Naming for the Red Panda cubs is up on the website. Have a look see. Help the Toronto Zoo's baby red panda!
Orangutans to climb higher at Toronto zoo thanks to steel - constructconnect.com - Daily Commercial News A pretty interesting read on the new orangutan habitat.
@GorillaFan15 good catch finding the article. It is interesting even if I don't understand a good portion of it which is too technical for me. It's cool to see the exhibit from a different perspective than what we guests usually think of or really see. And nice to get a timeline. They started in July and expect it to take one year. I think covid and winter weather will play a big role in if its ready for July 2021 or if they will be forced to hold off until spring 2022. Not that I think it will take that long to build. Just think that if takes 2-3 months longer than expected it will start getting too cold to have them out all the time once they start learning shift there and get comfortable enough to consider bringing guests in. Honestly if it can't be open by August 2021 they would be wise to hold off opening it until 2022 and get the most bang for their buck that they can. Hopefully winter will arrive late and be mild. It will give the crew the most time possible to do as much as possible before spring arrives. Fingers crossed for 2021.
The zoo has introduced a new program were a volunteer can tour you around in person or virtually for 2 hours called Zoo Expeditions Guided Tours. Opinion | Toronto Zoo offers 'interactive two-hour adventure' tours
The zoo is introducing the Boomobile, which is a spooky tour of the zoo on the zoomobiles that will explain how animals influenced Halloween traditions. The goal here is to show off the new winterized zooomobiles although there is no promise you will ride on one of the new ones. It will run October 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 24, 25, and 31. It will cost $30 per row for non members and $25 for members for the 40 minute run. Up to 5 can sit in a row. I'm interested to see what the new zoomobiles look like because my guess is over the coming years they will become the fleet if they work out well. Glad the winterized ones have finally arrived because they could really help encourage more people to visit in the winter. If the zoo needed more winter guests at any time this will be the winter they need them. Good timing. Toronto Zoo | Events
With the surge in Covid cases the zoo has been forced to close its pavilions again to protect staff, guests and the animals. The zoo is still open and outdoor spaces can be visited. Indoor places like the gift shop, restaurants and membership office remain open. Hopefully a full on closure again can be avoided.
For Halloween they have a Hay-lloween Town exhibit in the savanna picnic area. The lion they have done is so cool. There's a Hay-lloween Town at the Toronto Zoo this month | Listed The zoo has also entered into a partnership with the University of Toronto to benefit research by working closely together by combining forces for research and teaching. I am offering a very brief summary on the deal. Toronto Zoo | Media Room The zoo also must be struggling hard to find a new senior vet because they have a contract out for a service to help them find a senior vet. They have been looking for one for some time now. http://www.torontozoo.com/pdfs/rfp/2020/RFP Recruitment Services - Senior VeterInarian FINAL.pdf
The pavilions are reopening Oct 10th with enhanced safety measures including more signage, markers, and ushers to monitor traffic flow. Good on the zoo to close down the pavilions, reassess their measures in consultation with health authorities, make the necessary adjustments and reopen them in a week. They are really working hard to adapt to the ever changing health concerns.
Updated hours will begin Oct 13. The zoo will be closed Monday and opened the rest of the week 9:30am to 4:30pm. There will be no Scenic Safari. Not too surprising. By November the zoo might be worried about the possibilities of ice and snow causing cancellations and then dealing with refunds. The wild encounters options are also reducing. After Thanksgiving options appear to be camel, animal ambassadors, kangaroos, giraffes, and zebras. Makes sense for some of them. The domain hill could become dangerous for the grizzlies. The weather could get too cold for the hippos and penguins to be out and you cant bring people inside thanks to covid. With the zoo closing indoor spaces this week it kind of makes sense the Malayan Woods might close up again. The only one that I think is more surprising is the Indian Rhinos stopping. Its popular and they can stay out in colder weather. Little surprising they didn't keep that one running a little longer. Right now there are only dates until Nov 1 for any of them but they have been releasing dates slowly. By the time there is snow they will probably just stop for the season.
In accordance with new provincial covid restrictions the restaurants indoor seating is closed but take out is available, the boomobile is cancelled for so far this weekend only but realistically until things change probably longer, the carousel and tundra air are closed (not that they would have been open much longer anyway), and the Terra Lumina drums are going to be closed. The gift shop, membership office and pavilions remain open with their increased safety measures announced earlier. The restrictions do not appear to have cancelled Terra Lumina, Boo at the Zoo, Guided Tours or Wild Encounters for the time being.
