Wonder what animal births, deaths and transfers will come in 2015? Here's hoping for lots of big births, including Canada's first panda cub, in 2015. Let's all hope for no big deaths. And we are all hoping for the arrival of a male giraffe, and any more the giraffes the AZA decides to give us. Plus there is the arrival of Eland and Wildebeest to look forward to too.
Two videos about the African penguin chicks learning how to swim. The 2nd video confirms that there are 5 chicks. How African penguins are taking swimming lessons at Toronto Zoo | CityNews http://www.citynews.ca/2014/12/31/african-penguins-take-1st-swimming-lessons-at-toronto-zoo/
Neat videos adams7. Thanks for sharing them. The last time I was at the Penguins there were 3 chicks in the nursery. I guess they rotate between the 2 and 3 being on display.
Malayan Woods was fun yesterday. The Boelen's Python was sliding around his exhibit for some time, instead of curled half out of sight. The Jumbo Gourami pool is repaired and full so he will be returning within a few days from the orang pool. The other gourami there hang out together but he was keeping away from them the two times I saw him there. There is a new female Red-billed Blue Magpie, hopefully to breed with the male. I spotted a frog beside one of the ponds for the first time, although it may have lived there for years. No idea of the species. A pair of Crested Wood Partridges and two chicks a few days old were in the Magpie exhibit. Clouded Leopard Pavarti was in heat so she was in the exhibit and Mingma was given access, with two of the more senior keepers watching. Mingma kept coming out and trying to play but Pavarti would hide. When he wasn't out, she was rubbing herself over every object in the exhibit. They are still both under two so this is just to expose them to each other. AND . . . . there is a pair of Bleeding Heart Doves who have only been there a few days. They are both keeping out of sight but you could get glimpses of these dramatic-looking birds. Hopefully they will breed too.
Golden Lion Tamarins, Jack and Hayden, were moved to Edmonton last fall. They had been living in the health unit with their mother Rosalie since the arrival of breeding male Dolce several years ago. Odds are their departure was to free up space in the health unit as it undergoes its renos. Since Rosalie didnt go with them I would think she has probably passed away but I dont have any info on that. The boys are now on display in their new home. WATCH: Edmonton Valley Zoo shows off new golden lion tamarins - Edmonton | Globalnews.ca
I was at the zoo for a few hours to volunteer today. It was World Wetlands Day and I got to work in the Americas Pavilion, running a magnetic fishing game. Since the zoo was pretty empty, I got to spend most of my time wandering around the Americas Pavilion. Also, keepers brought out a Blanding's turtle and a black rat snake that I got to hold. After volunteering, I spent some time walking around the zoo. The main thing that I wanted to see was the Eurasia Wilds exhibit, which I haven't been to yet. Overall, I was pretty impressed. To start with, the signage throughout the exhibit was amazing, with big pictures and lots of information. Most of the exhibits (red pandas, tur, chamois) were exactly how I remembered them, which isn't a bad thing since they were pretty good. I loved the snow leopard exhibit, and thought it was a great use of the old mouflon exhibit. It was also just great to see the snow leopard on exhibit again. The other exhibits (camel, sea eagle, eagle owl) were all nice, but nothing special. The eagles were beautiful though and are a great addition to the zoo's collection. Another thing I was excited to see was the new giraffe house. Like Eurasia, the signage here was amazing, and I hope this trend continues in all of the zoo's new exhibits. The actual indoor giraffe exhibit was pretty good and I enjoyed being able to see the giraffes in the winter. I don't have a lot of updates from my visit today, but there is one major one: When I was in the Indomalaya Pavilion, I was rushing through it because I was going to be picked up in 15 minutes. I was walking by the Malaysian painted turtle exhibit, when something caught my eye. I saw a large tail, which you don't normally see on turtles, so I took a closer look. It turned out to be a false gharial, which is a species that hasn't lived in that exhibit for almost ten years! This individual was only a few feet long, but it was still very exciting and was the highlight of my day. One more less exciting update is that in the aquarium on the small booth near the Sumatran tiger viewing area, there are now Asian fan shrimps (Atyopsis moluccensis).
Sounds like you had fun arcticwolf. I haven't been able to visit for a while, but my brother has been visiting quite often. He mentioned seeing the False Gharial in the exhibit with Malaysian Painted Turtles.
It was my first time at Eurasia wilds today and somehow I ended up walking to the area where they keep the Barbary apes on the zoo-mobile tour before I realized I was walking the wrong way! the indo-malay pavilion was rather noisey from the gibbons? I am not sure. I also saw a bird with a big bill that was hopping around everywhere. I think it was stalking me >.> I had a nice laugh when a sparrow landed on a lazy tiger and startled it. Lucky sparrow. I liked how they have a bird feeder for wild birds and it gives you a chance to see birds like cardinals,sparrows,and others that I do not know the name of. They were also filming a tv show in the nearby rouge park(where the zoo's extended parking area is by beare road) It was a lazy day, I may have seen a zoochat member if anyone was there today. btw has anyone ever seen the echidna?
Looks like Humphrey will be leaving the zoo and joining his brother up north. Toronto Zoo | Press Releases
Assiniboine Park Zoo's press release has more details about the plans for Humphrey. Once he clears quarantine, he will be introduced to Blizzard and Star at the International Polar Bear Conservation Centre. The orphaned brother-sister pair were thought to be 11 months when rescued in October, so that means that they are the same age as Humphrey. Eventually, the 3 will be moved to the Journey to Churchill exhibit. (https://www.facebook.com/assiniboineparkzoo or Assiniboine Park Zoo News Releases) With Humphrey's departure sometime after Feb 16, is it just a matter of time before Inukshuk returns?
So with Humphrey getting ready to leave, has anyone heard anything about Aurora? Last I heard, she was still denning.
