San Antonio Zoo San Antonio Zoo News 2023

Cotton-top tamarin twins have been born:

San Antonio Zoo Welcomes Newborn Cotton Top Tamarin Twins

 

A White-Cheeked Gibbon was born!

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The zoo has announced the birth of a baby white-cheeked gibbon this morning! The baby is on display with the zoo’s two adults

 

The zoo’s new butterfly house at the Tiny Tot Nature Spot is now open!

San Antonio Zoo on Instagram: "NOW OPEN! We have started introducing domestic butterflies, including Monarchs into the ALL NEW John and Greli Less Butterfly House at Kronkosky’s Tiny Tot Nature Spot!"

 

The aquarium is now home to a pair of Xingu River stingrays! The large tank also houses a few unsigned South American cichlids as well.

 

Meerkats are coming to the zoo this year according to this recent news article. As well the new entrance will be opening in December provided construction goes as expected. Lastly the zoo is planning to open the gorilla exhibit in early 2025 (meaning construction would need to start pretty soon and species would have to be relocated).

Leading SA: San Antonio Zoo CEO, Tim Murrow, discusses upcoming changes

I haven’t seen this mentioned so want to add that construction has already begun for the new entry. Currently the zoo is using two temporary entrances and fully online and kiosk ticket sales. As part of the entry complex the two lemur grottos will be netted and an elevated tube system will added to allow them to explore the entry area.

 

Female Lioness Axelle has been transferred to the Ellen Trout Zoo to participate in the SSP

A look back at some of our favorite Axelle moments! They don’t get much more cute/funny! | We have some bittersweet news to share - Yesterday, we bid farewell to Axelle the lioness as she began her journey from San Antonio Zoo to Ellen Trout... | By San Antonio Zoo | Facebook

 

Visited the zoo this week. Just a few notes:

• The 1950's era entrance is completely demolished and leveled. Foundation work should begin soon on the new complex. As well the monkey house is being renovated and is therefore fenced off.
• The butterfly house is open yet they currently only have one native species of butterfly on display. They hope to have the exhibit filled with species by the beginning of March. As well the zoo will soon have it sloth move into the greenhouse.
• The back of Tiny Tot Nature Spot is currently closed for renovation. They are replacing the pavement, building new play structures, and working on the former prairie dog exhibit (likely for meerkats).
• Signage for the zoos solitary red river hog has been removed. Given the hogs age it may have passed away.

 

The zoo posted a video on facebook of their Philippine Porcupine eating, as far as I am aware this is a new animal as I never seen it there, or seen it mentioned before.

Sound up for the cutest crunches ever! | Sound up for the cutest crunches from Bruce the Philippine porcupine! | By San Antonio Zoo | Facebook

 

Nicole the Asian Elephant is being sent to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, they plan to merge the elephant and giraffe yards but will be putting 5 Bactrian Camels in the habitat temporarily, they also confirmed that elephants are still in the plans for the expansion across the highway

San Antonio Zoo

 

Baby Okapi on the way!

https://twitter.com/SanAntonioZoo/status/1633574614889828353

 

Great news. I wonder when the due date is. I know they’d been trying to breed this pair for years (since 2017 or so? Right?).

 

Excellent news! I figured she was pregnant after seeing her on my visit last month. I am glad to see that San Antonio working with other zoos to figure out how to get this pair to breed worked out! Okapi breeding is quite a bit trickier than most other hoofstock and their courtship can appear/actually be quite aggressive — if you don’t have staff that know what they’re doing, what to look for, and how to manage them, it can be quite difficult!

 

Keeping the good new coming, a male Dama Gazelle calf was born, with 4 calfs in the last 2 years their breeding program for this endangered antelope has been stellar!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=903152437599846

 

two new Linneaus' Two-Toed sloth pups, and they are doing a naming vote

San Antonio Zoo

 

The five bactrian camels have debuted in the elephant habitat already. By the looks of it three adults and two juveniles. The exhibit is not different than before although more sand was added as substrate.

 

Do we have any idea where these camels came from? I don’t recall them from any other exhibit moving over.

 

Seven visitors were hospitalized, one with critical injuries, after falling victim to a large part of a tree unexpectedly falling. Looks to be by the bird house/tomistoma pond area.

'Almost hit my head': Several hospitalized after tree falls at San Antonio Zoo

 

Three Palm Cockatoos have hatched at the San Antonio Zoo. The chicks hatched about three weeks apart from each other and are being handraised - reported on their FB page.

 

Quick update based on my zoo visit today. There's a few new fish and a small horseshoe crab in the Friedrich Aquarium. New ones I saw include lemon coralgoby and whitebarred goby. The Tiny Tot Nature Spot is mostly back open, with an expanded play area. The biggest change is definitely the butterfly house. There are a TON of butterfly species from around the world in there now, and I think it's definitely worth the 4 dollars to get in, especially on a rainy day like today. I'll put a full list of species I was able to ID on my species list thread here. In addition to a bunch of new butterflies, one of the zoo's new two toed sloths in on display there as well.