A male Amur leopard was born. He was one three cubs born to an inexperienced mother, and two of the cubs soon died of accidental injuries. The surviving cub is in the animal hospital, and will eventually move to another facility. Rare Amur leopard cub surviving, thriving after two siblings die
Bull African elephant Ajani will be coming to Wichita soon. Sedgwick County Zoo to welcome new elephant
The zoo's long ago escaped flamingo has been spotted again in Texas. It's been wild since 2005. FUGITIVE FLAMINGO: Bird famous for escaping Kansas zoo spotted in Texas
I have just finished uploading about 400 photos of all areas of the zoo, taken during my first visit in May!
What is your review of Sedgwick County Zoo? The consensus of people on Zoochat who have visited it seems to be that it is one of the best zoos in America and that it is chronically underrated because so few of us have visited it. It is at the top of the list of zoos that I would like to see some day.
The zoo is wonderful, truly worth visiting! To an extent it is a 'timepiece' of late 70's/early 80's zoo design; a big chunk of it transports the visitor back to that era. However there is a big chunk of newer exhibit complexes grouped together that make the zoo exceptional when considered as a whole. One highlight is a good bird collection, much of it viewed without barriers since there are large walk-through aviaries in the Tropics building, the Australia complex, the South American complex, and the Asian Forest complex for waterfowl. Another highlight is the black-tailed prairie dog town, it is massive and truly a spectacle of those active critters!
It's in my top 5 to visit in the USA as well, the others being Columbus, SD Zoo, Omaha and St Louis. The New York collections are 6-10. This is all totally irrelevant because the only US city I'm likely to visit is Chicago, due to friends living there. But I'm saving for that and it's a long and slow process. Incidentally Sedgwick probably has the most interesting domestics section I've ever heard of, they just need to get some Bactrian camels and make a S.American farm as well. Sorry to Australia, but thousands of sheep just ain't that interesting...
Orang, Daisy, gave birth to a female via c section. It's a girl! Sedgwick County Zoo welcomes baby orangutan
New master plan is going to be revealed later this afternoon. Here's an article and a preview: Sedgwick County Zoo announces new master plan
I'm a little bit confused as to why they have multiple lion exhibits, and an expansion of an already pretty large elephant exhibit. Whatever's best for the animals. GLMV did a pretty good job with Elephants of the Zambezi (save for those ugly orange walls), and Camp Cowabunga in Topeka is a fun, refreshing exhibit by the looks of things.
I didn't notice the extra lion exhibit by the savanna. My guess would be future proofing. Space for lions is a priority for many AZA institutions as there isn't enough room to keep breeding them after the baby boom of cubs a few years back. I would guess the same for the elephant expansion. For elephants, I would say the more space, the better. The expansion seems to be taking the spot of the current Australia/South America exhibit but those areas are going to be built elsewhere in the zoo so the expansion probably wouldn't be done until those exhibits are built.
Here's the video with a brief overview of the master plan. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=395669610968265
The zoo announced that one of the chimps, Sukari, is pregnant with her first baby, and is expected to give birth in February.
Here is an article about the zoo fundraising for "a planned $15 million upgrade of the zoo’s entryway, gift shop, a ride-on solar-powered train and a leopard habitat": Sedgwick County Zoo asks for $9 million in donations, $6 million from county for upgrades