No cubs this year cypher. Aurora stopped denning a couple of weeks ago. All three bears are on display. Odds are Inukshuks return will be announced soon after Humphrey leaves. Breeding season will soon be upon them and he should need 30 days for quarantine. Then the 2015 cub wait can begin.
So here's some information of the False Gharial in the Indo-Malayan Pavilion. This is cut and paste right from the facebook page. "Exciting news Zoo fans! The Zoo is now home to a young false gharial. This young male, named Fernando, is the only false gharial in Canada and one of only 23 in all of North America. He is six years old and when full grown could grow to be 5 meters long! False gharials are endangered and found in parts of Indonesia and Malaysia where they live in fresh water lakes, rivers and swamps. There may be as few as 3000 adults left in the wild. Toronto Zoo provides support for false gharial conservation in Danau Sentarum National Park in West Kalimantan Indonesia through our Endangered Species Fund. Visit Fernando in the Malayan Painted Turtle Exhibit in our Indo-Malaya pavilion!"
According to the Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat, Inukshuk, is on his way home to Toronto. He is returning for the breeding season.
Hopefully he'll be successful with getting the girls pregnant this time around. Especially Nikita. I'm interested in seeing how she would fair in raising cubs.
Went too the zoo twice over the weekend and haven't had time to tell you what i learned so here we goo... 1) Learned that all of the buffalo and elk on display in the Canadian Domain are females. With the exception of one poor male that got the snips (if you know what i mean). The reason they had to move the elk from across the cougars was because they were getting sick over there, the keeper i talked to believe there must be something that made their stomachs upset. He also mentioned that there is a possibility of the male buffalo/elk going into that yard so the public will be able to see them. 2) Another thing that the keeper mentions was that the are hoping for wolf pups (all becoming of age) and lynx kittens this year (male becoming of age). The cougars will likely not. 3) The reason why they aren't able to move the younger wolves up to the tundra trek is because of the fece. When they were installing it they did not enforce it enough. It is fine for the older wolves that are in there now because they are not that active but if they were to bring the young wolves up (and possible pups) it would not hold up very well. They are hoping it will be a spring project and bring the young wolves up in fall. 4) Inukshuk is back but they were not bringing him on display until Humphrey left. 5) Nneka is becoming quite the little thing to watch. Her mother is allowing her to become more independent and approaching other members of the troop. While we were there she climbed up on the edge and started banging on the glass. She's starting to get her own little personality. 6) On Monday, neither tiger was on exhibit.
So, it’s been over a month since I last went to the zoo. Mainly due to the cold and my busy schedule. Today wasn’t a deep freeze, so I decided to go on out with my brother. Happy to say, it was a pretty eventful day. Vishnu was on display, and he seemed pretty agitated. Not sure what was wrong, if anything at all, but he was running back and forth in the exhibit, knocking around the hanging obstacles in there. Didn’t seem like his usual self. Got a chance to see the False Gharial. Pretty neat to see it with the Malaysian painted turtles. I remember seeing it there years ago. Good to see the species back. Notice another reptile in the exhibit with the Crocodile Newts. Asked a passing keeper about it and they said it was a Crocodile Lizard which has been there for a while. I never realized it before. To see it, you need to really bend down and look towards the back of the exhibit. Went to the Lion talk were I got a chance to see a pretty big fight between Fintan and Lemon. Keeper threw out 5 bones for them and Fintan seemed to want them all for himself. Initially Lemon tried going for one and Fintan put her in her place and started gnawing on one of the bones. After about 10 minutes Lemon tried going for a bone, and that’s when Fintan and Lemon got in a real scuffle. Lemon was knocked back into the hot wire, forcing her to get out of there, and also snagging 2 bones, while Fintan was left with the 2 he originally had. Makali just sat back and watched it all go down. In the end, Lemon looked to have nicked her ear, drawing blood that the Keeper said he’d have to look at when he called her indoors at the end of the day. While the Keeper was there I asked him some questions about future plans with the African animals. 1st, No final decisions have been made on what other animals will be joining the Giraffe and Elands. Ostriches were in discussion, but it has not been finalized. The Keeper I spoke with was thinking they might put 2 Zebras with them, but again, that is not finalized. Also, I don’t know which Zebras they would put there, or what would happen with the Zebra exhibit. 2nd, There’s still hope for Cheetah cubs this year. Lion cubs is a possibility, but the Keeper is hoping that it won’t happen this year. 2 reasons for that. First is that he thinks they’re still too young. With them being so young the chances of Makali rejecting the cubs is higher. Second is that room accommodations may get a little tricky with cubs. Mainly depending on number of cubs, and when they start to grow up. Jerroh and Lindy take up a lot of room. 3rd, The zoo does have 3 Wildebeest on location that will go on exhibit come spring/summer. The plan was to have them part of a larger mix-species exhibit, but that has been nixed completely. Apparently, plans to get Wildebeest have been kicking around for around 5 years now. When the decision was finally made to get them, the head vet at the time said they’d do the mix-species plan. That changed when the head vet retired, and the new guy took over. He wants to implement an old rule in which Wildebeest are kept around 100 yards away from any other Ruminant animals, which includes cattle, goats, sheep, giraffes, yaks, deer and antelope. This is treating the animal as “always on quarantine”. This comes from a strain of herpes virus that passed from Wildebeest to other Ruminants back in the 1940’s. So, because of this the Wildebeest will be in the Ostrich yard, most likely with the Ostrich. During winter months, when the Wildebeest are indoors, the Ostrich have to stay in a different area, which may be the Hippo house or Giraffe house. And lastly, I finally saw the echidna. She was walking around the exhibit around 3:00 along with Hamlet and Swamp Wallaby, Francesca. I hope to post pictures tomorrow.
