Went to the zoo today. Went mainly to check out the new cubs that were on exhibit. First up were the Cheetah cubs. Got to them around 8:45. Mom Lani was out with the cubs, since around 7:30. It was fun watching explore the exhibit. They were all playing and chasing each other without ever getting too far from Lani. Lani is clearly a protective mother always making sure the cubs were within her field of vision. Whenever a cub(s) got too far, she would call out to them. Eventually they tired out and all started nursing, before I left for the Snow Leopards. I’m hoping to post pictures later today. Snow Leopards were out and a about by the time I reached them. They were climbing around the exhibit while mom Ena watched them from the perch in the middle of the exhibit. Watching the cubs only made me hate the exhibit more than I did before. That fencing is terrible to shot through on sunny days like earlier today. The glare from the fencing only hinders my photo. I’m hoping I have something good to post later. Finally was the Clouded Leopard cubs, which were accompanied by 2 Keepers in the Lion-Tailed Macaque exhibit. Overall, it was nice to see them. They were the most shy of all the kittens, but the Keepers presence made them more comfortable. Again, hoping to post some pictures later today.
I'm not sure how much any of this information has been written about yet, but I decided to browse through the 2018-2027 Capital Budget that was posted for the September 6th board meeting, and I came across a couple of interesting details about the future developments of the zoo. The orangutan outdoor exhibit ($4 million CAD) is slated to open in 2019. Looks like there is hope for the Australasia Pavilion to not become the new Canadian Pavilion, as the report details, "Drawing upon the Canadian Wilderness Plan completed by CLR design (2012), the former Eurasia area will be redeveloped to provide a denser, more visitor friendly/animal welfare-focused home for the Zoo's Canadian species. There will be an additional weather-sheltered structure created that highlights the region's smaller species and celebrates the Zoo's conservation work on behalf of Northern species." The new Canadian Pavilion is budgeted for roughly $11 million, while Wilderness North will come in at around $21 million. The plan also seems to include opportunities to meet herd animals (bison, przewalski's horses, elk, yak, others) through special excursion tours, such as the ones offered at San Diego Safari Park. Wilderness North is scheduled to open in 2023. In 2024, along with the Main Entrance Makeover ($19 million), the Entrance Restaurant could potentially feature an indoor viewing area for River Otters, to attract guests after hours. The Rhino Ridge improvements ($2.6 million) are scheduled to be completed by 2028, and the plan once again maintains that Asian small-clawed otters will be added to the mix. The Indo-Malaya Pavilion as we know it, could potentially cease to exist with the creation of the new Oceania Pavilion. "The new Oceania Pavilion will replace the aged Indo-Malaya Pavilion that was constructed in 1974 and has only had one minor renovation during this period (1992). Maintenance has been ongoing to support the health and safety requirements of the facility, however given the buildings age these maintenance costs and their frequency are becoming unsustainable. By designing and constructing a new facility in line with our Master Plan these ongoing costs will be reduced." With a proposed budget of over $27 million, it seems to me like this project is a lot bigger than I first imagined. If a new pavilion is being created entirely, perhaps the zoo will not lose as many tropical-south-pacific species as we had thought. Hopefully this helps shine some light on the upcoming projects at the TZ. But in the mean time let's enjoy our bounty of cubs!
I wonder if the new Oceania Pavilion will be constructed on the site of the existing Indo-Malaya Pavilion. It sounds like it will be. However, if they're going to construct an entirely new facility why not consider locating it somewhere else? I would prefer to see the new Oceania Pavilion located much closer to the entrance of the Zoo. It would bring a major attraction to a more convenient location to help condense the visitor experience. There would also be lots of opportunities to connect visitor facilities around the entrance to the Oceania Pavilion. For example, the restaurant could have views overlooking an indoor exhibit for clouded leopards (in the evening) and another exhibit for orangutans (during the day).
If that pavilion is needing replacement because it's original....what does that mean about the others?
Zoo finally put a page for the cubs on their website. Toronto Zoo | Meet our calf and cubs today! I've also posted some picture of the varies cubs for those interested.
