Well, if they make disappear the current Hummingbird house but build a new Hummingbird Aviary, there is not a lose.
The current hummingbird house is nice because it is quaint and kind of hidden, so that it does not get to crowded. Including a new hummingbird house in the children's zoo will definitely not have these qualities and may not be the best for these fragile birds in my opinion. Glad they will continue to focus on this rarely kept family of birds though.
Doubt they’d put the animal’s welfare at risk. I have trust that SDZ will accommodate the birds and guests in a way that works for all.
I really hope so. Yet these are not the most strudy of birds, so including it as part of a giant playground with a variety of more hardy species may not be a wise choice.
I seem to recall that the fundraising language for the new Children's Zoo said that the hummingbird aviary would be in addition to the new Children's Zoo, so perhaps adjacent to it but not a part of it?
It will be interesting to see what species are kept when the new aviary opens- the artwork had some cool species shown. At the moment the collection has dwindled to Costa’s and Anna’s- not bad but not too exciting since they can easily be seen on zoo grounds.
I wonder why San Diego’s adding a new Komodo Dragon exhibit? Their current exhibit is fine and there are other parts of the zoo that desperately need a bit of money for a renovation/ new exhibit.
While it's not about San Diego Zoo per se, this is about San Diego Zoo Global's conservation work, so it may be of interest. This scientific article details how the Hawaiian bird breeding centres are combining high animal welfare with preparing birds for release into the wild. A total of sixteen endemic bird species have been bred at the zoo's two captive breeding facilities. The article is included below: Animal Welfare in Conservation Breeding: Applications and Challenges
We’ve had several new births in the past few weeks, including a Klipspringer, a Sichuan Takin, a Gerenuk, and most recently a Hamadryas Baboon! I’ve posted photos of these new babies in the media section.