Apparently it's been almost a year and a half since I last visited SF's zoo... The former nocturnal house is showing a movie -- Red Ivory -- on a loop every ten minutes or so. The title is self-explanatory. The gift shop in the Primate Discovery Center is gone, and appears to, at least temporarily, be an event space. The zoo acquired a pair of Colobus monkeys* sometime over the past year, and has had two successful howler monkey births over a similar time period. * - I don't know why you'd get such a large monkey and put them in the smallest cage in the Primate Discovery Center. The space behind the African Savanna near the gorillas is a splendid spot for three or four African monkey exhibits. The new snow leopards have been on site for ~2 months now. The female, Anna, is two and the male, Raj, is four. Both come from facilities in Winnipeg. Not sure which, but I think Raj comes via the Assiniboine Park Zoo. They are a recommended breeding pair. Keepers are actively working on habituating Anna; she's very uninterested in going in at night. The zoo's eldery male snow leopard passed away last year at 17, and the female is currently living off exhibit at the old Feline Conservation Center. Mating occurred, but the pair never produced offspring. Since Amanzi passed away last year, the zoo is down to three lions -- Jahari, Sukari, and the nearly two Jasiri. Sukari is no longer recommended to breed and is back on birth control; zoo officials are as yet undecided on whether or not Jasiri needs to be moved or housed separately since his father is not yet attempting to force him out. All options, including starting a new pride, are being entertained. Martha, the zoo's female Amur tiger, passed away last year leaving only the male, Bronevik. I don't remember if he's recommended to breed or not. He was pretty young if I remember correctly. The Lion House is now permanently (?) off-limits to visitors. A small section with the public restrooms remains open, and they conduct a keeper talk here with a different big cat daily. A small section of South American birds remains opposite the talk space. Jillian, the zoo's Sumatran tiger offspring, was sent to Sacramento a while back, and it looks like the zoo might be trying to encourage breeding again -- Larry & Leeanne are on exhibit together. Harrison, the new male koala, is also now on site. He's primarily getting used to the outdoor yard at this point in time. I can't be certain, but it appears that the zoo received a large collection of birds including a pair of Black Palm cockatoos and a trio of Eclectus'. The Bali mynah might have been there before. Construction continues on the new komodo dragon enclosure where the old tapir exhibit used to be (now next to the wolverines and Indian rhino). The outdoor space faces the penguin pool, and the indoor viewing will be next to the wolverines. Whatever the Great Ape Project actually entails is ongoing as well. Construction appears to be focused on the old elephant barn at the moment. Can't see inside, but there are three small doors cut into the building near the top; one of which I assume will be the for the eventual passageway. A new, large human-sized door has been cut into the wall at ground level closest to the walkway the used to cut behind the chimp exhibit. Oh, and the black bear cubs are getting along famously. The male has been neutered since there are eight hundred million black bears in the country, so no breeding. Still, they seem to have a great time wrestling. I think that's all the pertinent info from my notes at this time. Of note: Almost every exhibit now has restricted viewing. The mandrill is practically invisible unless he opts to sit on top of the hillock. Even the flamingos are walled in.
The justification for housing the Howler and Colobus Monkeys in smaller enclosures is that they're less active species in general. Both species are leafeaters. The Cellulose in leaf matter is a tough material to breakdown, so they have an extra long lower intensine to help with digestion, and tend to spend more time laying around digesting. That being said, I do agree that the zoo needs better primate exhibits!
Interesting news about the Amur tiger. Doesn't the zoo already have a male Amur tiger? My only thought is maybe Grom already mated again with Koosaka and Philadelphia Zoo no longer needs him. Philadelphia Zoo also has Whiz and Dimitri, but it be odd to send either out if not on a breeding loan.
SF Zoo Master Plan Not sure if anyone posted this already, but this website says it has a SFZ master plan. Of particular note it broaches the return of elephants and the debut of moose (I'm fine with elephants coming back, but moose? They'd overheat as soon as they crossed the state border.) How legit do you all think this is? Is it the real deal? Is it outdated? Anyway, check it out. It looks cool.
You are looking at it Kid! Masterplan SF Zoo dated 2004. These are the concept plans by the architect firm, no idea where the texted version is.
This is an outdated plan, near the completion of the African savanna (visible on the plan) and prior to the end of the zoo's elephant program. Not sure what the current master plan is but it will have deviated greatly from the layouts shown.
I checked some things out on SF Zoo and new exhibits elsewhere. * September 2017 minutes: Great Ape Passage remodel of the chimpanzee exhibit and the upcoming addition of fossa to the Madagascar region of the Zoo. Future capital projects being considered may include an exhibit for Andean condors, an enlarged snow leopard habitat and continued stabilization of the Mother’s Building (plans for membership office). * November 2017 minutes: It was announced that a $50K renovation of the Komodo dragon exhibit will take place. Source: Joint Zoo Committee meetings.