K so which one of us will be emailing the zoo to inform them that the snow leopard cubs father is named Kota not Kata? Who proofs their stuff?
It's been a long time since I've posted on here. Scary to think I was here way back when ZooChat started. What ever happened to the plans of having a second species with the girrafes?
Welcome back quartz92. We have missed you. The whole second species with the giraffes experiment has ended for now because Mstari was too skittish around the eland. She was so afraid of them and unsure she was stressing out and there was real potential she would hurt herself or them. It was decided for the time being just to leave Mstari and Kiko alone together to bond. Mstari tends to be high strung, probably a result of losing her mother so young after so many big changes in her already short life. Kiko doesn't seem to have the same calming effect Twiga had. Maybe she will calm and settle once she has her own calf or they might need to consider bringing in another older confident giraffe to serve as her guide. Who knows. But for now there will not be a second species with them. It's still the long term goal though to have the giraffes in a mixed exhibit once Mstari becomes a little less excitable. The eland by the way were totally cool with the giraffes. They had lived in a mixed exhibit since birth so the giraffes were not a threat to them. They were pretty laid back which is why they were chosen to be with the giraffes in the first place.
The eland utilize the same exhibit at the sable antelope. They are never on exhibit at the same time however. So if the sables are out when you visit, try stopping by later and they may have switched them out for the eland.
As well can someone send me the link for this, as far as I can see there was no September Board meeting this year on the 6th?
Quartz92 we probably passed by each other today without knowing it. Great day to go! I have nothing of value to report from my day at the zoo. I looked for the link too for those plans. I found nothing through the usual route. The orang info seems correct. It was slated to cost about 2 million but lets be honest that's never right. And it was slated to open in 2018 but due to the strike nothing happened. But the rest I'm less sure of. Although the sounds of a Canadian Pavilion that doesn't replace my precious Australiasia (I'm totally cool if it goes all Australian) is potentially good news. I'd prefer a new pavilion which was included in the original plans. There is a fair bit of unused space there and adding a pavilion would be doable. The real draw back to that and reason I become doubtful is cost. The zoo is all about cost. The first new pavilion in forever would be very pricey. Wait I do have details from my trip to add. Some zoo officials were walking around the gaur exhibit and then headed inside with others who seemed to be taking notes and pointing to things. I was more into checking out the gaur hopefully one last time and didn't pay attention to anything they were really saying. I got the impression they were individuals involved in the orang exhibit and they were maybe going over plans. I should have followed them and listened in but I was with a friend who foolishly said teach me everything and we all know I cannot resist sharing things. I'll be posting photos from my trip in the coming days when I get a chance to look through them and get rid of the hundreds of total garbage ones... I had a real problem remembering to take the lens cap off today.
Here is the link guys. http://www.torontozoo.com/pdfs/org/2018-2027.Capital Budget.P&F.pdf Hopefully the link works for you. Enjoy! I'm looking forward to discussing the plans further.
Decided to go to the zoo today mainly to see the cubs. The weather was fine and I saw many other animals. Er Shun and the panda cubs were in the bigger exhibit today. I saw one of the cubs wrestling with the mother. Both snow leopard cubs were with Ena on one of the platforms. The clouded leopard cubs were playing with a branch a keeper was holding; I never knew that they were so good at pouncing on the leaves. On my way to the cheetah exhibit, I decided to go see the orangutans. It was worth it; I saw Kembali go from one end of the exhibit to the other just for the purpose of drinking water out of his hand. Later, I saw the cheetah cubs with mom Laini during the keeper talk. A rare occurence happened at the Americas pavilion; both sloths were actually moving. One of the marmosets hit one of the sloths when it tried to eat from a bowl the marmoset was eating from. Also stopped by the health center, where I saw staff doing an x-ray on a cattle egret. The last thing I did was the Zoomobile ride. I can confirm that the lion-tailed macaques are in the former Barbary ape and Japanese macaque exhibits, All in all, a great visit. -TheWalrus
