I don't know if this is already known on here or not but the July issue of Zoonooz confirms that the gelada will be sharing an exhibit with Nubian Ibex. The Ibex currently at the zoo are all males, and female ibex will be introduced in about a year.
So unless you've been living under rock (pun intended), phase 1 of Africa rocks (Cape Fynbos and Kopje) is now open. Phase 2 (West African Forest) will open in 3 to 4 weeks states to the vid below. San Diego Zoo's Africa Rocks exhibit opens Saturday
It is nice to see a bit of good trans oceanic cooperation developing. After years of very careful management European zoos have it actually fairly easy maintaining a good population of drills (it was not always so ... though) and do have surplus available for redistribution. The founder stock in part benefited from a small influx of the last drills without any immediate improvement in breeding prospects, and now it is time to return the compliment ... I guess.
I would love to see both West African Forest and Madagascar open at the end of this month. It also looks close to completion according to this video.
All that is awaiting the bridge opening is one inspector's signature. He had yet to arrive, but construction is complete and that is the only barrier to its opening. This is only in reference to the actual bridge. The elevator stack is still under construction.
The entirety of the canyon floor is reopen for trafic. Pandas have not returned to their old habitat. They'll be moved back upon bridge completion.
As soon as an inspector arrives and validates it. He was supposed to be here yesterday but he's late. It'll probably be open today or tomorrow. The elevator stack is under construction and will not open with the rest of the bridge.
As of today, the bridge is still not open. They are doing some minor work on it, so I'm thinking they failed their inspection and are bringing it up to standards.
Anyone know when Panda Canyon opens back up? I'd like to see Takins and Red Pandas when I go in a few weeks.
On the bus tour today, I got a good view of the takin, as well as a decent number of other off-show animals. I'm no engineer, but the bridge still looks a long way from completion. If it's ready before the end of the summer, I'd be surprised...