Yes, the zoo currently has a single male Amur tiger. It wouldn't surprise me if they agreed to home another elderly cat; the zoo hasn't met a surplus animal it didn't want. I disagree with the acquisition though; they simply doesn't have the room for another big cat. Extensive work on the cat house and grottoes needs to be done before they should consider housing any more cats. Obvious statement is obvious. The zoo needs to decide whether or not to continue with the PDC concept or complete the transition to Madagascar (and include crocodiles). These half measures don't serve anybody; the monkeys are deprived of the chance to fulfill themselves -- i.e., the siamangs can brachiate -- and visitors are deprived of seeing how amazing they can be. I'd be curious to know where they think an Andean condor exhibit would fit. As it stands, the only space that seems viable (between the sea lion pool and rainforest house) is currently stuffed with an elevated obstacle course. An enlarged snow leopard habitat is absolutely necessary. What's there now is the absolute bare minimum, but in order to substantially enlarge the habitat (and keep it attached to the lion house), they're going to have to reroute the main path by the hippo pool. That corner is as built up as it can probably be at the moment. $3-million for a playground. $50-grand for a Komodo dragon reno. We'll see what it looks like when they're done, but early looks aren't promising. It's another bare bones renovation.
Thanks @Buldeo for all your comments. I am of course not a SF Zoo regular, but up till the last general director was in office it all seemed clear. I agree that the SF Zoo has - by nature of its colorful history - quite a good number of areas to rework / renovate up-to modern day standards, like f.i. "Cat Kingdom" and the ole Pachyderm building. There are also quite a few green fields that in my view would be suited to (as per the Original 2004 MP) to become an full blooded Asia section. It would allow both Pachyderm building and Ct Kingdom to focus on African carnivores (lion, hyaena, cheetah ...). The above once again raises the question: Where is the real and current Masterplan in this?
Does anybody know if the zoo still plans on acquiring orangutans? Or are they shifting their focus to chimps for now?
Jillian the Sumatran tiger has returned home to San Francisco after showing signs of anxiety and not adjusting well to her Sacramento exhibit. Tiger returned to SF Zoo after transfer to Sacramento made her homesick
She Jillian was housed with her mother at the SF Zoo until she left a year ago at age 4, and was in close proximity to her father as well. I wonder if the lack of companionship/socialization was challenging for her and caused her stress? Or maybe Sacramento Zoo wasn't giving her enough enrichment?
I’m absolutely positive that Sacramento Zoo tried everything in their power to make her comfortable. We as outsiders probably won’t know the extent to which they tried. In some cases, there’s just something that makes the animal uncomfortable that we as humans don’t notice.
This is all anecdotal, but when I had occasion to visit Sacramento, Jillian spent the entirety of the day in the back of her exhibit, near the night house door, and as soon as it was open, she was inside. The rest of the cats spent more time roaming throughout their exhibits. And while I'm not fond of San Francisco's cat grottoes, they are leagues better than what Sacramento is working with*. I don't have exact figures, but I am almost certain that it barely meets AZA's current requirements. I sort of feel bad too, after saying that Sacramento shouldn't have big cats given their current space restrictions. * - There is an empty exhibit space between the anteater and snow leopards that could be repurposed for an exhibit extension. It's currently walled off so the zoo might already have plans for it.
I haven't been to the Sacramento Zoo in 7 or 8 years. I remember their tiger exhibit being mostly cement, but don't recall how big it was.. The SF Zoos Big Cat exhibits are mediocre at best, but the Zoo/keepers do seem to make the best of it. Over the years they've added more grass, branches, shrubbery etc. The design of the building allows them to easily transfer Cats from one exhibit to the other, so they're often in a new yard each day. The last time I was there a keeper said the zoo is going ahead with expanding the Snowleopard exhibit. I think it might even be two separate exhibits so that both cats can be out when/if the female has kittens.
New/near-future arrivals at SF Zoo: 0.2 chimps from Zoo Miami. 1.0 chimps from Oklahoma City Zoo 1.0 fishing cat 1.0 river otter Also, the zoos female fishing Cat, female Siamang and only Capybara have passed away.
This is one of those things where "I'll believe it when I see it." I don't think this administration is forward thinking enough to do something truly interesting. There's a lot of throwing good money after bad going on right now. I bring it up because this article popped up earlier today while looking for something else. Unfortunately, the reporter didn't do enough digging to create a well rounded article, but the implications are concerning. It's also nearly a year past, but I wonder if things on the ground are any different? 1.) If zoo directors have final say in euthanasia, then shouldn't they have some experience with animal husbandry, not in PR and law? 2.) Full-time vets are being sacked and/or quitting due to disputes with management? 3.) I have noticed a decrease in visible keepers in recent visits. Keepers I used to see on a semi-regular basis are no longer around. 4.) The zoo has one full-time vet on staff, two "consultants", and a bullpen of vets that work in other places but can be "called up". 5.) Apparently crushing an endangered gorilla is only worthy of a $1,750 fine. A speeding ticket in a double fine zone is nearly as much.