The Boomobile is back but its your own car now. It will run Friday and Saturdays from this coming weekend through Halloween between 4pm and 5:45pm. It cost $25 for members and $30 for non members and comes with an accompanying pod cast. The zoo has clearly stated that animals will not be viewable during the drive. Looks to be about 30 slots every 15 minutes. Toronto Zoo | Events
the agenda for the next meeting has been published 2020-10-23 Agenda - Board of Management of the Toronto Zoo
@GorillaFan15 thank you so much for reminding me that there is a board meeting this month! The attendance report really puts in perspective just how bad covid has impacted the zoo. I knew it was going to be bad but interesting to see how bad in comparison to last year. The more detailed plans for the conservation campus (AKA entrance) is neat to see. It shows a little more how the buildings will look and confirms that the zoo is investing in sea otters. The first plan we saw just said sea otter once or twice but this one has it all over the place. I wondered if someone had just mistyped last time but now it's obviously sea otter and not possibly a move for the river otters or the introduction of say Giant or Asian Small Clawed (which I wouldn't be sad about either). I could have seen the rivers move because that was the original plan. Giants would fit maybe a little better if they chose to go with South American penguins instead of just splitting our African penguin colony (no word on what species is being selected). Asians also being a possibility because they still are mentioning adding them in with the Indian Rhinos in the Capitol planning report. I'm pretty content with any species of otter being added so we can boast 3 otter species. I don't think many zoos can. However I doubt when our Africans pass that we will get more given how small that population is and the zoos consistent failure to breed them.
For those interested the zoo just posted a Facebook live about the outdoor orang exhibit. All of the gaur stuff has been torn down and most of the debris has been removed. It looks like they are still in the site preparation stage. You get a walkthrough of what should be there in 2021. A neat little feature we haven't heard about before is there will be an interactive water portion. The orangs will have a button they can use to squirt water at guests to get a reaction. Honestly I wouldn't mind if one of them wanted to squirt me. Kids will love that and what a great way to build a very personal connection with the animals.
Not sure if anyone watches Zoo Tours on YouTube but on the Houston zoo episode their chimp exhibit has a very similar feature. This idea is great because it also demonstrates the intelligence of these amazing creatures.
An article on the new front entrance. Apparently design will be completed by spring with the work on the north side being completed by 2022 and the south being completed in following years. I just want the sea otter exhibit considered north so we can enjoy our new friends sooner. Toronto Zoo to Rebuild Welcome Area, Conservation Campus | UrbanToronto
Stumbled upon this document from the last board meeting. It’s a great document that really shows what the TZ will be prioritizing over the next little while. Here are some of my thoughts: • the concept design for the outdoor Sumatran orangutan exhibit looks stunning, and hopefully it will be one of the better North American exhibits for this species • the front entrance improvements are exciting too, and I couldn’t be more excited for sea otters! Still curious as to which species of Penguin will be exhibited alongside them. Hopefully we’ll hear more about that soon! • the new boardwalk between Indo-Malaya and the African rainforest looks like it will be quite the change! Perhaps leaving room for expanded tiger holdings (though I believe they are on phase out), another orangutan outdoor exhibit or outdoor space for another species relocated from another part of the zoo. From what I got out of the document the new Oceania Pavillion design should be completed within the next decade, however there was no mention of when construction is to start. This looks like a massive project that will completed in the 2030s! • the document talks about a few aquatic environment upgrades, including the refurbished Polar Bear/Walrus coastal exhibit, an upgraded River hippo pool and improvements to the current beaver/river otter exhibits • finally, wilderness north and the Canadian Pavillion are both mentioned. I am still wondering whether the Pavillion will be a new structure or whether they are going ahead with the conversion of Australasia. I personally don’t think the zoo should get rid of any of their Australian mammal collection and actually feel they should add a few more like devils and koalas! I know key species will be relocated to Oceania, I just hope everyone will have room to co-exist! https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2020/zb/bgrd/backgroundfile-157808.pdf
The African penguins are now live on twitch during the following times. 9am-10am daily 3pm-4pm Monday, Wednesday, Friday 2pm-4pm Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday.
Three new wild encounters. Well 2 new and a returning. The returning encounter is the African Rainforest where you get to meet the ring tailed lemurs, Aldabra tortoises, grey crowned crane, meerkats and fish. This one notes you must were a medical grade mask instead of non medical like the other ones do. Then there is the white rhino encounter which I think is new. Definitely wasn't there this summer. You get to tour the rhino barn which is neat. The second new encounter is with Santa and the caribou. It's a tour of Tundra Trek and a meet and greet with the Santa. Bet it will be popular with the kids. Like the pavilion it requires a medical mask probably because kids get up close to Santa. Toronto Zoo | Wild Encounter
And just like that the zoo will be closed again as of Nov 23. Refunds will be offered for everything that would require you to be at the zoo. It wont open again until restrictions are lifted in Toronto. Staff will still be there to care for the animals.
