforming its current rhino habitat. The new habitat will feature additional trees and landscape, a viewing deck, a waterfall with creek, and a mud wallow. The habitat will be home to not only rhinos, but zebras, crown cranes, waterbucks, sitatungas, and marabou storks. The new rhino habitat will be connected to the existing giraffe habitat of The Savanna so that animals can move between areas, creating a true savanna-like setting. A significant upgrade to the habitat will be the addition of a nursery area. The zoo plans to receive two female rhinos from other zoological facilities when the exhibit re-opens in early 2019 and a male shortly after that to begin a breeding program for Southern White rhinos. San Antonio Zoo was the first facility in America to successfully birth a white rhino in 1972. Since that time, San Antonio Zoo has had twenty rhino births, both black rhinos and white rhinos, throughout its history, with the last being in 2004. Rhino populations are dwindling worldwide due to habitat destruction and poaching. Future rhino births will carry on a decades long tradition of successes in San Antonio and will greatly contribute to the Species Survival Plan for this species Full post here: San Antonio Zoo
I’ve heard he was sent to Natural Bridge Wildlife Park near New Braunfels, which is just outside of San Antonio. Over 500 animals from 40 exotic, native and endangered animal species worldwide. Under the rhino section.
Here is an in-depth article about the master plan with several good illustrations: $200M Zoo Plan Calls for Expanding Footprint, Attracting More Visitors
I visited the zoo a couple of weeks ago- I was really impressed with the exhibits and how close you could get to the animals. I couldn’t get too close to the lions and tigers, and I didn’t get to see the anteater, but I was very impressed overall.
